An IKEA catalog has found its way inside author Eula Biss’ house. It boasts a message on its front: “Designed for people, not consumers.” Biss, who has just purchased her first home, thinks about this. “IKEA, the third largest consumer of wood in the world, has made furniture into something that gets used up,” she writes. “It is furniture for the apocalypse.” She considers the catalog’s message and wonders: Are consumers not people? It’s a question central to her collection of sharp and snappy essays about capitalism and privilege, and how both relate to our understanding of class. Having and Being Had picks apart the ethics behind our capitalist society, culminating in a powerful look at the ways in which we assign value to the people, places and things that comprise our lives.
Buy Now: Having and Being Had on Bookshop | Amazon
- How an Alleged Spy Balloon Derailed an Important U.S.-China Meeting
- Effective Altruism Has a Toxic Culture of Sexual Harassment and Abuse, Women Say
- Inside Bolsonaro's Surreal New Life as a Florida Man—and MAGA Darling
- 'Return to Office' Plans Spell Trouble for Working Moms
- 8 Ways to Read More Books—and Why You Should
- Why Aren't Movies Sexy Anymore?
- Column: Elon Musk Should Not Be in Charge of the Night Sky
- How Logan Paul's Crypto Empire Fell Apart
- 80 for Brady May Not Be a Masterpiece. But the World Needs More Movies Like This
