Thank You Anthony Bourdain
An order form for one of muckracker Upton Sinclair's books, Courtesy of the New York Public Library
I am reposting this reflection piece about Anthony Bourdain in hopes that more people will take a closer look at the body of his work:
Thank you Anthony Bourdain for being a modern day Upton Sinclair, a culinary muckraker. Thank you for being like Malcolm X and James Baldwin writing clearly about absurdities and injustices that others refused to discuss. Thank you for producing content that contributes to us critically thinking about what's happening to the world around us. I highly recommend your documentaries with spot on voice overs on the Congo, Massachusetts, and West Virginia just to name a few. As a professor at Massachusetts based Babson College, I particularly enjoyed the episode on the state and how you embedded yourself in the opioid riddled sections. Thank you for your courage and authenticity in sharing about your own struggles with heroin addiction; the episode is raw, real, and calls for an overdue revolutionary change in US drug policy similar to what Michelle Alexander writes about in her book the New Jim Crow. Thank you Anthony Bourdain for what you created that we can enjoy for many years to come.
Fred Opie, Professor of history and foodways, Babson College