Christopher W. Shaw is an American historian, author, and policy analyst. In 2013, Shaw earned a PhD in history from the University of California, Berkeley.[1] One of the primary focuses of his research has been the history of the United States Postal Service and its decline in recent decades, particularly due to the actions of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.[2][3] He was one of the first to recommend restarting postal banking in 2006, and has continued to promote this idea.[4][5] Shaw is a project director at Ralph Nader's Center for Study of Responsive Law.[6]
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Shaw's 2019 book Money, Power, and the People: The American Struggle to Make Banking Democratic covered the history of the American banking system during the Progressive Era and the New Deal era, along with how events such as the Great Depression affected the public's trust in the system.[7] The focus of the book is revealing the impact of collective action by working people on the U.S. banking system. This includes creation of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, United States Postal Savings System, and Federal Farm Loan Act. The book covers all of this, but parts also are in journal articles.[8][9][10] It also includes how collective action by working people reduced the influence of bankers on the Federal Reserve System in the Banking Act of 1935.[11] Based on Shaw's research, he has called for making the Federal Reserve more accountable to citizens.[12]
His research on the U.S. Postal Service documents its importance to American democracy.[13] He was one of the first to recommend restarting postal banking in 2006, and has continued to promote this idea.[4][5] He also proposed creating a "Post Office Consumer Action Group" that would give the public an organized voice to help counter the influence of large corporations on the U.S. Postal Service.[6]
The validity of his research has been extensively and favorably reviewed.[7][14][15][16]
Preserving the People’s Post Office, pp. 171-186; First Class: The U.S. Postal Service, Democracy, and the Corporate Threat, pp. 174-180
Money, Power, and the People, pp. 237-256
Reviews for First Class:
- Kosar, Kevin (January 13, 2022). "'First Class' Review: Undeliverable Objectives". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on October 3, 2022. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
- Nader, Ralph (November 15, 2021). "New Book Shines Ways to Rebound Our Historic Postal Service". CounterPunch. Archived from the original on October 3, 2022. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
- "Christopher Shaw on the American Struggle to Make Banking Democratic". Corporate Crime Reporter. December 10, 2019. Archived from the original on October 3, 2022. Retrieved October 3, 2022.
- Day, Gary (October 15, 2021). "First Class: The U.S. Postal Service, Democracy, and the Corporate Threat". The Booklist. 118 (4): 3. Retrieved October 5, 2022 – via ProQuest.
- Christine Hatfield (November 29, 2021). "New book examines US Postal Service's troubles". The Morning Show (Podcast). Wisconsin Public Radio. Archived from the original on April 15, 2023. Retrieved April 15, 2023.
- Leonard Lopate (November 22, 2021). "Christopher W. Shaw on First Class: The U.S. Postal Service, Democracy, and the Corporate Threat". Leonard Lopate at Large (Podcast). WBAI. Archived from the original on April 15, 2023. Retrieved April 15, 2023.
Reviews for Money, Power, and the People:
- Glock, Judge (Winter 2021). "Money, Power, and the People: The American Struggle to Make Banking Democratic". Business History Review. 95 (4): 880–882. doi:10.1017/S0007680521000854. S2CID 245927868. Archived from the original on October 3, 2022. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
- Amberg, Stephen P. (June 2021). "Money, Power, and the People: The American Struggle to Make Banking Democratic". Journal of American History. 108 (1): 180–181. doi:10.1093/jahist/jaab116. Archived from the original on October 5, 2022. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
- Decker, Jefferson (October 2020). "Money, Power, and the People: The American Struggle to Make Banking Democratic". The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. 19 (4): 679–681. doi:10.1017/S1537781420000419. S2CID 225171291. Archived from the original on October 5, 2022. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
- Ron, Ariel (Fall 2020). "Monetary Democracy". Dissent. 67 (4): 184–188. doi:10.1353/dss.2020.0095. S2CID 241437884. Archived from the original on October 5, 2022. Retrieved October 4, 2022.
- Hyser, R. M. (March 2020). "Money, power, and the people: the American struggle to make banking democratic". Choice Reviews. 57 (7): 789. Archived from the original on October 7, 2022. Retrieved October 4, 2022 – via ProQuest.
- Wright, Robert E. (March 7, 2022). "Money, Power, and the People: The American Struggle to Make Banking Democratic by Christopher W. Shaw". The Journal of Interdisciplinary History. 52 (4): 624–626. doi:10.1162/jinh_r_01784. S2CID 247295432. Archived from the original on October 6, 2022. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
- Bodenhorn, Howard (September 2021). "CHRISTOPHER W. SHAW. Money, Power, and the People: The American Struggle to Make Banking Democratic". The American Historical Review. 126 (3): 1288–1289. doi:10.1093/ahr/rhab453. Archived from the original on October 9, 2022. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
- Sylla, Richard (March 4, 2021). "Money, Power, and the People: The American Struggle to Make Banking Democratic By Christopher W. Shaw". Western Historical Quarterly. 52 (2): 238. doi:10.1093/whq/whab035. Archived from the original on April 15, 2023. Retrieved April 15, 2023.