Episode 278: The Past and Future of the Office

In this episode, Niki, Natalia, and Neil discuss the history – and future – of office life.

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Here are some links and references mentioned during this week’s show: 

• New York magazine published a sprawling collection of essays about experiences of office life. Natalia referred to this Atlantic article about the persistence of deep cleaning protocols despite evidence that the coronavirus does not spread on surfaces. Niki cited historian Jeanne Boydston’s book Home and Work: Housework, Wages, and the Ideology of Labor in the Early Republic. Natalia drew on Nikil Saval’s book Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace and Anne-Helen Petersen’s Substack newsletter, “The Future of Remote Work is the Opposite of Lonely.”

In our regular closing feature, What’s Making History:

• Natalia discussed Katie Rosman’s New York Times article, “Girl, Wash Your Timeline”.
• Neil shared The Salt Lake Tribune’s obituary of Mormon scholar Michael Quinn, and historian Benjamin Park’s thread about his work.
• Niki recommended two Slate articles about writer Blake Bailey’s alleged history of sexual assault, one by Eve Crawford Peyton, and one by his former eighth grade students.