Blake Ball

Blake Scott Ball is Associate Professor of History at Huntingdon College and author of Charlie Brown’s America: The Popular Politics of Peanuts (Oxford University Press, 2021). His research has been featured in Time magazine and on PBS, NPR, the London Times radio, and CNN radio.  His book was favorably reviewed in the Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, Financial Times, and the Journal of American History. He has previously written for Washington Post, The Bulwark, and the Acton Institute. He regularly speaks to both academic and public audiences, including at Oxford University, Town Hall Seattle, and SMU’s Center for Presidential History.

Articles

Can Adam Smith Save Gen Z?

"Convincing this generation of college students requires making the positive argument for the free market, restoring to prominence the real case Adam Smith made for markets, individual liberty, and restrained government against the backdrop of official state control." ~Blake Ball

Markets and the Montgomery Bus Boycott

"The immutable laws of markets enabled Montgomery’s black community to use the withholding of bus fares through the organized boycott to effectively turn the city bus company into an ally for legal reform." ~Blake Ball

The Trouble with Politics in Pop Culture

"With massive audiences and considerable influence, these networks and productions are responsible for the misinformation they distribute." ~ Blake Ball 

Free Markets Made Charlie Brown and Snoopy Possible

"For humanity to flourish, we must be free to explore our full selves. Charles Schulz’s Peanuts gave us that every day for 50 years, and it would never have happened without the free market." ~ Blake Scott Ball

Books

Research Publications

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