What's the Matter with Delaware?

I’m pasting the text of an email that I just sent to my Biden School colleagues:

From: Metraux, Stephen <metraux@udel.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2022 2:13 PM
To: xyz@udel.edu
Subject: "What's the Matter with Delaware?"

Dear colleagues:

A heads up about a book, “What’s the Matter with Delaware” (published by Princeton University Press and just released this month) that I blew through over the long weekend.

The book ostensibly looks at and explains Delaware’s position as what author Hal Weitzman calls its position as “the de facto capital of corporate America.” Delaware’s role in the corporate world is something everyone seems vaguely aware of but doesn’t mention (sort of like Bruno in the movie Encanto).

But beyond this focus on the business of Delaware (Weitzman is on the b-school faculty at U of Chicago), what hooked me was how the book shows Delaware’s position in the corporate world to influence just about everything related to Delaware policy, politics and culture. In explaining this, Weitzman fits in a deep look (i.e., a whole section) on the Delaware Way, and another on Delaware roles in the American Revolution, the Civil War and Jim Crow. I look at Delaware very differently now.

It’s a book I wish I could have read upon first coming to UD four years ago. Given this, I’m going to have CCRS get it for Mary Mitsdarffer, the Biden School may want to get it for other incoming faculty.

Just wanted to share that, I have no financial or personal interests in making this plug 😊

Happy Summer!

Steve

Stephen Metraux, PhD