First Class

The U.S. Postal System is under assault. For decades, corporate interests and ideologues have sought to convert this invaluable public institution into yet another profit-driven corporation. In 2020, the attacks escalated. In the middle of a pandemic and a presidential election dependent on mail-in ballots, the newly installed postmaster, Louis DeJoy, disrupted postal operations by slowing down mail delivery, decreasing window hours, and removing mail-processing equipment and neighborhood mailboxes. An outraged and indignant public fought back and scored a victory, reversing his policies. Though that stage of the battle ended in a public victory, the corporate war against the Postal System continues. In First Class, Christopher Shaw provides a brief history of the USPS, exposing the various campaigns against it, who has been waging them, and the consequences to the American public-and democracy itself-if they are not stopped--