Editing Virginia Postrel

{{Short description|American political and cultural writer}}
{{use mdy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Virginia Postrel
| image              = Virginia Postrel.jpg
| alt                = 
| caption            = Postrel in 2009
| birth_name         = Virginia Inman <!-- only use if different from name -->
| birth_date         = {{Birth date and age|1960|01|14}}
| birth_place        = [[Greenville, South Carolina]], U.S.<ref name="PBSBOONOTES">[http://www.booknotes.org/Watch/118999-1/Virginia-Postrel.aspx "Interview with Virginia Postrel :  The Future and Its Enemies"], ''[[Booknotes]]'', PBS, February 14, 1999</ref>
| other_names        = 
| occupation         = Author
| known_for          = [[Libertarianism|Libertarian]] publications
| education          = [[Princeton University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<ref name="PBSBOONOTES"/>
| spouse             = Steven Postrel
| website            = https://vpostrel.com/
}}
{{Libertarianism US|commentators}}
'''Virginia Inman Postrel''' (born January 14, 1960) is an American political and cultural writer of broadly [[Libertarianism|libertarian]], or [[Classical liberalism|classical liberal]], views.<ref>{{cite web |last= Postrel |first= Virginia |url= http://www.cato-unbound.org/2007/03/18/virginia-postrel/an-18th-century-brain-in-a-21st-century-head/ |title= An 18th-Century Brain in a 21st-Century Head |publisher= Cato Unbound |date= 2007-03-18 |access-date= 2013-10-01}}</ref> She is a recipient of the [[Bastiat Prize]] (2011).<ref>{{Cite web|date=2012-04-20|title=Bastiat Prize Winners|url=https://reason.org/bastiat-prize-winners/|access-date=2021-03-19|website=Reason Foundation|language=en-US}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Virginia Inman was born and raised in [[Greenville, South Carolina]]. Her father was an engineer, while her mother was a homemaker turned English professor, returning to school to pursue a Master's degree while Virginia was in high school. Inman graduated from Princeton University in 1982 with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] in English literature.<ref name="PBSBOONOTES"/>

==Career==
Postrel was editor-in-chief of ''[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]'' from July 1989 to January 2000, and remained on the masthead as editor-at-large through 2001. Prior to that, she was a reporter for ''[[Inc. Magazine|Inc.]]'' and the ''[[Wall Street Journal]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://vpostrel.com/about |title= Virginia Postrel's bio |publisher= vpostrel.com |access-date= 2018-04-14}}</ref> She currently serves on the board of directors of the [[Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression]] (FIRE).<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.thefire.org/about-us/board-of-directors-page/ |title= Board of Directors - The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education |publisher= FIRE |date= 2003-12-19 |access-date= 2013-10-01}}</ref> From 2000 to 2006, she wrote an economics column for the ''[[New York Times]]'' and from 2006 to 2009 she wrote the "Commerce and Culture" column for ''[[The Atlantic]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.theatlantic.com/virginia-postrel/ |title= Virginia Postrel - Authors |publisher= The Atlantic |access-date= 2013-10-01}}</ref> She also appeared on the last episode of the third season of [[Penn Jillette|Penn]] and [[Teller (magician)|Teller]]'s ''[[Penn & Teller: Bullshit!|Bullshit!]]''.

Postrel wrote the biweekly column "Commerce & Culture" for the ''[[Wall Street Journal]]'' until April 2011. Since May 2011, she has written a biweekly column for ''Bloomberg View''.

She is best known for her [[non-fiction]] books including ''[[The Future and Its Enemies]]'' and ''The Substance of Style''. In the former she explains her philosophy, "[[dynamism (metaphysics)|dynamism]]", a forward-looking and change-seeking [[philosophy]] that generally favors unregulated organization through "[[spontaneous order]]". She contrasts it with "[[stasis (rhetoric)|stasis]]", a philosophy that favors top-down control and [[regulation]] and is marked by desire to maintain the present state of affairs.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://dynamist.com/tfaie/index.html |title= The Future and Its Enemies by Virginia Postrel |publisher= Dynamist.com |access-date= 2013-10-01}}</ref> In November 2013, she published a third book, ''The Power of Glamour'', which defined glamour as "nonverbal rhetoric" that "leads us to feel that the life we dream of exists, and to desire it even more."<ref>{{cite web |last=Silber |first=Kenneth |date=2013-11-01 |url=http://quicksilber.blogspot.com/2013/11/review-power-of-glamour.html |title=Review: The Power of Glamour |website=Quicksilber |access-date=2013-11-07}}</ref> And, in November 2020, she published her fourth book, ''The Fabric of Civilization''. This book looks at the "history of innovation, science, technology, trade, and human history in general" through the lens of the global development of textiles.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-03-19|title=Celebrating Progress and Combating Complacency: An Interview with Virginia Postrel|url=https://theobjectivestandard.com/2021/03/celebrating-progress-and-combating-complacency-an-interview-with-virginia-postrel/|access-date=2021-03-23|website=The Objective Standard}}</ref>

==Health care, bioethics, and aesthetics==
Postrel has written several articles on health care and bioethics, including accounts of her own experiences.

In March 2006 Postrel [[Kidney transplantation|donated a kidney]] to an acquaintance, writer [[Sally Satel]].<ref>{{cite web |last= Shlaes |first= Amity |url= http://www.amityshlaes.com/articles/2006/2006-03-15.php |title= I Would Give My Left Kidney to Prove I'm Right: Amity Shlaes |publisher= Bloomberg |date= 2006-03-15 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/magazine/16kidney-t.html |title= Desperately Seeking a Kidney |author= Satel, Sally |work= [[The New York Times]] |date= December 16, 2007 |access-date= 2013-10-01}}</ref> She has recounted the experience, and referred to it in several subsequent articles and blog posts, many of which are critical of legal prohibitions against compensating organ donors. In some of the pieces, she discusses strategies for working around these restrictions, such as organ donor transplant chains.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.dynamist.com/articles-speeches/opeds/kidney.html |title= Virginia Postrel on donating a kidney |publisher= Dynamist.com |access-date= 2013-10-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author= Postrel, Virginia |url= https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/07/with-functioning-kidneys-for-all/7587/ |title= With Functioning Kidneys for All - Virginia Postrel |publisher= The Atlantic |date= 2009-07-09 |access-date= 2013-10-01}}</ref>

In her March 2009 article "My Drug Problem" in ''The Atlantic'', Postrel wrote about her own experience of being treated for [[breast cancer]] with the expensive drug [[Herceptin]].<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/03/my-drug-problem/7279/ |title= My Drug Problem |date= March 2009 |publisher= Theatlantic.com |access-date= 2013-10-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author= Postrel, Virginia |url= https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/03/defending-ldquo-my-drug-problem-rdquo/7389/ |title= Defending "My Drug Problem" - Virginia Postrel |publisher= The Atlantic |date= 2009-03-30 |access-date= 2013-10-01}}</ref> She questioned if such a costly treatment would be available to others and if the risky research that makes such innovative treatments possible would be profitable under the proposed health care reforms in the United States.

Postrel has also referred to her experience as a [[cancer]] patient in her writing about the importance of design aesthetics in hospitals and the competitive forces that drive them to create more attractive environments for patients.<ref>{{cite web |author= Postrel, Virginia |url= https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/04/the-art-of-healing/6705/ |title= The Art of Healing - Virginia Postrel |publisher= The Atlantic |date= 2008-04-01 |access-date= 2013-10-01}}</ref> This ties into the thesis of her second book, that [[beauty]] is more than simply a superficial, frivolous trait and can go more than skin deep. Notions of beauty and desirability, and thoughts on what makes good design good beyond the needs of [[sound engineering]], informed her work at the "Deep Glamour" blog.

==See also==
* [[List of notable organ transplant donors and recipients]]

==Bibliography==
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?116399-1/the-future-enemies-debate Debate on ''The Future and Its Enemies'' between Postrel and David Frum, November 16, 1998], [[C-SPAN]]| video2 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?118999-1/the-future-enemies ''Booknotes'' interview with Postrel on ''The Future and Its Enemies'', February 14, 1999], [[C-SPAN]]| video3 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?178504-1/substance-style Presentation by Postrel on ''The Substance of Style'', September 23, 2003], [[C-SPAN]]| video4 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?317501-1/qa-virginia-postrel ''Q&A'' interview with Postrel on ''The Power of Glamour'', March 2, 2014], [[C-SPAN]]}} 
* ''[[The Future and Its Enemies: The Growing Conflict Over Creativity, Enterprise, and Progress]]'', Free Press, (December 1, 1998) ({{ISBN|0-684-86269-7}})
* ''The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture, and Consciousness'', HarperCollins, September 2003 ({{ISBN|0-06-018632-1}})
* ''The Power of Glamour: Longing and the Art of Visual Persuasion'', Simon & Schuster, November 5, 2013 ({{ISBN|978-1416561118}})
* ''The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World'', Basic Books, November 10, 2020 ({{ISBN|978-1541617605}})

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{official website|http://vpostrel.com}}
* {{cite web |last= Roberts |first= Russ |title= Postrel on Style |url= http://www.econtalk.org/archives/_featuring/virginia_postrel/ |work=[[EconTalk]] |publisher= [[Library of Economics and Liberty]] |author-link=Russ Roberts |date= November 27, 2006}}
* {{C-SPAN|18429}}
* [https://www.ted.com/talks/virginia_postrel_on_glamour 2004 TEDTalk "On glamour"] [[TED Conference]]
* [https://bloggingheads.tv/videos/1115 Video discussion/dialogue with Virginia Postrel and Dan Drezner] on [[Bloggingheads.tv]]

{{Use mdy dates |date= April 2014}}

{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:1960 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American bloggers]]
[[Category:American columnists]]
[[Category:American feminist writers]]
[[Category:American libertarians]]
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[[Category:Writers from Greenville, South Carolina]]