Josh Mound was born in Youngstown, Ohio, less than a decade after the Jeannette Blast Furnace (the most identifiable structure of the city's dying steel industry, thanks to a Bruce Springsteen song) shut down for good. His family's history with the steel industry (both his grandfathers were steel workers) and the Mahoning Valley's tribulations (deindustrialization, a widening gap between haves and have-nots, persistent racial inequality, Youngstown's fiscal crises, etc.) in the years before and after the "Jenny" shut down shaped his interest in political economy and inequality in all its forms from an early age.
A first-generation bachelor's student, Josh graduated from Ohio University's Honors Tutorial College in three years with a B.S. in journalism, then completed an M.S. in journalism the following year.
During undergrad, his writing appeared in the Youngstown Vindicator and numerous independent music magazines.
After graduating from Ohio University, Josh was an editorial fellow at the Cleveland Scene "alt-weekly,” where he wrote about politics and consumer issues.
Following his time at Cleveland Scene, Josh entered the University of Michigan as a doctoral student in the History Department. The following year, he applied to UM's Sociology department and began pursuing a self-created joint-Ph.D. in History and Sociology, which he received in January 2016.
He has taught courses on modern U.S. policy, poverty, inequality, and the history of pop music, among other topics, in the Departments of History and Sociology at the University of Michigan, the Department of Political Science at Miami University of Ohio, and the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Virginia.
His writing on modern U.S. politics and policy, as well as music and audio, has appeared in Dissent, Jacobin, New Republic, Chronicle of Higher Education, and Audiophile Style.