Charlie Brown’s America: the Popular Politics of Peanuts

Professor Blake Scott Ball discusses his new book on the history of the Peanuts comic strip! Despite–or perhaps because of–its huge popular culture status, Peanuts enabled cartoonist Charles Schulz to offer political commentary on the most controversial topics of postwar American culture through the voices of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the whole Peanuts gang. Episode…

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Household Gods: the Religious Lives of the Adams Family

Reflecting on his past, President John Adams mused that it was religion that had shaped his family’s fortunes and young America’s future. For the nineteenth century’s first family, the Adamses of Massachusetts, the history of how they lived religion was dynamic and well-documented. Christianity supplied the language that Abigail used to interpret husband John’s political…

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Cold War Trading Cards!

Yes, you read that correctly, Buzzkillers! Trading cards sets like “Fight the Red Menace” were popular in the west, and were regularly purchased by young people (especially boys) during the Cold War. Historian Harriette Kevill-Davies explains the roles these cards played in American and Allied culture during those extremely tense times! Episode 425.

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Hitler in World War II

Professor Philip Nash joins us to dispel myths about Hitler during World War II. We talk about strategic and operational blunders (especially Operation Barbarossa), harsh occupation policies, declaration of war against the US, and imperial overstretch. We also examine the Holocaust and Holocaust deniers, Hitler’s micromanagement, his declining health, the plots to kill him, and…

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Newt Gingrich and the Burning Down of American Politics

There’s so much talk these days about the radicalism of the Republican Party. Politics has often been nasty in American history, but when did this particular style of Republican extremism start? Professor Julian Zelizer from Princeton University shows us how Newt Gingrich helped create the new Republican party, and in the process, burned down American…

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Evangelical Influence on Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Relations

Dr. Lauren Turek gives us the history of American Christian evangelical influence on foreign affairs, as well as their direct efforts to change American foreign policy. It’s all so much deeper and more interesting than most people think! Listen to her explain their “evangelizing” in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe in the late…

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Ronald Reagan “Most Terrifying Words – ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” Quote or No Quote?

At a press conference on August 12th, 1986, US President Ronald Reagan said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” So many short statements, quotes, and even off-hand phrases and jokes become engraved in stone as wisdom when they’re uttered by someone whom…

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Otto and Elise Hampel: “Ordinary” Resisters to Hitler’s Regime

Otto and Elise Hampel were a working-class German couple who wrote postcards denouncing Hitler’s government and left them in public places around Berlin during World War II. Professor Philip Nash explains their significance in a combined Man Crush Monday/Woman Crush Wednesday! Episode 415 —Buzzkill Bookshelf Hans Fallada, Alone in Berlin Alone in Berlin takes place…

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Mary Ware Dennett – Woman Crush Wednesday!

Mary Ware Dennett was an American women’s rights activist, pacifist, and pioneer in the areas of birth control, sex education, and women’s suffrage. Yet, she is largely unknown to the general public. So, she’s our Woman Crush Wednesday this week! Listen as historian Sharon Spaulding explains Mary’s important life and work! Episode 413. Click here…

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