Myths
Thanksgiving: History and Myth
By 1849, Sarah Josepha Buell Hale was an enormously successful teacher, writer, and editor in Boston. She wrote dramatic novels and magazine articles, and edited various important journals, especially The Ladies Magazine for almost all of her adult life. A pioneer in education for women, she also firmly believed in an ordered version of 19th…
Read MoreLydia Maria Child: Woman Crush Wednesday
Join us on this Woman Crush Wednesday discussion of Lydia Maria Child, one of nineteenth-century America’s most courageous abolitionists. She started her career as a beloved and self-sufficient female author of children’s literature. But in 1833, Child shocked her readers by publishing the first book-length argument against slavery in the United States. Dr. Lydia Moland…
Read More“Wayward Sisters, Depart in Peace” – Winfield Scott: Quote or No Quote?
Politics in the United States is often divisive. Just in the few short years that this show has graced the podcast world, we have seen a drastic increase in violent political language and, of course with January 6th, 2021 and other incidents, actual physical political violence. (By the way, there is no causal connection between…
Read MoreVernon Burton: Historians as Legal Expert Witnesses
Dr. Vernon Burton tells us about his experiences as an expert witness in civil rights and voting legal cases. It’s a fascinating look into how the work of historians can appear in all sorts of places, and can do some direct good for the rights of the people! Episode 485.
Read MoreRoland Freisler – Piece of Sh*t Saturday
Hitler’s Hanging Judge, Roland Freisler, was truly one of the worst pieces of sh*t in a regime that wasn’t lacking in those. Professor Philip Nash enlightens us about one of the most reprehensible Nazis who hasn’t received the shame and opprobrium that he deserves. Freisler made the fascist German legal system even more vicious and…
Read MoreThe 1914 Sarajevo Assassination and the Road to World War I
Dr. Paul Miller-Melamed tells us the story of the assassination of Archduke Franz in 1914. And he enlightens us on the crucial context of the events that led to World War I. Long-term causes, medium-term causes, and immediate causes. Fascinating! Episode 483.
Read MoreUS Nuclear Testing in the Marshall Islands
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Walter Pincus exposes the darkest secret in American nuclear history―sixty-seven nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands that wiped out a people and their land. This is an overlooked aspect of the Cold War, and one of the most shameful acts in history. Episode 481.
Read MoreObama: the Black President
Professor Claude Clegg’s new book, The Black President, is the first interpretative, comprehensive history of Barack Obama’s presidency in its entirety. He explains some of the major themes in the book in his first appearance on our show. This is contemporary history at its finest! Episode 480.
Read MoreUnderstanding the Cuban Missile Crisis
Buzzkill Genius Dr. Philip Nash brings us a fabulous (and very relevant) show on the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. There’s so much more to those events than the standard “eye-ball-to-eye-ball” story would have us believe. Among many other things, we learn why the Cold War was so cold. You’ll understand so much more after…
Read MoreOperation Torch: The Battle for Tunisia during World War II
Dr. Philip Nash tells us about the under-appreciated and little-understood battle for Tunisia during the North African campaign in World War II. Operation Torch was vital to the eventual Allied victory, but the reasons and explanations are complicated. These “peripheral” operations need more attention in history! Episode 478.
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