Veteran journalist and commentator, Scott Martelle, describes the fevered political year of 1932. Farmers’ strikes, industrial difficulties, marches and protests by military veterans, women’s rights protestors, tension over prohibition, and much more made this among the most politically active years in American history. Episode 537. — Buzzkill Bookshelf Scott Martelle, 1932: FDR, Hoover and the…
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As both American and French revolutionaries sought to fashion representative government in the late 1780s, they faced a dilemma. In a context where gaining public trust seemed to demand transparency, was secrecy ever legitimate? In Philadelphia and Paris, establishing popular sovereignty required navigating between an ideological imperative to eradicate secrets from the state and a…
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Did medieval people have bad teeth and poor hygiene? Did they all die before they were 40? And what was the actual story about Lady Godiva? Jo Hedwig Teeuwisse, the Fake History Hunter, takes us on a great tour of medieval Europe, busting myths and taking names! A great show about a completely misunderstood era!…
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In the wake of yet another gun tragedy in Gun Country USA, we interview Dr. Andrew McKevitt, whose new book is a must-read this year. He shows why so many guns flooded onto the American market after World War II, and how this developed into “gun consumerism.” We discuss the various attempts to stem the…
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Early in the horror movie, Halloween II, a kid is shown being admitted to a hospital emergency room, a razor blade stuck in his gums. It’s gruesome and reminds us of the warnings we all heard about sickos putting sharp objects into Halloween candy. The third installment of the Halloween franchise includes references to the…
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Dracula tales, legends, and myths fly around faster than a vampire fleeing from sunlight. Dr. Gemma Masson explains Bram Stoker’s famous novel, “Dracula,’ and then goes on to explain the various histories behind Dracula’s namesake – Vlad Dracula, the Romanian Prince. Along the way, she discusses how attributes from Count Dracula have been attributed to…
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Professor Richard Toye talks about a pivotal year in British history – 1945. The end of war, a landslide election for the Labour Party under Clement Attlee, and the start of the modern British welfare state. He explains why Labour won the election, why Churchill and the Conservatives lost, and what the Labour government of…
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The story of Columbus and the Taino people is fascinating, and is made even more fascinating by Kate Messner’s analysis of it in this episode. She explains who the Taino people were, how they discovered Columbus, and what happened during and after their encounter. Kate’s “History Smashers” series is a fantastic way to understand history…
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Sebastian Major, the producer and host of the “Our Fake History” podcast, explains the myths about Christopher Columbus, who “discovered” the New World. Sebastian schools Professor Buzzkill about where the myths came from and about their larger significance for American history. You will learn dozens of new things about the history of Columbus, and about…
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