Posts Tagged ‘history podcasts’
Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America
Dr. Megan Kate Nelson puts us in the middle of the history and context of the founding of Yellowstone National Park, one of America’s natural glories. She tells us how it was an important part of Reconstruction after the Civil War, how explorers and bureaucrats fought over how the land should be used, and how…
Read MoreMother’s Day 2023
Mother’s Day is nearly here. The holiday has a fascinating history of its own. But the ways people have thought about the origins and history of Mother’s Day provide us with a great opportunity here at the Buzzkill Institute to talk about the complications of history and memory. It also gives us the chance to…
Read MoreTransmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic
Simon Winchester takes us on a fascinating journey through the story of how knowledge has been acquired, stored, and passed on, how that dissemination has evolved with time, and how—in an age where a world of information is just a cell phone away—the thoughtfulness and wisdom that derives from knowledge might be under threat. We…
Read MoreHitler, the Nazis, and Gun Control
The intensifying pandemic of gun violence and murder in the U.S. has prompted the usual, tired, and entirely false reaction from gun fanatics — “the first thing Hitler did was take away everyone’s guns.” Well, did Hitler disarm the German citizenry as a way to make it easy to control them? Were Jews and other…
Read MoreAnna Marie Rosenberg – Woman Crush Wednesday!
Who Was “Seven Job” Anna? Anna Marie Rosenberg was one of the most important Americans of the 20th century. Yet she is not nearly as well-known as she should be. Christopher Gorham’s excellent biography of Rosenberg, “The Confidente,” is essential reading for Buzzkillers. He joins us to relate the fabulous story of her multiple careers…
Read MoreThe “After Life” of Covid
What Should Come After Covid? Drs. Keri Leigh Merritt and Yohuru Williams discuss important research and reflection about what happened in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. The book’s authors document and analyze the effects of the pandemic in ways inspired by the writers who documented American life during the Great Depression. Perhaps most…
Read MoreIke “Every Gun That is Made…Signifies…a Theft from Those Who Hunger and Are Not Fed…” Quote or No Quote?
It’s one of the most commonly posted quotes on social media and the internet in general. It’s also one of the longest and most substantial quotes posted on these platforms that, after all, cater mainly to very short attention spans. And it’s one of the most important peacenik quotes of the 20th century. Yet, unlike…
Read MoreCulture: the Story of Us from Cave Art to K-Pop
The Essentials That Make Culture What it Is, and Has Been Dr. Martin Puchner joins us to talk about his new book, Culture: the Story of Us from Cave Art to K-Pop. It’s a very important discussion about some of the crucial elements in creating culture: “storage,” “circulation,” and “mixture.” We talk about lots of…
Read MoreRegina Twala – Woman Crush Wednesday
The life and career of a leading 20th-century southern African scholar and activist. Dr. Joel Cabrita tells us about Regina Twala, one of the most important intellectuals and activists of 20th-century South Africa and Eswatini. A leading writer, critic, and liberation leader in both countries, Twala’s life is too important to be ignored or suppressed…
Read MoreBlack Women’s Radical Activism in the Midwest during the Great Depression
The difficulties faced by African-American women from the south traveling north for work, and how they organized to push for change. Was the north the promised land for southern African-Americans during the Depression, or was it more complicated than that? Dr. Melissa Ford tells us how African American working-class women, many of whom had just…
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