Posts Tagged ‘Professor Buzzkill’
Breaking Protocol: America’s First Female Ambassadors Part 2
Professor Philip Nash tells us the broader context of America’s First Female Ambassadors, the “Big Six,” and how they carved out their rightful place in history. He takes the story up to the present day to explain the trajectory of gender parity in US foreign relations.— Buzzkill Bookshelf Philip Nash, Breaking Protocol: America’s First Female…
Read MoreBreaking Protocol: America’s First Female Ambassadors Part 1
Professor Philip Nash tells us the history of America’s First Female Ambassadors, the “Big Six,” and how they carved out their rightful place in history. He explains how these trailblazers helped pave the way for more gender parity in US foreign relations!— Buzzkill Bookshelf Philip Nash, Breaking Protocol: America’s First Female Ambassadors, 1933-1964.“It used to…
Read MoreG. Gordon Liddy: Piece of Sh*t Saturday!
G. Gordon Liddy is the subject of this Piece of Sh*t Saturday. An American political operative and extremist, Liddy was one of the most fascinating figures of the 20th century. But why was he so sh*tty? Find out! —Buzzkill Bookshelf Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy From soldier to Washington insider; from a prisoner…
Read MoreFireside Chat on the 1943 Tehran and Cairo Conferences: FDR Friday!
Our final FDR Friday takes us to Christmas Eve, 1943, roughly half-way through the United States’ involvement in World War II. President Roosevelt had just returned from the Middle East, where he held important conferences with fellow Allied leaders about the war, and began to discuss what might be done after the war ended. The…
Read MoreThe Wild West
“The Wild West” is one of the strongest conceptions in American history. But “where” was the west? How “wild” was it? “Who” settled it? Did settlers build the west with their hands? And how many of the stories about settlers and Native Americans are myths or misconceptions? Professor Edward O’Donnell helps us explain it all,…
Read MoreFireside Chat on National Defense: FDR Friday!
Hello, Buzzkillers. There’s no need to explain the reasons for these FDR Fridays anymore. The contrast between FDR’s Fireside Chats in the 30s and 40s, and whatever it is that we’re calling what’s coming out of the White House these days, is blindly obvious. There’s no need for me to keep saying things like “shocking,”…
Read MoreBlack Confederates: the Civil War’s Most Persistent Myth
Civil War historian, Kevin Levin, explains the history and development of the myth of black soldiers in the Confederate army. He analyses camp servants and slaves during the war, how their service was remembered after the war, and how it became fictionalized and mythologized in the 1970s. Yes, the 1970s, not the 1870s. A fascinating…
Read MoreFireside Chat on Drought and Dustbowl: FDR Friday!
I never wanted this podcast to be about contemporary politics, much less contemporary American politics. And the history courses I have taught always stopped at the end of the 20th century. I’ve done this because there’s so much that people and students need to know about the last few centuries, that I didn’t feel that…
Read More“May You Live in Interesting Times” – Chinese Curse? Quote or No Quote?
There’s an old Buzzkill curse — may you subscribe to interesting podcasts. If you do, your life will become so gloriously enlightened with new information, presented in such an engaging way, that you’ll forget to feed your cat, you’ll mix your laundry colors, and you’ll neglect taking your medication That reminds me of another “famous”…
Read MoreFireside Chat on WPA and SSA: FDR Friday!
This is the second of our special shows on President Franklin Roosevelt’s Fireside Chats from the 1930s and 1940s. We started these episodes because an important member of the Buzzkill Braintrust (Lady Buzzkill’s socialite friend, Sandy) recommended the idea. She thought that you might like to listen to some of FDR’s original Fireside chats, so…
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