Axelbank Reports History and Today
167 episodes - English - Latest episode: 7 days ago -"Axelbank Reports History and Today: Conversations with America’s top non-fiction authors and why their books matter right now" approaches our past and present in a way that makes anyone want to listen. National-award winning TV news reporter Evan Axelbank interviews writers of history and current events to explore how America works and how it has been shaped by both the powerful and the powerless. In conversational and engaging fashion, listeners learn about the most important events, themes and figures in American history. This podcast shows why we have no choice but to understand where we have been, to know where we are going.
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Episodes
#156: Dr. Andrea Balis & Elizabeth Levy - "Witch Hunt: The Cold War, Joe McCarthy, and the Red Scare"
June 18, 2024 04:00 - 47 minutes - 32.6 MBFrom the publisher, Roaring Book Press: Witch Hunt: The Cold War, Joe McCarthy, and the Red Scare provides a gripping account of one of the most tumultuous periods in American history. Authors Dr. Andrea Balis and Elizabeth Levy delve into Senator Joe McCarthy's infamous hunt for communists during the 1950s Red Scare. Originally written for young adult and teen audiences, the book is written in a unique screenplay-style format with rich illustrations and includes interviews with individuals ...
#155: Julie Satow - "When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion"
June 04, 2024 11:00 - 48 minutes - 33.1 MBAt the dawn of the 20th Century, the center of city life could be found at department stores. One could find the latest fashion, meet friends for a cup of coffee, mail a letter, and escape the hustle of every day life. Julie Satow shows how three women made department stores not just the place to be, but into an engine of cultural change. She also explores how the women challenged gender norms to build high-flying businesses that would impact World War II, New York City, and the future of co...
#154: Adam Higginbotham - "Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space"
May 21, 2024 04:00 - 50 minutes - 35 MBOn this episode, Adam Higginbotham brings us back to the moment that many say they will never forget, but also to a moment that is filled with misconception and myth. When the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986, seven astronauts lost their lives and NASA was confronted with its biggest failure. Higginbotham shows us how the space program chose to remember those lost, rebuild faith in its mission, and how NASA persisted as a larger reflection of American culture. Higginbotham also expl...
#153: Edward O'Keefe - "The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt"
May 07, 2024 04:00 - 47 minutes - 32.9 MBTeddy Roosevelt is thought of as the quintessentially masculine American president. He is known for going to war, for fighting buffalo with his bare hands, and sailing down the River of Doubt. But as Edward O'Keefe, the CEO of the Teddy Roosevelt Presidential Library explains, TR is more a product of the women in his life than the men. His mother, sisters and wives played critical roles in his formative years, his early political career and his presidency. From the mother who soothed his nea...
#152: Paul Sparrow - "Awakening the Spirit of America: FDR's War of Words with Charles Lindbergh - And the Battle to Save Democracy"
April 23, 2024 04:00 - 55 minutes - 37.8 MBPaul Sparrow argues that Franklin Roosevelt is the quintessential American president, not just of the 20th Century, but in all of American history. FDR's ability to rally the nation from the Great Depression, and then carry it into a devastating but essential World War showed not just his talent, but his understanding of the stakes the country faced. Sparrow argues that FDR is democracy's greatest champion, and that he became that way by understanding the key to rallying the American people ...
#151: Gary Cross - "Free Time: The History of an Elusive Ideal"
April 09, 2024 04:00 - 39 minutes - 27.5 MBWhat does it mean to have "free time" and is it ever enough? In "Free Time: The History of an Elusive Ideal," Dr. Gary Cross explains how free time is both precious and deceptive. Why are people on vacation already searching the web for their next one? What counts as free time? Does technology help or hurt our experience with time spent away from work? Dr. Cross joins us to answer these questions, and to explain how the concept of "free time" began. We all want free time, but does it help ou...
#150: Susan Tate Ankeny - "American Flygirl: The True Story of Hazel Ying Lee"
March 26, 2024 04:00 - 40 minutes - 27.9 MBIn "American Flygirl" Susan Tate Ankeny shows how a young girl with a fascination for flying became the first female Asian-American pilot to fly for the military. Hazel Ying Lee was born in Portland, but came of age at a time when the deck was stacked against people like her. Hazel never let discrimination or expectation shatter her dreams of flying for a living. She flew in China to defend her ancestral homeland from attack, then became a WASP for the US Airforce during World War II. Though...
#149: James Swanson - "The Deerfield Massacre: A Surprise Attack, a Forced March, and the Fight for Survival in Early America"
March 12, 2024 04:00 - 50 minutes - 35 MBThough few remember it, James Swanson argues the Deerfield Massacre of 1704 played a critical role in the shaping of early America. He explains how Native tribes and French soldiers brutalized a small outpost of colonists in western Massachusetts and set off a continental effort to find the missing victims and establish forces to protect the colonies. The tale of large-scale kidnappings, battles over who land belongs to and fear of attacks without warning have clear parallels to today. Swans...
#148: Jason Lantzer - "Dwight Eisenhower and the Holocaust"
February 27, 2024 05:00 - 55 minutes - 38.4 MBUp until the very end of World War II, even Dwight Eisenhower did not grasp the extent of the devastation the Holocaust had inflicted to the Jewish people. It wasn’t until he was among the liberators at the Ohrdruf concentration camp where the Americans found thousands of dead bodies and starving Jews when Eisenhower finally had his full call to action. They weren’t just fighting fascism, they were fighting to make sure there would never be another Holocaust. Lantzer describes how Eisenhower...
#147: Harold Holzer - "Brought Forth on This Continent"
February 13, 2024 05:00 - 52 minutes - 36 MBAbraham Lincoln is often thought of as the president who kept the union together, or who contributed the legal basis for slaves to be freed in states in rebellion, but Harold Holzer, one of America's renowned Lincoln scholars, explains how Lincoln harnessed the power of immigrants to make both achievements possible. Holzer's new book, "Brought Forth on this Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration," traces Lincoln's life from midwestern storekeeper, to Whig Party stalwart, to Pres...
#146: David Head & Timothy Hemmis - "A Republic of Scoundrels"
January 30, 2024 05:00 - 48 minutes - 33.6 MBThe Founding Fathers are often thought of as the pathbreaking generation that fought with dignity, wrote with moral clarity, and bound the colonies together with one goal. Except, in their new edited collection, “A Republic of Scoundrels: The Schemers, Intriguers and Adventurers who Created a New American Nation,” historians David Head and Timothy Hemmis argue that's not what happened at all. They say that mixed in with those like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, a...
#145: Martyn Whittock - "American Vikings: How the Norse Sailed into the Lands and Imaginations of America"
January 16, 2024 05:00 - 41 minutes - 28.6 MBFrom costumes to professional football to a brand of high end ovens, "Vikings" have become a part of American pop culture. In "American Vikings: How the Norse Sailed into the Lands and Imaginations of America," historian Martyn Whittock explains why actual vikings set sail, what they were after, and why the potential for myths to be handed down to future generations was so pervasive. He shows how sailors in the year 1000 left their homes to plunder and explore, all while shaping European and...
#144: John Reeves - "Soldier of Destiny: Slavery, Secession, and the Redemption of Ulysses S. Grant"
January 02, 2024 05:00 - 44 minutes - 30.7 MBHow did Ulysses S. Grant go from being surrounded by - and benefitting from - slaves to becoming one of the most instrumental American leaders responsible for its downfall? In "Soldier of Destiny," John Reeves shows how Grant's formative years with an anti-slavery father, the challenges of his alcoholism and his experience as a military leader during the Civil War led to his belief that emancipation was the only way to redeem America's founding promise. John Reeves' website can be found at...
#143: Matthew Algeo - "When Harry Met Pablo"
December 19, 2023 05:00 - 51 minutes - 35.3 MBAside from being famous and at the top of their crafts, Harry Truman and Pablo Picasso could hardly have been more different. Matthew Algeo explains how their one-off meeting was used by both men to further their goals in politics and art. In, "When Harry Met Pablo: Truman, Picasso and the Cold War Politics of Modern Art," Algeo explains how modern art became a leverage point in the fight against McCarthyism, and how art became a political battlefield, much as it is today. We also chatted ab...
#142: Lauren Lassabe Shepherd - "Resistance from the Right: Conservatives and Campus Wars"
December 05, 2023 05:00 - 48 minutes - 33.5 MBFor decades, conservative elected officials, activists and think tanks have argued that college campuses are hostile to them and their ideas. In Dr. Lauren Lassabe Shepherd's book, "Resistance from the Right: Conservatives and Campus Wars," we see how that movement was sprouted, what its arguments are and how successful their efforts have been to craft education policy to fit their own goals. She shows how William F. Buckley gave the movement intellectual juice while foot soldiers protested ...
#141: Doug Melville - "Invisible Generals: Rediscovering Family Legacy and a Quest to Honor America's First Black Generals"
November 14, 2023 05:00 - 49 minutes - 34.2 MBDoug Melville was thrilled to be invited to the screening of a movie about the Tuskeegee Airmen, a movie that he assumed would feature the patriarch of his family tree, Ben O. Davis Jr. He was proud of his family's service to the storied branch of the Air Force, a group of aviators who had fought for their country even though they were ordered to be segregated. Instead, the movie featured only composites of the characters, and failed to use the real names of the American heroes. Melville wen...
#140: Drew McKevitt: "Gun Country"
November 07, 2023 05:00 - 54 minutes - 37.6 MBIn 2021, there were 48,830 people in America who were killed by bullets fired from guns. Some of those deaths were purposeful, others accidental, and still others self-inflicted. The bullets were fired from a share of the 400 million guns owned by - or stolen from - Americans. In "Gun Country: Gun Capitalism, Culture and Control in Cold War America," Dr. Drew McKevitt argues that the choice to have that many guns is not so much determined by Constitution as it is the unavoidable consequence ...
#139: Richard Aldous - "The Dillon Era"
October 10, 2023 04:00 - 45 minutes - 31.5 MBThe story of the Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson years is one of both incredible struggle and of triumph for the United States. Between 1952 and 1968, America saw pointed racism, political divisions grow, a president assassinated and a war start. But it also saw the end of official segregation, the proof that the world understood nuclear war was not an option, and an expansion of medical care and of fair housing. Dr. Richard Aldous argues that for twelve of those sixteen years, key president...
#138: Douglas Brunt - "The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel"
October 03, 2023 04:00 - 43 minutes - 30 MBDiesel isn't just a type of fuel. It is the name of a man who was at the center of one of the biggest stories of intrigue in the early 1900s. Rudolf Diesel was a German entrepreneur who author Douglas Brunt says was the "Elon Musk" of his day. In 1913, Brunt's body was found floating in the English Channel. Did he die naturally, did he commit suicide, or was he murdered? Some suspected the latter, given he seemed to have several natural enemies who formed as he invented the most important fu...
#137: Scott Shane - "Flee North: A Forgotten Hero and the Fight for Freedom in Slavery's Borderland"
September 19, 2023 04:00 - 1 hour - 42.2 MBAn early architect of what became the Underground Railroad was a former slave named Thomas Smallwood. Never heard of him? You're not alone. Former New York Times and Baltimore Sun correspondent and author Scott Shane wants to change that. His book, "Flee North: A Forgotten Hero and the Fight for Freedom in Slavery's Borderland," describes how Smallwood used his bravery and sharp wit to confound slaveowners nationwide. He may have been forgotten to history because his newspaper dispatches wer...
#136: J. Randy Taraborrelli - "Jackie: Public, Private, Secret"
September 12, 2023 04:00 - 47 minutes - 32.4 MBJackie Kennedy's life has almost always been told through the lens of her husband and in-laws. But in, "Jackie: Public, Private, Secret," J. Randy Taraborrelli explains for the first time how her own family paved the way for her to break new ground as First Lady, craft her husband's legacy, enter publishing, and lead a life shrouded in as much notoriety as it had secrecy. He shows how she both preserved history and closely guarded her own, while living a complicated personal life. The author...
#135: Adam Lazarus - "The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams"
September 05, 2023 04:00 - 55 minutes - 38.3 MBAs another baseball season winds down, check out this episode with historian Adam Lazarus, who shows us how Ted Williams was drafted into the military during the Korean War. The unexpected drafting of the baseball mega-star led to his friendship with John Glenn, who was looking for a partner with whom to take flight. Their friendship spanned many decades, and as Lazarus reveals, may have been one of the most amazing in American history. They had very different backgrounds, but as each became...
#134: Colin Dickey - "Under the Eye of Power: How Fear of Secret Societies Shapes American Democracy"
August 15, 2023 04:00 - 46 minutes - 32.1 MBFrom the illuminati to the freemasons to the Kennedy assassination, Dr. Colin Dickey shows how conspiracy theories and American government aren't running on parallel tracks. Rather, he argues in his new book, "Under the Eye of Power: How Fear of Secret Societies Shapes American Democracy," our system of government has always worked hand-in-hand with those who believe in the unprovable. From Bigfoot to UFOs to planted diseases, Dickey explains that our belief our government must always show i...
#133: Paul Moses - "The Italian Squad"
August 08, 2023 04:00 - 43 minutes - 29.6 MBProfessor Paul Moses takes us on a tour of progressive-era New York City as he explores the life - and death - of famed detective Giuseppe Petrosino. He shows how a hit carried out in Italy in 1909 reverberated through the New York Police Department and led other Italian-American detectives to form the "Italian Squad," in an effort to not only snuff out organized crime, but to make life more rewarding for the tens of thousands of Italian immigrants who had recently moved to the United States...
#132: Laurence Jurdem - "The Rough Rider and the Professor"
August 01, 2023 04:00 - 56 minutes - 38.8 MBTheir friendship is considered one of the most important in American history. Professor Laurence Jurdem argues in "The Rough Rider and the Professor" that if Henry Cabot Lodge had not taken political upstart Teddy Roosevelt under his wing, it's unlikely he ever would have become president. Jurdem pored over thousands of letters between the two men, to find not only an intimate personal relationship, but an ongoing and riveting discussion of American politics. Jurdem shows how TR slowly and e...
#131: Richard Norton Smith - "An Ordinary Man: The Surprising Life and Historic Presidency of Gerald R. Ford"
July 18, 2023 04:00 - 1 hour - 45 MBFar from being a historical asterisk, an accidental president, or a mere bridge between Nixon's failed presidency and the coming Reagan Revolution, Richard Norton Smith argues that Gerald Ford's life and administration must be understood in order to weigh the last decades of the 20th Century. From a broken home in Michigan to the world's most famous home in the nation's capital, the acclaimed presidential scholar explains how Ford drove the nation in a new direction. Smith argues that Ford's...
#130: John Wood Sweet - "The Sewing Girl's Tale"
July 11, 2023 04:00 - 58 minutes - 40.4 MBAt one point in American history, no woman had charged a "gentleman" with rape. That all changed when Lanah Sawyer, a seventeen-year-old seamstress was attacked by a member of New York City's high society. Against all odds - and expectations - Sawyer went to court against the rapist, twice, and forever changed the way the legal system would consider cases of sexual assault. John Wood Sweet describes how the sexual politics in Revolutionary-Era New York were turned upside-down by the brave te...
#129: Matthew Clavin - "Symbols of Freedom"
July 04, 2023 04:00 - 46 minutes - 31.8 MBIn Dr. Matthew Clavin's new book, "Symbols of Freedom: Slavery and Resistance Before the Civil War," he shows how slaves adopted America's signature documents, songs and rallying cries as their own. From the National Anthem, to July 4th, to the phrase, "Give me liberty or give me death," enslaved Americans seized on symbols some cited as evidence the nation's people were ordained to be free, and used them to fight for their own freedom. Clavin establishes a pattern in the historical record t...
#128: Jean Pfaelzer - "California: A Slave State"
June 26, 2023 04:00 - 54 minutes - 37.6 MBIn 1850, in exchange for allowing the potential of slavery in New Mexico and Utah, California was admitted to the Union as its 31st state. A free state. The land of beaches, beautiful scenery, bridges and Hollywood. But even to today, Dr. Pfaelzer argues California has not been fully free. While we may not imagine plantation slavery there the way we do in US southern states, Dr. Pfaelzer says there were still Black Americans forced to work in bondage. Slaves of other races and nationalities ...
#127: Jonathan Eig - "King: A Life"
June 20, 2023 04:00 - 46 minutes - 31.7 MBIn contemporary political discourse, the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr. have often been reduced to a snappy soundbite articulating his "Dream" of seeing his children judged, "not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." In his new biography of King, Jonathan Eig uses tons of new sources, including memoirs and recordings from King's immediate family to paint perhaps the definitive portrait of the most storied Civil Rights leader of the 20th Century. He shows ho...
#126: Bob Kealing - "Good Day Sunshine State"
June 06, 2023 04:00 - 58 minutes - 40.3 MBThe biggest-selling musical act of all time isn't necessarily well-known for the time they spent in Florida, but Bob Kealing says they should be. The Beatles stopped in Florida just after their world-changing appearance on the "Ed Sullivan Show," and were exposed to a magical side of America. The Beatles soaked up Miami's beaches, bikinis and sunshine, and spent more time in Florida than anywhere else during their first sojourn to the US. They would return several months later to play a show...
#125: Nathan Masters - "Crooked"
May 23, 2023 04:00 - 39 minutes - 27.2 MBHow did a suicide help lead to the downfall of one of the most corrupt government officials in American history? In his new book, "Crooked: The Roaring Twenties Tale of a Corrupt Attorney General, A Crusading Senator and the Birth of the American Political Scandal," Nathan Masters describes how Harry Daugherty went too far to protect his friends and the political power structure built by President Warren Harding. Masters argues that while Harding might not have been as corrupt as modern hist...
#124: Helene Stapinski & Bonnie Siegler - "The American Way"
May 16, 2023 04:00 - 45 minutes - 31.4 MBWhat do Marilyn Monroe, Superman and... Jules Schulback have him common? Helene Stapinski and Bonnie Siegler say Bonnie's grandfather and the two pop culture icons combine to tell an essential story of the 20th Century in the United States. Jules was walking in Manhattan when he happened upon Marilyn as she filmed the iconic scene for, "The Seven Year Itch." He used his film camera to capture what would become one of the most iconic images of the century, a film that was lost to history unti...
#123: Alex Prud'homme - "Dinner with the President"
May 09, 2023 04:00 - 42 minutes - 29.5 MBFamed television host Anthony Bourdain said, "Nothing is more political than food." In Alex Prud'homme's book, "Dinner with the President: Food, Politics and a History of Breaking Bread at the White House," shows how presidents and First Ladies have used food to craft public policy, play politics and even alter the course of the presidency. Prud'homme explains how even great presidents faltered when it came to who they invited to the White House for a meal, and how they used future meals to ...
#122: Richard Goodrich - "Comet Madness"
May 02, 2023 04:00 - 44 minutes - 30.9 MBIn, "Comet Madness: How the 1910 Return of Halley's Comet Almost Destroyed Civilization," Dr. Richard Goodrich shows how science and society collided in sometimes deadly fashion. He explores how the media and those eager to make a quick buck exacerbated fears over what would happen when the comet became visible from Earth's atmosphere. He explains how a society that was largely uneducated about the universe brought disastrous consequences on itself as people stopped paying their bills, tendi...
#121: Christopher Gorham - "The Confidante"
April 18, 2023 04:00 - 50 minutes - 34.5 MBEvery president, every leader, needs someone who they can trust. Who will tell them what is really happening, as opposed to telling them what they want to hear? In short, they need a confidante. Anna Rosenberg was one of the assistants whom FDR kept closest, not only in terms of policy, but as a friend. However, most biographies on FDR have largely ignored the role the high-ranking official played in helping to carry out the New Deal, win World War II and secure the peace afterwards. In this...
#120: Ed Achorn - "The Lincoln Miracle"
April 11, 2023 04:00 - 46 minutes - 31.9 MBAbraham Lincoln could never have become president if he didn't win over the stalwarts of his own party. But as the 1860 Republican convention neared, he was barely considered an also-ran. The conventional wisdom held that William H. Seward of Auburn, NY would become the nominee. But as big players in the new political party descended on Chicago, a bustling mid-western metropolis of business (and seedy behavior!), the brilliant political tactician unleashed a strategy that would not only make...
#119: Mark Whitaker - "Saying it Loud"
April 04, 2023 04:00 - 56 minutes - 38.5 MBOne of the hallmarks of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s is that its leaders preached non-violence. Dr. Martin Luther King said non-violence is the "absolute commitment to the way of love." But by 1966, after several legislative victories that established the right to vote and banned discrimination in places of public accommodation, young Black activists became frustrated with the slow pace of success in changing the environment around jobs, housing, and seeing Black political candidat...
#118: Gautam Mukunda - "Picking Presidents: How to Make the Most Consequential Decision in the World"
March 21, 2023 04:00 - 59 minutes - 40.6 MBWhen you vote for president, Gautam Mukunda says you are making the most important decision in the world. With the power presidents wield over the US and the world, picking the wrong person can bring disaster - or wonderful things - to billions of people. On this episode, Gautam Mukunda explains how we can spot candidates that will do well in office, and also ones who are likely to fail. His "filtered vs. unfiltered" test, he says, is a prescription for doing your duty, and doing it right. W...
#117: Kate Andersen Brower - "Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit and Glamour of an Icon"
March 14, 2023 04:00 - 48 minutes - 33.4 MBThere are four women who shaped the 20th Century: Queen Elizabeth II, Jacqueline Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor. In the first biography of the hard-nosed, beautiful, iconic movie star that draws on Taylor's massive trove of personal correspondence and photographs, best-selling author Kate Andersen Brower explains how Taylor evolved from child star to storied activist. Brower interviewed her family members, friends, celebrities and assistants who provided the clearest picture ye...
#116: Kelly Weill - "Off the Edge"
March 07, 2023 05:00 - 45 minutes - 31.5 MBOne of the biggest myths in the history of human discovery is that the idea of a spherical earth is new. In fact, it is the opposite. The incorrect idea that the world is flat is what's new. In this discussion with Daily Beast reporter Kelly Weill, we discuss her book, "Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything." She explains how most of us have misconceptions about those who think the earth is a disc, and how those misconceptions can lead to misse...
#115: Lindsay Chervinsky - Mourning the Presidents
February 28, 2023 05:00 - 1 hour - 42 MBWhen a president dies, it often feels as though a piece of the nation is gone with them. Americans are often witness to days of memorial services, eulogies, processions and burial ceremonies. But as Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky and Dr. Matthew Costello argue in their co-edited book, "Mourning the Presidents: Loss and Legacy in American Culture," the way a president is mourned immediately after their death often evolves as their legacy in both policy and personality become more fully understood. As...
#114: David Marchick - "The Peaceful Transfer of Power"
February 21, 2023 05:00 - 40 minutes - 27.6 MBFor decades, it was a given in American news media and political leadership that those who held power, upon the selection of new leaders, would give up their positions. Until 2020, the American presidency had an unbroken string of over 225 years of transferring power peacefully. Despite personality or political party, the outgoing president always left the stage, to give way to a new person at the top. But in 2020, David Marchick watched, flabbergasted, as the work he tried to foster as a co...
#113: Philip Bump - "The Aftermath"
February 14, 2023 05:00 - 41 minutes - 28.8 MBIn "The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America," Washington Post correspondent Philip Bump explains how America's largest generation became America itself. Their considerable demands on schools, infrastructure, culture and communication defined the second half of the twentieth century, and set up a generational conflict with millennials. The data-driven journalist explains how the scale of America's population growth from 1946 to 1964 remade power and po...
#112: Stacy Schiff - "The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams"
February 07, 2023 05:00 - 44 minutes - 30.5 MBIf you Google "Samuel Adams," the first result that pops up is about beer. Centuries after Thomas Jefferson called Adams, "the man" of the Revolution, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Stacy Schiff reclaims the history of perhaps the key force behind American independence. In "The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams," she explains how Adams built a shadow empire of propaganda and incitement after the British went too far in their demands of the colonies. We also discuss how the story of Samuel Adams...
#111: Adam Mendelsohn - "Jewish Soldiers in the Civil War"
January 17, 2023 05:00 - 58 minutes - 40.2 MBUntil now, the story of Jews who served in the Civil War has been incomplete. Dr. Adam Mendelsohn's book aims to showcase their contributions and sacrifices while explaining how their time in the Civil War differed from that of other soldiers. From rations that were not kosher, to lack of opportunity to fully celebrate holidays, to relatively few comrades, it was not always easy for Jewish soldiers to practice their religion. He also shows how their views of race and slavery often depended o...
#110: Natalia Petrzela - "Fit Nation"
January 10, 2023 05:00 - 52 minutes - 35.8 MBWhy does exercise come with an outfit, a soundtrack, a gimmick and a social media post? In her book, "Fit Nation: The Gains and Pains of America's Exercise Obsession," scholar and fitness coach Dr. Natalia Petrzela explains the history behind exercise, the inequalities the fitness industry has created, and how America has been shaped by the social pressure to work out. She also explains how her childhood fear of the gym turned into a lifelong pursuit to get fit and stay fit. Petrzela's book ...
#109: Neal Gabler - "Against The Wind: Ted Kennedy and the Rise of Conservatism"
January 03, 2023 05:00 - 58 minutes - 40.3 MBBiographer Neal Gabler argues Ted Kennedy's life can be divided into two sections. The first is when Kennedy catches the tide of liberalism and used that momentum to advance liberal policy goals. And the second is when he pushes against the prevailing feeling that the government should no longer protect the New Deal as stringently as before. Gabler argues that Kennedy, despite his well-known personal shortcomings, understood the dire needs of Americans who were less-well-off than he, and tha...
#108: Keri Leigh Merritt - "After Life"
December 20, 2022 05:00 - 49 minutes - 34.1 MBIn this episode, historian Keri Leigh Merritt explores how a pandemic exacerbated simmering inequalities in American society to produce mass death at an unprecedented scale. The book she co-edited with Rhae Lynn Barnes and Yohuru Williams, "After Life: A Collective History of Loss and Redemption in Pandemic America," is a collection of essays where authors explore the damage that grief and fear had on our collective psyche. We discussed the impact that politics, race and class had on who di...
#107: Andrew Rice - "The Year that Broke America"
December 13, 2022 05:00 - 1 hour - 42.3 MBIn his book, "The Year that Broke America," Andrew Rice doesn't just argue that the year 2000 changed things, he argued that it broke everything. From the presidential election, to the seeds of the 9/11 plot, to Elian Gonzalez to reality TV, he explains how a confluence of unfortunate incidents led America down a path from which it has never recovered. It's also easy to forget that Donald Trump waged a presidential run that year, a run that showed him how the country wasn't yet ready for his...