Historiansplaining: A historian tells you why everything you know is wrong
208 episodes - English - Latest episode: 5 days ago - ★★★★★ - 47 ratingsHistory lectures by Samuel Biagetti, a historian (and antique dealer) with a Phd in early American history; my dissertation was on Freemasonry in the 1700s. I focus on the historical myths and distortions, from "the Middle Ages" to "Race," that people use to rationalize the world in which we live. More info at www.historiansplaining.com
Please see my Patreon page, https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632, if you want to keep the lectures coming, and to hear the patron-only materials.
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Episodes
Origins of the First World War, pt. 12 -- War Planning & Strategy
April 20, 2024 18:30 - 1 hour - 84.3 MBWe examine the prophetic warnings from scholars and bureaucrats that a great-power war in the twentieth century would lead to bloody stalemate, mass destruction, and a wave of revolutions; and we trace how war strategists and generals reacted to the prophets of doom, formulating new war plans, from Russia’s blundering steamroll, to Germany’s precarious and ill-fated Schlieffen plan, to Britain's devious and mercurial scheme of economic warfare. Suggested further reading: Barbara Tuchman, “Th...
Origins of the First World War, pt. 11 -- The 19th-Century Revolution in Warfare
March 26, 2024 02:04 - 1 hour - 87.6 MBThe scale and horror of the First World War were possible only after the Nineteenth Century's double revolution in the nature of war. Warfare -- including weaponry, strategy, and command -- had remained mostly unchanged for three centuries, from the early integration of firearms in the 1400s until the French Revolution; the campaigns of Napoleon unleashed a new era of mass mobilization and nationalistic fury, while a series of haphazard improvements massively multiplied the killing power and ...
Article: "In the American Tempest: Democracy, Conspiracy, & Machine"
March 09, 2024 16:01 - 1 hour - 78 MBIn 2022, I was asked to contribute to a symposium at Yale Law School on the question, "How can the humanities inform tech policy and design to promote 'healthier' discourse and democracy online?" The ultimate result was this article, published in the 2023 symposium issue of the Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities. A scanned pdf of the article can be found as an attachment here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/100047377 I also gave a short presentation at the symposium in 2022; since vis...
Teaser: "Origins of the First World War -- pt. 10: Japan"
March 02, 2024 21:14 - 9 minutes - 8.57 MBA sample from, "Origins of the First World, pt. 10 -- Japan" To hear the entire lecture, sign up here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/origins-of-first-99483180 We trace the evolution of Japanese society -- including the tensions between its peaceable, Buddhist-inspired aspect and its martial aspect; its extraordinary transformation in the Meiji period, from an antiquated hermit kingdom to a dynamic modern power; and its crucial alliance with its European mirror image, Great Britain – which s...
Audio track from video -- Red White & Royal Blue: A Historian's Analysis -- Intro
February 22, 2024 22:33 - 1 hour - 63.8 MBAudio track from my recent video -- "Red, White & Royal Blue: A Historian's Analysis -- Introduction: 'I Know I Owe You an Explanation'" -- We consider the political, literary, and artistic dimensions of the recent movie, "Red, White and Royal Blue" -- a gay romance on the international theme -- beginning with an overview of its origins as an escapist novel in the Trump and pandemic period, its unusual status as a same-sex "romantic comedy," and its political symbolism as a response to the ...
UNLOCKED: The Great Archaeological Discoveries, pt. 6 -- Early Audio Recordings
January 30, 2024 16:01 - 1 hour - 76.1 MBUnlocked after 1 year for patrons only: In the second half of the nineteenth century, many of the most brilliant and ambitious minds in both Europe and America were bent upon solving the problem of capturing sound waves from the air and playing them back. Most of their efforts, including the earliest "phonautograms" from more than a decade before Edison's invention of the phonograph, were either forgotten or lost to decay and degradation. In the past fifteen years, however, scientists and ...
Origins of the First World War, pt. 9 -- Great Britain
January 20, 2024 14:11 - 1 hour - 83.3 MBWe consider the efforts of the British state, in the Victorian era and in the early 20th century, to maintain its position as the premier naval and imperial power on Earth, and to contain the political and military challenges from the borderlands of the empire, the German challenge from Europe, and the series of internal threats to the British social system -- including the radicalized labour and women's suffrage movements and the bitter fight over Irish Home Rule, which brought the United Ki...
2023 in Historical Context: Dividing the Harvest
December 29, 2023 00:49 - 1 hour - 98 MBIn keeping with a Historiansplaining holiday tradition, we try to make sense of the various struggles and conflicts of this yearby uncovering their deeper historical contexts, including: --the roots of the Israel/Palestine conflict in the breakdown of the Ottoman Empire; --the precedents for the bitter House Speakership struggle; --the gradual realignment in the international balance of power, instantiated in the expansion of BRICS; --the geopolitical stakes of the fight over Nagorno-Kara...
Origins of the First World War, pt. 8 -- France
December 20, 2023 00:16 - 2 hours - 125 MBIn the age of absolutism, France had towered over European life and politics -- the only nation that was a major land power on the Continent and a colonial metropole with an overseas empire at the same time. Yet by 1900, tossed about by repeated revolutions and coups and torn asunder by often petty internal culture wars, France was falling behind its rivals to become almost a second-rate power. Once the Radical Party rode the Dreyfus Affair into government, they had to rush to reposition Fr...
Myth of the Month 23: UFOs
November 19, 2023 14:51 - 2 hours - 142 MBThe UFO has been called a "technological angel" and the central mythic symbol of the modern age; we examine some of the extraordinary stories, from throughout history, of strange lights and objects seen flying through the sky, from medieval Italy to modern New Mexico, and consider carefully the problems that they present -- for historians, as well as for government, and for ordinary people who want to fit the strange and anomalous into our understanding of the world. Suggested further readin...
Unlocked: History of US in 100 Objects #20 -- Silver Beaker with Devil and Pope Figures
November 17, 2023 15:55 - 32 minutes - 29.3 MBUnlocked after one year for patrons only: A silver beaker engraved with figures of Satan, the Pope, and the "Young Pretender" (also known as "Bonnie Prince Charlie") shows how French, Dutch, German, and English colonists in colonial New York united around fear of Catholicism and the Jacobite menace. Special thanks to the Collections Team at Museum of the City of New York. Sign on as a patron to hear all patron-only lectures when they are completed: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632
Origins of the First World War, pt. 7 -- Belgium & Luxembourg
October 20, 2023 14:43 - 1 hour - 82 MBAlthough more often remembered only as a bloody battleground, Belgium -- along with its smaller neighbor, Luxembourg -- was critical to the strategic landscape of Europe, and played a pivotal role in spreading the war in 1914 beyond the European Continent, making it into a true World War. Both created as independent states in the nineteenth century, Belgium and Luxembourg were linchpins in the delicate balance of power, as well as crucibles of the new social divides in a secularizing and in...
TEASER: Origins of the First World War, pt. 6 -- Germany
October 03, 2023 17:58 - 9 minutes - 9.4 MBIn an extended lecture for patrons -- We consider the turbulent history and politics of the country most often blamed for the outbreak of the First World War -- Germany. The youngest of all the combatant nations in World War I, The German Reich's deep class, regional, and religious divides drove Kaiser Wilhelm and his inner circle to seek national aggrandizement abroad as a source of unity at home--which inadvertently led them to unite their rivals against them and dragged them into a war no...
Survey of Western Architecture, pt. 3 -- audio track
September 22, 2023 19:56 - 2 hours - 113 MBIn the third installment of our Survey of Western Architecture, we will follow the rise of Renaissance geniuses like Alberti, Bramante, & Michelangelo, their efforts to recover Roman grandeur and dignity in the basilica, the church, and the urban palazzo, followed by the outbreak of baroque extravagance from the streets of Palermo to the halls of Versailles, and then the gradual return to classical balance and understatement in the English country house. Please sign on as a patron to support...
History of the United States in 100 Objects -- 22: The Makauwahi Stone Mirror / Kilo Pohaku
August 30, 2023 17:06 - 44 minutes - 38.7 MBWe examine the significance of a kilo pohaku, or "stone mirror" -- a small volcanic stone disk used for viewing reflections -- discovered deep inside the ancient Makauwahi Cave on the island of Kaua'i. This extremely rare specimen encapsulates the great mystery of Hawaiian archaeology, which relies on reconstruction from rare stone, bone, and shell objects, and also the threats facing the historical sites and artifacts of ancient Hawaii in a time of natural disaster and rapid development. S...
Origins of the First World War, pt. 5 -- Russia
August 17, 2023 02:29 - 1 hour - 106 MBWe examine the geography and history of Russia, from the origins of the Kievan Rus in the Early Middle Ages, to the tumultuous time of industrialization, emancipation, and radical subversion at the start of the Twentieth Century. We try reconstruct the circumstances and mindsets that led the Russian state to back up their allies in Serbia, in order to maintain their tenuous foothold in the Balkans and their pretenses of leading and protecting the Slavic world. image: Luzhetsky Monastery, M...
UNLOCKED -- Myth of the Month 20: Conspiracy Theories
August 12, 2023 16:06 - 4 hours - 202 MBWhere do conspiracy theories come from? Why do people believe them? What do they mean? Did the CIA drug people with LSD against their will? Is Queen Elizabeth a reptilian? We consider the merits and pitfalls of conspiracy theories, trace the history and evolution of the conspiratorial tradition from rumors about lepers in the 1300s to Alex Jones and Q-Anon, and examine the biases and double standards built into the very concept of “conspiracy theories.” This is it: the most thorough, fa...
Doorways in Time: The Great Archaeological Finds -- 7: The Antikythera Mechanism
July 29, 2023 22:35 - 2 hours - 119 MBA stunningly complex piece of mathematical craftsmanship, the world's earliest known analogue computer, and the so-called "scientific wonder of the ancient world" -- the Antikythera mechanism was discovered by chance in 1900, by Greek sponge divers who stumbled upon the wreckage of an ancient ship that foundered on its way from Greece to Rome. An object of bafflement, controversy, and misrepresentation for more than a century, thought to be an astrolabe or a planetarium, the Antikythera mech...
Teaser: Origins of the 1st World War -- Bosnia & the Assassination
July 21, 2023 01:20 - 5 minutes - 5.26 MBA special edition for patrons: We examine the unique and complex history of Bosnia, at once a borderland and a world unto itself, and the only Slavic country in which Islam has ever been the majority faith. With the help of readings from the classic novel, "The Bridge on the Drina," we trace how Bosnians' confused search for a national identity and a national destiny led ultimately to the fateful assassination that triggered a world war. Image: Travnik Mosque, Bosnia Suggested further r...
Origins of the First World War, pt. 3 -- Austria-Hungary
June 27, 2023 20:25 - 1 hour - 99.4 MBAt the height of their power in the Baroque Age, the Habsburgs aspired to rule the entire world; by the end of the ninetheenth century, they strove merely to maintain control over the volatile lands of the upper Danube valley. We trace how the Habsburgs' domains evolved from a messy collection of local duchies into an absolutist empire, and finally into a complex military-industrial state, the home of artistic modernism, which was nonetheless threatened with destruction by a welter of nation...
Survey of Western Architecture, pt. 2 -- audio track
June 21, 2023 22:45 - 1 hour - 98.1 MBWe continue the epic history of Western architecture by tracing how medieval builders and their patrons revived the art of building in stone once more, and used it to craft monumental edifices into intimate, atmospheric spaces in the Romanesque age, before reaching for the heavens with soaring Gothic vaults and spires, and then returning once more to earth with the simple, balanced dignity of the Renaissance. See the first part of the series here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwCuQLuajn8...
Interpreting Solomon's Temple
May 28, 2023 15:11 - 1 hour - 61.2 MBThe center of every sacred mystery, the Temple at Jerusalem is the most famous building on earth, even though it has not existed for almost 2000 years and no one knows precisely what it looked like. We join with Michael of “Xai, How Are You” to discuss Solomon’s Temple – both the real historical building as it can be reconstructed from ancient texts and archaeology, and the symbol that has been endlessly appropriated to represent humankind’s relationship to the cosmos, from Jewish mysticism,...
UNLOCKED: The Great Archaeological Discoveries, pt. 4 -- The Library of Ashurbanipal
May 26, 2023 18:28 - 1 hour - 77.3 MBUnlocked after one year for patrons only: One moonlit night in 1853, an Iraqi excavator named Hormuzd Rassam and his team snuck into the hills outside of Mosul and began to uncover the massive palace of the last ancient Assyrian emperor, Ashurbanipal. Inside the palace was the largest trove of surviving documents from the ancient world that has ever been found. The massive library of over 30,000 tablets illuminated what had been the most mysterious empire of the Iron Age, brought to light t...
Origins of the First World War, pt. 2 -- Serbia
May 22, 2023 12:42 - 1 hour - 79.6 MBWe consider the history and explosive politics of the often-forgotten Eastern European nation that set the events of the First World War in motion: Serbia. We examine the country’s emergence and brief flowering as an Eastern Orthodox kingdom in the high Middle Ages, its fall to the Ottoman advance, its many years of quiet resistance in religion and song, its re-emergence amidst the Napoleonic wars and the Ottoman breakdown, and finally, its long-frustrated quest to fulfill its purported des...
Teaser -- Myth of the Month 22: Culture
May 11, 2023 00:21 - 9 minutes - 8.21 MBWhat is "culture"? And how did a metaphor from gardening invade social-science discourse in 19th-century Germany and America and then take the world by storm? Am I doing "podcast culture" right now? However you define it, I make the case that it is the defining myth of our time, and that we should get rid of it. Image: "Old New York" diorama, Museum of Natural History, New York Suggested reading: Michael A. Elliott, "The Culture Concept: Writing and Difference in the Age of Realism" P...
Origins of the First World War, pt. 1 -- The Ottoman Empire
April 30, 2023 21:37 - 1 hour - 103 MBFor over a century, scholars, politicians, and pundits have debated the supposed causes of the First World War, from German naval provocations to the rising global tide of nationalism. All of these explanations tend to ignore the simple fact that the war began in eastern Europe, triggered by regional feuding and violence in what had previously been the Ottoman provinces. We begin our exploration of the roots of World War I by following the struggles of the declining Ottoman Empire to hold it...
India, pt. 3 -- The Rise of the South & the Islamic Conquests
April 15, 2023 21:18 - 1 hour - 102 MBWe follow the dramatic evolution of Indian civilization after the fall of the Gupta empire, tracing from the specctacular rise of trade, art, and new religious movements in the southern kingdoms, through the tumult and fragmentation of the northern statelets and the cataclysmic invasions of raiders from Central Asia, and finally to the creation of Islamic states in the subcontinent just in time for the arrival of the first European ships in Indian ports. Suggested Further Reading: Thapar, "...
Video lecture: Survey of Western Architecture, pt. 1, audio track
March 13, 2023 12:58 - 1 hour - 70 MBIn our first video lecture, we analyzee the methods that builders, from Egypt to Rome to medieval Europe, have used to create grand structures and to enclose beautiful spaces, whether by reaching outward across the landscape or upwards toward the sky, in order to enthrall the senses and to inspire emotions from terror to tranquility. The video lecture on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9DGcPa_hdQ Please sign on as a patron in order to help keep these lectures coming and in order ...
History of the United States in 100 Objects -- 21: The Braddock/Washington Pistol
February 26, 2023 17:34 - 24 minutes - 21.4 MBWe consider the complex history and symbolism of an elaborately decorated sidearm weapon, originally made in Bristol, England, possibly intended as a dueling pistol, which came across the ocean to America with General Edward Braddock, witnessed the catastrophic events in the Ohio valley that sparked the Seven Years’ War, and which then became a prized possession of George Washington, symbolizing his relationship with the ill-starred general as well as America’s fraught relationship with Brita...
The Vikings, pt. 2 -- Into Distant Realms
February 11, 2023 14:45 - 2 hours - 112 MBThey rained terror and destruction on Christian lands across Europe as far as Spain and Constantinople, before turning their attention away from raiding towards permanent settlement and the founding of new societies, from Ukraine to Normandy to Greenland. There has never been an explosion of exploration and aggression quite like the Viking expansion of the early Middle Ages -- we discuss the motives behind the expansion, which are rooted in the religious mismatch between Scandinavia and main...
Update & teaser: Doorways in Time, #6 -- Early Audio Recordings
February 03, 2023 16:45 - 6 minutes - 5.73 MBI update listeners on the podcast's new partnership with a producer, and provide a short clip of the latest patron-only lecture on the rediscovery of the lost early history of sound recording, ranging from French space lasers to a long-lost recording of a German leader singing an American folk song and the "Marseillaise." Special thanks to the First Sounds collective, for recovering long-lost audio recordings and sharing their files freely with the global public, at www.firstsounds.org. All ...
UNLOCKED: Hist. of the U.S. in 100 Objects -- 18: Jesuit Brass Medallion with I. Loyola
January 21, 2023 19:59 - 26 minutes - 21.3 MB--Made of brass, most likely in France, ca. 1720-1750 --1 inch long, with depictions of St. Ignatius Loyola & Saint Mary with Latin inscriptions --Found in ruins of Fort Michilimackinac; in collection of Mackinac State Historic Parks, Michigan A small brass religious medallion found in the house of a French fur trader inside a fortress on the remote Straits of Mackinac shows the immense power of small numbers of merchants and missionaries to control sprawling networks of diplomacy and tra...
The Vikings, pt. 1 -- In the Norsemen's World
January 18, 2023 02:29 - 1 hour - 96.8 MBWe have all seen images of axe-wielding Vikings raining destruction upon the shores of medieval Europe -- but who were these berserking Norsemen and where did they come from? What society produced them? How did the Scandinavians of the Viking age understand the world and their place in it? We examine the Norsemen's complex and mysterious cosmos described in the poems and prophesies of the Eddas, and compare it to the realities of survival, trade, kingship, politics, warfare, art, gender, a...
2022 in Historical Context -- How Do You Like Your New Gilded Age?
December 30, 2022 04:06 - 1 hour - 63.9 MBWe consider some of the major events of this year in light of their historical roots, from the abortion ruling to the Ukraine war; in particular, we consider the Twitter controversy in light of the history of media monopolies beginning with the telegraph, and the crisis over railroad labor in light of the railways strike of 1922, exactly one century ago. First video segment of my appearance on the Katie Halper Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh8ZKcL8SHE&t=3s&ab_channel=KatieHalper Re...
Myth of the Month 21: The Old West
December 16, 2022 04:28 - 2 hours - 118 MB“Cowboys and Indians.” For most Americans, the words evoke a sinister game, representing a timeless enmity between the forces of civilization and savagery. In actual historical fact, cowboys and Indians were symbiotic trading partners, and many cowboys were Indians themselves; but the image of the cowboy as a conqueror and as the bearer of civilization into the “Wild West” has become central to the American national myth. We trace how the romantic self-image of the 19th-century buckaroos a...
Update: Historiansplaining in Crisis, & Teaser: Silver Beaker with Devil & Pope Figures
December 07, 2022 19:05 - 19 minutes - 17.9 MBI update listeners about my recent work, including for the upcoming symposium issue of Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities, about my hope of beginning a collaboration with a producer to work on videos and on lectures about music, and about the crisis created by banks and credit cards declining patrons' pledges to the podcast. Please go to Patreon to see whether your pledges have been processed, or to sign up as a patron if you have not already: https://www.patreon.com/posts/history-of-in-20...
Monarchy, Honours, and the Molding of Modern Society -- A Conversation with Tobias Harper
November 20, 2022 23:06 - 1 hour - 74.6 MBI speak with historian Tobias Harper about about the evolving and growing role of the British crown as the head of the voluntary sector in a neoliberal, atomizing, and celebrity-driven society. We examine both the "magic of the royal touch" and the hard-nosed bureaucratic calculations that it can serve to obscure, as captured in Toby's book, "From Servants of the Empire to Everyday Heroes: The British Honours System in the Twentieth Century." Toby's recent article on the current challenges t...
UNLOCKED: Robin Hood, pt. 2: Capturing the Outlaw
November 03, 2022 17:40 - 2 hours - 127 MBWhat is the signifcance of Robin Hood as an outlaw -- a person declared legally dead -- who lives in the greenwood, where life is constantly renewed? Why does Shakespeare heavily allude to Robin in his Henry IV plays? And most significantly, was there a real Robin Hood, or is he a pure creation of myth and folklore? We consider the possibilities and scrutinize the evidence. Suggested further reading: Maurice Keen, "The Outlaws of Medieval Legend"; J. C. Holt, "Robin Hood"; A. J. Pollard, ...
James II & the "Glorious Revolution"
October 29, 2022 23:27 - 1 hour - 67.1 MBJames II was Britain's shortest-reigning monarch of the entire early modern age -- yet his brief rule caused a dramatic rupture, which in turn opened the door to the transformation of the kingdom into the constitutional, commercial, imperial state that we know as modern Britain. Was it because of his Catholic faith? His resolute -- or pig-headed -- personality? His determination to rule absolutely, like his ally Louis XIV? Or, as some have argued, was James too far ahead of his time in hi...
Doorways in Time: The Great Archaeological Finds -- 5: Gobekli Tepe
October 17, 2022 23:13 - 1 hour - 77 MBWe examine the so-called "zero point of history," the "first temple," the "world's oldest building," the massive and deeply ancient complex of stone-age megalithic monuments on a hilltop in Turkey, which since being uncovered in the 1990s, has dramatically overturned received ideas about the beginnings of civilization. Please sign up as a patron to hear patron-only lectures, including the previous installment of "Doorways in Time" on The Library of Ashurbanipal: https://www.patreon.com/user...
Fortresses on Sand: The History of Florida -- pt. 6
September 29, 2022 21:48 - 2 hours - 102 MBIn the final lecture on Florida, we examine how the tropical state, thanks to innovations like DDT, orange-juice concentrate, and air conditioning, was able to boom at an unimaginable pace, rocketing into the top five biggest states in the union, with massive scientific and artistic communities, a diverse immigrant mosaic, and after the Civil Rights movement, exceptionally volatile and unpredictable politics. We consider the importance of the last great expression of Florida utopianism -- nam...
Latin America Inverts the World Map: A Conversation With Margarita Fajardo
September 16, 2022 15:42 - 1 hour - 49.3 MBSam interviews historian Margarita Fajardo, a professor of history at Sarah Lawrence College, about her new book, “The World That Latin America Created,” which traces how a movement of scholars and statesmen centering around CEPAL, a UN economic commission based in Santiago, Chile, formulated a new world-view and far-reaching agenda to foster unity and development in Latin America; the so-called “Capalinos” rose to dominance and set the policy agenda in Brazil and other countries in the 1950s...
China, pt. 2 -- Water and Music: Early Chinese Philosophy
August 30, 2022 04:26 - 1 hour - 71.7 MBWe consider how the crisis of legitimacy and breakdown of order following the downfall of the Zhou dynasty spurred on a flowering of philosophy, as various scholars and sages sought new principles to guide life and achieve harmony, giving rise to the enduring teachings of Taoism and Confucianism, as well as other long-forgotten sects ranging from draconian legalists to humanitarian pacifists. Hear the first lecture on China here: https://soundcloud.com/historiansplaining/china-pt-1-making-t...
Teaser -- Myth of the Month 20: Conspiracy Theories
August 14, 2022 15:34 - 15 minutes - 12.3 MBWhere do conspiracy theories come from? Why do some people believe in them and not others? Aren't some of them true? And what kind of purpose or agenda is served by setting apart "conspiracy thories" as a distinct realm of thought? We weigh and examine all the different perspectives, and consider why conspiracy theories are an unavoidable and fundamental aspect of modern democracy. This is a short excerpt -- please become a patron at any level to hear the whole discussion and all the patron...
Unlocked: Doorways in Time, 2 -- Nag Hammadi Library and the Gnostic Gospels
August 01, 2022 15:24 - 1 hour - 80.3 MBUnlocked after one year for patrons only: The secretive Gnostic stream of Christianity, which taught a radically different metaphysics and spiritual cosmology from "orthodox" doctrine in the first four hundred years of the church, was largely lost to history, until 1945, when a camel-herder in a remote part of Egypt stumbled upon an old ceremic jar with 13 massive books containing 52 ancient Gnostic texts. We consider what the so-called "Nag Hammadi LIbrary," which may have been hidden in th...
Unlocked: Doorways in Time -- Nag Hammadi Library and the Gnostic Gospels
August 01, 2022 15:24 - 1 hour - 80.3 MBUnlocked after one year for patrons only: The secretive Gnostic stream of Christianity, which taught a radically different metaphysics and spiritual cosmology from "orthodox" doctrine in the first four hundred years of the church, was largely lost to history, until 1945, when a camel-herder in a remote part of Egypt stumbled upon an old ceremic jar with 13 massive books containing 52 ancient Gnostic texts. We consider what the so-called "Nag Hammadi LIbrary," which may have been hidden in th...
Fortresses on Sand: The History of Florida -- pt. 5
July 29, 2022 01:11 - 2 hours - 144 MBWe follow the southward-racing juggernaut of modern Florida, from statehood in 1845 to the 1930s – the insatiable quest of visionaries and megalomaniacs, from Jewish utopians, to slave-driving planters, to evangelical missionaries, to black politicians, to hotel magnates, to messianic cult leaders, to women’s suffragists, to Cuban revolutionaries, to bohemian poets, to impose a sense of order upon the chaotic and unruly wilderness of tropical Florida. Though ignored in our national mythology...
China, pt. 1 -- Making the Middle Kingdom
July 14, 2022 21:47 - 1 hour - 75.5 MBWe follow the long struggle to build power, wealth, and lasting harmony on the rich but harsh and unforgiving landscape of China – from early farming villages, to the quasi-legendary early emperors, through dynasties obsessed with ritual and divination, the age of fragmentation and warring states, and finally, the dramatic quest for unification by the ruthless emperor that gave China its name. We learn the causes and contexts for the creation of the first Great Wall, the invention of wet ric...
History of the United States in 100 Objects -- 19: Three Silver Higa Amulets, mid-1700s
June 20, 2022 18:20 - 30 minutes - 26.5 MB--Three pendant amulets, in form of a forearm with closed fist --made of silver; ---about ½ inch to 2/3 inches long --found in midden at site of Spanish outpost, Los Adaes, in present-day Louisiana --dated to 18th century These three silver amulets in the form of a fist, found among the remains of the Spanish colonial fortress of Los Adaes in modern-day Louisiana, were intended to protect women and infants against the evil eye during childbirth. They reflect the fear, conflict, and struggle...
UNLOCKED: History of the United States in 100 Objects -- 16: The "PW" Hadley Chest, 1690-1710
June 10, 2022 13:54 - 42 minutes - 36.4 MBUnlocked after a year for patrons only: An elaborately carved oak chest of unknown origin, but marked with the initials of a young unmarried lady, exemplifies the first regional artistic style ever to arise in the American colonies -- the "Hadley Chests" of the Connecticut River valley. Suggested reading: Clair Franklin Luther, "The Hadley Chest." The Winterthur Museum catalog entry on the chest, with more photos: http://museumcollection.winterthur.org/single-record.php?resultsperpage...