A Simple List of All Episodes

History of the United States in 100 Objects # 20: Silver Beaker with Devil & Pope Figures, 1750

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.

Myth of the Month 23: UFOs

The 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.

I came here a skeptic and I’m still one (extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and all that) but this was so well presented that, contrary to my usual reaction to this subject, I did not even once feel compelled to roll my eyes during the listen, and I say that in the most sincerely complimentary way…Well done!

Kevin M. on Patreon

Origins of the First World War pt. 7 – Belgium & Luxembourg

Although 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 industrializing Europe.

Origins of the First World War pt. 6 – Germany

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 not of their making.

Third Full-Video Lecture – A Survey of Western Architecture pt. 3: The Renaissance & Baroque Eras

In 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.

History of the United States in 100 Objects #22: The Makauwahi Stone Mirror / Kilo Pohaku

We 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.

Origins of the First World War pt. 5 – Russia

We 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.

Myth of the Month 20: Conspiracy Theories

Unlocked after one year for patrons only: Where 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, fair, and impartial examination of conspiracy theories that you will ever find anywhere.

Doorways in Time: The Great Archaeological Finds #7: The Antikythera Mechanism

A 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 mechanism has only recently been proved by x-ray analysis to be a calendrical computing machine intended, for the purposes of astrology, to forecast heavenly events, especially eclipses, into the indefinite future.

Origins of the First World War pt. 4 – Bosnia & the Assassination

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.

Origins of the First World War, pt. 3 – Austria-Hungary

At 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-industrian state, the home of artistic modernism, which was nonetheless threatened with destruction by a welter of nationalist movements and by the rising power of Serbia and Russia.

Second Full-Video Lecture – A Survey of Western Architecture pt. 2: The High Middle Ages to the Renaissance

Dr. Sam continues 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.

Interpreting Solomon’s Temple

The 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 the Xai, How Are You podcast 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, to Christian theology, to early Islam, to medieval magic, to Renaissance humanism, to the rituals of Freemasonry, to modern Jewish and evangelical fundamentalism.

Doorways in Time: The Great Archaeological Discoveries #4: The Library of Ashurbanipal

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 the ancient masterpiece of the Epic of Gilgamesh, and provided the first window into the lost Near Eastern mythology that influenced the Biblical book of Genesis. While the discovery provided the greatest triumph of British imperial antiquarianism, in recent times Saddam Hussein and other Arab nationalists have attempted to reclaim its legacy by building a modern Library of Ashurbanipal.

Origins of the First World War, pt. 2 – Serbia

We 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 destiny of reunifying the Southern Slavs, which led a militant and conspiratorial secret society to murder their own country’s king and to smuggle teenage assassins across the border to kill their rivals’ crown prince.

Myth of the Month 22: Culture

What 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.

Origins of the First World War, pt. 1 – The Ottoman Empire

For 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 its ground and contain ethnic and religious strife as Western powers circle like vultures around the so-called “sick man of Europe.”

India – pt. 3: The Rise of the South & the Islamic Conquests

We follow the dramatic evolution of Indian civilization after the fall of the Gupta empire, tracing from the spectacular 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.

First Full-Video Lecture – A Survey of Western Architecture pt. 1: Antiquity & the Early Middle Ages

Dr. Sam explores 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.

This is the first full-video lecture from Historiansplaining, available on YouTube. With the help of our new producer, Dan Rogers, Dr. Sam can peel back the layers of time & place with the visual treatment needed for the very optic-oriented topic of Western Architecture, bringing a whole new facet to the catalogue of Historiansplaining.

History of the United States in 100 Objects #21: The Braddock/Washington Pistol

We 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 Britain.

Special thanks to the Bristol Archives and to Eric Gabbitas, a direct descendant of the gunsmith William Gabbitas.

The Vikings, pt. 2 – Into Distant Realms

They 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 mainland Europe, the technologies that made it possible, the prizes and targets at which they aimed, the victories and setbacks that they encountered, the imprints that they left behind, and the winds of change that ultimately brought an end to the Viking adventure.

Doorways in Time: The Great Archaeological Discoveries #6: Early Audio Recordings

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 engineers, including the First Sounds collective, have located the surviving remnants of early sound recordings and devised ways to optically scan them and reproduce the sounds that they captured, revealing much of the auditory world of the nineteenth century and the pathways by which the now-ubiquitous technology of audio recording came into being.

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 audio files used in this lecture are courtesy of First Sounds, except for the Edison/Wangemann cylinder recording from 1889, which is courtesy of the National Park Service and the Cylinder Archive.

History of the United States in 100 Objects #18: Jesuit Brass Medallion with Image of Ignatius Loyola

Unlocked after one year for Patrons only:
–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 trade, stretching from Europe all the way into the deep interior of North America, and to sway the course of wars and imperial power struggles.

The Vikings, pt. 1 – In the Norsemen’s World

Unlocked after one year for patrons only: We 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, and the family in Scandinavia from the eight to eleventh centuries, as reconstructed from surviving documents and the latest archaeology.

2022 in Historical Context – How Do You Like Your New Gilded Age?

We 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 Dr. Sam’s appearance on the Katie Halper Show.

Myth of the Month 21: The Old West

“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 as modern-day knights gradually evolved into the iconography of gunslingers battling on the untamed frontier, from early dime novels to grand “horse operas” to Hollywood Westerns and science fiction, and finally to the new fable of the gay cowboy.

Monarchy, Honours, and the Molding of Modern Society – A Conversation with Tobias Harper

I 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 to the monarchy: https://theconversation.com/charles-iii-faces-challenges-at-home-abroad-and-even-in-defining-what-it-means-to-be-king-190339

Myth of the Month 18: Robin Hood – pt. 2: Capturing the Fugitive

Released to the public after one year for patrons only: What is the significance 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.

James II and the “Glorious Revolution” 1685-88

James 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 his belief in freedom of conscience?

We consider the complex life and personality of the ill-fated king, as well as the class conflicts and ideological shifts that let to the so-called “Glorious Revolution” and the beginnings of the modern state.

Doorways in Time: The Great Archaeological Finds #5: Gobekli Tepe

We 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.

Fortresses on Sand: The History of Florida – pt. 6

In 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 — namely, Disney World — and the shift into a perceived playground of anarchy and American dreams gone mad, as personified in the notorious “Florida Man.”

Rolling Stone article outlining ways to help Florida, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico following Hurricane Ian.

Latin America Inverts the World Map: A Conversation With Margarita Fajardo

Sam 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 and ‘60s and then set the stage for dependency theory, which took the world by storm in the 1970s. We also discuss how the travails of the Cepalinos might shed light on the transformations currently happening in Chile, Colombia, and other Latin American nations and the horizons that they might open up.

China, pt. 2 – Water and Music: Early Chinese Philosophy

We 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.

Doorways in Time:The Great Archaeological Finds #2: The Nag Hammadi Library and the Gnostic Gospels

Unlocked 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 ceramic 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 the desert to protect it from destruction, reveals about the origins and importance of the Gnostics’ secret teachings.

Fortresses on Sand: The History of Florida – pt. 5

We 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 and dismissed as a southern backwater, the state was the site of the first confrontation of the Civil War, and of the longest-lasting and most aggressive Reconstruction regime, which created the first universal public school system in the South and fostered the first booming tourist economy in America, spearheaded by none other than Harriet Beecher Stowe. We conclude our journey through Florida with an examination of Florida literature, ending with an analysis of Wallace Stevens’ ode to Florida, “The Idea of Order at Key West.”

China, pt. 1 – Making the Middle Kingdom

We 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 rice farming and hydraulic engineering, the composition of ancient classics like the I Ching and the Art of War, and the appearance of the powerful philosophies of Confucianism and Taoism.

History of the United States in 100 Objects # 19: Three Silver Higa Amulets, mid-1700s

–Three pendant amulets, in form of a forearm with closed fists
–made of silver;
—about 1/2 inch to 2/3 inch 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. The reflect the fear, conflict, and struggle over control of sex and reproduction, as well as good and evil magic, at a remote colonial outpost.

History of the United States in 100 Objects # 16: The “PW” Hadley Chest, 1690-1710

Unlocked for the public, after one 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.

Fortresses on Sand: The History of Florida – pt. 4

From 1763 to the 1840s, Florida was repeatedly tossed and traded among the British, Spanish, and American empires, as all sorts of adventurers — from Greek and Turkish indentured workers, to Scottish speculators, to Seminole warriors, to West African widows, to British Army deserters, to Mexican pirates, to “Cracker” cattle-herders — attempted to establish themselves and exploit the subtropical landscape. Under American rule, two societies take shape in the Florida Territory — one of cotton plantations and the other of backcountry homesteads — and come to loggerheads over questions of development and ultimately, the idea of statehood.

Fortresses on Sand: The History of Florida – pt. 3

We consider the struggles of European colonists and missionaries, indigenous tribes, and African laborers to protect their territories and secure their freedom through two tumultuous centuries of Spanish rule in Florida. From the first arrival of yellow fever, to the construction of an indestructible limestone fortress, to the creation of the first black-led town in America, the Spanish era laid the foundations of a distinctive Floridian society which miraculously persisted and was never conquered by its powerful enemies to the north.

Myth of the Month 19: The Holy Grail – pt. 2

How did the Holy Grail transform from the object of a purifying spiritual quest to a Faustian symbol of the corruptions of power? We consider the evolution of the Grail myth from the later medieval romances through Le Morte D’Arthur, the works of Tennyson, Wagner, and T.S. Eliot, and the portrayals of the Grail by Monty Python, Dan Brown, and Jay-z, and finally we consider the modern quests to uncover the hidden truth of the Grail — whether as a pagan fertility symbol, a Christian spiritual allegory, or a code identifying the secret bloodline of Jesus Christ.

Myth of the Month 19: The Holy Grail – pt. 1

Why did an enigmatic relic discussed in a series of medieval romances of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table leap out of the Arthurian myths and rise to become the most famous object in the history of literature? What does the vessel represent spiritually, morally, and sexually? And what the heck is a “grail” anyway? We begin by examining the medieval legends and what they say about the origin, nature, and miraculous powers of the sought-after holy relic.

Myth of the Month 16: “The Founding Fathers”

Released to the public after one year for patrons only:

The “Founding Fathers” — the most rarefied club in American history — stand in for everything we love or hate about this country, from its civic an religious freedom to its white supremacism. As if carved in stone (which they oftentimes are), they loom over every political debate, even though most of us know next to nothing about them, or even who counts as one of the group. Coined by that immortal wordsmith, President Warren Harding, the phrase “Founding Fathers” serves as an empty vessel for civic emotion, conveniently covering over the actual history of struggle, conflict, and contention that shaped the American republic.

Fortresses on Sand: The History of Florida – pt. 2

After 1500, Florida becomes a battleground in a new struggle for control of North America; we discuss the repeated doomed attempts by French and Spanish adventurers, from Ponce de Leon to the Huguenot colonists at Fort Caroline, to establish a foothold in Florida, until Spain finally succeeds in creating a lasting European stronghold at Saint Augustine.

Dissecting the “Dawn of Everything” – A Conversation with Geoff Shullenberger

I join with Geoff Shullenberger of “Outsider Theory” to discuss the sweeping and challenging new book, “The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity” by David Graeber and David Wengrow. We consider the book’s marshalling of new archaeological evidence to debunk mechanistic and deterministic assumptions about the rise of civilization, its deep rejection of Marxism, and its insistence on the human ability to imagine and create an infinite range of social and political futures. We examine the weaknesses and limitations of the book, including its over-emphasis on personal freedom, its gross inaccuracy with regard to the eighteenth century, and its blindspot regarding the profound powers of myth, ritual, and the natural environment, all of which deeply guide and shape societies in ways that Graeber & Wengrow ignore or casually discount.

Fortresses on Sand: The History of Florida – pt. 1

We discuss the complex and multilayered history of Florida, beginning with the prehistoric peoples that survived in and mastered the tropical landscape, built monumental mound complexes, and formed powerful kingdoms that would eventually confront the first European invaders.

Uncovering the Medieval Slave Trade – A Conversation with Hannah Barker

Before Columbus had even set foot in America, medieval Europe and the Islamic Middle East already had a long history in trading and exploiting slaves. An important branch of the slave trade involved buying captives from the shores of the Black Sea and trafficking them through the Mediterranean to the commercial cities of Italy or to Egypt, where many of them became slave soldiers or even rulers (called “Mamluks”). We discuss the history of the trade, who these thousands of slaves were and what became of them with Hannah Barker of Arizona State University, author of “That Most Precious Merchandise: The Mediterranean Trade in Black Sea Slaves, 1260-1500.”

History of the United States in 100 Objects # 14: The Winthrop Alchemical Physician’s Chair

Unlocked for the public, after one year for patrons only:

–Wainscot great chair with turned and carved ornaments–Made of Oak, by unknown maker in New York or Connecticut, 1660-75–Owned by John Winthrop, Jr.; held by Connecticut Historical Society.

How do the enigmatic designs on an oak chair belonging to the governor, doctor, and alchemist, John Winthrop, Jr., reflect the teeming underground world of mystical and esoteric thought in colonial southeastern New England?

Blood and Oil: The History of Tulsa

America marked this year the 100th anniversary of the race massacre that destroyed the Greenwood district of Tulsa, the so-called “Black Wall Street,” but left out of the commemorations were the contexts that led to the outbreak of civil violence: the town’s Indian origins in the Trail of Tears; the massive cattle and oil booms that gave rise to a powerful and organized class of business magnates; the city’s chaotic and crime-ridden expansion, which fueled vigilantism, including lynchings of both white and black victims; and the patriotic frenzy of the First World War and the Red Scare, with its hysterical fear of Bolshevism and revolution. Finally, we consider the recovery of Tulsa from the shocks of the 1921 massacre, the Klan’s reign of terror, and the Depression, after which it has evolved into a comparatively liberal cultural capital amidst the conservative Plains Midwest. Tulsa is an extreme example in miniature of America’s tumultuous and confused rise to industrial power.

Myth of the Month 14: Astrology

Released to the public after one year for patrons only: Why do we divide history into epochs separated by “revolutions”? Astrology. How did Magellan chart his course around the globe? Astrology. How did Ronald Reagan schedule his acts of state? Astrology. We trace how the highest of the occult arts evolved from interpreting omens in ancient Babylonia, to containing medieval epidemics, to providing fodder for middle-brow magazines. Whether you are a believer or not, is the secret rhythm of our lives.

Doorways in Time: The Great Archaeological Finds #3: The Terracotta Army & the Tomb of Qin

In 1974, group of Chinese farmers drilling a well in a parched field in a far northwestern corner of China found pieces of terracotta sculpture, which would point the way to East Asia’s greatest ever archaeological discovery — a tremendous trove of sculpted warriors, each one unique, amassed in a great army marching eastward from the necropolis of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor. Just spared destruction in the Cultural Revolution, the army is most likely only the tip of the iceberg of the wonders still waiting to be excavated deep within the emperor’s burial mound. In 1974, group of Chinese farmers drilling a well in a parched field in a far northwestern corner of China found pieces of terracotta sculpture, which would point the way to East Asia’s greatest ever archaeological discovery — a tremendous trove of sculpted warriors, each one unique, amassed in a great army marching eastward from the necropolis of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor. Just spared destruction in the Cultural Revolution, the army is most likely only the tip of the iceberg of the wonders still waiting to be excavated deep within the emperor’s burial mound.

Taking Stock of Money in Politics: The Powell Memo Fifty Years Later

At a time of intensifying hope and anxiety over the direction of the Supreme Court, we take stock of how the lawmaking process and the judiciary have changed over the past fifty years with the mobilization and funneling of large amounts of money into the political realm; we focus especially on the little-known but pivotal “Powell Memo” of 1971, in which a lawyer for the Tobacco Institute decried the rising tide of attacks on the “free enterprise system” and proposed a coordinated counter-offensive by the business class that sounds uncannily close to our present reality. The Powell Memo forms a critical moment for understanding the intense politicization of judicial appointments, the ubiquity of paid political advertising on the airwaves and in print, and ironically, the rise of a new “anti-capitalist” radicalism.

Myth of the Month 18: Robin Hood — pt. 1: The Master of the Forest

In the first installment on the Robin Hood mythos, we consider how the legend of Robin Hood has evolved from a series of brutal tales of a medieval outlaw bandit in the fifteenth century to that of the swashbuckling champion of the poor of modern pop culture, and how he picked up sidekicks like Friar Tuck and Maid Marion along the way; we consider the literary significance of the early stories as as an expression of the frustrations and aspirations of the yeoman class.

India, pt. 2: Foundations of Hinduism

What do Hindus believe? What rituals, traditions, and ethical principles does one follow as a Hindu? What does Hinduism say about the soul and spiritual enlightenment? We trace the development in ancient and classical India of the multi-layered and comprehensive philosophy of life that we today call Hinduism, from the ancient rites of the Vedas, through the dramatic epics of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, to the rise of the ecstatic musical and mystical worship of bhakti.

India, pt. 1: Creating Civilization in South Asia

We discuss the complex geography of the Indian Subcontinent, and how early societies in India, beginning with the mysterious Indus Valley Civilization, developed cities, technology, art, and literature, giving rise eventually to the flourishing Maurya and Gupta empires and the inventions of the Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu religions.

History of the United States in 100 Objects # 17: The Hiawatha Belt

–Made of leather, sinew thread, and wampum (quahog shell) beads, ca. 1400s–In possession of the Onondaga Nation, central New York.

This most ancient and precious ceremonial wampum belt, created by the Ondondaga tribe to record the proclamation of the Great Law of Peace at the founding of the Iroquois Confederacy (or more properly, the Haudenosaunee), was the subject of more than a century of legal wrangling, confusion, and controversy, even appearing at one point at the Chicago World’s Fair, before finally returning to its home in upstate New York.

History of the United States in 100 Objects # 12: The Naylor Bowling Ball, 1670-1700

Unlocked after 1 year for patrons only:

America’s oldest bowling ball, found in the backlot of a colonial house in Boston, and what it reveals about the Puritans’ futile struggles against vice — drunkenness, fornication, gambling, and even witchcraft.

Chasidic Judaism: What is it and where did it come from?

Michael of “Xai How Are You” and I discuss the history of the Chasidic / Hasidic movement, a Jewish lay mystical and pietistic movement, which originated among Ashkenazi Jews in Eastern Europe in the 1700s, flourished in the 1800s, survived the pogroms and world wars, and in recent years has been reborn as both a pillar of Orthodox Judaism and a bridge to the Reform and secular worlds.

Doorposts and Gates: How Jews Have Subdivided Themselves Through History

Michael of “Xai How Are You” and I discuss the different ways that Jews have distinguished themselves into groups and sub-groups, from the Biblical tribes to the Sephardic and Ashkenazi ethnic groups to the modern Reform, Orthodox, and Conservative movements. We lay the groundwork for an upcoming discussion of the origins and character of Chasidic Judaism.

Film: The Green Knight – History, Myth, and Modern Shame – A Historian’s View

We consider the narrative structure, symbols, and meanings of the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in the context of the Middle Ages and the Arthurian cycle, and how the 2021 movie staring Dev Patel has been adjusted to speak to modern sensibilities. I argue that the Green Knight myth has relevance today as a parable about shame.

Before Jamestown: When England Colonized the Amazon – A Conversation with Melissa Morris

How did the early colonists in Virginia know that they could profitably grow a species of tobacco from South America? They learned about it from the series of mostly short-lived English, French, and Dutch colonies and outposts in tropical South America, between the Amazon and Orinoco rivers, in the area called “Guiana.” We discuss with historian Melissa Morris of U. of Wyoming how these early colonies, despite being almost totally forgotten by historians, left a lasting imprint on the Americas, and reveal the haphazard and unpredictable nature of early global empires.

Myth of the Month 12, Finale: The Historical King Arthur

Released to the public after one year for patrons only: Archaeology, geography, linguistics, textual analysis — all of these fields of knowledge must be brought to bear on a centuries-old question: Was there a “real” King Arthur? Answer: It’s complicated. We discuss the likelihood that some “historical” personage underlies the layers of legend.

The Middle Ages: 1066 – Sailing Into the Storm

1066 — the year of the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest — is the most famous date in English history. Few understand, though, that far more happened in this cataclysmic and pivotal year than just the Norman defeat of an English army on a field in East Sussex. The culmination of centuries of shifting struggle over control of England, the events of 1066 show how even epochal changes in a society can hinge on minor accidents of timing, weather, health, and personal choice. Image: Modern re-enactors representing Harold Godwinson’s army at Hastings.

Becoming Modern: Dutch Batavia and the Ideology of Early Modern Empire – A Conversation with Deborah Hamer

Were the Dutch proto-capitalists? Were they Americans before America? What was the Dutch West India Company, and how did it work? I talk to Deborah Hamer — historian, research associate at the Omohundro Institute, and associate editor of the New York history blog Gotham — to discuss her work on marriage and gender in the early Dutch colony in Batavia (as they called the conquered city of Jakarta), how it illuminates the Netherlands’ obsessive efforts to create a stratified, orderly, and moral Protestant society in Southeast Asia, and what it reveals about the wider European colonial mindset.

Myth of the Month 17: Anglo-Saxonism

Who the heck are the “Anglo-Saxons,” and why are Americans getting all lathered up about “Anglo-Saxon institutions”? Find out where the Anglo-Saxon myth came from and how over the past three hundred years it’s been used to justify Parliamentary supremacy, the Rhodes Scholarship, the American entry into World War I, immigration restrictions, and college admission quotas. You never knew you were suffering under the Norman yoke, but now you do.

History of the British and Irish Travellers

Travellers, Tinkers, Gypsies, Kale, Scottish Travellers, Gypsy Travellers, Romani Gypsies, Romanichal, Pavee, Showmen, Van People, Boat People, Bargers – All of these multivarious peoples, with different ancestries, religions, and traditions, their different languages, dialects, and “cants,” share in common a longstanding itinerant lifestyle and the distinct identity that stems from it. Roving all around the British Isles and sometimes settling down, the various tribes of Travellers have provided metal goods, horses, music, and entertainment to British and Irish markets for centuries, but have become the flashpoint of political fury and even of violence in the twenty-first century.

History of the Roma (“Gypsies”), part 2 — A Stateless People in Modern Europe

We follow how the Roma or Gypsies rose to a period of toleration and even renown as the quintessential musical masters of the Romantic era, only to fall under renewed persecution and suppression the twentieth century, culminating in the Nazi Holocaust — called the “Devouring” in Romani. We consider the lives of remarkable Roma of the modern age, such as the boxer Johann Trollmann and jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, the birth of a pan-Roma identity movement in the 1970s, the anti-Roma backlash of the 2010s, and finally the possibility that the Roma may be drawn into the geopolitical maneuverings of modern India.

History of the Roma (“Gypsies”), part 1 – From Ancient Origins to the Eighteenth Century

Who are the Roma — also colloquially called “Gypsies”? Where did they come from, and how did they end up all over Europe? How have they endured through persecution, expulsions, and political upheaval, without a state or country of their own? We trace the path of this remarkable and resilient people from their mysterious origins in India to their arrival in Constantinople and medieval Europe and through the wave of persecution and ethnic cleansing in the 1600s.

Doorways in Time: The Great Archaeological Finds #1: The Sutton Hoo Treasure

Why was the excavation depicted in Netflix’s “The Dig” the most important archaeological discovery ever made in Britain, or arguably in all of Europe? How did some artifacts found in a mound near an English widow’s garden in Suffolk on the eve of World War II revolutionize our understanding of the Dark Age? Why would they come to serve as symbols of the ancient roots of the English nation, and how did Sutton Hoo vindicate the new science of archaeology? The story that Netflix did not tell you.

Freemasonry – Its Growth and Spread Before 1789

How did Freemasonry expand in the 1700s from a small, secretive fraternity in Lowland Scotland to a massive global network, with lodges from the Caribbean to Russia to India? Who became Freemasons in the 1700s, and what sort of opposition and persecution did they face? What was their relationship to radical groups like the Illuminati? We examine to the growth, expansion, and divides in Freemasonry in the eighteenth century, all of which laid the groundwork for the Craft to influence the course of the age of revolutions.

Emergency Podcast: The Royal Crisis in Historical Context

The messy exit of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from the royal family marks the third great crisis of the British monarchy in the past hundred years – following the abdication of Edward VIII to marry an American divorcee in 1936 and the breakup of Charles and Diana’s marriage in the 1990s. Michael and I discuss the ramifications for the monarchy, Britain, the empire, and the world, situating the disaster in the context of the crown’s central role in the long-running struggle to redefine Britain as it loses its imperial status. Since the reign of Victoria, the monarchy has lost its political “hard” power but has correspondingly gained in the “soft” power of social influence and celebrity, rising to become the primary symbol representing the British nation to itself, and forcing the monarch to navigate the tension between Britain’s place at the head of the multi-racial Commonwealth and its connection to Europe. The appearance and quick departure of a bi-racial American woman in the royal family serves as a test of the monarchy’s supposed embrace of a color-blind future.

Link to beginning Vernon Bogdanor’s lecture series at Gresham College on the monarchy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZUQd22OdVk

The Voynich Manuscript, the “World’s Most Mysterious Book” – A Historian’s View – pt. 2

The Voynich Manuscript — often called the “world’s most mysterious book” — consists of 116 leaves of parchment covered in outlandish botanical and astrological drawings and thousands of lines of undeciphered text in an unknown language. A century after images of the codex were first published, still not one line has been decoded. What could it say? And more importantly from the historical perspective, who created it and why? This is the most balanced and impartial consideration of the evidence that you will find.

History of the United States in 100 Objects # 15: The Newport Spirit Bundle, 1700s

A small cloth sack, containing nails, beads, glass, and a cowrie shell, found under the floorboards of the garret of the oldest house in Newport, Rhode Island, points toward the continuation and adaptation of African practices in New England and throughout the complex “African Atlantic.” We discuss with Michael J. Simpson, Phd student at Brown University, who is researching slavery and the slave trade in Rhode Island.

Thank you to the Newport Historical Society for their help on this installment.

The Sabbatai Zevi Messianic Movement

I discuss, with Michael of “Xai, how are you?”, the life and times of Sabbatai Zvi, the purported messiah of the 1660s, and the massive messianic awakening that he sparked and that swept across the entire Jewish diaspora in 1666, drawing in men and women, wealthy and poor, clergy and laity, Sephardic and Ashkenazi, and even Jews and gentiles. We consider the development of messianic theology and kabbalah that paved the way for the Sabbatian movement, as well as the lasting imprint that it left on Judaism in the modern era.

The Voynich Manuscript, the “World’s Most Mysterious Book” – A Historian’s View – pt. 1

The Voynich Manuscript — often called the “world’s most mysterious book” — consists in 116 leaves of parchment covered in outlandish botanical and astrological drawings and thousands of lines of undeciphered text in an unknown language. A century after images of the codex were first published, still not one line has been decoded. What could it say? And more importantly from the historical perspective, who created it and why? This is the most balanced and impartial consideration of the evidence that you will find. In this first part, we consider the physical features and visual content of the book; in the second part, we will examine the mysterious text, and evidence as to its preovenance and chain of ownership.

Myth of the Month 15: “The State”

What did Shakespeare mean when he wrote that “something is rotten in the state of Denmark”? Why do we call independent countries “states” endowed with “sovereignty”? Why do historians and philosophers speak of “state formation” and clashes between “church and state”? How did these concepts come about, and what do they mean in international law and political theory? The answer runs from absolutist royal courts through the French Revolution and the Weimar republic of Germany; after centuries of struggle and democratization, the concept of “the state” has formed to fill the vacuum left behind by the Crown.

History of the United States in 100 Objects # 10: The Peregrine White Cradle, ca. 1620

Made of willow wicker on a wood frame, made ca. 1620, and most likely in the Netherlands – Allegedly brought on the Mayflower; held by the Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, Mass.

This rocking cradle was reportedly stowed on the Mayflower in anticipation of the birth of Peregrine White, the first English child born in New England, who came into the world as the ship was temporarily anchored in Provincetown Harbor. Passed down for centuries in the wealthy, powerful, and embattled White and Winslow families, the cradle reflects both the Pilgrims’ unprecedented ambition to create a self-perpatuating European society in exile, and their strict child-rearing practices that sought to shape the infant into a miniature adult.

Creating the Caribbean – The Colonial West Indies, pt. 1, 1496-1697

How did a chain of sparsely populated islands, stalked by earthquakes, hurricanes, and deadly tropical diseases, become the most powerful and prosperous colonies on earth? We trace how bands of adventurers, including pirates and Crusader knights, took advantage of Spain’s fragile hold on the Caribbean islands, superior seafaring skills, and the growing slave trade, to build unlikely new societies, while the Irish and African laborers that they forced into service adapted or struck out for freedom.

Myth of the Month 10, pt. 4: the Shakespeare Authorship Controversy

Unlocked for the public, after one year for patrons only, the final lecture of the series on Shakespeare: Could it be that “Shakespeare” wasn’t Shakespeare? — That someone else, perhaps a highly-educated aristocrat, actually wrote the works attributed to the actor from Stratford? Am I a crackpot for even entertaining such a ridiculous idea? We consider the evidence. I know this is an absurdly long one, but forgive me, it was so much fun to research and record.

Roots of Religion: The Early Church, pt. 2 – Houses Divided

How did the early church hammer out a shared set of practices and teachings out of the welter of confusion and bitter contestation among Montanists, Docetists, Donatists, Paulines, Gnostics, and Ebionites? Why did it take 300 years just for the church to settle on the “creed” that most of us now understand as the core of the faith?

Roots of Religion: The Early Church, pt. 1 – Christianity on the Road

How did a small movement of Jewish fanatics, devastated by the ignominious demise of their leader, rise to become the official state religion of the Roman empire, Armenia, Georgia, and Ethiopia? We trace the dramatic rise of the new faith through three centuries of preaching, prophesy, and persecution.

Becoming Modern: Age of Absolutism 3: Bourbon France, 1589-1789

When we speak of “absolutism,” most of us think immediately of Louis XIV, the Sun King, and his splendrous court at Versailles. But those glittering images cover over a centuries-long struggle by the Bourbon dynasty to consolidate power by forging quiet strategic alliances with the lower and middle classes against the nobility, building up a precarious potemkin village that would soon collapse under financial strain, throwing all of Europe into confusion.

Becoming Modern: Colonial Latin America – The Baroque Age, 1542-1764

How did a series of brutally conquered states and forced labor camps evolve over 200 years into a flourishing empire of trade, art, and culture? How did this new civilization manage land, money, and the status distinctions of ancestry and color? Why did Spanish America, one of the biggest imperial domains ever seen on earth, fail to benefit the mother country? And how did a cloistered nun in Mexico City come to be known as the first intellectual leading light of the Americas?

History of the United States in 100 Objects # 13: Dutch Iron Fireback with a Robed Figure

Made of cast iron, probably in the Netherlands, ca. 1650 – found at the Schuyler Flatts, Colonie, New York – held by the New York State Museum.

A mysterious fragment of an iron fireback found near the hearth of an old manor house in what was New Netherlands shows how we have misunderstood the Dutch – a people who strove for stability, domesticity, and traditional social hierarchy to link their far-flung colonies with the homeland.

England, Interrupted: The Interregnum and Restoration, 1650-1685

What happened to England in the power vacuum left in the wake of the execution of Charles I? Why were the Puritans, so pious in morals and strict in governance, unable to create a lasting Commonwealth? And why did the return of the monarchy unleash a wave of lewd hedonism that is shocking even more than three centuries later? The explosion of empire, the slave trade, religious toleration, the modern metropolis of London, and the enshrinement of theater as the English national art form, and the consitutional balance of power still in place in both Britain and the United States all have their roots in the tumultuous years from 1650 to 1685; if there is any period of English history that you must know in order to understand the present, it is this one.

Myth of the Month 13: Feudalism

Feudalism – it’s what they did in the Middle Ages! Nobles controlled the land and extracted labor from the serfs, and everyone from peasants to great lords was arranged in a big hierarchical pyramid leading up to the king. Or were they? We examine the ambiguities inherent in the idea of “feudalism,” and the reasons why it simply cannot hold up to examination against the historical record. Finally, we consider why the myth of feudalism developed and has persisted as a way of justifying the inequalities of our own era.

Becoming Modern: Scientific Revolution, Part 2 – The New Powers, 1660-1800

How did the Restoration of the English monarchy and the dawn of empire set the stage for the peculiar set of practices and assumptions that we now call “science,” and how did they begin to unlock powerful secrets of the earth, the heavens, fire, and steam? And why did John Locke kind of secretly hate Isaac Newton? Image: “An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump,” by Joseph Wright, 1768How did the Restoration of the English monarchy and the dawn of empire set the stage for the peculiar set of practices and assumptions that we now call “science,” and how did they begin to unlock powerful secrets of the earth, the heavens, fire, and steam? And why did John Locke kind of secretly hate Isaac Newton?

The Middle Ages: Anglo-Saxon England and the Vikings, 757-1066

How did a set of seven fractious kingdoms unite into a new kingdom, known as “England,” while under almost constant attack by Viking berserkers from across the North Sea?

The Origins of Policing – from the Middle Ages to the First World War

Why do we have uniformed officers called “police” who do things (like patrolling streets and investigating missing persons) that we call “policing”? We trace the evolution of law enforcement over the past two hundred years in response to urban growth, immigration, and labor unrest, and the struggles over who controls the police and their activities.

The Trials of Bolivia: A Conversation with Oliver Rhoads Murphey

Why did the US government support and supply substantial aid to a left-wing revolutionary government in Bolivia in the 1950s, at the same time that it was undermining or overthrowing similar regimes in other nations? What does this striking but forgotten incident reveal about American ambitions in Latin America? And what light does it shed on the strife engulfing Bolivia today, after yet another elected leader has been forced out of power? We discuss and find context with Oliver Rhodes Murphey, whose dissertation seeks to solve the puzzle of American involvement in the heart of Andean South America.

History of the United States in 100 Objects #8: Pueblo Communion Chalice

Unlocked for the public after 1 year:
-Ceramic chalice, decorated in Jemez black-on-white style, with crosses
-made in pueblo of Giusewa, between 1598 and the 1630s
-found in the ruins of the Spanish mission at Giusewa, 1937

A simple pottery chalice, probably made by a local indigenous woman, reveals the early stages of interaction between Spanish missionaries and the ancient Pueblo civilization — an intermingling that would lead to conflict, and eventually, a massive revolt that some have called “the first American Revolution.”

Myth of the Month 12: The Arthur Cycle – pt. 2: The Rise and Fall of Camelot

When Jackie Kennedy told reporters that she and the late President used to listen to the soundtrack of the musical “Camelot,” the word immediately caught on as the name for the Kennedy White House — portrayed as a brief, golden period of wise rule, ended by tragedy. More than a thousand years’ worth of romantic associations could be evoked with three simple syllables. In this second segment, we consider how the chivalric legend of the Round Table and the Court of Camelot was conceived and elaborated, from French courtly romances, through the first English Arthurian epic of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, to the popular novels, plays, and movies of the modern times.

Myth of the Month 12: The Arthur Cycle – pt. 1: Creating “King Arthur”

Why does the earliest known picture of King Arthur show him riding on a goat and charging towards a deadly cat-monster? How has the tale of King Arthur and his knights evolved since it first emerged from Celtic folklore? We consider the shaping of the Arthur story from the songs of mysterious Welsh and Breton bards to the high medieval romances of French courtier-poets.

Myth of the Month 8: “The West”

After one year on Patreon for patrons only, Myth of the Month #8 becomes open to the public:

The notion that there is a coherent society that can be called “the West” or “Western Civilization” — running from Greco-Roman antiquity to modern North America — originated during the upheaval of World War I, thanks to an eccentric German history teacher named Oswald Spengler. We consider whether any common thread or trait can be said to unite “the West,” and why different nations like Egypt or Poland get tossed in or out of the basket of “the West” at different times. Finally, we consider why the idea of “the West” is often linked to conspiracy theories involving Jews, Marxists, post-modernists, or Jewish-Marxist-banker-Freemason-postmodernists. (Yes, I make an oblique reference here to Jordan Peterson.)

The Middle Ages: Crossing the Waters – Britain in the Dark Age

Romans, Brythons, Picts, Angles, Gaels, Saxons, and Jutes — how did this kaleidoscopic welter of contending tribes crystallize into the medieval Christian kingdoms we know as England and Scotland? We consider the most tumultuous and mysterious period in British history, following the Roman withdrawal, as locals and Germanic migrants sought to assert power and maintain stability. Despite the great uncertainty, Britons mastered new knowledge, developed a poetic tradition, and passed on an enduring romance around the sacred power of water. Image: 6th-century Anglo-Saxon inlaid gold disk brooch, found in gravesite in Kent. Image courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art.

History of the United States in 100 Objects # 11: Human-Effigy War Club, ca. 1640s

Made of Hickory wood, shells, and copper on the Atlantic coast of North America, ca. 1640s, and held in the collection of Skokloster Castle, Sweden.

This elaborately carved and ornamented wooden weapon was most likely ceremonial, created by a Lenape Indian artist to represent the authority of a chieftain or warrior. But how did this priceless Native American artifact end up in the collection of a castle in Sweden? This object and its journey tell a largely forgotten story of Sweden’s moment of imperial glory and ambition in the mid-1600s, which left a mysterious imprint in North America.

The Spanish Flu, pt. 2 – The Great Flu and Modern Memory, 1920-2020

What is the legacy of the greatest pandemic to hit the globe in the past two centuries, carrying away 3% of the entire human race? What has been its after-life through the past century?What health and psychological impacts did it leave behind? What are the enduring questions and mysteries that science and history must unravel? And how has our art, literature, and popular culture remembered — or more often, forgotten — this great disaster?In this first installment on the great Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-20, we consider the staggering scope and deep reach of the viral disease that swept the world three times, infecting one third of humankind and killing more people than the World War that nonetheless overshadowed it in the public mind. The second installment will consider the lingering impacts of the pandemic, its enduring mysteries, and the possible reasons it has been forgotten.

The Spanish Flu, pt. 1 – A World in Ashes, 1918-1920

In this first installment on the great Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-20, we consider the staggering scope and deep reach of the viral disease that swept the world three times, infecting one third of humankind and killing more people than the World War that nonetheless overshadowed it in the public mind. The second installment will consider the lingering impacts of the pandemic, its enduring mysteries, and the possible reasons it has been forgotten.

Myth of the Month 11: The “1619 Project” and the place of slavery in American history

The 1619 Project — an essay collection published in last August’s New York Times magazine — has ignited intense debate about American history, raging outside the walls of academia. Commemorating the 400th anniversary of the first African captives landing in Virginia, the various authors the case for the central importance of slavery and African-Americans to the meaning of America. We examine how the project reinforces the traditional myths of American exceptionalism and continual progress, while casting African-Americans in the starring role of Whig history, as the embattled tribe leading the quest towards liberty.

Through a Glass Darkly: The 1980s in Current Television – A Conversation with Sonia Saraiya of Vanity Fair

What’s with the spate of 1980s themes on current “prestige” television? Is it Gen. X. nostalgia for their youthful days in suburban malls? Or something more? Television critic Sonia Saraiya discusses how our unresolved identity crises seem to have led us into a fascination with the last years of the Cold War, and with the secret mistakes and machinations that took place on both sides of the old Iron Curtain. (Also listen for contributions from Kali the cat.)
The pledges for this instalment will be split evenly between the two collaborators.
Television series discussed: “The Americans,” “Stranger Things,” “When They See Us,” “Chernobyl,” “Leaving Neverland”Correction: The famous quote that nuclear power is “a hell of a way to boil water” comes from journalist Karl Grossman’s 1980 book, “Cover Up.”

Back to the Dark Age – How People Adapted to the Fall of the Roman Empire

What did people do when the Roman empire fall apart around them? Recent scholarship, based on new archeological discoveries and techniques, argues that in the “dark” centuries between 450 and 750 AD, the people of western Europe, from conquering kings to ordinary peasants, improvised new political alliances, maintained law and order, improved the productivity of their land, and invented new crafts and art forms, building a resilient and inventive society on the foundations (often literally) of the old.

History of the United States in 100 Objects # 6: Bronze Cannon with Fleur-de-Lis Emblem, 1540s

About 10 ft. long-made in France, ca. 1540s-lost in shipwreck, ca. 1562-5, Located on bottom of the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Canaveral.

We examine the mysteries surrounding a French bronze cannon recently discovered on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean near Florida, amidst the wreckage of an unidentified sixteenth-century fleet. The cannon and other artifacts are rare, priceless remnants of French Protestants’ ill-fated attempts to colonize North America before the Spanish, and their discovery sparked a heated international legal dispute. The mysterious shipwreck gives us a window into a rare moment when Europe’s vicious religious wars spilled over into the Americas.

Beyond Plymouth Rock: The Deep Beginnings of New England – A Conversation with Michael J. Simpson

Anticipating the 400th anniversary of the foundation of Plymouth colony, Michael J. Simpson and I discuss the deep background of the creation of “New England” — the long history of contact, exchange, violence, disease, and acculturation among indigenous and European peoples, both before and after 1620, that created a complex creolized world before any Puritans were even on the scene. Michael’s instagram: @hiddenhistoryri (Payment for this installment will be split between the two collaborators)

Myth of the Month 6: Political Left and Right

Unlocked after one year for patrons only, a discussion of our fixation with organizing political views into an axis “left” against “right”:

As new political parties — left-populists, neo-fascists, and secessionists — rapidly rise and fall across Europe and other Western countries, and spontaneous protests blur partisan boundaries in the streets of Paris, the old left-to-right scale of political ideology is just not working. What value does this one-dimensional model of politics have, and where did it come from? In fact, it has to do with where you sit at a formal dinner party.

Myth of the Month 10: Who Was Shakespeare? – pt. 3: “The Maiden’s Organ”

How could Shakespeare have possibly allowed his sonnets — personal, sexual, and often scandalous — to be published? I advance my own theory to account for the printing of the most shocking book of poetry in the history of literature, and discuss the possibilities as to the identities of the alluring Young Man and Dark Lady. Finally, we consider the light that the Sonnets shed upon Shakespeare’s plays, particularly his obsession with gender ambiguity and androgyny.

Poems analyzed in this lecture: 17, 20, 135, 136

CORRECTION: In thanking my patrons at the end of this episode, I mistakenly referred to “Christopher Grant” instead of “Christopher Grady.” Apologies and thanks.

Myth of the Month 10: Who Was Shakespeare? – pt. 2: “Comfort and Despair”

What do Shakespeare’s sonnets actually say? What can they tell us about the life or character of the man who penned them? Not only romantic and philosophical, the sonnets are erotic, desperate, and often angry, laced with shocking sexual imagery and emotional confession; as a group, they break all conventions of Elizabethan poetry, and trace the ghostly outline of two passionate affairs — one a brief, tawdry fling with a mature voluptuous woman, and one a long, fraught relationship with an androgynous young man. This will be followed by a discussion of the publication of the sonnets, the possible identities of the “Dark Lady” and “Fair Youth,” and their relation to the plays; and then by a discussion of the “authorship controversy.”

Myth of the Month 10: Who Was Shakespeare? – pt. 1: The Monument and the Man

Who was William Shakespeare? He is far more elusive, and his life more obscure, than his fans and biographers will admit. We consider the massive, bloated mythology that has built up around the great Bard over the centuries, and then examine the remarkably scant surviving documentary records from the writer’s own lifetime, which tend to paint a both bizarre and unflattering picture. The first of three installments examining the reality of Shakespeare.

History of the United States in 100 Objects # 9: Bartmann Jug with Guelph Coat-of-Arms, 1600-1610

Made of salt-glazed stoneware, in Frechen, Germany, ca. 1605–Found at James Fort, Jamestown, Virginia–Held in Collection of Historic Jamestowne.

In some ways, this Bartmann (or “Bearded Man”) stoneware beer jug with an effigy of a jovial fat man and coats of arms is typical of the wares that poured our of Germany in the 1600s, several of which were found in the long-lost ruins of James Fort, the first English fortress at Jamestown. On the other hand, a peculiar feature of its decorative crest suggests possible hidden meanings, hinting at secret Catholic sympathies threatening England’s first serious effort to colonize the New World.

Becoming Modern: The Road to Civil War – Class Conflict and Constitutional Crisis in Stuart England, 1603-1650

Struggles between chief executives and legislatures are dominating the news on both sides of the Atlantic, as Americans debate impeachment and the UK is engulfed by a Brexistential crisis. Most of the terms and precedents for these struggles go back to the 1600s and King Charles I’s efforts to govern without the support of Parliament, which led to political backlash, civil war, and social upheaval from the halls of Westminster to the smallest peasant farmsteads.

Myth of the Month 9: The US Constitution and the Origins of the Senate and Electoral College

Why does our government work the way it does? Is it supposed to represents citizens, or states? We consider the origins of the U. S. Constitution, particularly the creation of the controversial bodies (Senate and Electoral College) that represent the public in skewed and disproportionate ways. We dispel the false notion that these bodies were created in order to protect small states, tracing instead the Framers’ quest to tamp down the “excess of democracy” of the 1780s, wrest control over monetary policy away from the poor majority, and strike a careful balance between slave and non-slave states.

History of the United States in 100 Objects # 4: The Maine Norse Coin

After one year, my lecture on the only authentic pre-Columbian European artifact ever found in the United States becomes public.

Created in Norway, 1069-1080 AD, during reign of King Olaf Kyrre
–Made of silver alloy
–Found at Goddard Site, Naskeag Point, Maine, dated 1100s-1200s AD

The only authentic Norse artifact ever found in the United States, this small silver coin dated to the 11th century may be an elaborate hoax, or a crucial clue to trade and contact between Europe and America in the centuries between the fall of Vinland and the arrival of Columbus.

In the Ocean of Land: The History of Central Asia – pt. 2

We trace how the conquests of the infamous Tamerlane, the “great game” of imperial rivalry, and the revolutions of modern Russia shaped the map of central Asia that we see today. We consider how contemporary central Asians try to navigate the dangerous shoals of environmental disaster and rampant corruption, often while tethered to older Islamic, Turko-Mongolic, and nomadic traditions — particularly in the looming shadow of a resurgent China.

In the Ocean of Land: The History of Central Asia – pt. 1

We consider the vast sweep of Central Asian history, from the first nomads to tame the horse and gain mastery of the steppes, to the splendrous cities of the first Silk Road, to the rise of Ghenghis Khan. Few Westerners learn the dizzyingly complex and tumultuous history of Central Asia, even though it forms the linchpin connecting all the major civilizations of the Old World, from Europe to Persia to China. Finally, we consider the unsettling paradox of the Mongol empire, which fostered a vibrant cosmopolitanism at the same time that it brutally repressed subject peoples.

The Middle Ages: Freemasonry – Its Origins, Its Myths, and Its Rituals

Freemasonry: What is it? Where does it come from? What is one taught as a Freemason? What do they do in their closed-door rituals — and why? Freemasonry in the 1700s is my own field of research, and as a thank-you for reaching 50 patrons, I give a deep illumination of this unusual Society’s roots in the gatherings of stonemasons in the late Middle Ages, its mythical connections to Solomon’s Temple and the Crusades, and its elaborate system of symbols and initiatory rituals, which cast the Masons as a quasi-priestly caste with a shamanic connection to the world of the dead.

Myth of the Month 4: Secularization – or, Send in the Nones!

We examine the long-debated “secularization thesis” — ie, the notion that as societies modernize they become less religious. From Max Weber’s belief that science and rationality disenchant the world, to Charles Taylor’s and other current scholars’ argument that religious views have become relative and debatable where in the past they were taken for granted, the secularization thesis has evolved and adapted with the times. We carefully examine Pew Research data showing that education does not particularly correlate with loss of religious commitment, especially among Christians, and observe that instead, a new, younger generation of “nones” has given up on traditional institutions even as they remain interested in religious ideas and practices. We also uncover some of the long history of skeptical and even atheistic ideas in the West running back to the 1600s and earlier, which suggest that our own day is not necessarily any more “secular” than what came before.

Becoming Modern: Age of Absolutism 2 – Tudor England, 1485-1603

We follow the five Tudor monarchs’ struggle to consolidate power in royal hands and forestall a collapse back into the civil wars that ravaged England in the 1400s. Beyond the soap operas of Henry VIII’s marriages or Elizabeth’s love affairs, we consider the real workings of power, money, and propaganda as England rises from a European backwater to a commercial powerhouse and leader of the Protestant world, especially as seen from the viewpoint of the Dudleys, the longest-surviving family of royal consiglieri operating behind the Tudor throne.

History of the United States in 100 Objects # 7: The Dorion Mission Seal, ca. 1680s

Seal stamp, made of Bronze, with image of St. Catherine of Alexandria, made in Spain, ca. 1680s, possibly earlier-used by Santa Catalina de Guale mission, in Georgia and Florida, and found on Amelia Island, Florida. The only surviving Spanish mission seal ever found in the United States, this small bronze stamp was once the critical link to Spain’s northernmost mission in America. Small enough to sit in the palm of the hand, the Dorion mission seal encapsulates a history of religious zealotry, conversion, and inter-imperial struggle in what is now the American southeast.

History of the United States in 100 Objects # 2: Statuette of a Farming Goddess, ca. 1100 AD

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Found in Monroe County, Illinois, made of bauxite or “flint clay”, dated to early 12th century AD. We consider the statuette of a woman tearing into the back of a serpent (known to archaeologists as the Birger Figurine), which was found broken in pieces and buried in a pit outside of a small village site in Illinois. The figurine, despite its small size and condition, is the most exquisite piece of art surviving from the Mississippian civilization, a massive and powerful urban society that dominated the interior of North America for more than three hundred years before falling into decline and obscurity. The statuette most likely represents a goddess of death and rebirth that presided over the Mississippians’ prosperous golden age.

Special Comment: Monarchy, Magic, and the Modern Romance of “Game of Thrones”

Two secret informants and I continue our conversation stemming from Game of Thrones, wherein we consider the relationship of monarchy and magic to the malaise of modern life. Why did British rulers claim the power to heal the sick by the touch of a hand, and why did a group of Scottish students in the 1950s break into Westminster Abbey to steal a 300-pound slab of sandstone called the “Stone of Destiny”? More broadly, why are modern people still obsessed with stories of kings and queens, and why do we tune in by the millions to see a royal wedding? The furor over Game of Thrones is just the latest demonstration that monarchy serves as a symbolic anchor in a chaotic world, and the desire for such an anchor is just as strong today as it was in the depth of the Dark Age.

History as it Happens: Notre Dame and the Nine Lives of Gothic Cathedrals

We put the disastrous fire at Notre Dame de Paris into historical perspective — by considering the history of Gothic cathedrals, their cosmic religious meanings, and their remarkably powerful and mysterious construction. How did medieval builders create these massive, complex structures without steel, steam power, electricity, or even written plans? We also follow the tumultuous experiences of Notre Dame itself, the social and symbolic center of Paris–from religious riots and Revolutionary iconoclasm to malign neglect and controversial restorations. Finally, we consider the resilience of Gothic buildings through fire, lightning, earthquake, war, and revolution, and ask what other important monuments or community buildings we should support in our own communities.

Milestone: 2 Years of Constant Historiansplaining

I take stock of the growth and reach of the podcast, Historiansplaining, who is listening, who is contributing, and how I seem to be especially appealing to Canadians. I preview possible upcoming topics, such as Central Asia and the U.S. Constitution.

Myth of the Month 2: The Exodus

We examine the origins and the political and theological meanings of the myth of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt. We consider the possible real historical events that might underly the exodus story, including the argument put forward in Richard Elliot Friedman’s new book, The Exodus. Finally, we trace some of the many ways that peoples around the world, from the early Christians to Rastafaris, have adopted the exodus myth and cast themselves as the new Israelites.