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History, when you think about it, is for today. This is a historian's podcast about some of my work on history, some on teaching, some of my own research, some learning about new tools, apps, and workflows. Enjoy!

Dan Allosso


    • Sep 14, 2024 LATEST EPISODE
    • every other week NEW EPISODES
    • 16m AVG DURATION
    • 323 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from History4Today

    Braiding Sweetgrass, Meeting 1

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 14, 2024 121:03


    First meeting to discuss Robin Wall Kimmerer's book, Braiding Sweetgrass. I was much more impressed with the quality of both the writing and the ideas than I had expected to be. We cover most of the first section in this talk and spend some time on the themes of gifts, thankfulness, subjectivity, wild strawberries, and nut trees.

    The Science of Reading, Meeting #6

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 12, 2024 122:27


    This is the final meeting of the discussion of Adrian John's book, which we had on August 31st.

    Modern World History Introduction

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 26, 2024 36:18


    US History 2, Chapter 1

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 26, 2024 62:01


    The first unit of my Fall 2024 US History 2 course, titled "Capital and Labor".

    1875-Proposed Intervention in Cuba

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 8, 2024 9:09


    Primary Source Excerpt

    Science of Reading Meeting #2

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 3, 2024 114:10


    We discuss the first and second chapters of Adrian Johns' recent book. Some of the topics include the late-19th-century panic over the exhausting effects of “unnatural” reading and neurasthenia, other technologies (of both acquiring knowledge and making notes) and their advantages and disadvantages, saccades and thought, the strange misuse of the incorrect theory or recapitulation, and the general weirdness of how close reading science was to eugenics and social Darwinism.

    The Science of Reading, Meeting #3

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 3, 2024 98:00


    In this talk we cover the third and fourth chapters of Adrians Johns' book. The things that stood out to me were more about the social importance of reading rather than the research technologies and data collected. There was a profound anxiety that an American public that wasn't literate would not be up to the challenges of the 20th century. There's an explicit connection here to Mortimer Adler's idea of the Great Books helping people prepare to be better citizens, and Johns actually mentions Adler in Chapter 4. To watch a video of this conversation, visit https://open.substack.com/pub/danallosso/p/science-of-reading-meeting-3?r=i937&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

    The Science of Reading, Meeting 1

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 20, 2024 130:21


    After a couple weeks break while I moved into my apartment in Saint Paul, the Saturday Book Club reconvened to begin discussing Adrian Johns' 2023 book, The Science of Reading: Information, Media & Mind in Modern America. Although I had originally been a bit skeptical, I'm enjoying this book. We discussed languages and reading, the particularity of the reading experience, a bit of book history, the fact that this was a COVID book, Jacques Barzun, Eric Weinstein, Richard Dawkins, Thomas Kuhn, Michio Kaku, and the problem of creating collegiality in a remote and increasingly asynchronous learning environment.

    Dawn of Everything Book Club, Meeting 1

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 27, 2024 100:06


    Our first book club meeting, to discuss David Graeber and David Wengrow's book, The Dawn of Everything, in December 2021.

    US History II, Chapter 1

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 10, 2024 84:15


    This is an audio version of the first chapter of my Open Textbook, US History II: Gilded Age to Present. You can read along at https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/ushistory2/chapter/chapter-1/

    Surrender of Lee (1865)

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 26, 2023 9:30


    Source: Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs (1886), II, 483-496. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/436/mode/2up  

    Among the Freedmen (1864)

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 26, 2023 7:21


    Source: Elizabeth Hyde Botume, First Days Amongst the Contrabands (1893), 82-129. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/444/mode/2up  

    March to the Sea (1864)

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 26, 2023 9:17


    Source: General William Tecumseh Sherman, Memoirs (1875), II, 171-90. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/428/mode/2up  

    Voting By Classes (1863)

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 26, 2023 6:38


    Source: Daily Sun (Columbus, Georgia), October 13, 1863, quoted in Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove, Voices of a People's History of the United States.

    The Draft Riot (1863)

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 26, 2023 10:53


    Source: Anna E. Dickinson, What Answer? (1868), 243-257. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/376/mode/2up  

    Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg (1863)

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 20, 2023 9:32


    Source: James Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox (1896), 385-395. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/372/mode/2up  

    On the Firing Line (1863)

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 9, 2023 7:22


    Source: James K. Hosmer, The Color-Guard (1864), 187-195. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/264/mode/2up  

    Antietam (1862)

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 9, 2023 10:04


    Source: George Washburn Smalley in New York Daily Tribune, September 20, 1862. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/346/mode/2up  

    Rising of the People (1861)

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 9, 2023 9:46


    Source: Mary A. Livermore, My Story of the War (1889), 86-96. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/220/mode/2up  

    Principles of the Confederacy (1861)

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 8, 2023 10:44


    Source: Jefferson Davis, in The War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Fourth Series (1900), I, 104-106. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/188/mode/2up  

    No Extension of Slavery (1860-61)

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 8, 2023 5:11


    Source: Abraham Lincoln, Complete Works (1894), I, 657-669. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/202/mode/2up  

    Crisis in South Carolina (1860)

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 7, 2023 10:47


    Source: Samuel Wylie Crawford, The Genesis of the Civil War (1887), 47-55. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/182/mode/2up  

    Southern "Opponent" of Secession (1860)

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 7, 2023 9:14


    Source: Alexander H. Stephens, A Constitutional View of the late War between the States (1870), II, 279-299. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/164/mode/2up  

    Result of the Election (1860)

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 7, 2023 5:02


    Source: Senator John Sherman, letter to William Tecumseh Sherman, The Sherman Letters, 1837-1891 (1894), 85-88. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/162/mode/2up  

    A Warning (1876)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2023 8:50


    Source: Speech of Horatio Seymour to New York Electoral Commission (1876) quoted in John Bigelow, The Life of Samuel J. Tilden (1895), 84-9. https://archive.org/details/lifesamtilden02bigerich/page/84/mode/2up  

    samuel j tilden
    Electoral Crisis (1877)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2023 8:05


    Source: Almira Russell Hancock, Reminiscences of Winfield Scott Hancock (1887), 152-157. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/504/mode/2up

    Battle of the Little Big Horn (1876)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2023 9:06


    Source: "Battle of the Little Bighorn, Narrated by an Indian Who Fought in It", by Two Moons in  McClure's Magazine, September, 1898.  http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/twomoonslittlebighorn.html

    The Tidal Wave (1874)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2023 10:15


    Source: Hilary A. Herbert and others, Why the Solid South? or Reconstruction and its Results (1890), 61-69. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/500/mode/2up

    Ku-Klux Klan (1871)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2023 6:50


    Source: House Reports, 42nd Congress, 2nd session (1872), II, pt. 1, 48-49. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/494/mode/2up  

    Fifteenth Amendment (1869)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2023 7:23


    Source: Henry Wilson in Appendix to the Congressional Globe, 40th Congress, 3rd session (1869), 153-154, February 8, 1869. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/492/mode/2up  

    Completion of the Pacific Railroad (1869)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2023 7:43


    Source: Henry Varnum Poor, Annual of the Railroads of the United States, 1869-1874 (1869), xlvi-xlviii. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/514/mode/2up  

    Arraignment of Reconstruction (1868)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2023 9:05


    Source: Samuel J. Tilden, Writings and Speeches (1885), I, 399-407. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/474/mode/2up  

    Eligibility of Colored Members to Seats (1868)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2023 9:33


    Source: Henry McNeal Turner, "On the Eligibility of Colored Members to Seats in the Georgia Legislature" (September 3, 1868). http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/mcnealturnergeorgialeg.html

    Fourteenth Amendment (1866)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2023 9:43


    Source: Thaddeus Stevens in Congressional Globe, 39th Congress, 1st session (1866), 2459-2460, May 8, 1866. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/482/mode/2up

    The South As It Is (1865-66)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2023 9:33


    Source: Edwin Lawrence Godkin, The Nation (1865, 1866), I, 209-210; II, 110-173. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/448/mode/2up  

    Presidential Reconstruction (1866)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2023 9:15


    Source: "President's Policy" by Andrew Johnson in the Daily National Intelligencer, February 23, 1866. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/468/mode/2up  

    Adoption of the 13th Amendment (1865)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2023 8:18


    Source: Horace Greeley, The New York Daily Tribune, February 1, 1865. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/464/mode/2up

    Mississippi Black Codes (1865)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2023 11:00


    Source: Laws of the State of Mississippi, Passed at a Regular Session of the Mississippi Legislature, held in Jackson, October, November and December, 1865 (1866) 82-93, 165-167 http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/mississippiblackcode.html

    An Impartial View (1865)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2023 10:17


    Source: Report by General Carl Schurz, Senate Executive Documents, 39th Congress, 1st session (1866), I, No. 2, 13-40. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/452/mode/2up

    John Brown Broke the Laws (1859)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2023 9:00


    Source: New York Herald, October 21, 1859. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/146/mode/2up  

    A Slave Auction (1859)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2023 11:03


    Source: Horace Greeley, New-York Daily Tribune, March 9, 1859. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/74/mode/2up  

    Cotton is King (1858)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2023 10:51


    Source: Senate speech by James Henry Hammond, https://civilwarcauses.org/King%20Cotton%20speech.htm  

    The Irrepressible Conflict (1858)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2023 9:56


    Source: William H. Seward, The Irrepressible Conflict: a Speech Delivered at Rochester (1858), 1-7. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/138/mode/2up  

    A House Divided (1858)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2023 8:14


    Source: Abraham Lincoln, Complete Works (1894), I, 240-243. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/136/mode/2up  

    Impending Crisis of the South (1857)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2023 8:03


    Source: Hinton Rowan Helper, The Impending Crisis of the South (1857), http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/impendingcrisissouthhelper.html

    Dred Scott Decision Reviewed (1857)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2023 10:46


    Source: Thomas H. Benton, Historical and Legal Examination . . . of the Decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the Dred Scott Case (1857), 4-96. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/132/mode/2up  

    Dred Scott Decision (1857)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2023 9:58


    Source: Dred Scott v. Sandford, in Samuel F. Miller, Reports of Decisions in the Supreme Court of the United States (1875), II, 6-56. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/126/mode/2up  

    Civil War in Kansas (1856)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2023 10:45


    Source: Thomas H. Gladstone, The Englishman in Kansas; or, Squatter Life and Border Warfare (1857), 22-66. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/114/mode/2up  

    Fourth of July Address at Reidsville (1854)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2023 10:54


    Source: John Wannuaucon Quinney, From Great Documents in American Indian History, Edited by Moquin, Wayne and Charles Van Doren (1973). History is a Weapon, http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/johnquinney1854fourthofjulyaddress.html  

    Slavery a Positive Good (1854)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 19, 2023 10:16


    Source: B. F. Stringfellow, Negro-Slavery, no Evil (1854), 9-35. https://archive.org/details/americanhistoryt00ivunse/page/68/mode/2up  

    What, To a Slave, Is the Fourth of July? (1852)

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 15, 2023 10:16


    Source: BlackPast, B. (2007, January 24). (1852) Frederick Douglass, “What, To The Slave, Is The Fourth Of July”. BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/speeches-african-american-history/1852-frederick-douglass-what-slave-fourth-july/  

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