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President Trump wants to end birthright citizenship as part of his multifront campaign to close American society to foreigners. A federal judge has temporarily blocked his executive order attempting to abolish part of the Constitution -- Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment. The case may ultimately reach the Supreme Court, more than 150 years after the states ratified the transformative amendment that "transcended race and region, it challenged legal discrimination throughout the nation, and changed and broadened the meaning of freedom for all Americans," in the words of eminent historian Eric Foner. In this episode, Foner delves into the origins of this enduring American conflict over rights and citizenship. Recommended reading: Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution 1863-1877 by Eric Foner (book) A Look Back at the Wong Kim Ark Decision by Scott Bomboy of the National Constitution Center (article)
This week we return to one of the first HATM Podcasts about one of the first films we ever did on the Historians At The Movies watch party: Lincoln. Joining us are two of the most dynamic historians working today: Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky and Dr. Megan Kate Nelson. We get into Lincoln's presidency, the role of his cabinet, as well as somehow ranking the hottest presidents. This one is a ride. About our guests:Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky is a presidential historian and the Executive Director of the George Washington Presidential Library. She is the author of the award-winning book, The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, co-editor of Mourning the Presidents: Loss and Legacy in American Culture, and Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic. She regularly writes for public audiences in the Wall Street Journal, Ms. Magazine, The Daily Beast, The Bulwark, Time Magazine, USA Today, CNN, and the Washington Post.Dr. Megan Kate Nelson is a writer, historian, road cyclist, and cocktail enthusiast. She is also the 2024-2025 Rogers Distinguished Fellow in 19th-Century American History at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. While she is there, she will be finishing her new book, “The Westerners: The Creation of America's Most Iconic Region.” She is the author of The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West (Scribner, 2020), which was a Finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in History. Her most recent book, Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America was published by Scribner on March 1, 2022, the 150th anniversary of the Yellowstone Act, which created the first national park in the world. Saving Yellowstone has won the 2023 Spur Award for Historical Nonfiction, and is one of Smithsonian Magazine‘s Top Ten Books in History for 2022.
This week Megan Kate Nelson and Kate Carpenter drop in to talk about Kevin Costner's new American epic, Horizon. Our reviews (and our drinks) are mixed but this is such a fun episode as we talk not only about where Horizon succeeds and fails but also about what Costner's career has to say about The West in general. This one is fun.About our guests:Megan Kate Nelson is a writer, historian, road cyclist, and cocktail enthusiast.And starting in September, she will be the 2024-2025 Rogers Distinguished Fellow in 19th-Century American History at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. While she is there, she will be finishing her new book, “The Westerners: The Creation of America's Most Iconic Region.” She is the author of The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West (Scribner, 2020), which was a Finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in History.Her most recent book, Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America was published by Scribner on March 1, 2022, the 150th anniversary of the Yellowstone Act, which created the first national park in the world. Saving Yellowstone has won the 2023 Spur Award for Historical Nonfiction, and is one of Smithsonian Magazine‘s Top Ten Books in History for 2022. She is an expert in the history of the American Civil War, the U.S. West, and popular culture, and have written articles about these topics for The New York Times, Washington Post, TIME, The Atlantic, Slate, and Smithsonian Magazine.Kate Carpenter is a PhD candidate in History of Science at Princeton University whose research focuses on the intersection of environmental history and history of science. Her dissertation is a social and scientific history of storm chasing in the United States since the 1950s. It draws on archival sources, scientific publications, photographs and videos created by storm chasers, popular culture, and oral histories to examine how both professional meteorologists and weather enthusiasts created a community that became central both to our understanding of severe storms and to the cultural identity of the Great Plains.Kate holds a 2023-2024 Charlotte Elizabeth Proctor Honorific Fellowship from Princeton University. From 2022-2023, her work was supported by the Graduate Fellowship in the History of Science from the American Meteorological Society, and in 2021-2022 she held the Taylor-Wei Dissertation Research Fellowship in the History of Meteorology from the University of Oklahoma History of Science. She has also been awarded travel fellowships including the Andrew W. Mellon Travel Fellowship from the University of Oklahoma, the Summer Dissertation Grant from the Princeton American Studies program, and two awards with outstanding merit from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Women's Council Graduate Assistance Fund.
On the next Charlotte Talks: A look back at Reconstruction — the period that followed our civil war — in a conversation with writers for The Atlantic, which has devoted an entire issue examining the importance of that period and how it informs our lives today.
Episode 068 – Bertis English Recipient of the 2023 C.J. Coley Award from Alabama Historical Association Air Date: November 8, 2023 Dr. Bertis English, professor of history at Alabama State University, discusses his book, Civil Wars, Civil Beings, and Civil Rights in Alabama's Black Belt: A History of Perry County (University of Alabama Press, 2020) that won the Alabama Historical Association's 2023 C.J. Coley Award for the best book on local history published in the previous two years. English argues that African American agency and the power of interracial citizens made the history of Perry County, AL, significantly different from the orthodox understanding of the Black Belt's history from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement as one of relentless racial strife and oppression. Links to things mentioned in the episode: Alabama Historical Association www.alabamahistory.net/ AHA's Clinton Jackson Coley Award https://www.alabamahistory.net/clinton-jackson-coley-book-award Civil Wars, Civil Beings, and Civil Rights in Alabama's Black Belt https://www.uapress.ua.edu/9780817320690/civil-wars-civil-beings-and-civil-rights-in-alabamas-black-belt/ Perry County https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/perry-county/ Marion, AL https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/marion/ Uniontown, AL https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/uniontown/ The Dunning School https://slaveryexhibits.ctl.columbia.edu/exhibits/show/williamdunning Alabama's Tragic Decade [John Witherspoon Dubose at BhamWiki] https://www.bhamwiki.com/w/John_DuBose Sarah W. Wiggins, The Scalawag in Alabama Politics https://www.uapress.ua.edu/9780817305574/the-scalawag-in-alabama-politics-18651881/ W.E.B. Du Bois, Black Reconstruction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Reconstruction_in_America Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction:_America%27s_Unfinished_Revolution,_1863%E2%80%931877 Lincoln School https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/lincoln-school/ Judson College https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/judson-college/ Howard College (Samford University) https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/samford-university/ Journal of African American History https://asalh.org/document/journal-of-african-american-history/ Rather read? Here's a link to the transcript: https://tinyurl.com/3968ebuc *Just a heads up – the provided transcript is likely to be less than 100% accurate. The Alabama History Podcast's producer is Marty Olliff and its associate producer is Laura Murray. Founded in 1947, the Alabama Historical Association is the oldest statewide historical society in Alabama. The AHA provides opportunities for meaningful engagement with the past through publications, meetings, historical markers, and other programs. See the website www.alabamahistory.net/
In this episode, which was originally published in August 2022, Sean Illing talks with Corey Robin, author of a 2019 book about the life and thought of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Robin discusses how Thomas — whose concurring opinion in the case that overturned Roe v. Wade garnered recent attention — developed the ideological basis of his extremist judicial philosophy, how his views went from the hard-right fringe to more mainstream over the course of his 30 years on the Supreme Court, and how the failures of the 1960s movements shaped his fundamental pessimism about racial progress in America. Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), host, The Gray Area Guest: Corey Robin (@CoreyRobin), author; professor of political science, Brooklyn College and CUNY Graduate Center References: The Enigma of Clarence Thomas by Corey Robin (Metropolitan; 2019) "The Self-Fulfilling Prophecies of Clarence Thomas" by Corey Robin (New Yorker; July 9) Clarence Thomas's opening statement, Anita Hill hearing (C-SPAN; Oct. 11, 1991) Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952) Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022); Thomas's concurrence American Negro Slave Revolts by Herbert Aptheker (1943) Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution - 1863–1877 by Eric Foner (1988; updated 2014) The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in An Age of Diminishing Expectations by Christopher Lasch (Norton; 1979) The Rhetoric of Reaction by Albert O. Hirschman (Harvard; 1991) Enjoyed this episode? Rate The Gray Area ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of The Gray Area. Subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Support The Gray Area by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts This episode was made by: Producer: Erikk Geannikis Editor: Amy Drozdowska Engineer: Patrick Boyd Deputy Editorial Director, Vox Talk: A.M. Hall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Review of: Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America, by Megan Kate Nelson Reviewed by Stan Prager, Regarp Book Blog
Delivered on Sunday, June 11, 2023 by Dr. Megan Kate Nelson at the 2023 CWI Summer Conference at Gettysburg College. From Megan's website: "Hi there! I'm Megan Kate Nelson, a writer, historian, road cyclist, and cocktail enthusiast. I am the author of The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West (Scribner, 2020), which was a Finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in History. My new book, Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America was published by Scribner on March 1, 2022, the 150th anniversary of the Yellowstone Act, which created the first national park in the world. Saving Yellowstone has won the 2023 Spur Award for Historical Nonfiction, and is one of Smithsonian Magazine‘s Top Ten Books in History for 2022. I am an expert in the history of the American Civil War, the U.S. West, and popular culture, and have written articles about these topics for The New York Times, Washington Post, TIME, The Atlantic, Slate, and Smithsonian Magazine. A fellow of the Society of American Historians, I am also a regular guest on radio shows and TV documentaries about western history and popular culture. Before leaving academia to write full-time in 2014, I taught U.S. history and American Studies at Texas Tech University, Cal State Fullerton, Harvard, and Brown. I earned my BA in History and Literature from Harvard University and my PhD in American Studies from the University of Iowa." If you like these glimpses into all of the awesome history-related events and programs in Gettysburg, please consider becoming a Patron so that we can continue to do so. Go to www.patreon.com/addressinggettysburg
Dr. Megan Kate Nelson puts us in the middle of the history and context of the founding of Yellowstone National Park, one of America's natural glories. She tells us how he park was an important part of Reconstruction after the Civil War, how explorers and bureaucrats fought over how the land should be used, and how Native Americans responded to this encroachment on their land. A complicated and gripping story, and one of our most compelling episodes. Episode 510.
In 1848, a year of international democratic revolt, a young, enslaved couple, Ellen and William Craft, achieved one of the boldest feats of self-emancipation in American history. They escaped slavery through daring, determination, and disguise, with Ellen passing as a wealthy, disabled white man and William posing as “his” slave. They made their escape together across more than 1,000 miles, riding out in the open on steamboats, carriages, and trains that took them from bondage in Georgia to the free states of the North.Along the way, they dodged slave traders, military officers, and even friends of their enslavers, who might have revealed their true identities. The tale of their adventure soon made them celebrities and generated headlines around the country. Americans could not get enough of this charismatic young couple, who traveled another 1,000 miles crisscrossing New England, drawing thunderous applause as they spoke alongside some of the greatest abolitionist luminaries of the day—among them Frederick Douglass and William Wells Brown.But even then, they were not out of danger. With the passage of an infamous new Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, all Americans became accountable for returning refugees like the Crafts to slavery. Then yet another adventure began, as slave hunters came up from Georgia, forcing the Crafts to flee once again—this time from the United States, their lives and thousands more on the line, and the stakes never higher. Today's guest is Ilyon Woo, author of “Master, Slave, Husband, Wife: An Epic Journey From Slavery to Freedom.” We look at this story of escape, emancipation, and the challenges of Antebellum, Civil War, and Reconstruction America.
Stand Up is a daily podcast that I book,host,edit, post and promote new episodes with brilliant guests every day. Please subscribe now for as little as 5$ and gain access to a community of over 800 awesome, curious, kind, funny, brilliant, generous souls Check out StandUpwithPete.com to learn more From Kidada Website: I am a writer and historian who studies what happened to African American survivors of racist violence. I'm from West Michigan, by way of Illinois, Arkansas, Mississippi, and South Carolina. I live and work in Detroit. My new book, I Saw Death Coming: A History of Terror and Survival in the War against Reconstruction (Jan 2023 and available for pre-order Bookshop; Barnes and Noble; Indiebound; Books A Million!; Source Booksellers; Detroit Book City; Pages Book Shop; and Amazon), tells the story of what African American families gained at emancipation and then lost to white terror after the Civil War. My first book, They Left Great Marks on Me, explored Black people's personal testimonies of violence and their role in mobilizing civil rights advocates to fight lynching and other forms of white supremacist oppression. I am one of the co-editors of Charleston Syllabus: Readings on Race, Racism, and Racial Violence, a collection of readings that provided historical context for understanding the 2015 massacre of nine African Americans at Charleston's Emanuel A.M.E. Church. My writings have appeared in DAME magazine, Slate, The American Historian, and the New York Times. I have appeared on NPR's “Morning Edition” and “On Point,” “BackStory with the American History Guys,” and on WDET's “Detroit Today.” My interest in producing stories of African American history that reach academic and lay audiences has grown in recent years and been rewarded. I was one of the co-developers of #CharlestonSyllabus. I've had the great fortune of contributing to podcasts and to documentaries, both behind the scenes like on TLC's “Who Do You Think You Are?”: Regina King and up front with PBS's Reconstruction: America after the Civil War. I'm the host and co-producer of ‘Seizing Freedom' a Kelly Hardcastle Jones created podcast docudrama about African Americans' fight for liberty and equality during and after the Civil War. When I am not working, I'm minding my business and indulging my love of fiction, photography, podcasts, and streaming international TV shows while also taking advantage of the many perks of living and playing in Detroit. Check out all things Jon Carroll Follow and Support Pete Coe Pete on YouTube Pete on Twitter Pete On Instagram Pete Personal FB page Stand Up with Pete FB page
In this final part of our six part episode on Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation, we review exactly how Lincoln made his decision--one that was forced upon him by circumstance, and the unwavering insistance of millions of Americans that slavery be abolished, forever. Audio Clips: Martin Luther King, Jr., excerpt from the “I Have a Dream” speech (1963): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs Musical Clips: “Let Jesus Lead You,” The Jubilee Gospel Team (date unknown): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Pqx8bkCkL8 “I Be So Happy When The Sun Goes Down,” Ed Lewis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-zlSq4mWiE “When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” Henry Burr (1911): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KQHU3wJq4o “Rock My Soul,” The Heavenly Gospel Singers (1936?): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSkkeceOtFg “We're Coming, Father Abraam” (date unknown): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS5fDOiQJA0 “CC Rider Blues,” Ma Rainey (1924): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trtxZgF3Dns “Battle Cry of Freedom,” Vic Bondi (2022): https://vicbondi.bandcamp.com/track/battle-cry-of-freedom Bibliography: Hans L. Trefousse, Lincoln's Decision for Emancipation (Lippincott, 1975) C.Vann Woodward, The Strange Career of Jim Crow (1955; Oxford, 2001) Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution - 1863-1877 (1989; Harper, 2014)
Diverse Voices Book Review host Hopeton Hay interviewed Peniel E. Joseph, author of THE THIRD RECONSTRUCTION. In THE THIRD RECONSTRUCTION Joseph weaves in his personal experiences growing up in segregated neighborhood of New York City with three critical periods in history in American history he describes as reconstruction periods: 1865-1898, 1954-1968, and 2008 to the present. In the book he writes, “There is the America that we might call reconstructionist, home to champions of racial democracy, and there is the America that we might call redemptionist, a country that papers over racial, class, and gender hierarchies through an allegiance to white supremacy. Since the nation's birth, its racial politics have been shaped by an ongoing battle between reconstructionist America and redemptionist America.”Peniel Joseph's web site is https://penielejoseph.wordpress.com/. Twitter -@PenielJosephInstagram - @dr.penieljosephDiverse Voices Book Review Social Media:Facebook - @diversevoicesbookreviewInstagram - @diverse_voices_book_reviewTwitter - @diversebookshayEmail: hbh@diversevoicesbookreview.comWeb site: https://diversevoicesbookreview.wordpress.com/
Dr. Peniel E. Joseph is one of the nation's most prominent historians of race and democracy. In this episode, Joseph joins Dr. Jamal Watson to discuss the continuing battle between the supporters of multiracial democracy and the advocates of white supremacy and Black dehumanization. Employing the power of storytelling and activism, don't miss this conversation on why the civil rights movement is incomplete and understanding how critical the Black community has been to democratic renewal and transformation in the United States. KEY POINTS: - What defines the Third Reconstruction? - The juxtaposition of progress and backlash - Reconstructionist versus redemption narratives - How Black women are at the helm of reimagining democracy - Why Dr. Joseph included his own journey in his historical narrative - “Our stories matter.” QUOTABLES: “What I want to share with people, including young people, is just the fact that the narratives that we've been taught about American history leave so much out.” “If Black people succeed, everyone will succeed. We're not interested in leaving people behind and marginalizing people.” “Our stories matter. And I think telling the unfiltered hard history of the United States actually makes us all stronger and not weaker. And it is the patriotic thing to do.” OTHER RESOURCES: About Dr. Peniel E. Joseph: Penielejoseph.wordpress.com Barbara Jordan Chair in Ethics and Political Values lbj.utexas.edu/directory/faculty/peniel-joseph Founding Director, Center for the Study of Race and Democracy Csrd.lbj.utexas.edu Professor of History, College of Liberal Arts University of Texas at Austin LBJ School of Public Affairs liberalarts.utexas.edu/history/faculty/pej335 PRODUCTS / RESOURCES: Watch this video and others on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/user/Diversediversedivers Visit the Diverse: Issues In Higher Education website: diverseeducation.com Or follow us on social media: Twitter: twitter.com/diverseissues Instagram: instagram.com/diverseissuesinhighereducation Facebook: facebook.com/DiverseIssuesInHigherEducation/ Linkedin: linkedin.com/company/diverse-issues-in-higher-education Transcription services are available upon request. Please drop us a line here. In The Margins is produced by Diverse: Issues In Higher Education and edited by Instapodcasts (visit at instapodcasts.com)
"The author displays her strong commitment to including the Native presence in any account of Western history.... A readable and unfailingly interesting look at a slice of Western history from a novel point of view." -- Kirkus Reviews
Sean Illing talks with Corey Robin, author of a recent article — as well as a 2019 book — about the life and thought of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Robin discusses how Thomas, whose concurring opinion in the case that overturned Roe v. Wade garnered recent attention, developed the ideological basis of his extremist judicial philosophy, how his views went from the hard-right fringe to more mainstream over the course of his thirty years on the Supreme Court, and how the failures of the 1960's movements shaped his fundamental pessimism about racial progress in America. Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), Interviews Writer, Vox Guest: Corey Robin (@CoreyRobin), author; professor of political science, Brooklyn College and CUNY Graduate Center References: The Enigma of Clarence Thomas by Corey Robin (Metropolitan; 2019) "The Self-Fulfilling Prophecies of Clarence Thomas" by Corey Robin (New Yorker; July 9) Clarence Thomas's opening statement, Anita Hill hearing (C-SPAN; Oct. 11, 1991) Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952) Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022); Thomas's concurrence American Negro Slave Revolts by Herbert Aptheker (1943) Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution - 1863–1877 by Eric Foner (1988; updated 2014) The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in An Age of Diminishing Expectations by Christopher Lasch (Norton; 1979) The Rhetoric of Reaction by Albert O. Hirschman (Harvard; 1991) Enjoyed this episode? Rate Vox Conversations ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of Vox Conversations by subscribing in your favorite podcast app. Support Vox Conversations by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts This episode was made by: Producer: Erikk Geannikis Editor: Amy Drozdowska Engineer: Patrick Boyd Deputy Editorial Director, Vox Talk: A.M. Hall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In this episode, I give a brief summary, read the first couple of pages, and do some critical place analysis of Michelle Coles’s Black Was the Ink. Its focus on Reconstruction America provides important connections to and insights for our own current cultural moment. It also importantly depicts Black rural folks – their history, struggles,Continue reading "Black Was the Ink by Michelle Coles: Episode 1"
In this episode, Natalia, Neil, and Niki discuss the history of U.S. national parks. Support Past Present on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pastpresentpodcast Here are some links and references mentioned during this week's show: Yellowstone National Park turned 150 years old this year. Natalia recommended historian Rachel Louise Moran's book Governing Bodies; American Politics and the Shaping of the Modern Physique. Niki cited historian Sarah Phillips' book This Land, This Nation: Conservation, Rural America, and The New Deal and this Atlantic essay by David Treuer. Neil discussed this Smithsonian magazine article. Natalia recommended historian Megan Kate Nelson's book Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America, and Neil talked about the exclusionary policies in national parks outlined in this USA Today article. In our regular closing feature, What's Making History: Natalia shared her latest column for Observer, “Coss Marte's CONBODY Combined Fitness and Social Justice. Now He is Adding Legal Cannabis.” Neil discussed the Netflix series Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey and his 2008 Slate essay, “Short Creek's Long Legacy.” Niki recommended Katherine Rosman's New York Times article, “That Voice You're Hearing? It Might Be Hers.”
Guest, Megan Kate Nelson, The Courage to Save Yellowstone Megan Kate Nelson, author of SAVING YELLOWSTONE: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America is our guest today. A masterful storyteller, Nelson's prose is as captivating as the landscapes she describes
Guest, Megan Kate Nelson, The Courage to Save Yellowstone Megan Kate Nelson, author of SAVING YELLOWSTONE: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America is our guest today. A masterful storyteller, Nelson's prose is as captivating as the landscapes she describes
In 1871 an expedition entered the territory now encompassed by Yellowstone National Park. Led by doctor and self-taught geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, it was to be the first scientific expedition into that mysterious place. But it was also, says my guest Megan Kate Nelson, part of a larger struggle over the expansion of federal power during Reconstruction. Hayden would be one of the three men who would strive for control of Yellowstone, and the surrounding territory. The others were Jay Cooke, a Philadelphia investment banker raising capital for the Northern Pacific Railroad; and a Lakota leader known to English speakers as Sitting Bull, who was determined to stop the building of the Northern Pacific. These are some of the protagonists of Nelson's new book Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America. Megan Kate Nelson is a writer and historian, living in Massachusetts. She was previously on the podcast in Episode 23 discussing her book Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War. For Further Investigation An excerpt from Megan's book appears on the website of Smithsonian magazine If you're interested in learning more about the historical discipline of Environmental History, you should listen to this very early conversation with my old friend Brian Leech Al Zambone is a historian and the host of the podcast Historically Thinking. You can subscribe to Historically Thinking on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
In 1871 an expedition entered the territory now encompassed by Yellowstone National Park. Led by doctor and self-taught geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, it was to be the first scientific expedition into that mysterious place. But it was also, says my guest Megan Kate Nelson, part of a larger struggle over the expansion of federal power during Reconstruction. Hayden would be one of the three men who would strive for control of Yellowstone, and the surrounding territory. The others were Jay Cooke, a Philadelphia investment banker raising capital for the Northern Pacific Railroad; and a Lakota leader known to English speakers as Sitting Bull, who was determined to stop the building of the Northern Pacific. These are some of the protagonists of Nelson's new book Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America. Megan Kate Nelson is a writer and historian, living in Massachusetts. She was previously on the podcast in Episode 23 discussing her book Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War. For Further Investigation An excerpt from Megan's book appears on the website of Smithsonian magazine If you're interested in learning more about the historical discipline of Environmental History, you should listen to this very early conversation with my old friend Brian Leech Al Zambone is a historian and the host of the podcast Historically Thinking. You can subscribe to Historically Thinking on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history
In 1871 an expedition entered the territory now encompassed by Yellowstone National Park. Led by doctor and self-taught geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, it was to be the first scientific expedition into that mysterious place. But it was also, says my guest Megan Kate Nelson, part of a larger struggle over the expansion of federal power during Reconstruction. Hayden would be one of the three men who would strive for control of Yellowstone, and the surrounding territory. The others were Jay Cooke, a Philadelphia investment banker raising capital for the Northern Pacific Railroad; and a Lakota leader known to English speakers as Sitting Bull, who was determined to stop the building of the Northern Pacific. These are some of the protagonists of Nelson's new book Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America. Megan Kate Nelson is a writer and historian, living in Massachusetts. She was previously on the podcast in Episode 23 discussing her book Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War. For Further Investigation An excerpt from Megan's book appears on the website of Smithsonian magazine If you're interested in learning more about the historical discipline of Environmental History, you should listen to this very early conversation with my old friend Brian Leech Al Zambone is a historian and the host of the podcast Historically Thinking. You can subscribe to Historically Thinking on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/environmental-studies
In 1871 an expedition entered the territory now encompassed by Yellowstone National Park. Led by doctor and self-taught geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, it was to be the first scientific expedition into that mysterious place. But it was also, says my guest Megan Kate Nelson, part of a larger struggle over the expansion of federal power during Reconstruction. Hayden would be one of the three men who would strive for control of Yellowstone, and the surrounding territory. The others were Jay Cooke, a Philadelphia investment banker raising capital for the Northern Pacific Railroad; and a Lakota leader known to English speakers as Sitting Bull, who was determined to stop the building of the Northern Pacific. These are some of the protagonists of Nelson's new book Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America. Megan Kate Nelson is a writer and historian, living in Massachusetts. She was previously on the podcast in Episode 23 discussing her book Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War. For Further Investigation An excerpt from Megan's book appears on the website of Smithsonian magazine If you're interested in learning more about the historical discipline of Environmental History, you should listen to this very early conversation with my old friend Brian Leech Al Zambone is a historian and the host of the podcast Historically Thinking. You can subscribe to Historically Thinking on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies
In 1871 an expedition entered the territory now encompassed by Yellowstone National Park. Led by doctor and self-taught geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, it was to be the first scientific expedition into that mysterious place. But it was also, says my guest Megan Kate Nelson, part of a larger struggle over the expansion of federal power during Reconstruction. Hayden would be one of the three men who would strive for control of Yellowstone, and the surrounding territory. The others were Jay Cooke, a Philadelphia investment banker raising capital for the Northern Pacific Railroad; and a Lakota leader known to English speakers as Sitting Bull, who was determined to stop the building of the Northern Pacific. These are some of the protagonists of Nelson's new book Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America. Megan Kate Nelson is a writer and historian, living in Massachusetts. She was previously on the podcast in Episode 23 discussing her book Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War. For Further Investigation An excerpt from Megan's book appears on the website of Smithsonian magazine If you're interested in learning more about the historical discipline of Environmental History, you should listen to this very early conversation with my old friend Brian Leech Al Zambone is a historian and the host of the podcast Historically Thinking. You can subscribe to Historically Thinking on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-west
Stacey L. Holman is a Harlem-based filmmaker who's directed several award-winning projects including episode 3 of the 2018 PBS series "Reconstruction: America" .,She joins host Ramses Ja to discuss the HISTORY Channel's new one-hour documentary “Black Patriots: Buffalo Soldiers” airing Tuesday, May 31 at 10:30 eastern and narrated by Golden Globe nominee Blair Underwood. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This week, we are going to be exploring the relationship between presidents, the bully pulpit, and environmental protection. When did presidents start thinking about federal use of land? When did that consideration change from an economic one based on maximizing profit and agricultural production for white settlers to something else? We are going to tackle these questions and more on today's episode. First, we spoke with Dr. Mark David Spence, the author of Dispossessing the Wilderness: Indian Removal and the Making of National Parks, about the early history of presidents and land as a national resource. We talked about the role of national parks in the late 19th century and the complicated relationship between national parks and native peoples.Next, we spoke with Dr. Megan Kate Nelson, the author of Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America. Nelson gave us a history of the first national park in the world, told us about the outsized impact of Theodore Roosevelt in the national park system, and discussed executive action on national parks today.Finally, we spoke with Dr. Brooks Flippen, author of Nixon and the Environment, about Richard Nixon, environmental protection, and the creation of Earth Day. Brooks shares the really interesting political motivations behind Nixon's climate actions. You might be surprised to learn that climate change was once a bipartisan issue!
Megan Kate Nelson takes us on a journey to Yellowstone, the first national park and a site of iconic western beauty. From the scientific surveys that explored the park's geysers, to the railroad expansion through Native American territory, Dr. Nelson's book paints a vivid portrait of the place. Join us for a conversation about the American environment, economic panics, landscape photography, and how to write narrative history. Essential Reading:Megan Kate Nelson, Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America (2022).Recommended Reading:Ferdinand V. Hayden, “The Wonders of the West II. More about the Yellowstone,” Scribner's Monthly (February 1872): 388-396. Thomas Moran, The Grand Cañon of the Yellowstone (1872). Ernie LaPointe, Sitting Bull: His Life and Legacy (2009).M. John Lubetkin, Jay Cooke's Gamble: The Northern Pacific Railroad, The Sioux, and the Panic of 1873 (2006).Heather Cox Richardson, West from Appomattox: The Reconstruction of America after the Civil War (2007).Mark David Spence, Dispossessing the Wilderness: Indian Removal and the Making of the National Parks (2000). See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
This episode of Big Blend Radio features acclaimed author and historian Dr. Megan Kate Nelson, who discusses her latest book, "SAVING YELLOWSTONE: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America." Each year, nearly four million people visit Yellowstone National Park—one of the most popular of all national parks—but few know the fascinating and complex historical context in which it was established. SAVING YELLOWSTONE shines a light on the creation of our first national park and the tensions of the era that lead to a weaken of the Native population. More: http://www.megankatenelson.com/ Special thanks to the National Parks Arts Foundation - https://www.nationalparksartsfoundation.org/
This episode of Big Blend Radio features acclaimed author and historian Dr. Megan Kate Nelson, who discusses her latest book, "SAVING YELLOWSTONE: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America." Each year, nearly four million people visit Yellowstone National Park—one of the most popular of all national parks—but few know the fascinating and complex historical context in which it was established. SAVING YELLOWSTONE shines a light on the creation of our first national park and the tensions of the era that lead to a weaken of the Native population. More: http://www.megankatenelson.com/ Special thanks to the National Parks Arts Foundation - https://www.nationalparksartsfoundation.org/
This episode of Big Blend Radio features acclaimed author and historian Dr. Megan Kate Nelson, who discusses her latest book, "SAVING YELLOWSTONE: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America." Each year, nearly four million people visit Yellowstone National Park—one of the most popular of all national parks—but few know the fascinating and complex historical context in which it was established. SAVING YELLOWSTONE shines a light on the creation of our first national park and the tensions of the era that lead to a weaken of the Native population. More: http://www.megankatenelson.com/ Special thanks to the National Parks Arts Foundation - https://www.nationalparksartsfoundation.org/
Megan Kate Nelson is a writer and historian living in Lincoln, Massachusetts. She has written about the Civil War, US western history, and American culture for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, Preservation Magazine, and Civil War Monitor. SAVING YELLOWSTONE: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America shines a light on the creation of our first national park, and makes clear how frequently the grandest goals of our country precipitate the suffering and subjugation of many who called this land home, and how our most progressive visions can be warped by the reality of the American project.Megan's Website: http://www.megankatenelson.com/this-strange-country/Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/radiofreegalisteo?fan_landing=true)
IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE LOUNGE?!Welp, this week there is! The guys are joined by author & historian, Dr. Megan Kate Nelson, to chat about the 150th anniversary of Yellowstone National Park, as well as its history! Megan is the author of "Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America."From the get-go, the guys jump into why Yellowstone was the first national park and not one that was in the eastern portion of the United States?What led her to want to be a historian, and when was the first time she was able to go to Yellowstone? What about her book? How long did it take to research and subsequently write it? Megan is brilliant in her answers! She is well-versed in the history of exploration, the topography, and even humorous stories from the team's journey into the uncharted territory of what is now known as Yellowstone National Park!Little Matt, like he often does, was searching things about Megan, and found an AWESOME bit of news, and it also sparked a conversation about our 26th president! Oh, the things Matt finds while searching things on the interweb!Before they knew it, it was time to part ways, and the guys still had questions they wanted to ask! NOT TO WORRY, Megan agreed to come back in the future to chat about her other books, as well as to hang out in the Lounge because "The Lounge is a good place!" (her words)In the opener, the guys talk about their, "I'm getting old moments," and Sam makes an announcement that is a surprise to both Richey and Little Matt, and they talk about it a little more in-depth! All in all, this episode is such an awesome time! Great history conversation, sharing thoughts and life events... it has it all! SO, sit back, relax, and enjoy this episode with Dr. Megan Kate Nelson! NOW, with fewer tangents (at least this episode)!Find more on Megan Kate Nelson by visiting her website at www.megankatenelson.com or find her on social media (Twitter, Facebook & IG) by searching Megan Kate Nelson!Member: OddPods MediaPromos: Keeping Up with the Cardassians & From the Middle
"The author displays her strong commitment to including the Native presence in any account of Western history.... A readable and unfailingly interesting look at a slice of Western history from a novel point of view." -- Kirkus Reviews
One hundred fifty years ago, President Ulysses S. Grant signed an act establishing Yellowstone National Park into law, making it the first national park in the United States, and a cause for celebration in a country still recovering from the devastating Civil War. Not everyone celebrated, though, including Native Americans who had called the land home for thousands of years before white trappers and explorers first experienced the wild majesty of the landscape. To learn more about the men who championed the creation of the park and the Indigenous resistance to it, I'm joined by historian Dr. Megan Kate Nelson, author of the new book, Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America. Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The between-segment song is “The Fellow in Yellowstone Park,” written by Gilbert Fogarty and performed by Kitty Kallen, assisted by Four Chicks and Chuck, in 1949. The song is available in the public domain through the Internet Archive. The episode image is: “Excelsior Geyser, Yellowstone Park,” Painted by Thomas Moran in 1873. The painting is in the collect of Smithsonian American Art Museum, a gift of Mrs. Armistead Peter III, and is in the public domain. Additional Sources: “How Sitting Bull's Fight for Indigenous Land Rights Shaped the Creation of Yellowstone National Park,” by Megan Kate Nelson, Smithsonian Magazine, March 1, 2022. “The Big Business Politics Behind the Formation of Yellowstone National Park,” by Megan Kate Nelson, Time Magazine, March 1, 2022. “History and Culture,” Yellowstone National Park, National Park Service. “Yellowstone turns 150. Here's a peek into the national park's history,” by Jaclyn Diaz, NPR, March 1, 2022. “Yellowstone National Park celebrates 150 wild years -- and what a history it's been,” by Forrest Brown, CNN, February 28, 2022. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Historically Thinking: Conversations about historical knowledge and how we achieve it
In 1871 an expedition entered the territory now encompassed by Yellowstone National Park. Led by doctor and self-taught geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, it was to be the first scientific expedition into that mysterious place. But it was also, says my guest Megan Kate Nelson, part of a larger struggle over the expansion of federal power during Reconstruction. Hayden would be one of the three men who would strive for control of Yellowstone, and the surrounding territory. The others were Jay Cooke, a Philadelphia investment banker raising capital for the Northern Pacific Railroad; and a Lakota leader known to English speakers as Sitting Bull, who was determined to stop the building of the Northern Pacific. These are some of the protagonists of Nelson's new book Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America. Megan Kate Nelson is a writer and historian, living in Massachusetts. She was previously on the podcast in Episode 23 discussing her book Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War. For Further Investigation An excerpt from Megan's book appears on the website of Smithsonian magazine If you're interested in learning more about the historical discipline of Environmental History, you should listen to this very early conversation with my old friend Brian Leech
This year is the 150th anniversary of the world's first national park of its kind, Yellowstone. Each year nearly four million people visit the park but many are unaware of how it was founded.Its founding act as a snapshot of key forces in post Civil War America; reconstruction and the Republican parties national project; industrialisation and the coming of the railways, and; and the resistance of Native Americans at risk of losing their homelands to white settlers moving westward.In this episode, we are joined by Megan Kate Nelson, author of Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America, who will unpick the complicated legacy of this iconic landmark.If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download the History Hit app please go to the Android or Apple store. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
From historian and critically acclaimed author of The Three-Cornered War comes the propulsive and vividly told story of how Yellowstone became the world's first national park amid the nationwide turmoil and racial violence of the Reconstruction era. Each year nearly four million people visit Yellowstone National Park—one of the most popular of all national parks—but few know the fascinating and complex historical context in which it was established. In late July 1871, the geologist-explorer Ferdinand Hayden led a team of scientists through a narrow canyon into Yellowstone Basin, entering one of the last unmapped places in the country. The survey's discoveries led to the passage of the Yellowstone Act in 1872, which created the first national park in the world. Now, author Megan Kate Nelson examines the larger context of this American moment, illuminating Hayden's survey as a national project meant to give Americans a sense of achievement and unity in the wake of a destructive civil war. Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America (Scribner, 2022) follows Hayden and two other protagonists in pursuit of their own agendas: Sitting Bull, a Lakota leader who asserted his peoples' claim to their homelands, and financier Jay Cooke, who wanted to secure his national reputation by building the Northern Pacific Railroad through the Great Northwest. Hayden, Cooke, and Sitting Bull staked their claims to Yellowstone at a critical moment in Reconstruction, when the Grant Administration and the 42nd Congress were testing the reach and the purpose of federal power across the nation. A narrative of adventure and exploration, Saving Yellowstone is also a story of Indigenous resistance, the expansive reach of railroad, photographic, and publishing technologies, and the struggles of Black southerners to bring racial terrorists to justice. It reveals how the early 1870s were a turning point in the nation's history, as white Americans ultimately abandoned the higher ideal of equality for all people, creating a much more fragile and divided United States. Megan Kate Nelson is a writer and historian living in Lincoln, Massachusetts. She has written about the Civil War, US western history, and American culture for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, Preservation Magazine, and Civil War Monitor. Nelson earned her BA in history and literature from Harvard University and her PhD in American studies from the University of Iowa, and she has taught at Texas Tech University, Cal State Fullerton, Harvard, and Brown. Nelson is the author of Saving Yellowstone, The Three-Cornered War, Ruin Nation, and Trembling Earth. Twitter. Website. Brian Hamilton is Chair of the Department of History and Social Science at Deerfield Academy. Twitter. Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
From historian and critically acclaimed author of The Three-Cornered War comes the propulsive and vividly told story of how Yellowstone became the world's first national park amid the nationwide turmoil and racial violence of the Reconstruction era. Each year nearly four million people visit Yellowstone National Park—one of the most popular of all national parks—but few know the fascinating and complex historical context in which it was established. In late July 1871, the geologist-explorer Ferdinand Hayden led a team of scientists through a narrow canyon into Yellowstone Basin, entering one of the last unmapped places in the country. The survey's discoveries led to the passage of the Yellowstone Act in 1872, which created the first national park in the world. Now, author Megan Kate Nelson examines the larger context of this American moment, illuminating Hayden's survey as a national project meant to give Americans a sense of achievement and unity in the wake of a destructive civil war. Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America (Scribner, 2022) follows Hayden and two other protagonists in pursuit of their own agendas: Sitting Bull, a Lakota leader who asserted his peoples' claim to their homelands, and financier Jay Cooke, who wanted to secure his national reputation by building the Northern Pacific Railroad through the Great Northwest. Hayden, Cooke, and Sitting Bull staked their claims to Yellowstone at a critical moment in Reconstruction, when the Grant Administration and the 42nd Congress were testing the reach and the purpose of federal power across the nation. A narrative of adventure and exploration, Saving Yellowstone is also a story of Indigenous resistance, the expansive reach of railroad, photographic, and publishing technologies, and the struggles of Black southerners to bring racial terrorists to justice. It reveals how the early 1870s were a turning point in the nation's history, as white Americans ultimately abandoned the higher ideal of equality for all people, creating a much more fragile and divided United States. Megan Kate Nelson is a writer and historian living in Lincoln, Massachusetts. She has written about the Civil War, US western history, and American culture for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, Preservation Magazine, and Civil War Monitor. Nelson earned her BA in history and literature from Harvard University and her PhD in American studies from the University of Iowa, and she has taught at Texas Tech University, Cal State Fullerton, Harvard, and Brown. Nelson is the author of Saving Yellowstone, The Three-Cornered War, Ruin Nation, and Trembling Earth. Twitter. Website. Brian Hamilton is Chair of the Department of History and Social Science at Deerfield Academy. Twitter. Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history
From historian and critically acclaimed author of The Three-Cornered War comes the propulsive and vividly told story of how Yellowstone became the world's first national park amid the nationwide turmoil and racial violence of the Reconstruction era. Each year nearly four million people visit Yellowstone National Park—one of the most popular of all national parks—but few know the fascinating and complex historical context in which it was established. In late July 1871, the geologist-explorer Ferdinand Hayden led a team of scientists through a narrow canyon into Yellowstone Basin, entering one of the last unmapped places in the country. The survey's discoveries led to the passage of the Yellowstone Act in 1872, which created the first national park in the world. Now, author Megan Kate Nelson examines the larger context of this American moment, illuminating Hayden's survey as a national project meant to give Americans a sense of achievement and unity in the wake of a destructive civil war. Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America (Scribner, 2022) follows Hayden and two other protagonists in pursuit of their own agendas: Sitting Bull, a Lakota leader who asserted his peoples' claim to their homelands, and financier Jay Cooke, who wanted to secure his national reputation by building the Northern Pacific Railroad through the Great Northwest. Hayden, Cooke, and Sitting Bull staked their claims to Yellowstone at a critical moment in Reconstruction, when the Grant Administration and the 42nd Congress were testing the reach and the purpose of federal power across the nation. A narrative of adventure and exploration, Saving Yellowstone is also a story of Indigenous resistance, the expansive reach of railroad, photographic, and publishing technologies, and the struggles of Black southerners to bring racial terrorists to justice. It reveals how the early 1870s were a turning point in the nation's history, as white Americans ultimately abandoned the higher ideal of equality for all people, creating a much more fragile and divided United States. Megan Kate Nelson is a writer and historian living in Lincoln, Massachusetts. She has written about the Civil War, US western history, and American culture for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, Preservation Magazine, and Civil War Monitor. Nelson earned her BA in history and literature from Harvard University and her PhD in American studies from the University of Iowa, and she has taught at Texas Tech University, Cal State Fullerton, Harvard, and Brown. Nelson is the author of Saving Yellowstone, The Three-Cornered War, Ruin Nation, and Trembling Earth. Twitter. Website. Brian Hamilton is Chair of the Department of History and Social Science at Deerfield Academy. Twitter. Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/native-american-studies
https://www.alainguillot.com/megan-kate-nelson/ Megan Kate Nelson is a journalist and a historian. Her latest book is Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America. Get the book here: https://amzn.to/3pt0mSg
From historian and critically acclaimed author of The Three-Cornered War comes the propulsive and vividly told story of how Yellowstone became the world's first national park amid the nationwide turmoil and racial violence of the Reconstruction era. Each year nearly four million people visit Yellowstone National Park—one of the most popular of all national parks—but few know the fascinating and complex historical context in which it was established. In late July 1871, the geologist-explorer Ferdinand Hayden led a team of scientists through a narrow canyon into Yellowstone Basin, entering one of the last unmapped places in the country. The survey's discoveries led to the passage of the Yellowstone Act in 1872, which created the first national park in the world. Now, author Megan Kate Nelson examines the larger context of this American moment, illuminating Hayden's survey as a national project meant to give Americans a sense of achievement and unity in the wake of a destructive civil war. Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America (Scribner, 2022) follows Hayden and two other protagonists in pursuit of their own agendas: Sitting Bull, a Lakota leader who asserted his peoples' claim to their homelands, and financier Jay Cooke, who wanted to secure his national reputation by building the Northern Pacific Railroad through the Great Northwest. Hayden, Cooke, and Sitting Bull staked their claims to Yellowstone at a critical moment in Reconstruction, when the Grant Administration and the 42nd Congress were testing the reach and the purpose of federal power across the nation. A narrative of adventure and exploration, Saving Yellowstone is also a story of Indigenous resistance, the expansive reach of railroad, photographic, and publishing technologies, and the struggles of Black southerners to bring racial terrorists to justice. It reveals how the early 1870s were a turning point in the nation's history, as white Americans ultimately abandoned the higher ideal of equality for all people, creating a much more fragile and divided United States. Megan Kate Nelson is a writer and historian living in Lincoln, Massachusetts. She has written about the Civil War, US western history, and American culture for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, Preservation Magazine, and Civil War Monitor. Nelson earned her BA in history and literature from Harvard University and her PhD in American studies from the University of Iowa, and she has taught at Texas Tech University, Cal State Fullerton, Harvard, and Brown. Nelson is the author of Saving Yellowstone, The Three-Cornered War, Ruin Nation, and Trembling Earth. Twitter. Website. Brian Hamilton is Chair of the Department of History and Social Science at Deerfield Academy. Twitter. Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/environmental-studies
From historian and critically acclaimed author of The Three-Cornered War comes the propulsive and vividly told story of how Yellowstone became the world's first national park amid the nationwide turmoil and racial violence of the Reconstruction era. Each year nearly four million people visit Yellowstone National Park—one of the most popular of all national parks—but few know the fascinating and complex historical context in which it was established. In late July 1871, the geologist-explorer Ferdinand Hayden led a team of scientists through a narrow canyon into Yellowstone Basin, entering one of the last unmapped places in the country. The survey's discoveries led to the passage of the Yellowstone Act in 1872, which created the first national park in the world. Now, author Megan Kate Nelson examines the larger context of this American moment, illuminating Hayden's survey as a national project meant to give Americans a sense of achievement and unity in the wake of a destructive civil war. Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America (Scribner, 2022) follows Hayden and two other protagonists in pursuit of their own agendas: Sitting Bull, a Lakota leader who asserted his peoples' claim to their homelands, and financier Jay Cooke, who wanted to secure his national reputation by building the Northern Pacific Railroad through the Great Northwest. Hayden, Cooke, and Sitting Bull staked their claims to Yellowstone at a critical moment in Reconstruction, when the Grant Administration and the 42nd Congress were testing the reach and the purpose of federal power across the nation. A narrative of adventure and exploration, Saving Yellowstone is also a story of Indigenous resistance, the expansive reach of railroad, photographic, and publishing technologies, and the struggles of Black southerners to bring racial terrorists to justice. It reveals how the early 1870s were a turning point in the nation's history, as white Americans ultimately abandoned the higher ideal of equality for all people, creating a much more fragile and divided United States. Megan Kate Nelson is a writer and historian living in Lincoln, Massachusetts. She has written about the Civil War, US western history, and American culture for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, Preservation Magazine, and Civil War Monitor. Nelson earned her BA in history and literature from Harvard University and her PhD in American studies from the University of Iowa, and she has taught at Texas Tech University, Cal State Fullerton, Harvard, and Brown. Nelson is the author of Saving Yellowstone, The Three-Cornered War, Ruin Nation, and Trembling Earth. Twitter. Website. Brian Hamilton is Chair of the Department of History and Social Science at Deerfield Academy. Twitter. Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies
From historian and critically acclaimed author of The Three-Cornered War comes the propulsive and vividly told story of how Yellowstone became the world's first national park amid the nationwide turmoil and racial violence of the Reconstruction era. Each year nearly four million people visit Yellowstone National Park—one of the most popular of all national parks—but few know the fascinating and complex historical context in which it was established. In late July 1871, the geologist-explorer Ferdinand Hayden led a team of scientists through a narrow canyon into Yellowstone Basin, entering one of the last unmapped places in the country. The survey's discoveries led to the passage of the Yellowstone Act in 1872, which created the first national park in the world. Now, author Megan Kate Nelson examines the larger context of this American moment, illuminating Hayden's survey as a national project meant to give Americans a sense of achievement and unity in the wake of a destructive civil war. Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America (Scribner, 2022) follows Hayden and two other protagonists in pursuit of their own agendas: Sitting Bull, a Lakota leader who asserted his peoples' claim to their homelands, and financier Jay Cooke, who wanted to secure his national reputation by building the Northern Pacific Railroad through the Great Northwest. Hayden, Cooke, and Sitting Bull staked their claims to Yellowstone at a critical moment in Reconstruction, when the Grant Administration and the 42nd Congress were testing the reach and the purpose of federal power across the nation. A narrative of adventure and exploration, Saving Yellowstone is also a story of Indigenous resistance, the expansive reach of railroad, photographic, and publishing technologies, and the struggles of Black southerners to bring racial terrorists to justice. It reveals how the early 1870s were a turning point in the nation's history, as white Americans ultimately abandoned the higher ideal of equality for all people, creating a much more fragile and divided United States. Megan Kate Nelson is a writer and historian living in Lincoln, Massachusetts. She has written about the Civil War, US western history, and American culture for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, Preservation Magazine, and Civil War Monitor. Nelson earned her BA in history and literature from Harvard University and her PhD in American studies from the University of Iowa, and she has taught at Texas Tech University, Cal State Fullerton, Harvard, and Brown. Nelson is the author of Saving Yellowstone, The Three-Cornered War, Ruin Nation, and Trembling Earth. Twitter. Website. Brian Hamilton is Chair of the Department of History and Social Science at Deerfield Academy. Twitter. Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/geography
From historian and critically acclaimed author of The Three-Cornered War comes the propulsive and vividly told story of how Yellowstone became the world's first national park amid the nationwide turmoil and racial violence of the Reconstruction era. Each year nearly four million people visit Yellowstone National Park—one of the most popular of all national parks—but few know the fascinating and complex historical context in which it was established. In late July 1871, the geologist-explorer Ferdinand Hayden led a team of scientists through a narrow canyon into Yellowstone Basin, entering one of the last unmapped places in the country. The survey's discoveries led to the passage of the Yellowstone Act in 1872, which created the first national park in the world. Now, author Megan Kate Nelson examines the larger context of this American moment, illuminating Hayden's survey as a national project meant to give Americans a sense of achievement and unity in the wake of a destructive civil war. Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America (Scribner, 2022) follows Hayden and two other protagonists in pursuit of their own agendas: Sitting Bull, a Lakota leader who asserted his peoples' claim to their homelands, and financier Jay Cooke, who wanted to secure his national reputation by building the Northern Pacific Railroad through the Great Northwest. Hayden, Cooke, and Sitting Bull staked their claims to Yellowstone at a critical moment in Reconstruction, when the Grant Administration and the 42nd Congress were testing the reach and the purpose of federal power across the nation. A narrative of adventure and exploration, Saving Yellowstone is also a story of Indigenous resistance, the expansive reach of railroad, photographic, and publishing technologies, and the struggles of Black southerners to bring racial terrorists to justice. It reveals how the early 1870s were a turning point in the nation's history, as white Americans ultimately abandoned the higher ideal of equality for all people, creating a much more fragile and divided United States. Megan Kate Nelson is a writer and historian living in Lincoln, Massachusetts. She has written about the Civil War, US western history, and American culture for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, Preservation Magazine, and Civil War Monitor. Nelson earned her BA in history and literature from Harvard University and her PhD in American studies from the University of Iowa, and she has taught at Texas Tech University, Cal State Fullerton, Harvard, and Brown. Nelson is the author of Saving Yellowstone, The Three-Cornered War, Ruin Nation, and Trembling Earth. Twitter. Website. Brian Hamilton is Chair of the Department of History and Social Science at Deerfield Academy. Twitter. Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-west
If you've been there, you'll never forget it. If you haven't, you probably want to go. But what makes Yellowstone National Park a destination in the first place? Dr. Megan Kate Nelson explores how one of America's crown jewels, the two million acres that make up the one-of-a-kind place, was preserved for all of us. In her new book, "Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America," she explains how the array of trees, geysers and animals was "discovered" by white men, and how the effort to keep Yellowstone as-is, intersects with Reconstruction-era politics, race and mystery. Contemporary Americans are used to Yellowstone as a hotspot for mystery, and the 1870s were no different. She also describes how Native peoples' were not able to share in the glory that Yellowstone would provide for so many. Spend an hour with us as one of America's most-brilliant nature historians takes us on a journey through the wildnerness, and explains how it's never far from any of us.Dr. Nelson's website is megankatenelson.comShe is on social media at twitter.com/megankatenelsonHer book is available from Simon & Schuster at https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Saving-Yellowstone/Megan-Kate-Nelson/9781982141332Support our show at patreon.com/axelbankhistory**A portion of every contribution is given to a charity for children's literacy**"Axelbank Reports History and Today" can be found on social media at twitter.com/axelbankhistoryinstagram.com/axelbankhistoryfacebook.com/axelbankhistory
Military Historians are People, Too! A Podcast with Brian & Bill
Today's guest is Megan Kate Nelson, a 2021 Pulitzer Prize in History finalist for her outstanding book The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West (Scribner, 2020), which also earned the following mentions: Smithsonian Magazine's Top Ten History Books of 2020 Civil War Monitor's Top Civil War Books of 2020 2021 Emerging Civil War Book Award 2021 Pate Award, Fort Worth (Tex.) Civil War Roundtable Business Insider's 23 Best History Books Written by Women Finalist, 2021 Reading the West Book Award (Narrative Non-Fiction) Fifty Books of the West List, Tattered Cover Bookstore and the Colorado Sun Wow! Some years ago, Megan left the academic world to become a full-time writer after teaching U.S. history and American Studies for several years at Texas Tech, Cal State Fullerton, Harvard, and Brown. She earned her B.A. in History and Literature from Harvard and a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Iowa. Megan is primarily a historian of the American Civil War, the U.S. West, and popular culture. She has written related pieces for The New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Smithsonian Magazine, Preservation Magazine, and Civil War Times. Megan's column on Civil War popular culture, "Stereoscope," appears regularly in Civil War Monitor. She is also the author of Trembling Earth: A Cultural History of the Okefenokee Swamp (Georgia, 2009) and Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War (Georgia, 2012). A recent electee to the Society of American Historians, Megan's latest project is Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America, which Scribner will publish in March 2022. We've seen galleys - what a story! Megan is also an avid cyclist and cocktail enthusiast - we'll also ask her about BBQ preferences. And her Twitter feed is worth your enjoyment - @megankatenelson, as is her blog Historista is both provocative and instructive for historians and anyone interested in history. Join us as we enter unchartered territory taking with a Pulitizer finalist! A little Calusetwizian Electronic Friction - Brian's mic went out halfway through. He showed his genius in quickly switching to the built-in computer mic - he'll suddenly get a little louder! Rec. 12/21/2021
After a harrowing interaction with police a a local D.C. park, Malcolm, 16, is angry and despondent and feels like nothing good ever happens for teens like him. The growing violence in his neighborhood leads his mother to send him to their family farm in Mississippi. What happens next is a fantastical journey through time to Reconstruction America. Black Was the Ink is the debut novel by Michelle Jones Coles, a civil rights attorney and mother of four sons. As a 9th generation Louisianan, she is highly attuned to the struggles African Americans have faced in overcoming the legacy of slavery and the periods of government-sanctioned discrimination that followed. This novel is best suited for readers 13 and older.
In episode 20 of Overthink, Ellie and David sit down with philosopher Dr. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò to discuss climate reparations and why they are needed as part of a broader discussion about reparations for racial injustice. Before that conversation, Ellie and David open the episode by addressing the history of reparations and the need for them both monetarily and as a signifier of justice. This episode looks at eco-fascism, whether direct payments via Cash App are viable reparations, and the need for reparations in the fight for justice.Works Discussed:Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877John Torpey, Making Whole What Has Been SmashedCedric J. Robinson, On Racial Capitalism, Black Internationalism, and Cultures of ResistanceOlúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, "What's New About Woke Racial Capitalism (and What Isn't)"Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, "An African case for carbon removal"Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò and Beba Cibralic, "The Case for Climate Reparations"John Mbaria and Mordecai Ogada, The Big Conservation LieAdom Getachew, Worldmaking After EmpireLisa J. Laplante, "The Plural Justice Aims of Reparations"Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | Dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
In 1865, General William T. Sherman issued Special Field Order No. 15— a promise to redistribute 40 acres of once Confederate-owned land in coastal South Carolina and Florida to each formerly enslaved adult to begin mending the seemingly unmendable. It never came to pass. H.R. 40, also known as the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act, has been brought to Congress repeatedly since 1989, first by the late Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich), now by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex). Hear Jeffery Robinson, founder of the Who We Are Project and deputy director of the ACLU take on the past, present and future of reparations with veteran political activist Dr. Ron Daniels and legal expert and reparations advocate Nkechi Taifa. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Baldwin, James. The Fire Next Time. Vintage, 1992 Coates, Ta-Nehisi. “The Case for Reparations.” The Atlantic. June, 2014. Du Bois, W.E.B. Black Reconstruction in America 1860 - 1880. Free Press, 1999 Foner, Eric. Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863 - 1877. Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2014. H.R.40 - Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act Lockhart, P.R. The 2020 Democratic Primary Debate Over Reparations, Explained. Vox.com, June 19, 2019 Marable, Manning. Beyond Boundaries: The Manning Marable Reader. Routledge, 2011. National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC) 10-Point Reparations Plan Taifa, Nkechi. Black Power, Black Lawyer. House of Songhay II, 2020.
Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s “Reconstruction: America After the Civil War” documentary series, which originally aired in 2019 on PBS, provides a deep dive into an immensely impactful yet often overlooked time in American history, and James Keys, Tunde Ogunlana, and Rick Ellsley discuss their biggest takeaways from the series and how what happened during this time period still influences much of contemporary American culture, politics, and economics.
Every Saturday at 1 PM ET, Ana Kasparian and Nando Vila broadcast live from the Jacobin YouTube channel. Weekends features free-flowing and humorous commentary on current events and political strategy. This is the podcast version of the show from February 6, 2021, with Paul Prescod filling in for Nando. Historian Eric Foner discusses how Civil War history and the events of Reconstruction can help us understand our present political moment. Paul Prescod explains why "black capitalism" will never lead to racial equality, and Ana Kasparian offers ideas for fixing our broken media. Eric Foner is professor of history at Columbia University and the author of Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877. Join the Verso book club: https://www.versobooks.com/bookclub Subscribe to Jacobin for just $10: https://jacobinmag.com/subscribe/?cod... Music provided by Zonkey: https://linktr.ee/zonkey
Eric Foner, the 2020 Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards winner for Lifetime Achievement, joins The Asterisk* to discuss the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol, his marriage to a fellow historian and his place among the most influential American historians of the last half-century. With more than two dozen books to his credit, AWBA jury chair Henry Louis Gates Jr. says Foner “is the dean of Reconstruction historians, and is one of the most generous, and genuinely passionate, professors of his generation.” In arguably his most influential book, “Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution,” Foner tracked the warp and weave in the struggle for freedom and equality long after the Confederacy expired. It won the Bancroft Prize, the Francis Parkman Prize, a Los Angeles Times Book Award, the Avery O. Craven Prize and the Lionel Trilling Award. The book is still considered the premier synthesis of the years 1863-1877.
In conversation with Eric Foner, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery and Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, winner of the Bancroft, Parkman, and Los Angeles Times Book prizes. James Oakes won the 2008 and 2013 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize for his scholarly work on the 16th President and the politics of abolition. His many books include Slavery and Freedom: An Interpretation of the Old South, The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics, and Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861–1865. He is the longtime Graduate School Humanities Chair at City University of New York. The Crooked Path to Abolition diagrams the Constitution-based course of Lincoln's antislavery strategies. Books may be purchased through the Joseph Fox Bookshop (recorded 2/2/2021)
Elections, #2 of 4. The consequences of 1876 were enormous. To end the the election limbo, Democratic and Republican politicians worked out a shadowy deal in which Rutherford Hayes was declared the president (by one electoral vote!) and the Republicans agreed to end Reconstruction in the former Confederacy. The results of the “Compromise of 1877” were a total abandonment of the process of reforming the South from a land ruled by white supremacy and defined by slavery to one of freedom and equal rights. The federal government effectively washed its hands of Reconstruction and left the South to its own devices. The result was … not good. As one freedman, Henry Adams, described it: “The whole South – every state in the South – had got into the hands of the very men that held us as slaves.” Today, as part of our series on elections, we’re talking about 1876, the election that ended Reconstruction, upended the accomplishments of the Civil War era, derailed civil rights, and allowed for the reign of Jim Crow. Bibliography DuBois, W. E. B. Black Reconstruction in America, 1860-1880. New York: The Free Press, 1998. Foner, Eric. A Short History of Reconstruction. New York: Harper Collins, 1990. Foner, Eric. Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1865-1877. New York: Harper Collins, 1988. Holt, Michael F. By One Vote: The Disputed Presidential Election of 1876. Lawrence: Kansas State University Press, 2008. Rehnquist, William H. Centennial Crisis: The Disputed Election of 1876. New York: Knopf, 2004. Woodward, C. Vann. Reunion & Reaction: The Compromise of 1877 and the End of Reconstruction. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1951. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In our latest episode of On Assignment, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and duPont juror Mark Whitaker reflect on the lessons learned from Gates’ 2020 duPont-winning documentary series Reconstruction: America After the Civil War. The conversation is timely, as the nation reckons with the current fragile political climate, and the country’s legacy of slavery in the wake of the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, among others.
Episode SummaryHistorian and optimist Eric Foner grew up through McCarthyism and the Civil Rights Movement and learned that one of the best ways to interpret history is that no matter how things are there is an opportunity to make them better. Syd and Eric talk about how the issues of the past are the issues of today, the dangers of romanticizing our history, and how some things never change. Professor Foner gives an unvarnished primer in American History and you might be surprised at how current it sounds, in this episode of The Sydcast.Syd FinkelsteinSyd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Master's degree from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Finkelstein has published 25 books and 90 articles, including the bestsellers Why Smart Executives Fail and Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, which LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman calls the “leadership guide for the Networked Age.” He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management, a consultant and speaker to leading companies around the world, and a top 25 on the global Thinkers 50 list of top management gurus. Professor Finkelstein's research and consulting work often relies on in-depth and personal interviews with hundreds of people, an experience that led him to create and host his own podcast, The Sydcast, to uncover and share the stories of all sorts of fascinating people in business, sports, entertainment, politics, academia, and everyday life. Eric FonerEric Foner, DeWitt Clinton Professor Emeritus of History at Columbia University, is one of this country's most prominent historians. He received his doctoral degree at Columbia under the supervision of Richard Hofstadter. He is one of only two persons to serve as president of the three major professional organizations: the Organization of American Historians, American Historical Association, and Society of American Historians, and one of a handful to have won the Bancroft and Pulitzer Prizes in the same year.Professor Foner's publications have concentrated on the intersections of intellectual, political, and social history and the history of American race relations. His books have been translated into Chinese, Korean, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish. Eric Foner is a winner of the Great Teacher Award from the Society of Columbia Graduates (1991), and the Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching from Columbia University (2006). He was named Scholar of the Year by the New York Council for the Humanities in 1995. In 2006, he received the Kidger Award for Excellence in Teaching and Scholarship from the New England History Teachers Association. In 2014 he was awarded the Gold Medal by the National Institute of Social Sciences. In 2020 he received the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Lifetime Achievement (the award honors literature that confronts racism and explores diversity), and the Roy Rosenzweig Distinguished Service Award from the Organization of American Historians. He is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the British Academy, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Political and Social Science. He has been awarded honorary degrees by Iona College, Queen Mary University of London, the State University of New York, Dartmouth College, Lehigh University, and Princeton University. He serves on the editorial boards of Past and Present and The Nation, and has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, London Review of Books, and many other publications, and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows, including Charlie Rose, Book Notes, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, Bill Moyers Journal, Fresh Air, and All Things Considered, and in historical documentaries on PBS and the History Channel. He was the on-camera historian for "Freedom: A History of Us," on PBS in 2003 and the chief historical advisor for the award-winning PBS documentary series on Reconstruction and its aftermath broadcast in 2019. He has lectured extensively to both academic and non-academic audiences. Professor Foner retired from teaching in 2018. Insights from this episode:Details on Reconstruction in America, what it was, what went wrong, and how it changed the world.Strategies for staying objective and finding truth when everyone seems to be living in different realities at the same time in history.How to be hopeful about when current events make the future seem bleak.Benefits of learning history, how it shapes our ideals today, and what our present can teach us about our future.Details about Abraham Lincoln and what his principles and methods can teach us today about developing our own standards.Reasons why books written about history are subjective and need to be more objective.Quotes from the show:“Things are always inevitable after they've happened.” – Eric Foner“I grew up understanding how fragile liberty is in our country, or in any other country.” – Eric Foner“It's not just a historical debate. The issues of Reconstruction are the issues of today.” – Eric FonerOn Reconstruction: “The tragedy was not that it was attempted, but that it failed and that left, for a century almost, this question of racial justice in the United States.” – Eric Foner“History is in the eye of the beholder.” – Syd Finkelstein“Being objective does not mean you have an empty mind … it means you have an open mind. You have to be willing to change your mind.” – Eric Foner“History is an ongoing process of reevaluation reinterpretation. There is never just the end of the story.” – Eric FonerOn Professor Foner's lecture on Reconstruction: “It's a statement about what kind of country should America be.” – Syd FinkelsteinOn what a professor does: “The creation and dissemination of knowledge.” – Syd FinkelsteinOn Abraham Lincoln: “We've had many presidents, including the current one, who can not stand criticism, Lincoln welcomed it. He thought he could learn. He thought his entire life he could learn new things.” – Eric Foner“That's what makes you a historian. You have to be able to weigh evidence, judge evidence, balance things out.” – Eric Foner“The historical narrative is an act of the imagination by the historian … what you leave out is as important as what you put in.” – Eric FonerOn the primary system of voting: “It enables the motivated electorate, which is a small percentage, to have an unbelievable influence.” – Syd FinkelsteinBooks by Eric FonerFree Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party Before the Civil War (1970; reissued with new preface 1995) Tom Paine and Revolutionary America (1976)Nothing But Freedom: Emancipation and Its Legacy (1983)Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 (1988) (winner, among other awards, of the Bancroft Prize, Parkman Prize, and Los Angeles Times Book Award) The Reader's Companion to American History (with John A. Garraty, 1991)The Story of American Freedom (1998)Who Owns History? Rethinking the Past in a Changing World (2002) Give Me Liberty! An American History (2004) The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery (2010) (winner, among other awards, of the Bancroft Prize, Pulitzer Prize for History, and The Lincoln Prize) Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad (2015) (winner of the American History Book Prize by the New-York Historical Society)The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution (2019)Lectures by Eric FonerDuring the 2014-15 academic year, his Columbia University course on The Civil War and Reconstruction was made available online, free of charge, via ColumbiaX and EdX. They can also be found on YouTube.PART 1: THE COMING OF THE CIVIL WARPART 2: THE CIVIL WARPART 3: RECONSTRUCTIONStay Connected: Syd FinkelsteinWebsite: http://thesydcast.comLinkedIn: Sydney FinkelsteinTwitter: @sydfinkelsteinFacebook: The SydcastInstagram: The SydcastEric FonerWebsite: www.ericfoner.comSubscribe to our podcast + download each episode on Stitcher, iTunes, and Spotify.This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)
(recorded over zoom) 19th-century “medicine shows” marketed cure-alls in a moveable feast of showmanship that compelled rural pain sufferers to exchange hard-earned cash for “miracle” elixirs, tonics, and liniments. Most of these treatments were dubious at best, dangerous at worst. But these shows were more than just a particularly vivid chapter in America’s long history of rewarding savvy hustlers peddling questionable products. The medicine show was also a vitally important social phenomenon, providing unique social and economic mobility for people who had talent, but were otherwise shut out from the opportunities of post-Reconstruction America. Join Dr. Karen Bellinger as she speaks with writer and historian Deb Hunter about the role of Snake Oil Salesmen in the early days of the pharmaceutical industry.
After the massive devastation and scorched earth wartime methods of the Civil War, America tried to rebuild itself. This era was known as Reconstruction and lasted from 1865 to 1877. Many hoped at the beginning that the South would peacefully re-enter the Union, slaves would enjoy full liberty as American citizens, and the United States would emerge stronger.It didn’t. Reconstruction showed that many of the divisions in the United States were as wide as ever. Thousands of freed slaves were not accepted anywhere and arrested on charges of vagrancy. Others died of disease or starvation. Radical Republicans sought citizenship full legal equality of black Americans, while Southerners sought segregation and white supremacy. But despite the challenges, many former slaves said all that mattered was freedom. Rachel Adams of Georgia summed up the feeling of many formerly enslaved people when she said she could “live on just bread and water as long” as she was free. The men, women, and children who emerged from bondage built schools, developed communities and “made a way out of no way.”
January 20, 2020 at the Boston Athenæum. This long-overdue biography reestablishes William Monroe Trotter’s essential place next to Douglass, Du Bois, and King in the pantheon of American civil rights heroes. William Monroe Trotter (1872– 1934), though still virtually unknown to the wider public, was an unlikely American hero. With the stylistic verve of a newspaperman and the unwavering fearlessness of an emancipator, he galvanized black working- class citizens to wield their political power despite the violent racism of post- Reconstruction America. For more than thirty years, the Harvard-educated Trotter edited and published the Guardian, a weekly Boston newspaper that was read across the nation. Defining himself against the gradualist politics of Booker T. Washington and the elitism of W. E. B. Du Bois, Trotter advocated for a radical vision of black liberation that prefigured leaders such as Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. Synthesizing years of archival research, historian Kerri Greenidge renders the drama of turn- of- the- century America and reclaims Trotter as a seminal figure, whose prophetic, yet ultimately tragic, life offers a link between the vision of Frederick Douglass and black radicalism in the modern era.
Mariano and Allegra get into the second part of the PBS special, Reconstruction: America after the Civil War that was first aired in April 2019. **You can see all 4 episodes of this 2 part series on YouTube. References Inside Look | Reconstruction: America After the Civil War | PBS PBS Official Website #ReconstructionPBS Contact Us: Facebook | Instagram | Email | Website | Twitter | Voicemail
This month, Allegra and Mariano do a little something different and discuss the Reconstruction Period as presented by PBS in a two-part documentary. They review the first part of the film and the knowledge they had before seeing the documentary. Stay tuned for the review of Part 2. References PBS Official Website #ReconstructionPBS Trailer (Outro) [...]
Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., has said, "Reconstruction is one of the most important and consequential chapters in American history. It is also among the most overlooked, misunderstood and misrepresented." Gates' new four-part television series for PBS, Reconstruction: America after the Civil War begins it run on April 9 on SCETV.
The Democrats and Republicans in the House were doing everything they could think of to force the hands of their opponents into appointing the House Speaker. However, no one could secure the majority number of votes to take over the position. The crisis reached a breaking point when a congressman actually suggested that everyone from the House resign in order eliminate the issue entirely. With every passing day, party lines became clearer and our Loco-Focos were at the core of the anti-slavery Republican movement.Why was there a speakership crisis? How did the House overcome the crisis? What happened to the Loco-Focos in the 1850’s? Did the speakership crisis just serve as a foreshadowing of the trouble to come for the U.S.?Further Reading:Wilentz, Sean. The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. 2005.Bigelow, John. William Cullen Bryant. New York: Chelsea House Publishers. 1980. (Original printing: 1890).Brooks, Corey M. Liberty Power: Antislavery Third Parties and the Transformation of American Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2016.Foner, Eric. Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877. Perennial Classics Edition. 2002. Originally Published: 1988.Reynolds, David S. Walt Whitman’s America: A Cultural Biography. New York: Knopf. 1996Related Content:Compromising Compromisers, Liberty Chronicles Podcast1848 and Its Aftermath, Liberty Chronicles PodcastLibertarian Anti-Capitalism, Liberty Chronicles Podcast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
This week, we bring you a very special show recorded live at the XOXO festival in Portland! We decided to liven things up by playing a special game in which each of us presents one piece of media we loved when we were younger to the crowd, and asking them to vote: Can we still love this thing, or do we have to dump it? A cult classic NES game, a mostly forgotten 80s TV series, and a much-maligned episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer are all on the chopping block. How will the crowd decide? But that’s not all! We also talk about how Burt Reynolds was the first male centerfold in Cosmo Magazine (and whether or not this was a win for feminism), the “copaganda” of Insomniac’s new Spider-Man game for PS4, what sets Anita and Ebony’s upcoming book History Vs. Women apart, and much more. Segment Timestamps :00 A Special Intro from Anita 1:10 We’re Live at #XOXO! 4:50 Entertainment News: Burt Reynolds as Cosmo’s First Male Centerfold, “Copaganda” in Insomniac’s New Spider-Man Game 15:30 Intro to “Defend the Dumbest Thing You Love” 16:35 Carolyn Presents: Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode 24:35 The Crowd Votes! 25:05 Ebony Presents: The Insiders 31:20 The Crowd Votes! 32:05 Anita Presents: "Beer Bad" 40:10 The Crowd Votes! 41:50 What’s Your FREQ-Out? Carolyn on Into the Breach, newly released on Switch! Ebony on Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution by Eric Foner 50:10 What Sets Our Upcoming YA History Book History Vs. Women Apart! 53:00 Anita on John Scalzi’s The Collapsing Empire and media that frankly depicts period pain 57:15 Wrap-up Relevant Links Learn more about and pre-order History Vs. Women! Lynn Peril for Bust on Burt Reynolds as Cosmo's first centerfold Naomi Clark's Twitter thread on Spider-Man and the police
This week, Kim and Alice take a deep dive into books about the campaign for women's suffrage and the passage of the 19th Amendment in August 1920. This episode is sponsored by Book Riot Insiders, Girl Boner: The Good Girl’s Guide to Sexual Empowerment by August McLaughlin, and Tragedy Plus Time by Adam Cayton-Holland. NEW BOOKS A Deal with the Devil: The Dark and Twisted True Story of One of the Biggest Cons in History by Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken Amateur: A True Story About What Makes a Man by Thomas Page McBee Reader, Come Home: The Fate of the Reading Brain in a Digital World by Maryanne Wolf A Life of My Ownby Claire Tomalin Proud: My Fight for An Unlikely American Dream by Ibtihaj Muhammad The Kill Jar: Obsession, Descent, and a Hunt for Detroit’s Most Notorious Serial Killer by J. Reuben Appelman WEEKLY THEME: WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE News: Hillary Clinton, Steven Spielberg Bringing Women's Voting Drama to TV For fun: Bad Romance - Women's Suffrage The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote by Elaine Weiss A Woman’s Crusade: Alice Paul and the Battle for the Ballot by Mary Walton The Myth of Seneca Falls by Lisa Tetrault Quick Hits: Women Will Vote: Winning Suffrage in New York Stateby Susan Goodier / Lucy Stone: An Unapologetic Life by Sally G. McMillen / Fighting Chance: The Struggle Over Woman Suffrage and Black Suffrage in Reconstruction America by Faye E. Dudden / To Keep the Waters Troubled: The Life of Ida B. Wells by Linda O. McMurry / Frances Willard: A Biography by Ruth Bordin / The Scarlet Sisters: Sex, Suffrage, and Scandal in the Gilded Age by Myra MacPherson FICTION/NONFICTION Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else by Chrystia Freeland Singapore: Unlikely Power by John Curtis Perry The Dinner List by Rebecca Searle Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. by Sam Wasson (2010) The Slenderman Mysteries: An Internet Urban Legend Comes to Life by Nick Redfern The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah Pilgrim’s Wilderness by Tom Kizzia READING NOW Yes We (Still) Can by Dan Pfeiffer Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret by Craig Brown The Secret Token by Andrew Lawler Forever Nerdy by Brian Posen
New episode is live! Calvin is our historian this week and he pieces together the story of Reconstructionist America and Juneteenth. Find the show on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, and Podcast Detroit. Don't forget to follow Calvin's podcast, Leading Questions w/Calvin Moore. The post Shot of History Episode 115: Reconstruction America & Juneteenth first appeared on PodcastDetroit.com.
Calvin is in studio as historian this week to talk about Reconstruction America and the Juneteenth holiday.
New episode is live! Calvin is our historian this week and he pieces together the story of Reconstructionist America and Juneteenth. Find the show on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, and Podcast Detroit. Don’t forget to follow Calvin’s podcast, Leading Questions w/Calvin Moore.
New episode is live! Calvin is our historian this week and he pieces together the story of Reconstructionist America and Juneteenth. Find the show on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, and Podcast Detroit. Don’t forget to follow Calvin’s podcast, Leading Questions w/Calvin Moore.
In The Past Lane - The Podcast About History and Why It Matters
This week at ITPL, the American history podcast, we take on the last third of the 19th century, a period known as both Reconstruction and the Gilded Age. As many of you know, the Gilded Age is the period of US history that I specialize in. I know I’m biased, but to me, this is the most fascinating and compelling period in US history. It’s when the United States leaves behind the agrarian republic envisioned by founders like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, and plunges headlong into an industrial age that even Alexander Hamilton could not have imagined. It’s a time of incredible wealth production (hence, the Gilded label), as the United States surges to become the world‘s foremost industrial economy.And along with that comes the rise of great cities like New York and Chicago, and unprecedented immigration from Europe and Asia. It’s also an exciting age of revolutionary new technology. The railroad spreads across the continent, along with the Internet of the day, the telegraph. Electricity and electric lights begin to transform every day life. And yet, despite all this exciting progress, the last third of the 19th century was a deeply unsettling time. The rise of big business alarmed many Americans, because industrialists like John D Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie acquired stupendous wealth – and with that wealth came extraordinary power. They could use that power to compel Congress or state legislatures to do their will. And they could force their workers to accept long hours, low pay, and dangerous conditions. And if those workers went on strike? Industrialists could count on the local police, state militia, or even federal troops, to crush it. And there were a lot of strikes in this area – 37,000 between 1880 and 1900. And some of them – like the Great Uprising railroad strike of 1877 – were huge and resulted in scores of people killed. And in between strikes, the evidence of rising levels of poverty and unrest was everywhere. The situation out in the heartland was just as fraught. American farmers struggled against the usual things like drought and locusts, but also predatory banks and railroads. So as urban workers join unions like the Knights of Labor, farmers joined Farmers Alliances that demanded the government regulate banks and railroads. Both movements represented popular resistance to an economy and political system that they believed had become rigged in favor of the rich and powerful. It would eventually lead to the rise of the Populists and the People’s Party insurgency of the 1890s. And there was great turmoil and violence elsewhere, in the American south and west. In the south, the first decade after the Civil War saw African-Americans gain full citizenship and civil rights. And they used these rights to build new lives as free people and to exert political power. But by the mid-1870s white southerners rose up to overthrow Reconstruction and impose white supremacy, establishing a racist and oppressive social order known as Jim Crow. And in the west, the US Army launched the final, bloody campaign to defeat Native Americans and forcibly remove them to reservations. I think you'll agree, there’s a LOT happening in the Gilded Age and Reconstruction, that last third of the 19th century. In many ways, it’s the period when modern America takes form. And because this transformation marked a new era in US history, it raised compelling and troubling questions about democracy, equality, and citizenship. To explore these questions and the answers and how Americans in the late 19th century struggled to answer them, I speak with historian Richard White, author of a new book on the period, The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896. Among the many things we discuss in this conversation: How Reconstruction and the Gilded Age are inextricably linked. The Republican Party’s post-Civil War vision of eliminating regional differences and creating a unified, homogeneous republic. How and why the Republican Party initially fought during Reconstruction to create a multiracial republic based on equal citizenship but then allowed white supremacists to overthrow it. How Buffalo Bill created the popular (and convenient) narrative of westward expansion and Manifest Destiny. How John Gast’s famous painting, “American Progress” (1872), became the iconic image of westward expansion and Manifest Destiny, despite “getting it all wrong.” Why resistance to the onset of wage labor explains so much of the civil unrest in the Gilded Age. Why most Americans in the Gilded Age feared the rich and worried that plutocracy and inequality would destroy the republic. How “cooperation” (and socialism) emerged as a unifying ideal in the Gilded Age among those who feared the rise of inequality and corporate power. Why all three major political parties (Republican, Democratic, and Populist) by 1896 agreed that the challenges posed by industrialization and big business required a stronger federal government. What Americans living in the second Gilded Age can learn from the first Gilded Age. About Richard White – website Further Reading Richard White, The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896 (Oxford, 2017) Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 (1988) Edward T. O’Donnell, Henry George and the Crisis of Inequality: Progress and Poverty in the Gilded Age (2015) Nell Irvin Painter, Standing at Armageddon: A Grassroots History of the Progressive Era (1987) Heather Cox Richardson, The Death of Reconstruction: Race, Labor, and Politics in the Post-Civil War North, 1865-1901 (2001) Heather Cox Richardson, West from Appomattox: The Reconstruction of America after the Civil War (2007) Elliott West, The Last Indian War: The Nez Perce Story (2009) About the John Gast painting – Picturing History Music for This Episode Jay Graham, ITPL Intro (JayGMusic.com) Kevin McCleod, “Impact Moderato” (Free Music Archive) The Bell, “I Hope It Hurts” (Free Music Archive) Ketsa, “I Will Be There” (Free Music Archive) Jon Luc Hefferman “Winter Trek” (Free Music Archive) The Bell, “I Am History” (Free Music Archive) Production Credits Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson Podcasting Consultant: Darrell Darnell of Pro Podcast Solutions Photographer: John Buckingham Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci Website by: ERI Design Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too Social Media management: The Pony Express Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight © Snoring Beagle International, 2017
This Week: Making sense of the election season with a historian. From Confederate monuments to election politics to utopian communities, Eric Foner discusses today's politics through the legacy of the past, and Laura takes a new look at a hundred-year-old proclamation. Foner is DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University, is one of this country's most prominent historians, and the foremost expert and the civil war and reconstruction. He is the author of more than 20 books, including many classics, such as Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party Before the Civil War; Nothing But Freedom: Emancipation and Its Legacy; and Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877. His most recent book is Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad.