Episodes
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A-Z: J
It's another episode of A-Z, and the lucky letter is J! On the menu this week: John Birch Society Jacobs, Harriet Jackson Japanese Internment Jazz Singer, The And many more! Thanks again for listening and we'll be back soon with our brand new series on the US and the Middle East! Cheers, Mark and...
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LBJ's America: Pt.6 - The Legacy
Following a delay thanks to strikes, illness, and a furious effort to finish writing a book, we're back with the final episode of our Lyndon Johnson's America series! We discuss the various legacies of Johnson, his Great Society, Civil Rights, Vietnam, and the long Sixties. And we also provide a...
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A-Z: T
It's our fifth episode of A-Z, where we take a letter from the alphabet and use it to take a journey through American History for 30 minutes. And on this occasion it's the letter T! Among the topics discussed on this episode: Truman Three Mile Island Sister Rosetta Tharpe Tupperware Tobacco We…
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LBJ's America: Pt.5 - The Successor
It's the penultimate episode of our LBJ's America series! On this episode we round out 1968, which sees Richard Nixon win the presidential election and be on his way to the White House. We chat about Nixon's record and how, after promising to bring the American people together, he ended up…
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A-Z: W
On this month's A-Z, we tackle the letter 'W' for 30 minutes, including discussion of: World War I & II Watergate The West Wing Victoria Woodhull And even, William Wallace. We hope you enjoy and we'll be back soon with the penultimate episode in our LBJ's America series. Cheers, Mark
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Lyndon Johnson's America: Pt..4 - The Crisis
It's the fourth installment of our series on Lyndon Johnson's America and we are into crisis mode. We pick up the story in mid-1967 and discuss how Vietnam, racial violence, and a host of other contentious issues rise to the fore and overwhelm Lyndon Johnson, leading to his eventual withdrawal…
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A-Z: R
It's the third in our series of 30 minute discussions of random US history topics beginning with a letter of the alphabet. Today - it's R! Republicans Rambo Red Scare Republican Motherhood ...are just a few of things that we chew over. Cheers, Mark and Malcolm
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Lyndon Johnson's America: Pt.3 - The War
It's Part 3 of Lyndon Johnson's America and we arrive at the event which arguably shaped LBJ's presidency more than anything else - the Vietnam War. In this episode, we cover the early years of the conflict (1964-67) and discuss: - Why Vietnam? - Why does Johnson escalate in 1965? - What role do...
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A-Z: H
It's the second of our episodes where we discuss a series of events, people, and places drawn at random that begin with a specific letter. And today's letter is H! Fannie Lou Hamer Adolf Hitler Jimi Hendrix Hollywood and many, many more! We'll be back next month with another episode of A-Z!…
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Lyndon Johnson's America: Pt.2 - The Dream
On the second episode of Lyndon Johnson's America, we encounter an optimistic America. A United States prospering and beginning to deal with its original sin of racism. We delve into civil rights victories and Johnson's pursuit of a Great Society. But we also discuss the rise of television, the...
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American History A-Z: C
It's a new podcast! The idea is simple. We've written down loads of names/events/developments that relate to American History that begin with the same letter. They have been scrunched up in a hat, they are picked at random, and we have 30 minutes to discuss whatever comes out the hat. And today,...
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(OUR APOLOGIES FOR SOUND QUALITY ISSUE) Lyndon Johnson's America, Part 1: The Ascent
(OUR APOLOGIES FOR THE SOUND QUALITY ON THIS EPISODE - ROGUE MICROPHONE ISSUE) We're back! And we're embarking on a six part series examining 'Lyndon Johnson's America'. Essentially, we're using the life and times of LBJ to examine and explore the United States over which he presided in the...
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Episode 54 - The Melting Pot: American Immigration Policy since 1900
On Episode 54 we're joined by Grainne McEvoy (@GrainneMcEvoy) for a timely discussion of American immigration policy over the past 150 years. In particular, we discuss two pieces of legislation that drastically changed the type of immigrants who would arrive in the United States, and thus shaped...
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BONUS POD: THE MIDTERMS
We're back with a sequel to our bonus podcast on the 2016 election election whereby we breakdown the Midterm 2018 results, discuss the importance of Midterms in American History, and reflect on the implications of this year's results for the future. And, of course, we're joined by Paddy Andelic...
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(RE-RUN) Insult or Celebration? Black History Month
As we prepare to return in November with two episodes, including a special on the midterm election results, here is a re-run of an old episode on Black History Month (which falls in October in the UK, so we felt it was ideal to re-post this now) On Episode 34 of American History Too! we were…
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Episode 53 - Rust Belt America: Land of the Obama-Trump Voter
In Episode 53 we're joined by the University of Oxford's Dan Rowe (@dan_rowe1) to discuss the reasons for the emergence of America's 'Rust Belt' - an area of the United States characterized by decline and struggle since the last third of the 20th century. Where is the Rust Belt? How do people who...
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Episode 52 - Sex and Sexuality: The Life and Times of Sumner Welles
On Episode 52, we're joined by Kings College London's Chris Parkes to discuss sex and sexuality in the first half of the twentieth century. Chris guides us through how sexuality was understood at this time, why it became the policy of the federal government to discriminate against gay and lesbian...
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Episode 51 - Black and White: Booker T. Washington, the Second KKK, and Race Relations, 1880-1930
We're back! After a delay to allow for holidays and research trips, on a bumper Episode 51, we are joined by two guests - York St John University's Stephen Robinson (@drSRRobinson) and the University of Essex's Miguel Hernandez (@MHernandezGdV) to work through one of the worst eras in American…
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Episode 50 - The Shining City: American Exceptionalism Explored
It's our 50TH EPISODE! And for this exceptional landmark, we could think of no more appropriate topic to discuss than American Exceptionalism. What does that term mean? Where does it come from? Does US exceptionalism differ from other kinds of exceptionalism? And what is the current state of...
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Episode 49 - Sisters Doin' It For Themselves: Progressives, Women, and the City
On Episode 49 of American History Too! we're joined by the University of Manchester's Katie Myerscough (@katiemyerscough) to discuss her research into the Progressive Era and the role women played in shaping American cities at the turn of the 20th century. Think that this era saw women focus...
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Episode 48 - Back to the Future: A New Cold War?
On Episode 48, our resident Cold War expert, Malcolm, is in the hotseat to discuss whether we are in the midst of a new Cold War (drawing upon his recent contribution to this BBC article - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-43546340). Before we tackle the present day, we cover the old Cold…
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Episode 47 - Terminated: Native Americans and the Federal Government, 1860-2018
Picking up from last month's episode on Native Americans and slavery, this month's episode with Reeta Humalajoki (University of Turku) explores the relationship between the American government from the civil war to the present day. We explore the various policies from assimilation to termination...
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Episode 46 - A More Benevolent Slaveholder? Native Americans and the Peculiar Institution
On Episode 46, we're joined by the University of Hull's Edd Mair, who discusses his research on Native Americans as slaveholders during the 18th and 19th centuries, particularly the Seminole tribe of Florida. We have a wide-ranging discussion of the history of Native American slavery - both as...
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Episode 45 - 1968: 50 Years On
On Episode 45, we are joined by UCL's Nick Witham (@ndwitham) to examine the turbulent events of 1968 in the United States. 50 years on, what are the legacies of the 365 days of tumult? What happened? What impact did it have on various groups in society? And how important were the 'Sixties' more...
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Episode 44 - Excluded and Interned: The Asian-American Experience from the Yellow Peril to ‘Model Minority’
On Episode 44 of American History Too! we're joined by TWO very special guests - the University of Exeter's Rachel Pistol (@PistolRachel) and the University of Edinburgh's Tim Cooper (@tscooper11) - to discuss how Asian-Americans have fared in American society since the late nineteenth century to...
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Episode 43 - South of the Border: US-Latin America Relations from Monroe to Mann
On Episode 43 of American History Too! we delve into the United States' topsy-turvy relationship with its southern neighbours. The US has had a fascinating and complex relationship with its American cousins and joined by the University of Manchester's Tom Tunstall Allcock (@TunstallAllcock) we...
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Episode 42 - The Pioneers: Black Candidates Before Obama
On this month's episode we're joined by Lancaster University's politics lecturer Richard Johnson (@richardmarcj) to discuss five pioneering black politicians who ran for election in the decades before Barack Obama's ascension to the White House in 2008: Ed Brooke, Tom Bradley, Douglas Wilder,...
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Episode 41 - Anti-Slavery Dynamite: Black Abolitionists in Britain
(Our guest this month, Hannah Rose Murray, @Hannah_RoseM , frederickdouglassinbritain.com) One spring evening in 1838, formerly enslaved African American Moses Roper spoke to a crowded audience in Leicester, and during one section of his speech, declared: "Many will say “This is the slaves’ side…
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Episode 40 - Age of Charisma: America’s Magnetic Losers, 1870-1940
For Episode 40 of American History Too! we've fired up the Translatlantic cables to chat to Dixie State University's Jeremy Young (@jeremycyoung) about his work on the 'Age of Charisma' between 1870 and 1940. Jeremy guides through what it meant to be a charismatic leader and, indeed, a…
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Episode 39 - Long, Hot Summer: Race Riots in 1960s America
50 years on from the 'long, hot summer' of 1967 we look back at the race riots that became a common feature of the 1960s landscape in the United States. Should we call them riots? Why did they happen in the same decade in which African-Americans achieved the greatest legislative progress in 100...
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Episode 38 - Suspicious Minds: The Paranoid Cinema of the 1970s
On this month's episode we're joined by Fraser McCallum to discuss the paranoid cinema of the 1970s that emerged in the midst of assassinations, Watergate, and an array of government misdeeds that had been exposed in the previous decade. In particular we examine The Conversation (the trailer for...
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Episode 37 - Private Eye: Allan Pinkerton and the Pinkerton National Detective Agency
On Episode 37 of American History Too! we look at a man and an organisation who encapsulated much of what 19th century America was about: immigration, westward expansion, big business, labour relations, war, and politics. We examine Allan Pinkerton and the ‘eye that never sleeps’, the Pinkerton...
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Episode 36 - With Malice Towards None: The Fascinating Life and Legacy of Abraham Lincoln
The 16th President of the United States, unlike so many of his fellow nineteenth century White House occupants, has not been lost to History. Indeed, his name lives on as the Capitol of Nebraska, as a popular car brand, and as a name for one of America’s two political parties. Beyond the United...
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Episode 35 - In God We Trust? Religion and the American Civil War
On Episode 35 of American History Too! we're joined by the University of Hull's Rachel Williams to discuss the role that religion played in the American Civil War. Rachel guides us through the evolution of religion from the founding years through to the antebellum era and the effect it had on the...
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Episode 34 - Insult or Celebration? Debating Black History Month
On Episode 34 of American History Too! we're joined by the University of Birmingham's James West (@ejwestuk) to discuss the history of Black History Month and the debates that surround BHM. Over the course of the hour we get stuck into the legacy of the Civil Rights movement, the origins of Black...
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Episode 33 - Taken to Church: The CIA and the Year of Intelligence
On Episode 33 we turn our attentions back to the CIA and pick up where we left off in Episode 31. Joined by the University of Reading’s Dafydd Townley, we whizz through the CIA’s successes and failures in the 1950s and 1960s, when the agency was given free rein by Congress to do as it pleased...
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Episode 32 - Overpaid and Oversexed: The US ‘Occupation’ of Wartime Britain, 1942-1945
In 1942, GIs who were being deployed to Britain were presented with a clear set of official instructions which warned them what they could expect to find when they reached wartime Britain: ‘‘You are coming to Britain from a country where your home is still safe, food is still plentiful, and…
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Episode 31 - Gang of Weirdos: The Roots of CIA Covert Operations
World War II is over, the Cold War is just beginning, and the United States is set on winning hearts and minds - and foreign elections - by any means necessary. On episode 31 of American History Too! we travel back to the mid-1940s and tell the story behind the creation of the CIA's covert...
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Bonus - Donald Ducked: The 2016 Election Special
What it says in the title. It's over and in an attempt to process Trump's shock victory we break down the 2016 election into historical perspective. To do so, we're joined once more by Paddy Andelic (@pkandelic). We discuss why Trump won, why Clinton lost, where the parties stand, and what…
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Episode 30 - Rockin’ in the Free World: Presidential Campaign Music
On Episode 30 of American History Too! we take a deep dive into the history of music and presidential campaigns in the United States. Joined by the Imperial War Museum's Fraser McCallum we discuss the rise of campaign music from the nineteenth century to the current 2016 election, including all…
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Episode 29 - Anti-Slavery Fire: Trans-Atlantic Abolitionism in the 19th Century
In London on May 22nd 1846, the great anti-slavery campaigner and orator Frederick Douglass - who himself was a former slave – stood before a large audience and related to them the reasons why he was there: “Why do I not confine my efforts to the United States? My answer first, that slavery is…
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Episode 28 - Beyond the Flapper: Women’s Magazines, Beauty, and Femininity in the 1920s
In 1921, the influential magazine Literary Digest speculated on the morality and nature of the modern young woman: Is the “old fashioned girl”, with all that she stands for in sweetness, modesty, and innocence, in danger of becoming extinct? Or was she really no better nor worse than the “up to...
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Episode 27 - The Road to Hillary Clinton: The Democrats since the 1960s
With the Republican convention in Cleveland complete, all eyes turn now to Philadelphia where the Democrats will gather to nominate the first ever woman to head a major party ticket in US history. Joined once more by the University of Oxford's Paddy Andelic (@pkandelic) we take a deep dive into…
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Episode 26 - The Road to Trump: Republicans since the 1960s
Still baffled by Donald Trump's nomination? Be perplexed no more! With the Republican party heading to their convention in Cleveland to nominate the billionaire tycoon, we're joined by the University of Oxford's Paddy Andelic (@pkandelic) to discuss the Republicans over the past half century as…
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Episode 25 - Brown Bombers and Aryan Supermen: Race and Sport in the 1930s
In 1936, not long after German heavyweight boxer Max Schmeling knocked out his African-American opponent, Joe Louis, the journal Der Weltkampf published the following statement: “These countries cannot thank Schmeling enough for this victory for he checked the arrogance of the Negro race and...
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Episode 24 - Banning the Booze: American Prohibition
On January 20th 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution - which banned the production, transport, and sale of alcohol - went into effect. Among the many Americans rejoicing at the passage of Prohibition that evening, was one Pauline Sabin. Sabin, a wealthy WASP socialite, who was...
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Episode 23 - Secular Electric Jesus: The life and times of Nikola Tesla
In early 1943 – while the Battle of Stalingrad raged thousands of miles away – US government officials explored the hotel room of a recently deceased scientist. They were looking for the plans to a weapon that could change the war. They were looking for a death ray. The death ray did not exist…
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Episode 22 - Where’s the Beef? Liberals in Reagan’s America
‘On the 25th of September 1984, in one of the hardest-hitting speeches of his long Presidential campaign against Ronald Reagan, former Vice-President Walter F. Mondale spoke powerfully at George Washington University about the contemporary political landscape: This election is not about…
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Episode 21 - Hoover, Damned?
It was a midterm election year, the economy was beginning tolook a bit shaky again, and the Democrats were in danger of losing their majoritiesin Congress. The Democratic President, gathering his congressional troopsin the White House to rally them ahead of a tough campaign, knew just the…
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