The Gilded Age and Progressive Era
by Michael Patrick Cullinane
The Gilded Age and Progressive Era is a free podcast about the seismic transitions that took place in the United States from the 1870s to 1920s. It's for students, teachers, researchers, history buffs, and anyone who wants to learn more about how our past connects us to the present. It is hosted by Boyd Cothran, professor of U.S. and Global history at York University, and Cathleen D. Cahill, Walter L. Ferree and Helen P. Ferree Professor in Middle-American History at Penn State University.
Episodes
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128: Her Hat Was in the Ring: How Women Won the Right to Run for Office in the United States
Today we are talking about Wendy E. Chmielewski and Jill Norgren’s wonderful Her Hat Was in the Ring: How Women Won the Right to Run for Office in the United States. The book starts with the astonish fact that over 6,000 women candidates ran for elected office before the ratification of the 19th...
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127: Gangster of New York: A Violent Life in Nineteenth Century America
On this week’s episode we discuss Andrew Wender Cohen’s Gangster of New York: A Violent Life in Nineteenth Century America, a rollicking biography of a man who went by many names including Louis Bieral or Louis Clark or sometimes Spanish Louis. He was born in Chile when it was a part of the…
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126: Waging Sovereignty: Native Americans and the Transformation of Work in the Twentieth Century
Wage work was supposed to "kill the Indian and save the man" — that was the theory behind a century of federal Indian policy, from boarding school outing programs to postwar urban relocation. This week we talk with historian Colleen O'Neill about her new book, Waging Sovereignty: Native Americans...
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125: The Mountains Are Calling: Tourists and the Unmaking of Yosemite National Park
Yosemite didn't just get discovered — it got made, over and over, by every visitor who ever showed up to see it. This week we talk with historian Michael W. Childers about his new book, The Mountains Are Calling: Tourists and the Unmaking of Yosemite National Park, which argues that the anonymous...
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124: A Workplace of their Own: Rockefeller, Roche, and Labor's Battle Over Industrial Democracy
This week we are joined by María E. Montoya to discuss her new book, A Workplace of Their Own: Rockefeller, Roche, and Labor’s Battle Over Industrial Democracy, just published by Oxford University Press. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/a-workplace-of-their-own-9780197551691?cc=us&lang=en&...
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123: Magic Lantern Art with Terry Borton
The Gilded Age and Progressive Era Podcast is back! After our summer hiatus, we're kicking off a new season and returning to our regular every-other-week release schedule. Thanks for your patience over the break — we've got a great slate of guests lined up, starting with this one. Long before...
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122: The History and Legacy of Anthony Comstock and the Comstock Laws Part 1
This week we talk to the editors and authors of a forum on The History and Legacy of Anthony Comstock and the Comstock Laws which was published in the Journal of Gilded Age and Progressive Era. Link to the introduction in the Journal of GAPE...
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121: Speed Capital: Indianapolis Auto Racing and the Making of Modern America
Today our guest is Dr. Brian Ingrassia Associate Professor of History at West Texas A&M University. He specializes in modern American history with a focus on the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, as well as sport history, cultural/intellectual history, and Texas history. He is also the current…
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120.5 OAH Conference Sampler
Here's a little bonus for you. A couple of weeks ago, the Organization of American Historians (OAH) held its annual conference in Philadelphia, PA.The Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era is a sponsored organization of the OAH and have a large presence at the conference.…
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120: Theodore Roosevelt and the Tennis Cabinet
In this episode, we speak with renowned-Roosevelt scholar and former host of the podcast Michael Patrick Cullinane about his new book Theodore Roosevelt and the Tennis Cabinet. We often imagine Theodore Roosevelt as a singular force who reshaped the presidency through sheer energy and will. But...
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119: Old Women, Race, and Power
We have a special treat for you today - we get to listen in on a panel from the conference Old Women, Race, and Power recorded at the Huntington Library in Pasadena CA.. The panel, "Challenging Colonial Imagery: Indigenous Centenarians and Gender in California,” explores the way old age and race...
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118: Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress -- And How to Bring it Back
Why does it feel like government can’t get things done? From housing to infrastructure to climate, even widely supported policies often stall. In this episode, Boyd Cothran speaks with Marc J. Dunkelman about his new book, Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress—and How to Bring It Back. At the...
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117: 2026 SHGAPE Prize Winners
Today we are delighted to welcome a guest host, Dr. Chelsea Gibson of SUNY Binghampton, and the co-editor of the SHGAPE Blog. who is interviewing three of the 2026 SHGAPE prize winners: Carlotta Wright de la Cal, winner of the SHGAPE research grant for her project “Rule of Rail: Railroad Labor…
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116: The Feather Wars: And the Great Crusade to Save America’s Birds
In this episode, Boyd Cothran and Cathleen Cahill sit down with James H. McCommons to discuss his sweeping new book, The Feather Wars: And the Great Crusade to Save America’s Birds — publishing March 17, 2026. 📘 Pre-order now: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250286895/thefeatherwars/ At a...
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115: Votes for College Women: Alumni, Students, and the Woman Suffrage Campaign
There’s a lot in the news these days about politics on college campuses with discussions of student protests, curriculum debates, and faculty engagement serving as hot button issues. This sudden and intense focus makes it seem as if this may be a new phenomenon, though anyone who lived through…
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114: The Political Reconstruction of American Tobacco
In this episode of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era Podcast, Boyd Cothran talks with historian Patrick O’Connor about his new book, The Political Reconstruction of American Tobacco, 1862–1933. Rather than treating tobacco primarily as a moral problem or a corporate success story, O’Connor...
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113 Unforgettable Sacrifice
Cathleen talks with Dr. Hilary N. Green, whose most recent book, Unforgettable Sacrifice: How Black Communities Remembered the Civil War, was published by Fordham University Press in 2025. https://fordhampress.com/unforgettable-sacrifice-hb-9781531508531.html An exciting addition to scholarship…
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112: The Menance of Prosperity
In this episode of The Gilded Age and Progressive Era Podcast, Boyd Cothran speaks with historian Daniel Wortel-London about his new book, The Menace of Prosperity, a sweeping history of New York City and the political economy of urban growth from the aftermath of the Civil War through the late...
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111: The Best of: Chasing Beauty: The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner
There are a few people that embody a period. Isabella Stewart Gardner knew many of the the movers and shakers of the Gilded Age and lived from 1840-1924. Her story, and her compulsion to buy the art of the age, makes her a great lens through which to understand the Gilded Age. Dr. Natalie Dykstra...
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110: The Gilded Age Christmas Cookbook
In this festive episode of the Gilded Age & Progressive Era podcast, we welcome back food historian Becky L. Diamond to discuss her latest book, The Gilded Age Christmas Cookbook. Using recipes as historical evidence, Becky takes us into nineteenth-century kitchens to explore how Christmas took...
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109: Best of: The Allure of Empire
While Cathleen and I are working on new content for the podcast—lots of great episodes are on the way—we’re also taking time to revisit some of Michael’s excellent past interviews. For my second “best of” pick, I chose Episode 54, The Allure of Empire, which first aired on July 4, 2023. In this...
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108: Best of: Oceans of Grain: Wheat, Russia, Ukraine, and the U.S.
While Cathleen and I are working on new content for the podcast—stay tuned, there’s lots of exciting stuff coming—we wanted to take a moment to revisit some of Michael’s excellent past episodes. For my first “best of” pick, I chose Episode 17, Oceans of Grain, which originally aired on March 2,...
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107: Best of: “Gilded? Progressive? Let’s Call the Whole thing Off?"
Boyd and I are working on new content for the podcast-we have lots of good stuff planned for the future. But in the meantime, we wanted to take a moment to revisit some of Michael’s excellent content. We each picked two of the previous episodes as our “best of” but we totally acknowledge that we...
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106: Recasting the Vote
Think you know the story of women’s suffrage? Think again. In this episode of The Gilded Age and Progressive Era Podcast, Boyd sits down with co-host Cathleen D. Cahill to discuss her groundbreaking book Recasting the Vote: How Women of Color Transformed the Suffrage Movement (UNC Press, 2020)....
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105: The Sentimental State
Today Cathleen interviews Elizabeth Garner Masarik, about her book, The Sentimental State: How Women-Led Reform Created the American Welfare State (University of Georgia Press, 2024), which is the 2025 winner of SHGAPE's H. Wayne Morgan Book Prize. For more information about the Society's three...
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104: The Voyage of the Edwin Fox
Hello listeners! Boyd and Cathleen are back and looking forward to giving you more regular content this fall. This week, Cathleen interviews Boyd about his recent book, The Voyage of the Edwin Fox: How An Ordinary Sailing Ship Connected the World in the Age of Globalization (UNC 2023). In this...
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103: Gilded Age Architect Richard Morris Hunt
In this episode, Boyd and Cathleen talk to Leslie Jones, Director of Museum Affairs and Chief Curator at The Preservation Society of Newport County, about the society's new exhibit: Richard Morris Hunt: In A New Light. Through the conversation we learned more about this important Gilded Age...
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Introducing New Hosts Boyd and Cathleen
Cathleen Cahill and Boyd Cothran introduce themselves and lay out their plans for the Gilded Age & Progressive Era podcast over the next few months, including an upcoming interview with Leslie Jones, curator of the Newport Preservation Society's new exhibit about Gilded Age architect Richard…
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101st Episode: Anniversary and Update
This episode marks the show's anniversary and after nearly five years of production, host Michael Patrick Cullinane explains where the show might go from here.
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When Coins were King
In the Gilded Age, the coinage of gold and silver had real implications for the economy. Mike Moran joins the show to discuss his latest book When Coins Were King and how the bonanza in mines had a reaction in the Treasury. Essential Reading: Michael Moran, When Coins Were King (2025).
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Starlings: The Gilded Age Invasion
Have you ever hated a bird? Pigeons might come to mind, but America's most hated bird is the European Starling and they got their start on the continent in the 1880s. The environmental history of the Starling is a story about hubris and the unintended consequences of human meddling with…
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Building the Metropolis
Construction history is entirely unfamiliar to most scholars, and yet it is a crucial part of urban history. Alexander Wood joins the show to discuss how New York City was built from blueprints to scaffolding to demolition. Essential Reading: Alexander Wood, Building the Metropolis: Architecture,...
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The Pacific's New Navies
Context is crucial and perspective is everything. Dr. Tommy Jamison's debut book about the growth of naval power in the Pacific is a wonderful addition to our understanding of Gilded Age security. We discuss the impact of Chile, Peru, China, and Japan on geopolitics and the US Navy. Essential...
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Roundtable: Native American Studies Today
Three expert scholars join the show to discuss the state of the field. My thanks to Dr. Cahill, Dr. Cothran, and Dr. Sweet. They have compiled important texts in the hope this bibliography can help aspiring minds to delver deeper. The full list is extensive and cannot be included in its entirety…
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Women in the Valley of Kings
Who are the people who unearthed Egyptian antiquities and brought them to Western museums? Besides the countless male archaeologists we've heard about, several important women dug in the sands and their stories are an intersectional revelation. Kathleen Sheppard joins the show to talk about her...
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Team of Giants
The Spanish-American War has a central place in the history of American empire; it also launched the careers of Theodore Roosevelt, William Randolph Hearst, and Richard Harding Davis. It propelled the Lost Cause mythology and set American ambitions for the century to come. Matthew Bernstein joins...
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Interpreting Christmas
With the holidays upon us, let's take a closer look at the Gilded Age traditions that define Christmas and other end-of-year celebrations. Joining me is Ken Turino and Max van Belgooy the co-authors of Interpreting Christmas and one of the book's contributors, Lenora Henson. Interpreting…
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Constructing Disability
The Great War transformed the world order, and it also revolutionized societies and individual experiences. In one of the year's most interesting books about the war's impact, Dr. Evan Sullivan explores the lives of blinded veterans and how their injuries completely changed the way we think about...
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Learning for Work
With the industrial revolution came a revolution in the education of Americans. In this episode, Connie Goddard discusses her latest book on the industrial education system that taught Americans how to do trades, skilled labor activities, and generally find work in factories and industrial jobs....
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Gilded Age Mythology: A Roundtable
Presidential elections often serve as periodic demarcations from one historical epoch to another. 1876 has often been seen as the beginning of the Gilded Age. This roundtable episode brings together leading scholars of American law and politics to discuss the virtues and vices of this approach…
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Spiritualism's Place
What do philanthropist Jane Stanford, author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln have in common? They all conducted séances. Spiritualism was popular in the Gilded Age, and Lily Dale, NY is the epicenter of the movement. From the voices that gave you Dig: A History Podcast...
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Imposter Heiress
I often say how similar the Gilded Age and Progressive Era is like our contemporary times. With this show, I take it back. Cassie Chadwick was able to swindle the banks in a way that would be impossible today. Listen to Annie Reed discuss her debut book, Imposter Heiress. Essential Reading: Annie...
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Oil Cities
The heyday of the boomtowns of Northern Louisiana is long since passed, but their mark on the geography and environment still lingers. Henry Wiencek joins us to discuss his new book, Oil Cities, and the people who built, occupied, and abandoned these towns. Essential Reading: Henry Wiencek, Oil...
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A Wonderful Career in Crime
While the Gilded Age led to the rise of robber barons and railroad tycoons, it also led to the proliferation of another type of character, the con artist. Frank Garmon Jr. joins us to discuss the life Charles Cowlam, a confidence man and charlatan who spent decades making his money by swindling...
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Massacre in the Clouds
In early March 1906, the United States Army and the Filipino Constabulary attacked a insurgent outpost of Moros on the island of Jolo. Over 1,000 men, women, and children were killed in the battle, and less than two dozen Americans lost their lives. It was deemed an atrocity by all observers…
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Zouave Theaters
During the nineteenth century, the Zouave was everywhere. The uniform characterized by an open, collarless jacket, baggy trousers, and a fez, originated in French Algeria, but became common amongst military men in France, the United States, and the Papal States, taking on a life of its own....
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Red Dead History
Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the best-selling video games of all time, but what is the history behind the game? Dr. Tore C. Olsson joins us to talk about the game itself, how video games are teaching American history, and what historians can learn from engaging with popular culture. Essential...
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American Anarchy
What is anarchy? In the Gilded Age, the United States felt the convulsions of several radical ideologies, but none as violent and complex as the anarchist movement. Dr. Michael Willrich joins the show to discuss the key personalities and episodes that gave rise to a new approach to criminal…
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Compliments of Hamilton and Sargent
The Gilded Age West was a place to disappear for some. For Ray Hamilton and Jake Sargent - men from distinguished eastern families that sought privacy after scandals turned their lives apart - the West could not shield them from ongoing intrigue. Dr. Maura Jane Farrelly joins the show to talk…
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About this show
The Gilded Age and Progressive Era is a free podcast about the seismic transitions that took place in the United States from the 1870s to 1920s. It's for students, teachers, researchers, history buffs, and anyone who wants to learn more about how our past connects us to the present. It is hosted by Boyd Cothran, professor of U.S. and Global history at York University, and Cathleen D. Cahill, Walter L. Ferree and Helen P. Ferree Professor in Middle-American History at Penn State University.
Hosted by
Michael Patrick Cullinane