Historically Thinking

Does knowing a lot of facts about the historical past – say, of early America – make us feel closer to it? Or is something else required? How can we–as my guest puts it, “appreciate a bit better what it felt like to be alive then. Naturally,” he continues  “we can’t teach emotions to any who weren’t alive to experience them how Pearl Harbor felt in real time – let alone Fort Sumter or Lincoln‘s assassination – is not transmissible. The historian can only do so much.“ But how to convey not merely the intellectual weight but the emotional burdens that humans once carried–and that we might no longer understand? My guest Andrew Burstein has done what he can to credibly bring early America closer to us in his new book Longing for Connection: Entangled Memories, and Emotional Loss in Early America. It is a work of history that is intricately plotted, connecting personalities and themes in a sort of great circular panopticon of early America, in which the reader sits at the orbital center of continual swirl and movement.   Andrew Burstein is the Charles Phelps Manship Emeritus Professor in the Department of History at Louisiana State University. Longing for Connection is the latest member of a large-and hopefully happy- family of books.   For Further Investigation You really should read some Alexander Pope. Find more about him, and some of his poems here. Poor Edward Everett. No one ever reads his Gettysburg address.  Some of the more closely related members of the Burstein family of books, many of them mentioned in the conversation, listed in order of publication: The Inner Jefferson: Portrait of a Grieving Optimist; Sentimental Democracy: The Evolution of America's Romantic Self-Image; The Original Knickerbocker: The Life of Washington Irving; and Lincoln Dreamt He Died: The Midnight Visions of Remarkable Americans from Colonial Times to Freud For an intro to cultural history, you should listen to Episode 32 Past episodes with a connection to this one are Episode 163: The First Martyr of the American Revolution; and Episode 344: Founding Scoundrels

In 1978, along the shoreline of the Potomac River in Westmoreland County, Virginia, people began to see…something…out in the water. Whatever it was, it seemed snakelike. But then all such sightings ended–until, over a period of years in the early 1980s, sightings proliferated around Kent Island, situated in the very middle of the Chesapeake, the eastern end of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. The “monster” was soon named “Chessie”, and perhaps because of the cute name was characterized as being a friendly monster; and while no biological traces of it were ever discovered, “Chessie” became an icon of the environmental movement to save the bay.  But what was the context for Chessie’s sightings?  What might suburbanization and taking recreation as seriously as labor have to do with seeing monsters in the water? And why did so many (including, as best as I can remember, myself) need to believe that Chessie was real?  With me to discuss Chessie, and her life and times is Eric Cheezum, an independent historian, a resident of Maryland’s eastern shore, and the author of Chessie: A Cultural History of the Chesapeake Bay Sea Monster, which is–not surprisingly–the subject of our conversation today. For Further Investigation David Halperin, Intimate Alien: The Hidden Story of the UFO James Elkins, The Object Stares Back: On the Nature of Seeing Hal Rothman, Devil’s Bargains: Tourism in the Twentieth Century American West WBAL-TV: "The legend of 'Chessie' is alive and well 35 years later" The Chesapeake Conservation Partnership on the sightings and importance of  "Chessie: The Chesapeake Bay Sea Monster"

On June 24th, 1947, a private pilot and fire suppression equipment manufacturer named Kenneth Arnold was flying south of Mount Rainier, bound for Yakima, Washington. At about 3 PM he saw a flash of light in the air to the north of the mountain, and subsequently he saw a long chain of flying objects passing in front of the mountain. He described them as having convex shapes, and this was soon changed to the term “flying saucer". Arnold’s was in fact not the first UFO sighting following the Second World War; nor was it even part of the first wave of sightings of strange things in the sky. Yet something unprecedented did happen after 1947, not only in the United States, but around the world–not necessarily involving aliens, but very much involving humans. As Greg Egighian observes in his new book After the Flying Saucers Came: A Global History of the UFO Phenomenon, UFO sightings “have made people wonder, fret, question, probe, and argue. In that regard, they have revealed more about human beings than about alien worlds. And that is a story worth investigating.” Greg Eghigian is a Professor of History and Bioethics at Pennsylvania State University. He is the author of The Corrigible and the Incorrigible: Science, Medicine, and the Convict in Twentieth Century Germany and the editor of The Routledge History of Madness and Mental Health, among other works. For Further Investigation Greg Egighian suggests the following books for your UFO history reading list: Matthew Bowman, The Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill David Clarke, How UFOs Conquered the World: The History of a Modern Myth D.W. Pasulka, American Cosmic Sarah Scoles, They Are Already Here: UFO Culture and Why We See Saucers Garrett M. Graff, UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government’s Search for Alien Life Here – and Out There Brenda Denzler, The Lure of the Edge: Scientific Passions, Religious Beliefs, and the Pursuit of UFOs From the HT archives, if you haven't heard them, then give a listen to somewhat related episodes: Iwan Rhys Morus on "How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon," and Tom Misa on the "History of Technology, from Leonardo to the Internet" D'où venons-nous? Que sommes-nous? Où allons-nous? Peter Berger on Secularism and Relativism; and a full-length video of the same lecture

Dive into the diverse history of ancient Greeks, exploring their exploration of the world, competitive nature, and common culture. Learn about the colorful truth behind Greek statues and the prevalence of rape in Greek mythology. Delve into the origins of the Greek polis, the presence of slavery, women's roles, and the practices of Greek religion. Reflect on the enduring influence of Greek culture and the universal themes that resonate across time.

Books have been made for over 530 years. That is, they have been created from raw materials– sometimes lovingly, sometimes not–printed, bound, and sold, only then to be read. When we think only of what is written in books, we ignore much of the history of the book. So ubiquitous is the book, so commonplace is the book, that we often neglect it both as a brilliant technology; the product of multiple technologies; and as an art. My guest has written the  story of how books have been made over that long half millennium by focusing on the individuals who have created the different aspects of the book that we now take for granted. It is a history of the physical printed book for a world that is increasing online–but a word which, curiously enough, the sale of ebooks  is down, and that of printed books is up. Adam Smyth is Professor of English literature and the history of the book at Balliol College in the University of Oxford. He is also one of the members of 39 Steps Press, “a small and unusual printing collective” that is housed in an old stables in Elsfield, Oxfordshire. His most recent book is The Book Makers: A History of the Book in 18 Lives, which is the subject of our conversation today.  For Further Investigation Previous conversations that relates to this one are: Episode 251, with Tom Misa, in which he discussed printing as beginning as a "courtly technology"; Episode 271, with Martin Clagget, in which among other things we discussed the marvelous place that Birmingham was in the eighteenth century An introduction to Baskerville's typographical art, with fine examples of the uppercase Q and the lower-case g, presented by A Type Supreme, a website that proclaims itself to be "a love letter to typography". Of course you can get a poster of the Baskerville Q, and I must say that I'm tempted. And Zuzana Licko's beautiful creation, Mrs Eaves Here is Sonnet 126, as printed by 39 Steps Press. Another guest, Kelsey Jackson-Williams who featured in Episode 162, has also experimented with printing. He's a member of the Pathfoot Press at the University of Stirling.

Yale professor Joseph Manning discusses historical climate change, impact of volcanism in Ancient Egypt, and intellectual humility in historical thinking. He explores Nile River's role in shaping ancient civilizations and emphasizes the importance of analytical frameworks in historical analysis.

Michael Rapport, a historian of Paris during the Belle Époque era, discusses the tensions between modernity and tradition in the city. He explores the political conflicts, social tensions, and cultural friction of the era, leading up to the devastating impact of World War I. The podcast delves into the Belle Époque era, nostalgia for a Golden Age, political symbolism in 19th century France, concerns about societal degeneration in modernity, Bohemian life in Paris, and the turbulent Dreyfus Affair.

Explore the devastating mob attack on the Christian Quarter of Damascus in 1860, leading to widespread destruction. Learn about the causes, timeline of violence, and the challenging aftermath of reintegration for the Christian community. Discover the historical significance of Damascus, the multifaceted life of Mihayil Myshaka, the Tanzimat agenda, the life and exile of Ab al-Kadir, and the efforts to restore justice post-massacre in 1860 Damascus.

The podcast explores the dominance of narratives in modern conversations, the challenges and importance of narrative in historical writing, military exercises during the American Revolution, historical fiction writing impact on understanding history, language of the past in understanding historical events, and explores Athens and Sparta relationships in ancient Greece.

Explore the historical evolution of climate's effects, from ancient writings to modern reports. Discussing climate's impact on health, morality, and human cognition over time. Dive into the interconnectedness of climate, wealth, and slavery in the US. Analyzing geographical determinism and climate's influence on societies. Delve into climate as a theological substitution historically.