Historiansplaining: A historian tells you why everything you know is wrong

Before Columbus had even set foot in America, medieval Europe and the Islamic Middle East already had a long history in trading and exploiting slaves. An important branch of the slave trade involved buying captives from the shores of the Black Sea and trafficking them through the Mediterranean to the commercial cities of Italy or to Egypt, where many of them became slave soldiers or even rulers (called "Mamluks"). We discuss the history of the trade, who these thousands of slaves were and what became of them with Hannah Barker of Arizona State University, author of "That Most Precious Merchandise: The Mediterranean Trade in Black Sea Slaves, 1260-1500." Image: Pillar capital with sculpted faces of foreign peoples, including Turk and Tatar, Doge's Palace, Venice. Please support this podcast to hear all patron-only materials, such as "History of the United States in 100 Objects" -- www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632 New website! -- www.historiansplaining.com

We consider the strange ambiguous developments of this year, including the political paralysis in the US, the furors over mask and vaccine mandates, and most importantly, the labor reshuffle or "great resignation," in light of crises past, including the bubonic plague and World War I and World War II, which have tended to bring class conflict and upheavals of the labor regime in their wakes. We examine the classic Frank Capra Christmas movie "It's A Wonderful Life," made 75 years ago in the aftermath of World War II, as an illustration of the post-war settlement that has shaped the conditions of work and home life since that time, and finally thank the 116 patrons that currently support this podcast. Please support this podcast to hear all patron-only materials, such as "History of the United States in 100 Objects" -- www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632

UNLOCKED after 1 year for patrons only: --Wainscot great chair with turned and carved ornaments --Made of Oak, by unknown maker in New York or Connecticut, 1660-75 --Owned by John Winthrop, Jr.; held by Connecticut Historical Society How do the enigmatic designs on an oak chair belonging to the governor, doctor, and alchemist, John Winthrop, Jr., reflect the teeming underground world of mystical and esoteric thought in colonial southeastern New England? Suggested reading: Neil Kamil, "Fortress of the Soul"; John Brooke, "The Refiner's Fire"; William Woodward, "Prospero's America"; Robert F. Trent, review of “Fortress of the Soul,” in American Furniture, 2005. CORRECTION: This is the fourteenth, not fifteenth, installment in the series. Please support this podcast to hear all installments of History of the United States in 100 Objects -- https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632

America marked this year the 100th anniversary of the race massacre that destroyed the Greenwood district of Tulsa, the so-called "Black Wall Street," but left out of the commemorations were the contexts that led to the outbreak of civil violence: the town's Indian origins in the Trail of Tears; the massive cattle and oil booms that gave rise to a powerful and organized class of business magnates; the city's chaotic and crime-ridden expansion, which fueled vigilantism, including lynchings of both white and black victims; and the patriotic frenzy of the First World War and the Red Scare, with its hysterical fear of Bolshevism and revolution. Finally, we consider the recovery of Tulsa from the shocks of the 1921 massacre, the Klan's reign of terror, and the Depression, after which it has evolved into a comparatively liberal cultural capital amidst the conservative Plains Midwest. Tulsa is an extreme example in miniature of America's tumultuous and confused rise to industrial power. Suggested further reading: Courtney Ann Vaugh-Roberson and Glen Vaughn-Roberson, "City in the Osage Hills." Please support this podcast to hear all patron-only materials, such as "History of the United States in 100 Objects" -- https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632

Unlocked after a year for patrons only: Why do we divide history into epochs separated by "revolutions"? Astrology. How did Magellan chart his course around the globe? Astrology. How did Ronald Reagan schedule his acts of state? Astrology. We trace how the highest of the occult arts evolved from interpreting omens in ancient Babylonia, to containing medieval epidemics, to providing fodder for middle-brow magazines. Whether you are a believer or not, astrology is the secret rhythm of our lives. Become a patron in order to hear all patron-only lectures, including Myth of the Month 14: The Founding Fathers -- www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632 Suggested further reading: Benson Bobrick, "The Fated Sky"; Nicholas Campion, "The Great Year," Julie Beck, "The New Age of Astrology," The Atlantic magazine; Elijah Wolfson, "Your Zodiac Sign, Your Health," The Atlantic magazine; Sonia Saraiya, "Seeing Stars," Vanity Fair magazine. Image: Horoscope (birth chart) cast for Iskandar Sultan, grandson of Tamerlane, born 1384.

In 1974, a group of Chinese farmers drilling a well in a parched field in a far northwestern corner of China found pieces of terracotta sculpture, which would point the way to East Asia's greatest ever archaeological discovery -- a tremendous trove of sculpted warriors, each one unique, amassed in a great army marching eastward from the necropolis of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor. Just spared destruction in the Cultural Revolution, the army is most likely only the tip of the iceberg of the wonders still waiting to be excavated deep within the emperor's burial mound. Become a patron in order to hear all patron-only lectures, including the previous "Doorways in Time" about the Nag Hammadi Library & the Gnostic Gospels -- -- www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632

At a time of intensifying hope and anxiety over the direction of the Supreme Court, we take stock of how the lawmaking process and the judiciary have changed over the past fifty years with the mobilization and funneling of large amounts of money into the political realm; we focus especially on the little-known but pivotal "Powell Memo" of 1971, in which a lawyer for the Tobacco Institute decried the rising tide of attacks on the "free enterprise system" and proposed a coordinated counter-offensive by the business class that sounds uncannily close to our present reality. The Powell Memo forms a critical moment for understanding the intense politicization of judicial appointments, the ubiquity of political advertising on the airwaves and in print, and ironically, the recent rise of a new "anti-capitalist" radicalism. Please support this podcast and hear the recent lecture on the Nag Hammadi Library and the Gnostic Gospels -- www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632

In the first installment on the Robin Hood mythos, we consider how the legend of Robin Hood has evolved from a series of brutal tales of a medieval outlaw bandit in the fifteenth century to that of the swashbuckling champion of the poor of modern pop culture, and how he picked up sidekicks like Friar Tuck and Maid Marion along the way; we consider the literary significance of the early stories as an expression of the frustrations and aspirations of the yeoman class. Suggested further reading: Maurice Keen, "The Outlaws of Medieval Legend"; J. C. Holt, "Robin Hood"; A. J. Pollard, "Imagining Robin Hood." Please support this podcast to hear the further discussion of the mythological and religious themes of Robin Hood myth, and the examination of whether there was a historical Robin Hood -- www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632 Image: Woodcut illustration of the yeoman from a late fifteenth-century edition of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, shortly after reused to depict Robin Hood.

What do Hindus believe? What rituals, traditions, and ethical principles does one follow as a Hindu? What does Hinduism say about the soul and spiritual enlightenment? We trace the development in ancient and classical India of the multi-layered and comprehensive philosophy of life that we today call Hinduism, from the ancient rites of the Vedas, through the dramatic epics of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, to the rise of the ecstatic musical and mystical worship of bhakti. Please support this podcast and hear the recent lecture on the Nag Hammadi Library and the Gnostic Gospels -- www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632 Image: sculpture of Krishna defeating a horse demon, Gupta period.

We discuss the complex geography of the Indian Subcontinent, and how early societies in India, beginning with the mysterious Indus Valley Civilization, developed cities, technology, art, and literature, giving rise eventually to the flourishing Maurya and Gupta empires and the inventions of the Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu religions. Image: Asoka pillar with lion amidst the remains of Vaisali, Bihar, India. Please support this podcast and hear the recent lecture on the Founding Fathers! -- www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632