The AskHistorians Podcast
The AskHistorians Mod Team
The AskHistorians Podcast showcases the knowledge and enthusiasm of the AskHistorians community, a forum of nearly 1.4 million history academics, professionals, amateurs, and curious onlookers. The aim is to be a resource accessible to a wide range of listeners for historical topics which so often go overlooked. Together, we have a broad array of people capable of speaking in-depth on topics that get half a page on Wikipedia, a paragraph in a high-school textbook, and not even a minute on the History channel. The podcast aims to give a voice (literally!) to those areas of history, while not neglecting the more commonly covered topics. Part of the drive behind the podcast is to be a counterpoint to other forms of popular media on history which only seem to cover the same couple of topics in the same couple of ways over and over again.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Oct 21, 2021 • 1h 17min
AskHistorians Podcast Episode 184: The Silencing of Anti-Racist Educators in New York City in the Mid-20th Century
In this episode, /u/Gankom talks with Dr. Lauren Lefty, Dr. Andrew Feffer, and /u/Kugelfang52 about the assault on the anti-racism programs of New York City teachers between 1930 and 1960. Notably, these efforts, often led by communist teachers, were opposed not only by conservative educators, but by liberal groups as well. The ultimate destruction of these efforts wrecked community building projects, removed or coerced into silence some of the system's most outspoken anti-racist educators. 77 minutes. Discussion on this episode can be found here.
Oct 7, 2021 • 1h 7min
AskHistorians Podcast Episode 183: 19th Century Great Power Politics with /u/starwarsnerd222
In this episode, /u/EnclavedMicrostate talks with /u/starwarsnerd222 about great power politics of the late nineteenth century, focussing on British foreign policy from the end of the Crimean War in 1856 to the eve of the First World War in 1914. How did British officials and diplomats react to changing world circumstances, if they did at all? What sorts of crises did they respond to, or not depending on the situation? Find out all this and more on this fortnight's episode. 67 mins.
Sep 30, 2021 • 33min
AskHistorians Minisode - Dimensions of the Second Sino-Japanese War with /u/Lubyak
In this episode, /u/EnclavedMicrostate talks with /u/Lubyak about the Second Sino-Japanese War, discussing its background, its wider context, and the question of why Imperial Japan was unsuccessful in achieving its aims. 32 mins.
Sep 16, 2021 • 60min
AskHistorians Podcast Episode 182: The Beginnings of Academic Military History with /u/Iphikrates
In this episode, /u/EnclavedMicrostate talks with /u/Iphikrates about the beginnings of academic military history in 19th century Prussia. Why, in a state so strongly associated with its military traditions, was the academic study of military history so heavily opposed both from the academy and from the army? How did the field emerge despite this opposition? Who were the big names? What sorts of controversies were fought over? Find out all this and more on this fortnight's AskHistorians Podcast. 60 mins.
Sep 3, 2021 • 43min
AskHistorians Podcast Episode 181: Questions on Greek and Roman Society with u/Toldinstone
In this episode, /u/Kugelfang52 talks with /u/Toldinstone about various topics of interest from his upcoming book on Greek and Roman society, Naked Statues, Fat Gladiators, and War Elephants. Included are the following questions: "Did they believe in monsters, ghosts, and/or aliens?" "Why are so many of their statues naked?" "Why didn't the Greeks or Romans wear pants?" "What were the greatest delicacies?" "What happened to the city of Rome after the empire collapsed?" 43 mins.
Aug 19, 2021 • 34min
AskHistorians Podcast Episode 180: Women in Medieval Warfare with /u/Hergrim
In this episode, /u/EnclavedMicrostate talks with /u/Hergrim about women in medieval warfare, and at how their actual roles diverged from those prescribed by the authorities of the day and many today imagine them. Discussed are how women fought in combat, performed critical supporting roles for armies, and indeed led them in war; also considered are how warfare affected civilian women and how women were involved in the reading and writing of military theory. 34 mins.
Aug 5, 2021 • 18min
AskHistorians Podcast Minisode - Connecticut WWI Veterans with /u/IlluminatiRex
In this episode, /u/EnclavedMicrostate talks with /u/IlluminatiRex about veterans of the First World War who, either before or after the war, lived in one town in Connecticut, and about how the local histories of small towns fit into the history of the wider world. 18 mins.
Jul 22, 2021 • 1h 4min
AskHistorians Podcast Episode 179 - Adam Contzen's Ten Books of Politics with The Contzen Project
Tyler Alderson talks with Dr. Jacob Baum, Dr. Sydnor Roy, and John T Conrad about their project translating Adam Contzen's Ten Books of Politics. The Ten Books has never been translated out of its seventeenth-century neo-Latin, and the project is one that will be open to the public who wish to provide commentary, advice, or simply practice with untranslated Latin, as they continue to build a corpus of translation. 64 mins.
Jul 2, 2021 • 39min
AskHistorians Minisode - Was Beethoven Black? with Tyler Alderson
Morgan Lewin and Tyler Alderson discuss the popular urban legend that classical music composer Ludwig van Beethoven was actually Black. While the answer is a definitive "no," the reasons for this myth's enduring popularity say a lot about race, class, and the prestige attached to classical music. 39 mins.
Jun 25, 2021 • 49min
AskHistorians Podcast Episode 178 - History of Native California with Willy Bauer and Damon Akins
Tyler Alderson talks with the authors of the book We Are The Land: A History of Native California about the struggles and triumphs of indigenous people, and what lies ahead. Also discussed is the process of writing a wide-ranging history, and how to approach commonly-told narratives from a different perspective, upending stereotypes and generalizations. 49 min.
