Lectures in History

Hillsdale College history professor Mark Moyar discusses competing interpretations of the Vietnam War when it comes to questions about the necessity of the conflict and whether it was winnable for the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of Texas history professor Mark Lawrence discusses the rise of Ronald Reagan, his impact on the conservative movement, and the Reagan Administration's performance in his first term. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tulane University history professor Keely Smith discusses Native American alliances during the Revolutionary War and how the U.S. government and American society viewed various tribes during the early Republic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a follow up to our recent podcast regarding the life and times of Anne Frank, we asked author Alexandra Ritchie to tell us more about the horrors of World War II and Poland. Ritchie, a citizen of Canada, now lives in the city which is the title of her book, Warsaw. Her focus is on 1944 and what was called the Warsaw Uprising. In her introduction, she writes, "Himmler and Hitler had decided that the entire population remaining in one of Europe's great capital cities was to be murdered in cold blood. Himmler referred to Warsaw as the great abscess, which was to be completely destroyed." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

American University professor Laura Beers teaches a class on Winston Churchill and the "special relationship" between Great Britain and the U.S during World War II and the Cold War Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tulane University history professor Jana Lipman discusses Cold War refugees from Cuba and Vietnam and the impact of the Refugee Act of 1980. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Santa Clara University history professor Sonia Gomez discusses the intimate relationships between people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds that occurred in Hawaii and Japan during and immediately after World War II. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of Dallas history professor Susan Hanssen discusses the legacy and cultural importance of the 1918 Pulitzer Prize winning book, "The Education of Henry Adams." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Santa Clara University art history professor Andrea Pappas discusses the mid-19th century American landscape painting movement known as the Hudson River School. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of Texas history professor Bruce Hunt discusses the development of the atomic bomb during World War II and the role of the Army Corps of Engineers General Leslie Groves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian Heath Hardage Lee, author of "The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon," talks about the life and times of the former First Lady (1969-74). She says that Pat Nixon, who was voted "Most Admired Woman in the World" in 1972, was largely mis-portrayed by the press, who characterized her as being elusive and "plastic." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Georgetown University history professor Darragh Gannon discusses the Irish diaspora and the role of the United States during "The Troubles" and in the Northen Ireland peace process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of Southern California sociology professor Brittany Friedman discusses the formation and evolution of American prison gangs in the 20th and 21st centuries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yale University professor Marlene Daut discusses the life and legacy of slave, revolutionary, and king Henry Christophe and how the United States and other foreign powers reacted to the 1791 Haitian revolution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Indiana University history professor Juan Mora discusses the U.S. Border Patrol and how 20th century immigration laws shaped the creation and development of immigration agencies Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Louisiana State University journalism professor John Maxwell Hamilton discusses U.S. government propaganda efforts during World War I. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

College of William & Mary lecturer Amy Stallings discusses the history of the 1607 Jamestown settlement in Virginia and efforts over four centuries to preserve and remember the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duke University professor Cecilia Marquez discusses Latino migration trends in the 20th and early 21st centuries and how Latinos shaped the culture, development and economics of the American South. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Louisiana State University journalism professor John Maxwell Hamilton discusses U.S. government propaganda efforts during World War I. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hillsdale College professor Richard Gamble teaches a class on civic faith, and how American nationalism incorporated religious elements and symbolism during the Cold War. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President John Kennedy's 1961 inaugural address was the topic of a class taught by University of Kansas political communication professor Robert Rowland. The University of Kansas is in Lawrence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

York College professor Jacqueline Beatty discussed women’s rights and changing political power during the American Revolution and the early years of the Republic. York College is located in York, Pennsylvania. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Georgetown University professor Bonnie Morris talked about discrimination against women in sports and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Iowa State University professor Tracy Lucht talked about women journalists in the late-19th and early 20th centuries. She described the careers of some pioneers, such as Nellie Bly and Dorothy Dix, and the societal pressures for women writers to balance traditional femininity and a career in journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Professor Donald Spivey talked about the legacy of pitcher Satchel Paige and Negro Leagues baseball. Satchel Paige was the first Negro Leagues player to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Professor Spivey also explained the ways that Paige and other Negro Leagues players and owners contributed to the struggle for civil rights, including fighting Jim Crow laws, financially supporting groups like the NAACP, and fostering friendships with white players in Major League Baseball. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Professor Joan Waugh talked about the rise of baseball as a national activity, spectator event, and business. She described the efforts of baseball club owners to codify the rules of the games, establish a national league, and attract a broad middle class audience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pepperdine University professor Loretta Hunnicutt taught a class about baseball during the Great Depression. She looked at the role of baseball in American culture and the origins of sports journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of Maryland history professor Michael discussed, in the second of a two part lecture, the 1893 trial of Lizzie Borden. She was accused of murdering her father and stepmother with an axe. The murders and trial received widespread publicity at the time and Lizzie Borden became a lasting figure in American popular culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of Maryland history professor Michael Ross discussed the 1893 trial of Lizzie Borden, who was accused of murdering her father and stepmother with an axe. The murders and trial received widespread publicity at the time and Lizzie Borden became a lasting figure in American popular culture. This is the first of a two-part lecture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Richard Brookhiser has written and edited for National Review magazine for over 50 years. He has also written books about George Washington, James Madison, John Marshall, Alexander Hamilton, and "gentleman revolutionary" Gouverneur Morris. Now comes his latest, "Glorious Lessons: John Trumbull, Painter of the American Revolution." Trumbull, who lived between 1756 and 1843, was most famous for his 4 very large paintings about the Revolutionary War on the walls of the rotunda in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, DC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the first week of publication of Erik Larson's latest book, "The Demon of Unrest," sales put it at the very top of the bestseller list. It's about the start of the Civil War, with a focus on the five months between Abraham Lincoln's election and the day of the first shot fired on Fort Sumter, which is off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. That was April 12, 1861. In his introduction, Erik Larson writes: "I invite you now to step into the past, to that time of fear and dissension…I suspect your sense of dread will be all the more pronounced in light of today's political discord…" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1943, in the middle of World War II, the Allied leaders FDR, Winston Churchill, and Josef Stalin were planning to meet secretly in Tehran. The Nazis wanted to kill them. In his book "Night of the Assassins," author Howard Blum tells the story of "Operation Long Jump," the code name for the Nazi plan to assassinate the Allied leaders. In telling this story, author Blum says: "I wanted to write a suspenseful character-driven story of men, heroes, and villains caught up in a tense, desperate time, who needed to find courage and cunning to do their duty for their countries and to fulfill their own sense of honor." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Indiana University history professor Carolina Ortega discussed the 1929 Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, and the impact that the economic crash had on various populations, including Mexican- Americans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of Dallas history professor William Atto discussed the decade leading to the 1787 Constitutional Convention and the key compromises that led to the ratification of the United States Constitution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Florida State University history professor Paul Renfro discussed the life and death of Indiana teenager Ryan White, who emerged as one of the faces of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Boston College communications professor Michael Serazio discussed how baseball connects Americans to their past and culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of North Carolina at Pembroke history professor Jamie Myers discussed Southeast Native American tribes during the 18th century and the impacts of colonialism, the American Revolution, and the emergence of the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hillsdale College history professor Mark Moyar discusses competing interpretations of the Vietnam War when it comes to questions about the necessity of the conflict and whether it was winnable for the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Georgetown University English professor Christopher Shinn discussed the history and cultural reception of Truman Capote's 1967"In Cold Blood" as well as its impact on the genres of pulp fiction and true crime novels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of North Carolina at Pembroke professor Ryan Anderson discussed the rise of a Bohemian culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that rejected conventional societal restraints and embraced the arts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Presidential historian Lindsay Chervinsky discussed how presidential foreign policy and warmaking powers evolved from the time of George Washington to the modern era Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ohio State University history professor Hasan Kwame Jeffries discussed historical narratives of the Civil Rights Movement and modern understandings of victories, defeats and what the movement was trying to achieve. Professor Jeffries is the brother of House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

College of the Ozarks professor David Dalton, who teaches a class on 19th Century American history, discussed the rise of American industry in the Gilded Age. College of the Ozarks is located in Point Lookout, Missouri. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

American University Professor Joseph Campbell taught a class on public opinion and election forecasting. He spoke about some of the most significant polling misses in American politics. American University is located in Washington, D.C. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former President Barack Obama’s keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention was the topic of a class taught by University of Kansas political communication professor Robert Rowland. The University of Kansas is in Lawrence, Kansas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duquesne University president Ken Gormley taught a class looking at constitutional issues that arose during the presidencies of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. He gave particular focus to the Watergate investigation and questions of control over Nixon’s secretly recorded White House tapes, as well as issues surrounding Ford’s pardon of Nixon following the 37th president’s resignation in August 1974. Duquesne University moved its classes online due to the coronavirus pandemic, and video of the class is courtesy of the school. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hillsdale College Professor Richard Gamble taught a class on American churches and religion during World War I. He discussed how American pastors, ministers, and rabbis spoke about the Great War before and after the U.S. entered the conflict. This lecture was part of a course titled “The U.S. from the Great War to the Cold War.” Hillsdale College is located in Hillsdale, Michigan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

University of California, Davis, history Professor Kathryn Olmsted taught a class on how the ‘Red Scare’ evolved into a wide-ranging conspiracy theory in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Professor Benjamin Bankhurst talked about Appalachia in the American imagination. He described how the regional stereotype has changed over time, from the view of “backwards hillbillies” during the Industrial Revolution to a people respected for their folk culture in the early 20th century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Purdue University Professor Kathryn Brownell taught a class about political advertising in the 1950s, highlighting Dwight Eisenhower’s presidential campaigns. She compared radio and early televised ads and examines what components made them successful. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices