The Road to Now

Charles Darwin's Origin of Species is one of the most controversial books ever written. For most Americans, Darwin's theories are associated with the 1925 Scopes trial and the near century-long "evolution vs creation" debate has that emerged as a dominant theme in American society in the years since the trial. In this episode of The Road to Now, we speak with Dr. Randall Fuller about his new book The Book That Changed America: How Darwin's Theory of Evolution Ignited America, and the various ways that Darwin's work has been interpreted since its publication in 1858. As it turns out, Darwin and Origin of Species are far more complex and have a much deeper history in the United States than most of us realize. For more on our podcast and this episode, please visit our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com

At The Road to Now, we don't just make history podcasts- we also listen to them. In this episode we're excited to share our conversation with fellow history podcaster Dr. Liz Covart, whose podcast Ben Franklin's World covers the history of early America. Bob, Ben and Liz discuss the concept of the frontier in American history, the work that goes into writing history and sharing findings, and why it's a good idea to follow the evidence even when it makes you uncomfortable. We also talk about the place that podcasts fit within the field of history and why it's so exciting to share history with others. For more on The Road to Now and all of our episodes, please visit our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com

Oil is one of the oldest fuel sources known to man. Its impact on the world is not simple; while it has powered the vehicles that have made human mobility possible, it has also propped up some of the most repressive regimes in recent history. In the last installment of our four-part history of energy series, we speak to journalist and author Paul Roberts to discuss the complex role that oil has played in shaping the industrialized world, and the costs/benefits that oil has as an energy source in the 21st century. Paul Roberts is a journalist and author who covers energy and technology. His work has appeared in many publications including Rolling Stone, Harpers, and the Washington Post. His book The End of Oil (2004), examines the history of petroleum and its impact on the world. For more on The Road to Now, please visit our website: www.theroadtonow.com

When most Americans think of sustainable technology, they think of Jimmy Carter's solar panels or the windmills that are beginning to pop up across the country. But so-called "sustainable" or "green" energy has a history that can be traced back to the 19th century. In this episode of The Road to Now, Alexis Madrigal explains sustainable energy's deep roots in American history, and discusses the viability of green energy as an alternative to coal, oil, and solar energy production in the 21st century. Alexis Madrigal is technology correspondent at The Atlantic and Editor-at-Large at Fusion. His 2009 book, Powering the Dream: The History and Promise of Green Technology was published by Da Capo Press in 2011. For more on this episode and all others, visit our website: www.theroadtonow.com

Since August 6, 1945, when the Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the world has been aware of the awesome force that nuclear science could unleash. Using that force for energy production proved that nuclear technology could improve our lives, but nuclear energy has had a hard time shaking its association with destruction, and the catastrophes at Three Mile Island (1979), Chernobyl (1986) & Fukushima (2011), have only heightened public concern over the safety of nuclear power. In other words, nuclear power has a bad rap. But does it deserve it? Not according to scientists Jim Clarke and Steve Krahn of Vanderbilt University. Both men have distinguished careers working in nuclear energy that have spanned half the history of nuclear power. In this episode of The Road to Now, Jim and Steve break down the risks and rewards of using nuclear energy, and argue that the public response to Three Mile Island and other spectacular events may have led us to poor conclusions about how we produce energy. They also remind us that nuclear energy produces no carbon, which makes it particularly valuable in the age of global warming. Dr. Jim Clarke is Professor of the Practice of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Vanderbilt University. Jim has served as an advisor to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and is currently on the NRC Advisory Committee for Reactor Safeguards and its subcommittee on Radiation Protection and Nuclear Materials. He has over 35 years of professional experience with approximately 150 publications and presentations. Dr. Steven Krahn is Professor of the Practice of Nuclear Environmental Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Vanderbilt University. He has more than 30 years of experience in his field and previously served in the U. S. Department of Energy as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Safety & Security in the Office of Environmental Management. Both guests highly recommend that you visit the US Energy Information Administration website (eia.gov) for accurate and updated information on energy production in the United States. For links to more readings on this topic (they gave us a lot for this episode!) and more about The Road to Now, please visit our website: www.theroadtonow.com.

In our first episode of the second season of The Road to Now, Bob and Ben speak with Dr. Chuck Keeney about the history of coal in the United States. Chuck explains the ways that the coal industry has shaped not only the physical landscape of mining towns, but also, through lobbying efforts and information campaigns, the way we understand our nation's history. Chuck is uniquely qualified to tell the story of coal; not only does he hold a PhD in history from West Virginia University, he is the great-grandson of coal miner and labor organizer Frank Keeney, who was part of The Battle of Blair Mountain. (The Battle of Blair Mountain was a 1921 shootout between coal miners and the coal companies that was the largest domestic insurrection since the Civil War. If you want to know more, it's all in this episode.) Chuck Keeney was featured in the 2017 NatGeo Documentary From the Ashes, which was directed by Michael Bonfiglio. We highly recommend you take the time to watch this outstanding documentary! For more on The Road to Now, please visit our website: www.theroadtonow.com.

On April 6, 1917, the United States House of Representatives voted to declare war on Germany, bringing the United States into the brutal war that had raged across Europe since the summer of 1914. America's entry into World War I helped turn the tide of the war, securing a victory for the US and its allies. And while the final shots of the war took place on November 11, 1918, the consequences of "The Great War" live on nearly a century after its end. Why did the United States become involved in World War I after remaining neutral for so long? How did the war in Europe shape American society? And who actually won World War I? In this episode of The Road to Now, we get the answers to these questions and more in our conversation with military historian and archivist Mitch Yockelson. For more on this and all other episodes of The Road to Now, please visit our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com.

North Korea is a hard place for most Americans to understand. Kim Jung-un and his inner circle keep a tight grip on information, and what the North Korean government does share with outsiders can be hard to decipher. What is clear though, is that the current state of relations between Washington DC and the regime in Pyongyang is growing colder every day, and North Korea's pursuit of long-range nuclear weapons makes resolving this conflict an urgent matter in US foreign policy today. How did the standoff between the US and North Korea begin, and who is to blame for the conflict? How has the Kim family, now in its third generation of leadership, managed to stay in power this long, and what are the prospects of removing them from power? And how has our policy toward North Korea been shaped by its geographic proximity to China and Russia? In this episode of The Road to Now, we get the answer to these questions and more in our interview with North Korea expert, Dr. Sheena Greitens. Sheena Greitens is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Missouri. She is also a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Center for East Asian Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution and an Associate in Research at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University. For more on this episode and our podcast, please visit our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com

On February 17, 2017, President Donald J. Trump tweeted that the American news media is the enemy of the people. This was an escalation from the rhetoric candidate Trump used along the campaign trail continually rebuking the mainstream media as purveyors of fake news. The President's disdain for the media made it no surprise when he said that he would not be attending last week's White House Correspondence Association Dinner. The event is a long-held Washington tradition that celebrates the free press of the United States and honors the work of journalists. So what's it like to be a journalist covering a President who is so openly antagonistic to your profession? Is Donald Trump's disdain for the media as fierce when he's behind closed doors as it is when he speaks at rallies? And what is it like to go from covering the Obama White House to that of Donald Trump? In this episode of The Road to Now, we get the answers to these questions and more in our interview with Bloomberg White House Correspondent Margaret Talev. For more on this episode, visit our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com

The Harlem Globetrotters are one of those great parts of American culture that almost everyone knows and loves. For most of us today, the Globetrotters are outstanding entertainers. But did you know that in the mid-20th century the Globetrotters were probably the single best basketball team on the planet? Did you know that they did travel the globe as agents of the US Department of State during the Cold War, but that they are not, in fact, from Harlem? If you want to know how all of this happened (and how the Globetrotters saved the NBA), you're going to love this interview with historian Ben Green on the History of the Harlem Globetrotters. For more on this an all other episodes of The Road To Now, visit our website: www.theroadtonow.com.

Neil Hanson is one of the most interesting people we know. He's written books on World War I, the Spanish Armada, and the fire that destroyed London in 1666. He once teamed up with history's greatest treasure hunter to tell the story of retrieving over $100 million in gold from a sunken Soviet ship in the arctic. He's been the owner of the highest Inn in all of Great Britain. And, in 1999 he published a book called The Custom of the Sea, which tells the story of a shipwrecked crew that was put on trial in London after resorting to cannibalism. The ship, which fell victim to forty-foot waves off the coast of Africa in 1884, was named the Mignonette, and Hanson's book was so good that in 2004 it inspired an album by an up-and-coming group of musicians called The Avett Brothers. How could someone turn a gruesome tale of cannibalism into an inspirational work of history? How do you track down the sources that allow you to answer so many questions about history? And how does one individual accomplish so much in one life? In this episode of The Road to Now, we get the answers in our conversation with Neil Hanson. Find out more about this episode of The Road to Now at our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com.

"Who is James K. Polk?" If you're asking this question to yourself right now, you're not alone. In fact, "Who is James K. Polk?" was a slogan Polk's political rivals used to mock him in the 1844 Presidential election. This made sense at the time; despite serving as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1835 to 1839 and Governor of Tennessee from 1839 to 1841, Polk lacked the type of dynamic personality that defines many of America's great Presidents. Yet a late compromise in the Democratic Party and the changing mood of the American people thrust Polk from a failed Gubernatorial candidate in Tennessee to the White House in less than a year. Who is James K. Polk? He's America's first dark horse President. He's the Commander-in-Chief who oversaw the annexation of the southern portion of the Oregon territory, the admission of Texas into the United States, and the invasion of Mexico that forced the Mexican government to cede about half of its territory to the United States in 1848 (you know New Mexico? It used to be part of old Mexico). He's the man who may have done more to transform the United States in a single term than any other President in American history. And, strangely enough, he's also the man whose corpse has been dug out of the ground more times than any other President. His current resting spot in Nashville is Polk's third grave, but he may be moving again in the near future. So how did Polk go from relative obscurity to President of the United States in such a short period of time? Why does his place in Americans' minds fall so far short of his impact on American history? And why are lawmakers in Tennessee considering moving Polk's body for a fourth time more than 150 years after his death? In this episode of The Road to Now we answer these questions and more in our conversation with the Curator of the James K. Polk Home & Museum, Tom Price. Find out more about this and all other episodes of The Road to Now at our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com

The Syrian Civil War, which began in 2011, has been one of the most tragic events in recent history. The implications of the situation in Syria stretch far beyond the borders of the country, and the UN estimates that more than 5 million people have fled the country to escape the violence that has claimed that lives of more than 400,000 Syrians. But how did the conflict start? What is at stake for the various factions at war in Syria? And how have foreign countries such as Russia and the United States influenced Syria? In this special edition of The Road to Now, we answer these questions and more in our conversation with Dr. Sean Foley. Dr. Foley specializes in the contemporary history and politics of the Middle East and the wider Islamic world. He frequently visits Asia and the Middle East, follows events in both regions closely, and speaks Arabic and Bahasa Malaysian. He has published widely and has delivered public presentations to audiences around the world. He has also held Fulbright fellowships in Syria, Turkey, and Malaysia. From April 2013 until January 2014, he lived and traveled extensively in Saudi Arabia. For more on this episode and any others, please visit our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com

The 1960s was a decade of individualism, and few individuals from this era are as iconic as Bob Dylan and John F. Kennedy. For Dylan, the 60s was just the beginning of a half-century career that has included over 2,500 shows, 38 studio albums, 13 Grammys and the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature. Kennedy, on the other hand, like so many of the decade's giants, was taken from us too soon, leaving us to wonder what he may have accomplished if not for his tragic assassination in 1963. In this episode of The Road to Now we talk about the life, times, and cultural influence of Bob Dylan and John F. Kennedy with award-winning historian, Dr. Douglas Brinkley. For more on this episode and all others, please visit our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com.

Throughout the latter part of the 20th century the perception of Golf in popular culture was that of a sport for wealthy white men who gathered at their exclusive country clubs to make business deals over 18 holes of golf, all the while smoking expensive cigars and drinking martinis (you know, like in CaddyShack?). But then, seemingly from out of nowhere, Tiger Woods burst onto the scene, changing the look and style of the sport forever. It turns out, however, that most Americans' perception of the sport is does not quite fit the reality. The truth behind golf's history is much more complicated and a bit more noble. And today, Golf raises more money for charity than all other major sports combined. For example, since 1970 the FedEx St Jude Classic Golf tournament has raised over 33 million dollars for the hospital. In this episode of the Road to Now we get the story straight in our conversation on the history of golf with Dr. Tony Parker of the World Golf Hall of Fame and Museum in St. Augustine, Florida. For more on this and all other episodes of The Road to Now, please visit our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com.

The Cold War that developed between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II, defined the second half of the 20th century. In these years, the two so-called superpowers competed to win the hearts and minds of the world, all the while trying not to destroy all of humanity with the atomic weapons they had stockpiled en masse. Yet after decades of bitter confrontation, American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev were able to bring the Cold War to an end in just a few years. Given that Moscow has once again emerged as a focal point in American politics, we'd be wise to learn what we can from the end of the Cold War. On this episode of The Road to Now, we are honored to share our interview with a man who was, in fact, in the room where it happened- former US Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Jack Matlock recorded live at Middle Tennessee State University. A special thanks to the Department of History and the Department of Political Science and International Relations at MTSU for supporting this live podcast, and to Susan Myers-Shirk and Kelle Knight for helping us make the event a success. We are also grateful to John Merchant of MTSU's Department of Recording Industry and his students Colin Bell, Logan Eley, and Caleb King for recording the event. For more on this episode and others, check out our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com.

The internet has revolutionized the human experience in the 21st century. Our ability to communicate with others, find locations in unfamiliar places, and access information from across the globe has never been easier, and new media like blogs and podcasts have connected voices with audiences in ways that were not possible just a few decades ago. Yet, despite all these incredible benefits, many of us are beginning to sense that all this connectivity is affecting the way we think and interact with one another. How is the internet affecting our brains, and should we be concerned about it? How is the internet different from other media technologies such as print, radio and television? And is google making us stupid? In this episode of the Road to Now, we get the answer from New York Times Best Selling Author Nicholas Carr. A special thank you to Middle Tennessee State University and Dr. Susan Myers-Shirk for arranging this interview as part of MTSU's Scholars' Week Talk. For more on this or other episodes of The Road to Now, please visit our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com.

Are faith and reason compatible? How do people of faith reconcile themselves to a secular world? These are difficult and complex questions that have shaped America long before the founding of the United States. On this episode of The Road to Now, we sit down with Molly Worthen to talk about the development of Christianity in the United States, and its impact on American society, culture and government. Dr. Molly Worthen is Assistant Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill whose research focuses on North American religious and intellectual history. Her most recent book, Apostles of Reason: The Crisis of Authority in American Evangelicalism was published by Oxford University Press in 2013. Molly is also a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. For more on this episode and many others, please visit our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com. And since you're reading this, why not go ahead and give us a positive rating on iTunes, Stitcher, or anywhere else you get your podcasts? It only takes a few minutes, and it helps us spread the word aboutThe Road to Now. Thanks!

These days, Martin Van Buren is mostly known as the balding nineteenth century President with muttonchops and a funny name. But spend some time talking with Dr. Mark Cheathem, professor of history at Cumberland University and Project Director of the Martin Van Buren Papers, and you will come to appreciate that not only did Van Buren pull together the coalitions that formed the Democratic Party, he was also the architect of the modern American party system. And we should also add that Martin Van Buren is Bob Crawford's favorite President. More on this episode and all others is available at our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com

On April 30, 1789, George Washington stood on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City and took the first Presidential oath of office. The words he spoke that day were those written clearly in Article 2 of the new Constitution, which established the executive branch of the Federal Government. The rest of Article 2, however, is not so clear, and Washington became the first of many Presidents accused of unconstitutional behavior. But what makes one person a "strong president" and another guilty of "executive overreach?" Which Presidents have done the most to reshape the Presidency? And have we given some Presidents too much credit, while forgetting the important contributions of others? On our first Presidents Day Episode of The Road to Now, we get the answer to these questions and more in our conversation with one of our favorites- the host of "My History Can Beat Up Your Politics" podcast, Bruce Carlson. For more on this episode and all the others, check out our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com

When Bill France Sr. founded NASCAR in 1948, his goal was to turn stock car racing from an activity associated with bootlegging roughnecks into a successful spectator sport. To say he accomplished that goal would be an understatement, as the once-regional sport has become one of the most popular in the United States. How did this happen? And how did a competition once associated with outlaws and rogues become one of the most family-friendly sports in modern America? Anyone who knows NASCAR history will tell you that you can't answer these questions without talking a lot about the Petty Family, and in this episode we do just that. Ladies and gentlemen, in episode #44 of The Road to Now, we talk the history of NASCAR with NASCAR icon Kyle Petty. Kyle Petty is an American Stock Car racer who earned 173 top-ten finishes and 8 wins in his three decades behind the wheel in NASCAR. The Petty family, which also includes Kyle's grandfather Lee, his father Richard, and his son, Adam, is unquestionably one of the most significant families in the history of NASCAR. Since retiring in 2008, Kyle began working as a race analyst for top networks, and currently works on pre- and post-race coverage for NBC. Kyle is also the founder of the Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America, which has raised over $17 million to benefit children's charities. Since 2004, the ride has benefitted Victory Junction, which was founded to enrich the lives of children suffering from chronic or life-threatening illnesses. Victory Junction was founded by the Petty Family in honor of Kyle's son Adam, who died tragically on the racetrack in 2000. For more on this an other episodes of The Road to Now, go to our website: www.theroadtonow.com. The Road to Now is hosted by Bob Crawford of The Avett Brothers and Dr. Benjamin Sawyer of Middle Tennessee State University, and produced by Bob, Ben and Ian Skotte.

As the Democratic Party recovers from an unexpected defeat in the 2016 election, it finds itself in search of new leaders who can bring the party through this time of crisis. History shows that parties can withstand hard times, but how did the oldest active political party in American history find itself on the verge of irrelevance? And are there historic precedents for where the party finds itself today? In this episode of The Road to Now, Dr. Bruce Schulman guides us through the history of the Democratic Party to help us answer these questions and more. Dr. Bruce J. Schulman is the William E. Huntington Professor of History at Boston University. He is the author of multiple books on modern American history, including From Cotton Belt to Sunbelt (Oxford, 1991), Lyndon B. Johnson and American Liberalism (St. Martin's, 1994) and The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics (Free Press, 1991) which was named a 2001 New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Dr. Schulman is also a contributor to several major media outlets, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, & the Christian Science Monitor, and has served as expert consultant in productions by The History Channel and PBS. The Road to Now is hosted by Bob Crawford of The Avett Brothers & Dr. Benjamin Sawyer of Middle Tennessee State University. For more on info on this episode and our podcast, check out our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com

For over 100 years, the National Park Service has maintained and protected some of America's greatest treasures. Since its founding in 1916, the service has enjoyed broad support from the public as well as elected officials from both parties. Recently, however, the Trump administration has turned on the service for what it alleges are attempts to undermine the President, but its move to silence NPS may have inadvertently made park employees early leaders in the resistance to the new President. Was NPS attempting to provoke Trump with its social media, or was it simply following a course set long before? And is the current President's animosity toward the parks an entirely new development, or have we seen similar moments in the past? In this episode of the Road to Now we speak with former National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis to find out. Jonathan B. Jarvis spent nearly four decades as an employee of the National Park Service and served as NPS' 18th Director from October 2, 2009 until his retirement on January 3, 2017. For more on this episode and The Road to Now, check out our website- www.theroadtonow.com and follow us on twitter and instagram at @Road_to_Now

Fixing the American healthcare system has been one of the most difficult and divisive problems in modern US history. The Affordable Care Act has helped more Americans than ever gain insurance, yet the remaining problems have led the Republican-controlled Congress to put "repeal and replace" at the top of their legislative agenda in 2017. Why has health insurance been such a tricky issue in the United States? Why did our insurance model develop differently than in other industrialized countries, and how can understanding this help us overcome the problems we face today? In this episode of The Road to Now, Dr. Melissa Thomasson helps us answer these questions by taking us through the history of the American health insurance system. We also offer up another installment of Path to the Present (the podcast within a podcast) in which Matt Negrin and Alex Trowbridge provide a concise history of the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). Believe me- this episode is YOUGE! Melissa Thomasson is Julian Lange Professor of Economics at the University of Miami and an expert on the economic history of the American health care system. For more on this episode can be found at our website: www.theroadtonow.com

On August 28th,1963 Clayborne Carson was a 19 year-old attending his first civil rights demonstration. That demonstration was the historic March on Washington, and what he remembers most about that day isn't Dr. King's historic speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial, but the people he met. Hitchhiking back home to Los Alamos, New Mexico, Carson couldn't have known that 22 years later Dr. King's widow, Coretta Scott King, would ask him to edit her husband's papers. Today Dr. Clayborne Carson is Martin Luther King, Jr. Centennial Professor of History and Ronnie Lott Founding Director of the Martin Luther King Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, where he has taught since 1975. As someone whose life and research are intertwined with the work and legacy of Dr. King, Dr. Carson is uniquely qualified to explain the importance of King's leadership and his place within the greater struggle for justice in the US and abroad. We are thus honored to have Dr. Carson as our guest on The Road to Now as we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King. You can find more information on this episode and The Road to Now at our website: www.theroadtonow.com

Most people agree that the 2016 election marked a turning point for the Republican Party. Whatever the impact of this election in the long term, the changes we're seeing today are part of a longer historical trajectory that took the GOP from the party of Abraham Lincoln to the party of Donald Trump. So how did this happen? How did a party that was despised in the American south in the 1940s come to dominate the region a few decades later? And where do great Presidents such as Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan fit within this story. In today's episode, we're joined by Dr. Heather Cox Richardson to get the answer. Heather Cox Richardson is a Professor of History at Boston College and co-editor at We're History. Her most recent book, To Make Men Free: A History of the Republican Party, was published by Basic Books in 2014. For more on this episode and The Road to Now: www.theroadtonow.com.

In the last few weeks, our listeners have submitted some great questions about the history of NASA, Presidential corruption, daylight saving time, & more. We've been working hard to get you the answers to these questions, so to kick off 2017, we offer you a Q & A extravaganza with an all-star team of historians featuring Heather Cox Richardson of Boston College, Bruce Carlson of My History Can Beat Up Your Politics, & Brian Odom of NASA! Thanks to everyone who sent us the questions for today's episode. Please keep sending your questions to [email protected] and we'll continue to answer them as they come in! For more on this and every episode on The Road to Now, visit our website: www.theroadtonow.com.

In episode 36 of The Road to Now, Bob and guest co-host Keith Larson speak with Turner Simkins about his new book Possibilities. Turner tells of the struggles his family went through after his son Brennan was diagnosed with a rare subtype of Leukemia on his 7th birthday, and what they learned as Brennan went from a dismal prognosis to a remarkable recovery. Turner also explains how the inspiration that Brennan took from Band of Brothers inspired him to wake up every day with the will to fight, and shows how the lessons of history can be a powerful force in our everyday lives. More on this episode and The Road to Now can be found at our website: www.theroadtonow.com.

Jimmy Carter's Presidency is one few Americans remember fondly. In a 2013 ranking created by statistician Nate Silver, Carter took the #26 spot, right between William Howard Taft and Calvin Coolidge. The economic crises Carter inherited upon taking office in 1977 plagued his administration, and his perceived weakness in fighting the Cold War only added to the sense of unease created by America's loss in Vietnam and the Watergate scandal. But is it possible that Americans' perceptions of Carter don't match the reality? Dr. Nancy Mitchell says that's the case, and she joins Bob and Ben to explain why. She explains Jimmy Carter's Presidency through the lens of his foreign policy in Africa, and argues that Carter was not an ideologue, but a full-fledged Cold Warrior who was committed to maintaining US influence abroad. Nancy also discusses the legacy of Carter's Presidency today, and applies her expertise on US Foreign Policy to assess Barack Obama and Donald Trump's approach to diplomacy. Dr. Nancy Mitchell is a Professor of US Diplomatic History at North Carolina State University. She has published extensively in her field of expertise, and her most recent book, Jimmy Carter in Africa: Race and the Cold War (Stanford University Press, 2016) recently won the American Academy of Diplomacy's Douglas Dillon Award for Distinction on the Practice of American Diplomacy. More on this episode and The Road to Now is available at our website: www.theroadtonow.com

Tom Shadyac has probably made you laugh. He was the youngest ever staff joke writer for Bob Hope and he directed some of the biggest comedy films in recent memory, including Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Nutty Professor. A lot of people would say Tom has "made it." Tom would disagree. Tom joins Ben and Bob for a conversation about his life and the path that led him to abandon the pursuit of fame and material abundance to focus on helping others. He tells of his 11 year period of unemployment as he struggled to find success in the Los Angeles comedy scene, his relationship with Jim Carrey, and how following his own passions led him to take a risk with Ace Ventura. Tom also talks of his approach to teaching film, and explains why he defines success as a state of mind. You can find out more about Tom's story and philosophy in his book Life's Operating Manual and his documentary film I Am (which we highly recommend!). More on this episode and The Road to Now podcast can be found at our website: www.theroadtonow.com

There's a good chance you don't appreciate how engrained professional wrestling is in American history and culture, and this episode is about to change that. We didn't know all this either until wrestling legend Jim Cornette was kind enough to spend an hour taking us from wrestling's origins in the late 19th century up to the sport as it exists today. Jim knows the sport like no other- he's been part of the professional wrestling scene since the 1970s, and currently hosts the tremendously popular podcast The Jim Cornette Experience. Jim has also been ringside (and sometimes in the ring) for some of wrestling's greatest moments, including the April 5, 1982 showdown between Andy Kaufman & Jerry "The King" Lawler (that was his first time on national television), and his storytelling is second-to-none. This episode also features wrestling aficionado Jon Burr making a special appearance as guest co-host. Jon is the host of the NBA podcast Fastbreak Breakfast, the front man for the band How I Became the Bomb, and Ben's friend & neighbor. More on this episode and The Road to Now can be found at our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com.

American politics has changed a lot in the last few decades. Jimmy Williams, has observed this from inside the beltway, and has made a few changes himself. When he first arrived in DC in 1992, he was a Republican working for the George H.W. Bush's reelection campaign. A few years later he was a Democrat working on the staff of Democratic Senator Dick Durban. Since then he has been a lobbyist, a contributor at MSNBC, the founder of his own online media outlet and, most recently, the host of the political podcast Decode DC. In our interview, Jimmy tells Bob and Ben of the road that led him through all of these career changes, and the path that led him from a Republican to a self-professed "progressive Democrat who owns guns." Jimmy discusses his experience of coming out as gay in the 1990s and the ways his faith have informed his political views. We also discuss HB2 in North Carolina and the greater history of discrimination and inclusion in American politics. Jimmy Williams is a political commentator and the host of the Decode DC podcast, which explains how politics in Washington, DC affects Americans' daily lives. More on this episode and The Road to Now can be found at our website: www.TheRoadToNow.com

The 2016 election is over and many Americans are trying to understand how Donald Trump was able to defeat the political establishment and reveal major flaws in the ways experts assess public opinion. To help us understand this election, Bob and Ben speak with Dr. Brian Rosenwald about his research on the history of conservative talk radio. Brian traces the rise of Rush Limbaugh and other conservative radio hosts in the 1980s, and the ways they have both reflected and shaped their listeners' views. He also explains why there is truth to claims of liberal bias in the mainstream media, but not for the reasons most critics assume. Our conversation with Brian also provided an excellent opportunity for Bob and Ben to discuss the 2016 election and our take on the best ways to move forward. Dr. Brian Rosenwald is a fellow at the Robert A. Fox Leadership Program at the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently converting his doctoral dissertation, "Mount Rushmore: The Rise of Talk Radio and its Impact on Politics and Public Policy," into a book for Harvard University Press. Brian also conducts research for the Slate podcast Whistlestop. For more on this and many other episodes of The Road to Now, check out our website: www.theroadtonow.com

The relationship between the United States and Russia was hotly debated in the 2016 election, and will likely be one of the most important issues in US foreign policy for years to come. To help us better understand how this relationship looks from the Russian perspective, we spoke with Dr. Arch Getty, Distinguished Professor of History at UCLA. Arch explains where Vladimir Putin fits within the greater history of Russian leaders, as well as the ways that history and geography have shaped Russians' understanding of their place in the world. He also shares his own story of living in Moscow in the last year of the Soviet Union, and the changes he's seen since he first visited Russia in the late 1970s. Dr. J. Arch Getty is a Distinguished Professor of History at UCLA whose work focuses on the Stalin period of Russian history. Arch is a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow, a Research Fellow of the Russian State Humanities University (Moscow), and has been Senior Fellow of the Harriman Institute (Columbia University), and the Davis Center (Harvard University.) His most recent book, Practicing Stalinism: Bolsheviks, Boyars, and the Persistence of Tradition, was published by Yale University Press in 2013. A special thanks to Roscoe and Lucy Strickland for the generous donation that supported Dr. Getty's visit to Middle Tennessee State University, and to the Department of History at MTSU for arranging this interview. Links and more info on this and other episodes can be found at our website: www.theroadtonow.com

For the final installment in our election week series, we speak with Bruce Carlson, the creator and host of the podcast My History Can Beat Up Your Politics podcast, about the interesting moments and valuable lessons from the history of American Presidential Elections. Along the way we discuss party realignments, "October surprises," and other moments that shaped American politics. We also discuss the history of podcasting, and Bob reveals that he and Bruce went to college together at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey (now Stockton University). Bob and Ben highly recommend My History Can Beat Up Your Politics, which you can get anywhere you get The Road to Now (or you can click on the link below). For more on The Road to Now: www.theroadtonow.com For more on Bruce Carlson's My History Can Beat Up Your Politics: http://www.myhistorycanbeatupyourpolitics.com/

In the second installment of our election week series, Road to Now contributors Matt Negrin & Alex Trowbridge of Bloomberg Politics offer up another round of Path to the Present (the podcast inside a podcast) to explain the role that surrogates have played in Presidential Elections in the past and present. Through their own research and interviews with Donald Trump's Senior Advisor/Surrogate Boris Epshteyn & Hillary Clinton surrogate/US Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Matt & Alex discuss what motivates individuals to speak on behalf of a candidate, what we can learn from speaking with surrogates, and what makes a surrogate good (or bad) at their job. For more on The Road to Now: www.theroadtonow.com

Dr. Charles Hughes of Rhodes College joins Ben and Bob to talk about his recent book Country Soul, which examines the history of music in the "Country Soul Triangle" studio towns of Memphis, Nashville, and Muscle Shoals. Charles explains how the working relationships between these three towns, and the musicians who performed in the studios, created the sound of Country Music and Soul Music in the second half of the 20th Century. The conversation also covers a variety of other topics, including the Civil Rights Movement, the history of professional wrestling, Elvis Presley, and the trends that led us from the "outlaw country" of the 1970s to the country music of today. We're also happy to announce that our friend Ian Skotte has joined The Road to Now team as our producer. Ian joins us at the beginning to introduce himself to our listeners and talk about a few things we have in the works for the podcast in the upcoming months. Dr. Charles Hughes is a historian and director of the Memphis Center at Rhodes College in Memphis, TN. His most recent book, Country Soul: Making Music and Making Race in the American South was named one of Rolling Stones' "10 Best Music Books of 2015." His current project looks at the history of Professional Wrestling and race in the United States. Recorded October 6th, 2016 on the campus of Rhodes College in Memphis, TN. More on The Road to Now and links to info on our guests can be found at our website: www.theroadtonow.com.

In 2009, Ben Sawyer read Jefferson Cowie's Capital Moves while studying for his doctoral exams, and he loved it. In 2016, Jeff joined the department of history at Vanderbilt, conveniently located about 5 miles from Ben's house in Nashville. Upon learning of Jeff's move, Ben quickly wrote to ask if he'd be a guest on The Road to Now. Jeff said yes, and we're happy to say he's as impressive in an interview as he is in print. In our interview, Bob and Ben speak with Jeff about Capitol Moves as well as the books he's written since then, which have explored the history of the working class and American politics in the 20th Century. Jeff explains the central argument of his most recent book, The Great Exception: The New Deal & The Limits of American Politics, and why he thinks looking back to New Deal policies is unproductive in 21st Century America. The conversation also touches on several important topics including outsourcing, ObamaCare, Social Security, & workers' rights, and the ways history can help us make better decisions as we address these issues moving forward. Dr. Jefferson Cowie holds the James G. Stahlman Chair in the Department of History at Vanderbilt University. Prior to moving to Vanderbilt in 2016, he taught at Cornell University for eighteen years. Recorded October 8, 2016 at Vanderbilt University w/ Bob via video call. For more on this episode and The Road to Now: www.theroadtonow.com

Restoring voting rights for Americans convicted of felonies has been a major issue in the last year, most recently in the state of Virginia. According to The Sentencing Project, almost 6 million Americans are prohibited from voting due to laws that take the right to vote away from those convicted of a felony. To better understand the origins of felon disfranchisement laws, we invited Dr. Pippa Holloway of Middle Tennessee State University to join us for a discussion about her most recent book Living in Infamy: Felon Disfranchisement and the History of American Citizenship. Pippa explains the ways that these laws were developed as a strategy to prevent black Americans from voting in the post-Civil War-era. This strategy was later exported to other states such as Idaho and Hawaii for the purposes of excluding groups whose interests were in opposition to the ruling party. Pippa also discusses the current impediments to Americans' right to vote, and offers suggestions to ensure that Americans are not denied a voice in our political process. Recorded October 4, 2016 in Nashville, TN w/ Bob via video call from Memphis, TN. For more on the podcast: www.theroadtonow.com

The 2016 Presidential Election is in full swing, and The Road to Now has been working hard to place this election cycle within its historical context. We were therefore thrilled when Dr. Kathryn Cramer Brownell agreed to speak with us about her research on the history of Hollywood's influence on American politics! Kathryn, an Assistant Professor of History at Purdue University, takes us back to the 1960s, when American politicians and media advisors came to see the adoption of Hollywood's style of engaging the public as key to running a successful campaign. She traces the ways that the media changed the power structures within political parties, allowing individuals to bypass the party establishment by appealing directly to the public. We also discuss the winners and losers in this process, and the ways that this lens allows us to better understand Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and the 2016 election. Along the way, Kathryn blows the doors off some of the major assumptions we have about the past and present of Presidential elections. You know that story about the 1960 televised debate being a key reason for Nixon's loss? Kathryn discovered that it was created by Nixon and his advisors six years after the debate was over. (This blew our minds!). Recorded September 20, 2016 w/ Ben Sawyer in Nashville and Dr. Brownell in West Lafayette, IN. For more info on the podcast: www.theroadtonow.com

The first Presidential debate of 2016 is fast approaching, and Bob & Ben have put together a Debate Extravaganza to help you get ready for this highly anticipated showdown! Never before has The Road to Now offered so many brilliant minds in a single episode! Bob and Ben begin by going through some of the most important moments in the history of Presidential debates since 1960, when John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon became the first candidates to debate live on television. Bob and Ben then hand the microphone to RTN favorites Matt Negrin and Alexander Trowbridge of Bloomberg Politics for an outstanding piece on the origins of the "spin room" and the role it plays in modern debates, featuring interviews with Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz and With All Due Respect's Mark Halperin. Our extravaganza concludes with a tremendous conversation with The Washington Post's Chris Cilliza about the 2016 debates and what strategies may be best for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. You're probably thinking "Matt Negrin and Alex Trowbridge…. haven't I heard of those guys before? Well of course you have! They're the hosts of Path to the Present, a podcast within a podcast, brought to you by the podcast Double Down and Out, brought to you by Double Down (still available on Amazon and still kind of relevant), featuring The Road Less Traveled, a micropodcast featuring deleted scenes from The Road to Now. They've also joined our team as official contributors to The Road to Now, and we couldn't be more excited! (Trust us, this will all make sense once you listen to the episode!) For more on The Road to Now: www.theroadtonow.com

In The Road to Now's first episode abroad, Bob and Ben are joined by Sir Alan Meale for a conversation about the politics and recent history of the United Kingdom. Meale, a Labour Party politician who has served for nearly three decades as a Member of Parliament from Mansfield (Nottingham County), offers his perspective on the political system of the UK, the European Union's impact on the history of the UK and Europe, and the challenges that the UK faces as it severs its ties with the EU. He also shares his own personal history, and the reasons he decided to join the Labour Party and devote his life to public service through politics. Recorded September 1st from the Parliament of the United Kingdom, London, England (w/ Ben via Skype from Nashville, TN). You can find out more about The Road to Now on our website: www.theroadtonow.com

In the first episode of The Road to Now recorded over the Internet via Skype, Dr. Bradley Fidler explains the key moments in the development of the Internet and gives his take on the issues facing us as we move further into the 21st century. An episode about the Internet, recorded over the Internet? Yes, and it gets better because we recorded the interview at UCLA's Boelter Hall ARPANET exhibit, and ARPANET was one of the most important networks in the early Internet. Dr. Bradley Fidler is a researcher and historian with UCLA Computer Science whose research examines the remarkably complex and brilliant process that brought us to the Internet that we ended up with today. As Bradley makes clear, today's networks have deep roots that involve a number of actors in both the private and public sector (and yeah, Al Gore didn't invent the internet, but his role in its expansion was probably more significant than most people realize). Interview recorded Friday, July 22nd at the Boelter Hall ARPANET exhibit on the campus of the University of California-Los Angeles (w/ Bob via Skype from Portland, Oregon). For more on our podcast: www.theroadtonow.com

During a recent trip to Nashville, Dr. Carlos Aleman caught up with Ben and Bob for a great discussion about the history of Nicaragua and US relations with Central America in the 20th Century. Carlos' expertise on this topic is both personal and professional; he was born in Nicaragua in 1979, immigrated to San Francisco, CA as a child, and earned his PhD in Latin American history from Michigan State University in 2012. In his interview, Carlos explains the history of Nicaraguan politics, the role the country played in the Iran-Contra scandal, and the ways these larger events affected his own road from Grenada, Nicaragua to Birmingham, Alabama, where he is currently an Assistant Professor of History at Samford University. The conversation also covers a variety of other topics, from Nashville-born William Walker who invaded Nicaragua, and proclaimed himself President of the country in the 1850s, to the state of immigration policy today. Recorded August 20th, 2016 in Nashville, TN w/ Bob via Skype from North Carolina. For more on The Road to Now, check out our website: http://www.theroadtonow.com/

In the lucky 13th episode of the Road to Now, Bob and Ben sit down with the multi-talented Scott Avett to talk about the influences, events, and family history that led him to his life as an artist. Scott is a founding member of the award-winning band The Avett Brothers, which he established more than a decade and a half ago along with his brother Seth, and Road to Now host Bob Crawford. Scott is also an accomplished painter whose art has been shown across the United States. The hosts of the Road to Now have a long-established friendship with the guest, and both Bob and Ben agree that Scott's personal history and worldview are remarkable. We therefore hope you will enjoy what is not only a fascinating interview, but a convergence of three individuals whose lives have roots that span most of their adult lives. Recorded Wednesday, July 20th, 2016 in Portland, Oregon. More on this episode and others can be found at: www.theroadtonow.com

In episode 12 of the Road to Now, Bob and Ben discuss the Hillary Clinton email controversy and the history of government documents with archives specialist Stacy Wood. Wood places the Clinton controversy within its historical context and explains how tricky it can be to walk the line between secrecy and preserving documents for posterity. Stacy Wood is a critical scholar of archives, information policy and information studies who engages with the legal and cultural aspects of records and technology. She hold a Masters Degree in Library and Information Studies with a specialization in Archival Studies, and is currently a doctoral candidate in Information Studies at UCLA. Recorded July 22nd, 2016 at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. For more information on The Road to Now, check out our website: www.theroadtonow.com

During a recent trip to Denver, Bob and Ben were fortunate enough to sit down with journalist and historian Dick Kreck at the historic Brown Palace Hotel for a conversation about the history of Denver and its establishment in the 19th and early 20th century. Dick Kreck has more than four decades of experience as a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner, The LA Times, and The Denver Post, and has published numerous books on the history of Colorado and the west. Kreck shared his incredible knowledge about western migration, the construction of the trans-continental railroad, and the ways that the Denver of the 21st century reflects the region's past. Recorded June 18th, 2016 at the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver Colorado. For more information on this episode and links to topics discussed in the interview, please visit www.TheRoadToNow, and follow us on twitter: @Road_To_Now.

On this episode of The Road to Now, we speak with Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper about his new memoir The Opposite of Woe: My Life in Beer and Politics and the ways that his peculiar & fascinating life interact with the greater history of our country. Gov. Hickenlooper shares his family history, which he traces back to the earliest settlers of the Pennsylvania colony in the 1680s, and talks about a wide variety of fascinating topics including the urban/rural split in Colorado, the Grateful Dead, and his friendship with Kurt Vonnegut. Gov. Hickenlooper also talks about his years as a geologist, working in real estate, opening Denver's first brew pub, and the value that comes from hanging a light on one's weaknesses in the pursuit of excellence. We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed our time with Gov. Hickenlooper. Hosted by Ben Sawyer and Bob Crawford. Recorded June 15, 2016 in the Colorado State Capitol Building in Denver, CO.

Tara Houska (Honor the Earth; Native American Affairs Advisor to the Bernie Sanders Campaign) and Dr. Joseph Genetin-Pilawa (Assistant Professor of History at George Mason University) join Bob and Ben to talk about Native American culture and history. They discuss the use of Native American imagery in American popular culture, and link these depictions of American Indians to a long history of discrimination and marginalization in US history. Recorded June 3rd, 2016 on the Campus of George Mason University.

Bob and Ben speak to Thomas Hanchett (former Curator of the Levine Museum of the New South) about the history of Charlotte and the rise of the "New South" cities following the Civil War. Dr. Hanchett discusses the ways that city, state, and federal policies have shaped Charlotte as it is today, as well as the ways that new patterns of migration and development are changing what it means to be "southern." Dr. Hanchett also places the controversy surrounding North Carolina's HB2 in historical context. Recorded May 31, 2016 at the Levine Museum of the New South in Charlotte, North Carolina.