That Lawless Stream: A History of the Mississippi River
On this episode, we look at the Mississippi River: how access to its waters both united and divided a country, and how efforts to tame it have consistently come up just a little bit short.
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States of Insanity: Mental Illness in America
This month, the American Psychological Association will release the 5th version of its DSM. New disorders within its pages will reclassify millions of previously normal Americans as having a disorder of some sort. Is this a good thing?
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Pitch a Show (Spring/Summer 2013)
This past fall we received nearly 100 pitches for show topics – some of which made it on the air! Episodes about illicit drugs and voting were pitched by listeners, and lots of individual stories had their origins in your brains as well. So help us keep up the process!
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Sweet and Dangerous: A History of Sugar
In this episode, the History Guys will explore sweetness in American history. How has our national sweet tooth shaped our political and economic priorities?
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Monumental Disagreements: Memorials in America [rebroadcast]
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Proposed Mothers’ Memorial by John Geddes, 1922-30 (LOC)
This is a country awash in monuments. They adorn traffic circles, street corners and, of course, the National Mall. We’ve memorialized everything from famous soldiers and statesmen, to big ideas or major events – and a lot in between. Yet our ambivalence towards these monuments is as old as our enthusiasm for them. Case in point: The Washington Monument. Ever wonder why there isn’t actually a image of Washington on it?
In this Memorial Day episode of BackStory, we explore the idea of national remembrance. Looking at some of our country’s most iconic monuments, the Guys ask what—and whom—Americans choose to remember, and discover how memorials often tell us more about their creators than what or whom they memorialize.
Guests Include:
- Kirk Savage, University of Pittsburgh
- Kristin Szakos, City Council Member in Charlottesville, Virginia
- Teresa Bergman, University of the Pacific
Further Exploration
Plenty of additional resources on the tradition of memorializing in the United States, including the works we consulted during the making of this episode.
Even Further
- See the online discussion that helped shape this show.
- See a listing of music used in the episode.
