BackStory With The American History Guys

Climate Control: A History of Heating & Cooling

cm6ay — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:22:11 +0000

Well into the 19th century, Americans relied on fireplaces to warm their homes in winter. But that method wasn’t simply inefficient — it was ineffective, too. Travel a few feet from the fireplace, and you might start shivering again.

In this episode, the History Guys look at what happened when stoves became widely available in the mid-19th century, and how that technology altered Americans’ way of life. They also consider the advent of air conditioning a century later, and explore its far-reaching implications on everything from architecture and leisure to demography and politics.

How did America become the “land of comfort?” And what lessons does the history of climate control hold for us today?

Guests Include:

Daniel Filene — blogger, Cold House Journal
Howell Harris — historian of technology and expert on 19th century stoves
Gail Cooper — author, Air Conditioning America: Engineers and the Controlled Environment 1900-1960

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Love Me Did: A History of Courtship

tony backstory producer — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:00:11 +0000

Considering the stereotypes about Puritan New England, you might be surprised to learn that sweethearts in the 18^th century were not only allowed to sleep together before marriage – they were encouraged to! The catch? They had to do it within the parents’ home. It was known as “bundling,” and although sex was theoretically not involved, the practice coincided with a huge increase in premarital pregnancy. By the end of the century, 1/3 of all brides were pregnant by the time they reached the altar.

In this episode, the History Guys explore three centuries of pre-marital intimacy. Did economic considerations used to play a greater role in coupling? In what ways have dating practices challenged class & racial boundaries? Has the idea of “romance” itself morphed over time?

Show Highlights (Click here to listen to specific interviews from the hour)
Music Listing

Guests Include:

Beth Bailey — author, From Front Porch to Back Seat: Courtship in 20th Century America
Pamela Epstein — historian/blogger-in-chief, Advertising For Love

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Our Civic Duties: A History of Taxes

admin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:41:25 +0000

Since 1765, when England imposed the Stamp Act–its first direct tax on colonists–generations of Americans have rallied around their hatred of “unfair” taxes. “Taxation without representation is tyranny” was the rallying cry of the Revolution, and quick on the heels of independence, Americans seized arms once more to protest the taxation of whiskey to pay off our brand new national debt. These days, Tea Party supporters are out on the streets decrying the abuses of our current system. And yet, as Oliver Wendell Holmes reminded us, “Taxes are the price of civilization.”

This episode of BackStory will take a look at the historical tension between the necessity of paying for government, and the feeling of being robbed by it. Are Americans especially adverse to taxes? Why has government often turned to “sin” as a source of revenue? Does war always lead to higher taxes?

What questions are we leaving out? Are you an April grumbler, or do you happily share your spare change with old Uncle Sam? Share your thoughts and questions with us below!

Naughty & Nice: A History of The Holiday Season

rachel quimby — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:56:41 +0000

Christmas may be the big kahuna of American holy days, but it wasn’t always so. It used to be a time of drunken rowdiness, when the poor would demand food and money from the rich. The Puritans banned Christmas altogether. It wasn’t until the 1820s that the holiday was re-invented as the peaceful, family-oriented, and consumeristic ritual we celebrate today.

In this episode, the History Guys examine the history of the “holiday season” in America. Has Christmas grown more or less religious? How has the holiday evolved and changed here? To what extent was Hanukkah a reaction to Christmas, and how have American Jews shaped and reshaped their own wintertime rituals?

Full Transcript

Music Listing

Show Highlights (Click here to listen to specific interviews from the hour)

Guests include:

Stephen Nissenbaum – author, The Battle for Christmas

John Gibson – host, Fox News Radio; author, The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday is Worse than You Thought

Rabbi Laura Baum – founder, ourjewishcommunity.org

Tyrone Jones – Santa Claus impersonator, Cheltenham Square Mall

Web Exclusive

Listen to more of historian Stephen Nissenbaum’s conversation with 18th century guy Peter Onuf. Here, they discuss the history of Christmas in the slave south.

Call of the Week: Jennifer from DC

tony backstory producer — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:03:06 +0000

On each episode of Call of the Week, we feature one of our favorite listener phone calls. This week, our call is from Jennifer in Washington, DC. She wanted to know whether school was more rigorous for students “back in the day.”

Jennifer’s call was recorded for our recent full-length episode, School Days: A History of Public Education.

What do you think? Has school gotten harder or easier? Post your comments below.

American as Pumpkin Pie: A History of Thanksgiving

VFH — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:00:15 +0000

When we sit down to Thanksgiving dinner, we think we know what we’re commemorating. But if an actual Pilgrim were to attend your Thanksgiving, chances are he’d be stunned by what he saw there. In this episode, historian James McWilliams discusses why the Puritans would have turned up their noses at our “traditional” Thanksgiving foods. Religion scholar Anne Blue Wills reveals the Victorian origins of our modern holiday, and one woman’s campaign to fix it on the national calendar. An archeologist at Colonial Williamsburg explains what garbage has to tell us about early American diets. And legendary NFL quarterback Roger Staubach describes what it was like to spend every turkey day on the football field.

Full Transcript
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Show Highlights

Sarah Hale: The Mother of Thanksgiving
Historian Anne Blue Wills tells the story of Sarah Josepha Hale, a New England magazine editor who campaigned tirelessly to put Thanksgiving on our national calendar.

View an audio slide show of “The Mother of Thanksgiving.” See images of Godey’s Lady’s Book, presidential Thanksgiving Day proclamations, and penitant puritans. Be sure and click on “Captions” in the lower right corner of the viewer.

View an audio slide show of “Turkeys and Touchdowns: An Interview with Roger Staubach.” See historical images of Americans playing football and hear Staubach, former quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, dish on turkeys and pigskin.

No, Thanks!
Historian James McWilliams tells 18th Century History Guy Peter Onuf why the Pilgrims and Indians would probably have been grossed out by each other’s contributions to the Thanksgiving table.

Primary Sources:

All Centuries

Recollections of Thanksgiving, from the frontier to New York City

Presidential Thanksgiving proclamations: typescripts and original documents
A set of primary source materials from the Library of Congress

18th Century

Firsthand accounts of the Plymouth thanksgiving: Edward Winslow and William Bradford

19th Century

Sarah Hale’s letter to Abraham Lincoln and her editorials penned in Godey’s Lady’s Book
Domestic manuals by Sarah Hale: Receipts for the Million, Modern Household Cookery, Lessons from Women’s Lives, Traits of American Life (includes a chapter on “The Thanksgiving of the Heart”), and The Good Housekeeper
“The Soldier’s Thanksgiving,” a poem included in care packages to Union fighters during the Civil War

20th Century

“A Day of Thanksgiving,” a patriotic film from 1951, explores one family’s response to lean times
The American Can Company presents “The Miracle of the Can,” ca. 1956
“Poultry on the Farm,” an educational film from 1937

Call of the Week: Abe from Montreal

tony backstory producer — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:38:58 +0000

On each episode of Call of the Week, we feature one of our favorite listener phone calls. This week, our call is from Abe in Montreal. He wanted to know a little more about the military metaphors we use to talk about public health.

Abe’s call was recorded for our recent full-length episode, Body Politics: A History of Health Care.

Coming Home: A History of War Veterans

rachel quimby — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:54:43 +0000

Between the global recession and the swine flu pandemic, news about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has become scanty-at-best. What little coverage there is tends to focus on developments overseas. In this Veterans’ Day special, the History Guys look at what happens when vets return home. Sons of Confederate Veterans spokesman Frank Earnest makes a case for separating the politics of war from our remembrance of its veterans. Historian Rebecca Jo Plant discusses the changing expectations for veterans’ wives and mothers. And psychologist Ed Tick talks about PTSD in the pre-psychological age.

Show Highlights:

Conflicting Loyalties
Sons of Confederate Veterans spokesman Frank Earnest tells 19th Century History Guy Ed Ayers how he reconciles his Confederate heritage with his identity as a veteran of the U.S. Navy. And he explains what the Confederate flag means to him.
Soldier’s Heart
Psychologist Edward Tick counsels combat veterans and studies historical accounts of war. He discusses the ways war was understood in the years before Post Traumatic Stress Disorder existed as a diagnosis.

Moulder in Peace, John Brown

rachel quimby — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:31:29 +0000

150 years ago this October, the terrorist/hero John Brown raided the armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. By December 1859, his body lay a-moulderin’ in the grave, a fact quickly memorialized in the famous ditty known as “John Brown’s Body.” Most people today know the song, but what has been lost to history is that it wasn’t really about John Brown — at least not the famous one. BackStory producer Rachel Quimby tells the real story of “John Brown’s Body.”

Related Sources:

John Brown bio, time-line, and bibliography, courtesy of our friends at the Encyclopedia Virginia. You can also read more there about Harpers Ferry, the site of Brown’s raid.
Civil War vet George Kimball’s 1890 article “Origin of the John Brown Song“
The Gilder Lehrman Institute’s online John Brown exhibition
Excerpt from an essay about the origins of Battle Hymn of the Republic, plus an original audio recording.
More history and recordings of the Battle Hymn
Biography and writings of Julia Ward Howe
Informal list of the John Brown Song’s many variations
Mark Twain’s 1901 re-writing of the Battle Hymn lyrics
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Special thanks to the Gimmel class at Congregation Beth Israel, and the brave men of the VFH for lending their voices in the service of subversive lyrics

Body Politics: A History of Health Care

tony backstory producer — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:53:52 +0000

In 1912, Teddy Roosevelt became the first presidential candidate to stump for national health insurance. He lost that election, but a century later, the issue continues to divide Americans.

On this episode, the History Guys explore the origins of the health care debate, and try to explain how we wound up with a system so different from the European model. They hear from Jacob Hacker, author of the “public option” plan, about why lobbyists hold so much sway over health policy, and travel back to 1611 to visit colonial America’s first hospital. They also hear the story of how inoculation first came to the New World.

SHOW TRANSCRIPT

Cited:

Photos of the recreated 17th century hospital at Mt. Malado: 1, 2, 3
“The Memory Palace,” Nate DiMeo’s podcast about American history

Primary Sources:

18th Century

Pamphlet by a Boston minister arguing the merits of smallpox inoculation (1721)
“Directions for Preserving the Health of Soldiers,” by Benjamin Rush (1808)
Medical classics from the Jeffersonian era

19th Century

Mortality Among Negroes in the Cities,” report from an Atlanta conference (1896)
Letters from an early 19th century Virginia doctor

20th Century

American Presidents on health care:
- Truman (1945, 1948)
- Kennedy (1962, 1962)
- Johnson (on Medicare, 1964, 1965)
- Nixon (1971)
- Reagan (1961)
- Clinton (1993, 1996)
- Obama (2009)

BackStory With The American History Guys

Climate Control: A History of Heating & Cooling

Guests Include:

Further Reading:

18th Century

19th Century

20th Century

Love Me Did: A History of Courtship

Guests Include:

Further Reading:

Valentine’s Day:

18th Century:

19th Century:

20th/21st Century:

Our Civic Duties: A History of Taxes

Naughty & Nice: A History of The Holiday Season

Guests include:

Web Exclusive

Further Reading/Listening

Christmas

Hannukah

Kwanzaa

Call of the Week: Jennifer from DC

American as Pumpkin Pie: A History of Thanksgiving

Show Highlights

Related Links:

Primary Sources:

All Centuries

18th Century

19th Century

20th Century

Call of the Week: Abe from Montreal

Coming Home: A History of War Veterans

Show Highlights:

Related Links

Moulder in Peace, John Brown

Related Sources:

*Special thanks to the Gimmel class at Congregation Beth Israel, and the brave men of the VFH for lending their voices in the service of subversive lyrics*

Body Politics: A History of Health Care

Cited:

Further Reading/Listening:

Primary Sources:

18th Century

19th Century

20th Century

Special thanks to the Gimmel class at Congregation Beth Israel, and the brave men of the VFH for lending their voices in the service of subversive lyrics