American as Pumpkin Pie: A History of Thanksgiving

VFHwebdev — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:00:15 +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.

Guests Include:

Roger Staubach, former quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys
Anne Blue Wills, Professor of Religion and author of “Pilgrims and Progress: How Magazines Made Thanksgiving” (PDF)
Joanne Bowen, Curator of Zooarchaeology at Colonial Williamsburg
James McWilliams, historian and author of A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America

Web Exclusives

So that you might have something to look at while listening to a couple of highlights from our show, we compiled two special audio slide shows. Watch them here.

Even Further

Full Show Transcript

Tolerance: A History of Drink

VFHwebdev — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:45:30 +0000

Uncork the champagne! December 5th marked the 75th anniversary of Prohibition’s repeal, but was the ban on alcohol as bad as we remember? Does Prohibition really deserve its reputation as a failed experiment? In this hour, political historian Jim Morone gives us an introduction to the politics of sin. Then a modern-day moonshiner tells how the government watches closely as he makes corn whiskey in his grandfather’s still. Finally, a therapist from the Hazelden Center talks about the spiritual side of alcoholism.

Show Highlights

The Politics of Drink — Historian James Morone explains what nativism, racism, and women’s suffrage had to do with the temperance movement of the early 20th century. And he argues that Prohibition was not the abysmal failure it’s often made out to be.

Related Links

The US Brewers Foundation gives a lesson in history
Find out why a few college presidents would prefer a lower drinking age
Imbibe the secret history of rum
Slur your words with Benjamin Franklin’s complete Drinker’s Dictionary
Visit Chuck and Jeanette Miller’s Belmont Farm Distillery in Culpeper, VA
Read an excerpt of James Morone’s award-winning book, Hellfire Nation
When whiskey was the king of drink

BackStory with the American History Guys » food and drink