BackStory

Grand Old Parties: A History of Partisanship

When it comes to partisan politics, Americans today are deeply conflicted. We want an engaged citizenry without the deep fissures in the body politic, but can we have it both ways? Have we EVER had it both ways?

New Media & Objectivity

The following audio clip is excerpted from the BackStory episode “Just the Facts?: Partisanship & the Press.”  You can listen to the entire episode here. Michael Kinsley, founding editor of Slate.com, talks about why he’s not worried about objectivity in the new media landscape.[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Excerpted from: Just the Facts?: [...]

Lunar Manbats

The following audio clip is excerpted from the BackStory episode “Just the Facts?: Partisanship & the Press.”  You can listen to the entire episode here. Matthew Goodman tells the story of an elaborate hoax involving “lunar man-bats” in the early days of the penny press.[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Excerpted from: Just the [...]

Jefferson and the Press

The following audio clip is excerpted from the BackStory episode “Just the Facts?: Partisanship & the Press.”  You can listen to the entire episode here. The History Guys discuss Thomas Jefferson’s sometimes contradictory ideas about a free press.[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Excerpted from: Just the Facts?: Partisanship & the Press

Peter Porcupine

The following audio clip is excerpted from the BackStory episode “Just the Facts?: Partisanship & the Press.”  You can listen to the entire episode here. Historian Marcus Daniel explains that the bitter rhetoric of editors in the 1790s played a key role in the birth of our democracy.[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Excerpted [...]

Jefferson Then and Now (Pt. 2)

From FDR to Sarah Palin, public figures on all sides of the political spectrum have claimed Thomas Jefferson as their own. But what did Jefferson really stand for?

Jefferson, Then and Now (Pt. 1)

From FDR to Sarah Palin, public figures on all sides of the political spectrum have claimed Thomas Jefferson as their own. But what did Jefferson really stand for?

Just the Facts?: Partisanship and the Press

What ever happened to good, old-fashioned, objective reporting? In this hour, the History Guys turn that question on its head, and ask instead where the notion of “objective” reporting came from in the first place.

Mark Summers Web Exclusive

Ed Ayers interviews historian Mark Summers, Professor of History at the University of Kentucky and author of Party Games: Getting, Keeping, and Using Power in Gilded Age Politics. Prof. Summers discusses some of the hijinks associated with Gilded Age elections. [Audio clip: view full post to listen]