Coming Home: A History of War Veterans
How have war veterans been treated in the aftermath of America’s past wars? How much depends on the politics of the war? Are vets only as popular as the wars they’ve fought in?
Borrowed Times: A History of the National Debt
The History Guys explore why the national debt has continued to be so controversial in a country that was founded on borrowing.
“Borrowed Times”: Further Reading
The following links and documents relate to the BackStory episode “Borrowed Time: A History of the National Debt,” originally broadcast in June of 2011.
“Questions Remain” — Transcript
This is the transcript of “Civil War 150th: Questions Remain,” broadcast in April of 2011. You can listen to the entire show here. Tape: From VFH Radio in Charlottesville, Virginia, this is “BackStory.” Peter Onuf: From weapons of mass destruction to the U.S.S. Maine, each of America’s wars has been accompanied by its own [...]
“Why They Fought” — Transcript
This is the transcript of “Civil War 150th: Why They Fought,” broadcast in April of 2011. You can listen to the entire show here. Tape: From VFH Radio in Charlottesville, Virginia, this is “BackStory.” [music] Peter Onuf: Liberty and union. Liberty and union. That was the refrain across the American North as Civil War [...]
“The Road to Civil War” — Features and Highlights
The following are extended versions of interviews included in the BackStory episode “Civil War 150th: The Road to Civil War,” produced in March of 2011. You can listen to the entire episode here. Reporter Thomas Pierce recounts the story of Abraham Lincoln’s long train journey to the White House from his home in Springfield, IL. [...]
“Why They Fought” – Features and Highlights
The following interviews are included in the BackStory episode “Civil War 150th: Why They Fought,” produced in March of 2011. You can listen to the entire episode here. Gary Gallagher: Why Northerners Fought — University of Virginia historian Gary Gallagher argues that while Northern leaders’ opposition to slavery brought on the Civil War, it wasn’t [...]
Civil War 150th: Why They Fought
Join the History Guys as they explore the forces and motivations behind Americans’ willingness to take up arms against one another.
Controversial Wars
Critics of the war in Iraq compare it – rightly or wrongly – to Vietnam. But there’s no disputing that like Vietnam, this war has split the nation down the middle. It’s enough to make one yearn for earlier times, when the nation united against a common enemy. Or did it? This hour of BackStory [...]
