Jonathan W. White, an associate professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University, is the co-author of “Our Little Monitor”: The Greatest Invention of the Civil War (Kent State University Press, 2018). Ever since their famous naval encounter in 1862, the Monitor and Merrimack (a.k.a., C.S.S. Virginia) have been part of American Civil War lore. ... Show More
Yesterday
Amanda G. Madden, "Civil Blood: Vendetta Violence and the Civic Elites in Early Modern Italy" (Cornell UP, 2025)
Civil Blood: Vendetta Violence and the Civic Elites in Early Modern Italy (Cornell UP, 2025) is a study of the practice of vendetta among the civic elites in sixteenth-century Italy and illustrates the complex and integral role that vendetta violence played in civic life and stat ... Show More
53m 27s
Jan 17
Giles Tremlett, "El Generalísimo: A Biography of Francisco Franco" (Oxford UP, 2025)
From a scrawny, overlooked military graduate to the youngest general in Europe, Francisco Franco was known for his ambition, talent and calculated risk-taking. Yet his reputation remains a topic of fierce debate. Did he destroy Spain and stifle its democracy or rescue the nation ... Show More
59m 16s
Jan 16
Reena Goldthree, "Democracy’s Foot Soldiers: World War I and the Politics of Empire in the Greater Caribbean" (Princeton UP, 2025)
Following the outbreak of World War I, tens of thousands of men from the British Caribbean volunteered as soldiers to fight on behalf of the British Empire. Despite living far from the bloody battlefields of Europe, these men enlisted for a variety of reasons—to affirm their masc ... Show More
52m 20s
Feb 2024
Origins of the Civil War
<p>The war between the Union and the Confederacy is a major turning point in the history of the United States. But why did it happen?</p><br><p>From slavery and states' rights, to economic, legislative, moral, and political issues, in this episode, Don and Professor Adam Smith ex ... Show More
34m 54s
Jul 2023
The Crossfire of Gettysburg
<p>Gettysburg is synonymous with the bloodiest battle in the history of the United States. But before it was the location of a battle and Lincoln's arguably most famous speech, Gettysburg was a town.</p><br><p>In this episode, Don is joined by Andrew Dalton, executive director of ... Show More
19m 53s
Sep 2022
Civil War | Finding Freedom | 8
<p>During the Civil War, Black people in America took the opportunity to free themselves and to serve the Union cause. At great personal risk, tens of thousands of refugees -- men, women and children -- fled Southern slave owners for Union lines. They enlisted in the Union Army a ... Show More
36m 32s
Feb 2023
A Union Spy's Mission to Stop the Confederates From Building a Secret Navy in Britain
In 1861, just as the Civil War began, the leaders of the Confederacy soon realized they were outmatched when it came to military might, especially in terms of Naval power. (For example, the U.S. Navy had 42 commissioned ships as of the start of the year—the Confederacy had 1.) An ... Show More
36m 52s
May 2019
The Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Gilded Age: An Interview with Stanford's Professor Richard White
<p>The Civil War and its decades-long aftermath continue to define American life well into the twenty-first century. Today we chat with Stanford's Professor Richard White, author of <em>The Republic For Which It Stands: The United States During Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, ... Show More
44m 20s