logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2023
13m 48s

The Real Free State of Jones (1863)

JODY AVIRGAN & RADIOTOPIA
About this episode
tail spinning
Up next
Today
Obama, Rev. Wright, and "A More Perfect Union" [Part 1]
For the eleventh episode of “50 Weeks That Shaped America,” we go to the spring of 2008. Barack Obama was largely on path to clinch the Democratic nomination, but he had to navigate one last major controversy. In April, ABC did a report on remarks by his long-time Pastor Jeremiah ... Show More
40m 19s
Mar 15
The Gingrich Revolution [Some Sunday Context]
For our "Sunday Context" episode, go back to the Clinton administration and look at how Republicans swept into power in 1994. It allowed them to present a new version of the GOP -- and organize a unified opposition to Clinton just as the Lewinsky scandal was exploding. Jody and N ... Show More
24m 7s
Mar 12
How Clinton-Lewinsky Set The Template For Modern Politics [Part Two]
Our conversation about the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky affair continues, with a look at the changing media environment, the rise of FOX News, and how this created a template for the modern hyper-politicized scandal.Join our America250 newsletter community! Subscribe for free ... Show More
32m 54s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2021
Juneteenth and the Constitution
On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, arrived in Galveston, Texas, with news that the Civil War had ended and that the enslaved were now free. President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had been issued over two years earlier, and the South had ... Show More
57m 15s
Jul 2021
Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall, "Slave Revolt on Screen: The Haitian Revolution in Film and Video Games" (UP of Mississippi, 2021)
Michel-Rolph Trouillot wrote that “the silencing of the Haitian Revolution is only a chapter within a narrative of global domination. It is part of the history of the West and it is likely to persist, even in attenuated form, as long as the history of the West is not retold in wa ... Show More
1h 10m
Oct 2025
303. Orwell: Fighting Fascism In The Spanish Civil War (Part 2)
Why did George Orwell go to Spain to fight on the Republican side against General Franco? Who saved his life when he was shot in the throat? How did internal feuds on the leftist side of the war influence his writing and his paranoia? In Part 2 of this miniseries, William and Ani ... Show More
40m 51s
Feb 2025
Robert Smalls
On May 13, 1862, in Charleston, South Carolina, a man named Robert Smalls took command of a Confederate ship called The Planter and liberated himself and his family from slavery. As they passed the Confederate-held Fort Sumter, Robert Smalls was said to have saluted it with a whi ... Show More
33m 39s
Aug 2023
The Modern History of Originalism
In this episode, a panel of libertarian and conservative scholars—J. Joel Alicea of the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law, Anastasia Boden of the Cato Institute, and Sherif Girgis of Notre Dame Law School—explore the different strands of originalism as a const ... Show More
58m 23s
Sep 2025
The Rising Storm: The American War of Independence & Ireland
<p><em>This episode is part of a wider series on the 1798 Rebellion, but you can enjoy it as a stand-alone story.</em></p><br><p>When the American Revolution broke out in the 1770s, it sent shock waves across the Atlantic, transforming Irish politics and society. To explore this ... Show More
43 m
Feb 2025
233. Blood and Betrayal: Oliver Cromwell's Irish Invasion (Ep 1)
His statue may stand proudly outside the Houses of Parliament in London, but in Ireland, Oliver Cromwell is remembered as “the Devil from over the Sea” for the bloodshed he unleashed there from 1649 to 1653.  Rising to prominence as a Parliamentarian during the English Civil War ... Show More
40m 27s
Sep 2025
History's Worst F*ckboys: Charles II
Our mini-series exploring the worst f*ckboys in history is back!In today's episode, Kate is joined by Dr. David Taylor of Oxford University to get to know the so-called Merry Monarch and the many women in his life.Was it better to be married or be a mistress to Charles II? How ma ... Show More
44m 49s
Jun 2021
Mehdi Hasan Thinks Republicans Couldn’t Define Critical Race Theory ‘If Their Lives Depended on It’
Would you be willing to be arrested for something if you didn’t know what it was? Would you vote against it? Would you stake your party’s chances in the 2022 midterms on it? This week in Loudoun County, Virginia, a furious man was arrested for trespassing following a raucous scho ... Show More
57m 23s