Historiansplaining: A historian tells you why everything you know is wrong
Samuel Biagetti, PhD
So much of what we learn in a standard history class, and in the culture around us, are just cliff-note narratives, crafted to explain how things appear, rather than how things actually came to be. Peel back the layers of time and place with this thoroughly researched, college-level history podcast with over 200 episodes that uncover the forgotten forces that shaped – and that are still shaping – our world today.
There are no commercials in this long-form podcast. More information can be found at Historiansplaining.com, where you can hear Quick Samples of every episode, easily find related episodes based on topic, discover episodes by geographic location on a map of the world or on a timeline of world history, and much more.
There’s so much to explore with Samuel Biagetti, PhD, in these conversational lectures and interviews, each one presenting hidden landscapes from the past that put the moments and movements of today’s world in a tangible, thought-provoking light.
Press play for the joy of a great college-level course in history, without any of the homework!
Unlock the most content by becoming a supporter through Patreon. You choose the amount you want to contribute, and your support helps keep the podcast commercial free! Visit patreon.com/user?u=5530632
Support through Patreon from listeners like you is the only source of ongoing funding for this podcast.
There are no commercials in this long-form podcast. More information can be found at Historiansplaining.com, where you can hear Quick Samples of every episode, easily find related episodes based on topic, discover episodes by geographic location on a map of the world or on a timeline of world history, and much more.
There’s so much to explore with Samuel Biagetti, PhD, in these conversational lectures and interviews, each one presenting hidden landscapes from the past that put the moments and movements of today’s world in a tangible, thought-provoking light.
Press play for the joy of a great college-level course in history, without any of the homework!
Unlock the most content by becoming a supporter through Patreon. You choose the amount you want to contribute, and your support helps keep the podcast commercial free! Visit patreon.com/user?u=5530632
Support through Patreon from listeners like you is the only source of ongoing funding for this podcast.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Feb 26, 2023 • 24min
History of the United States in 100 Objects -- 21: The Braddock/Washington Pistol
We consider the complex history and symbolism of an elaborately decorated sidearm weapon, originally made in Bristol, England, possibly intended as a dueling pistol, which came across the ocean to America with General Edward Braddock, witnessed the catastrophic events in the Ohio valley that sparked the Seven Years’ War, and which then became a prized possession of George Washington, symbolizing his relationship with the ill-starred general as well as America’s fraught relationship with Britain.
Special thanks to the Bristol Archives and to Eric Gabbitas, a direct descendant of the gunsmith William Gabbitas.
Image Courtesy of the Division of Political and Military History, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian record on the pistol: https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_746133
Please become a patron to hear all patron-only lectures! --https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632
For non-patrons, to hear all installments in this series on the history of the United States in 100 objects, you can purchase access through a single small payment: https://www.patreon.com/collection/2070759?view=condensed
15 snips
Feb 11, 2023 • 2h 6min
The Vikings, pt. 2 -- Into Distant Realms
They rained terror and destruction on Christian lands across Europe as far as Spain and Constantinople, before turning their attention away from raiding towards permanent settlement and the founding of new societies, from Ukraine to Normandy to Greenland. There has never been an explosion of exploration and aggression quite like the Viking expansion of the early Middle Ages -- we discuss the motives behind the expansion, which are rooted in the religious mismatch between Scandinavia and mainland Europe, the technologies that made it possible, the prizes and targets at which they aimed, the victories and setbacks that they encountered, the imprints that they left behind, and the winds of change that ultimately brought an end to the Viking adventure.
Music: "In the Hall of the Mountain King," from the Peer Gynt suite, by Grieg, performed by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, published by Musopen
Image: The "Lindisfarne Stone," a gravestone from Lindisfarne Monastery, Holy Island, 9th Century
Please sign on as a patron so that you can vote on our first video project: https://www.patreon.com/posts/first-video-78384769
Feb 3, 2023 • 7min
Update & teaser: Doorways in Time, #6 -- Early Audio Recordings
I update listeners on the podcast's new partnership with a producer, and provide a short clip of the latest patron-only lecture on the rediscovery of the lost early history of sound recording, ranging from French space lasers to a long-lost recording of a German leader singing an American folk song and the "Marseillaise."
Special thanks to the First Sounds collective, for recovering long-lost audio recordings and sharing their files freely with the global public, at www.firstsounds.org. All audio files used in this lecture are courtesy of First Sounds, except for the Edison/Wangemann cylinder recording from 1889, which is courtesy of the National Park Service and the Cylinder Archive.
Please sign up to hear the full lecture! -- https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632
Jan 21, 2023 • 26min
UNLOCKED: Hist. of the U.S. in 100 Objects -- 18: Jesuit Brass Medallion with I. Loyola
--Made of brass, most likely in France, ca. 1720-1750
--1 inch long, with depictions of St. Ignatius Loyola & Saint Mary with Latin inscriptions
--Found in ruins of Fort Michilimackinac; in collection of Mackinac State Historic Parks, Michigan
A small brass religious medallion found in the house of a French fur trader inside a fortress on the remote Straits of Mackinac shows the immense power of small numbers of merchants and missionaries to control sprawling networks of diplomacy and trade, stretching from Europe all the way into the deep interior of North America, and to sway the course of wars and imperial power struggles.
Special thanks to Mackinac State Historic Parks and Dr. Lynn Evans for their help in producing this lecture.
For non-patrons, to hear all installments in this series on the history of the United States in 100 objects, you can purchase access through a single small payment: https://www.patreon.com/collection/2070759?view=condensed
15 snips
Jan 18, 2023 • 1h 50min
The Vikings, pt. 1 -- In the Norsemen's World
We have all seen images of axe-wielding Vikings raining destruction upon the shores of medieval Europe -- but who were these berserking Norsemen and where did they come from? What society produced them? How did the Scandinavians of the Viking age understand the world and their place in it? We examine the Norsemen's complex and mysterious cosmos described in the poems and prophesies of the Eddas, and compare it to the realities of survival, trade, kingship, politics, warfare, art, gender, and the family in Scandinavia from the eight to eleventh centuries, as reconstructed from surviving documents and the latest archaeology.
Image: top section of the Hunninge picture stone, island of Gotland, Sweden, 8th century.
Music: "In the Hall of the Mountain King," from Peer Gynt suite, composed by Edvard Grieg, performed by Czech National Symphony Orchestra, published by Musopen.
Suggested further readings: Neil Price, "Children of Ash and Elm"; Else Roesdahl, "The Vikings"
Please sign up as a patron to hear all patron-only materials, including "Myth of the Month 20: Conspiracy Theories" -- https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632
Dec 30, 2022 • 1h 12min
2022 in Historical Context -- How Do You Like Your New Gilded Age?
We consider some of the major events of this year in light of their historical roots, from the abortion ruling to the Ukraine war; in particular, we consider the Twitter controversy in light of the history of media monopolies beginning with the telegraph, and the crisis over railroad labor in light of the railways strike of 1922, exactly one century ago.
First video segment of my appearance on the Katie Halper Show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh8ZKcL8SHE&t=3s&ab_channel=KatieHalper
Relevant articles:
On the history of abortion as invoked in the Dobbs debate:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/04/arts/roe-v-wade-abortion-history.html
On the roots and history of the anti-abortion movement:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12340403/
https://www.oah.org/tah/issues/2016/november/abolishing-abortion-the-history-of-the-pro-life-movement-in-america/
On Western Union and its choke-hold on the telegraph system:
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2011/05/how-the-robber-barons-hijacked-the-victorian-internet/
Book sources on railway labor history: Rebecca Edwards, "New Spirits: Americans in the Gilded Age"; Joseph McCartin, "Labor's Great War" and "Labor in America"
Please support historiansplaining to hear all patron-only materials -- https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632
7 snips
Dec 16, 2022 • 2h 17min
Myth of the Month 21: The Old West
“Cowboys and Indians.” For most Americans, the words evoke a sinister game, representing a timeless enmity between the forces of civilization and savagery. In actual historical fact, cowboys and Indians were symbiotic trading partners, and many cowboys were Indians themselves; but the image of the cowboy as a conqueror and as the bearer of civilization into the “Wild West” has become central to the American national myth. We trace how the romantic self-image of the 19th-century buckaroos as modern-day knights gradually evolved into the iconography of gunslingers battling on the untamed frontier, from early dime novels to grand “horse operas” to Hollywood Westerns and science fiction, and finally to the new fable of the gay cowboy.
Image: Frederic Remington, "Shotgun Hospitality," 1908
Suggested reading: Russell Martin, "Cowboy: The Enduring Myth of the Wild West"; Richard Slotkin, "The Fatal Environment" & "Gunfighter Nation."
Become a patron at any level in order to hear patron-only lectures as soon as they post (https://www.patreon.com/c/u5530632), or alternatively, non-patrons can buy the entire playlist of Myths of the Month, including “The Enlightenment,” “Race,” & “Capitalism,” among others: https://www.patreon.com/collection/2031535?view=condensed
Dec 7, 2022 • 19min
Update: Historiansplaining in Crisis, & Teaser: Silver Beaker with Devil & Pope Figures
I update listeners about my recent work, including for the upcoming symposium issue of Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities, about my hope of beginning a collaboration with a producer to work on videos and on lectures about music, and about the crisis created by banks and credit cards declining patrons' pledges to the podcast.
Please go to Patreon to see whether your pledges have been processed, or to sign up as a patron if you have not already: https://www.patreon.com/posts/history-of-in-20-74790682
The recently launched podcast website: www.historiansplaining.com
Nov 20, 2022 • 1h 43min
Monarchy, Honours, and the Molding of Modern Society -- A Conversation with Tobias Harper
I speak with historian Tobias Harper about about the evolving and growing role of the British crown as the head of the voluntary sector in a neoliberal, atomizing, and celebrity-driven society. We examine both the "magic of the royal touch" and the hard-nosed bureaucratic calculations that it can serve to obscure, as captured in Toby's book, "From Servants of the Empire to Everyday Heroes: The British Honours System in the Twentieth Century."
Toby's recent article on the current challenges to the monarchy: https://theconversation.com/charles-iii-faces-challenges-at-home-abroad-and-even-in-defining-what-it-means-to-be-king-190339
Image: Bono holding up the medal recognizing his honorary knighthood, 2007
Please sign on to support this podcast and hear the patron-only materials: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632
Nov 3, 2022 • 2h 37min
UNLOCKED: Robin Hood, pt. 2: Capturing the Outlaw
What is the signifcance of Robin Hood as an outlaw -- a person declared legally dead -- who lives in the greenwood, where life is constantly renewed? Why does Shakespeare heavily allude to Robin in his Henry IV plays? And most significantly, was there a real Robin Hood, or is he a pure creation of myth and folklore? We consider the possibilities and scrutinize the evidence.
Suggested further reading: Maurice Keen, "The Outlaws of Medieval Legend"; J. C. Holt, "Robin Hood"; A. J. Pollard, "Imagining Robin Hood."
Become a patron at any level in order to hear patron-only lectures as soon as they post (https://www.patreon.com/c/u5530632), or alternatively, non-patrons can buy the entire playlist of Myths of the Month, including “The Enlightenment,” “Race,” & “Capitalism,” among others: https://www.patreon.com/collection/2031535?view=condensed
