Drafting the Past

Visit draftingthepast.com to subscribe and get episode updates, history book reviews, and more. You can subscribe for free, or, if you want to support our work and get ad-free episodes and articles, exclusive content, and other perks, become a paid subscriber today. Note: Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. About this episode: When Katherine Grandjean’s new book, Kingdom of Devils: A Tale o...

Bookshop.org links are affiliate links. Subscribe for free to the Drafting the Past newsletter for podcast updates, book reviews, and more. Paid subscribers get ad-free episodes and exclusive content. In this episode, Kate interviews Dr. Thomas Andrews, a historian who cares deeply about the writing—and revision—process. Thomas is a professor of history at the University of Colorado Boulder and is...

Note: Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. Thanks for supporting the show and independent bookstores by purchasing books through these links! About this episode For this episode, Kate is joined by Eric Jay Dolin, the New York Times-bestselling author of 17 books, to talk about his writing process and what it’s like to build a career as an author of popular histories. His books include Leviat...

Visit draftingthepast.com to sign up for the newsletter and get book reviews, podcast updates, and much more. Note: Bookshop.org links are affiliate links. About this episode: How many history books have kept you up late into the night, turning the page to find out what happens next? That’s exactly what the newest book from this episode’s guest did to Kate, but it was well worth the lost sleep. Ca...

Visit draftingthepast.com to sign up for our newsletter and never miss an episode or book review. In this episode, Kate spoke with Tai S. Edwards and Charlee Huffman, writers and editors of a new book, Shokhi: A Kanza Relative, A Monument, and Rematriation . This book is a little different from others that have appeared on the show: it tells the story of how a group of people, include Kaw Nation c...

Visit draftingthepast.com to subscribe to the newsletter for book reviews, interviews, essays about history books, and more. Paid subscribers get access to ad-free episodes of the podcast. In this episode, Kate is joined by our first guest from New Zealand, archivist and independent historian Jared Davidson. Though he was not trained as a historian and originally comes from a graphic design backgr...

Go to draftingthepast.com and subscribe to our newsletter so you never miss an episode! Paid subscribers get access to ad-free episodes and more perks. How does the history of English colonialism in the Renaissance change when you tell that history through objects? In this episode, Kate spoke with Dr. Lauren Working, a historian whose work focuses on England’s colonialism and interactions with Ind...

In episode 110 of the Drafting the Past podcast, Kate interviews historian Richard Jobs and anthropologist and illustrator Steven Van Wolputte . Rick and Steven teamed up to write, illustrate and create In the Land of the Lacandón: A Graphic History of Adventure and Imperialism . Part graphic history, part historical essay, part poetic commentary and more, the book not only tells the history of on...

Note: Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. When you purchase books through these links, your purchase supports the authors, independent bookstores, and Drafting the Past . Visit draftingthepast.com to subscribe to the newsletter. This fall, Drafting the Past is expanding, and we'll be publishing book reviews, news, interviews, and more, in addition to the podcast you know and love. Megan Mar...

When historian of early modern Japan Dr. Amy Stanley came upon a letter written by a woman named Tsuneno while she was prepping a class lesson in primary sources, she knew she had found a great story. The challenge was how to tell it, even through gaps in the archive—not to mention the challenges of writing while raising two small boys The result, Stranger in the Shogun’s City: A Japanese Woman an...

In this episode, Dr. Christopher Hodson and Dr. Brett Rushforth join Kate Carpenter to talk about their new book, Beyond the Ocean: France and the Atlantic World from the Crusades to the Age of Revolution . It was a book two decades in the making, and when you read it, you’ll understand why. It’s absolutely packed with research and fascinating stories, and it makes a persuasive argument that, when...

Dr. Dolly Jørgensen is professor of history at the University of Stavanger in Norway. As you'll hear in this episode, Dolly is one very busy historian. She is the author of three books, including her newest, Ghosts Behind Glass: Encountering Extinction in Museums . She has also co-edited five books and written a truly impressive number of academic articles. She recently ended a term as the editor...

Sign up for the  Drafting the Past newsletter for updates on the show and more.  In this episode, Kate welcomes Scott W. Stern and Dr. Charles O'Malley to the show. Scott is a writer and lawyer who is the author of two previous books of narrative nonfiction and has written for many media outlets and scholarly journals. Charlie is a dramaturg and writer who has worked at theaters across the country...

In this episode, Kate Carpenter interviews Dr. Anna O. Law, a political science who retrained herself in historical methods to write her new book, Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship . Anna is a professor of political science and Herbert Kurz Chair in Constitutional Rights at CUNY Brooklyn College. In her new books, she takes a close look at which parts and levels of government in th...

It's not every day that I find myself so invested in the characters of a history book that I stay up way past my bed time to find out what happens next, but that's exactly what happened when I read the new book by today's guest, Dr. Charlotte Brooks. Charlotte is a professor of history at Baruch College , which is part of the City University of New York, or CUNY, system. She is a scholar of race,...

In this episode, Kate Carpenter is joined by a scholar who can never pass up a good archive, Dr. Gautham Rao. Gautham is a historian of American law and politics and is an associate professor of history at American University in Washington. He's the author of two books: National Duties: Custom Houses and the Making of the American State , and his new book, White Power: Policing American Slavery ....

Today's guest, Dr. Tara Mulder, gets real about the challenges of writing while moving between temporary jobs, juggling a ton of teaching, and struggling to find a tenure track position. But also told me why that struggle brought a surprising amount of freedom and led to a much more creative and entertaining book. These days, Tara is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a...

Episode 100! I'm thrilled to welcome historian of science Dr. Jessica Riskin. Jessica is the Frances and Charles Field Professor of History at Stanford University . She's the author of three books and has edited two additional collections. She has also written extensively for academic journals and has published some highly entertaining book reviews and essays for the New York Review of Books and t...

Is it possible to write a new history of Lewis and Clark (and get anyone to read it)? If you're Craig Fehrman, the answer is a definite yes! In today's episode, Craig joins Kate Carpenter to talk about his new book, This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark . Craig is a journalist and historian who lives in Indiana, where he focuses on writing and occasional adjunct teaching at Indiana...

David Perry returns to talk with Kate about his new book, The Public Scholar: A Practical Handbook . If you've ever been curious about writing essays or op-eds, but are unsure where to get started, David's book should answer pretty much any question you can dream up. I think this book is hugely helpful, and I was glad to hear more from David about why he wrote it—and to get answers to a few more b...

Host Kate Carpenter is joined by drug historian Dr. Emily Dufton to talk about researching and writing Emily's newest book,  Addiction, Inc.: Medication-Assisted Treatment and America's Forgotten War on Drugs . Emily holds a PhD in American studies and works full-time as a writer. Her first book was Grass Roots: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Marijuana in America . Thanks to her expertise in drug h...

In this episode, host Kate Carpenter is joined by Dr. Daniel Neep to talk about his new book, Syria: A Modern History . Daniel is a non-resident fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University and is currently senior editor at the Arab Center Washington DC , a think tank focused on the relationship between the Arab world and the US. Previously, he has worked as a faculty...

In this episode, Kate is joined by Dr. John Garrison Marks, whose new book is Thy Will Be Done: George Washington's Legacy of Slavery and the Fight for American Memory . This is a fantastic book that takes a careful, and often surprising look, at how generations of Americans have remembered and forgotten George Washington's relationship to slavery and used that memory to bolster their own argument...

In this episode, Kate welcomes back episode 1 guest Dr. Megan Kate Nelson as the very first return guest on Drafting the Past! Megan is a historian and the author of five books, and a Pulitzer Prize finalist. In our first conversation, we talked about Megan's writing process, favorite writing advice, and more. But in this episode, we're going deeper! While we talk about Megan's new book, The Weste...

Before we get to the episode, I need a favor: Will you take a minute to fill out this survey about Drafting the Past , and let me know what is and isn't working for you about the show? It will help me bring even better episodes to you. Thanks in advance for your help! In this episode, I'm happy to welcome historian of religion Dr. Matthew Avery Sutton. Matt's newest book is called Chosen Land: How...