Armchair Historians

Send us Fan Mail Not too long ago, Anne Marie had the opportunity to talk to Emily Strasser. Emily has written a book about a little-known community built in secret by the United States government in rural western Knoxville, Tennessee. Oak Ridge was one of three secret cities constructed by the Manhattan Project.  Emily Strasser is a writer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She received her MFA in...

Send us Fan Mail Not too long ago, Anne Marie had the opportunity to talk to Emily Strasser. Emily has written a book about a little-known community built in secret by the United States government in rural western Knoxville, Tennessee. Oak Ridge was one of three secret cities constructed by the Manhattan Project.  If you listened to last week’s episode about Anna Rosenberg, there is a tie-in here....

Send us Fan Mail In this first episode of 2023, Anne Marie interviews Christopher C. Gorham, high school history teacher and author of The Confidante: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Helped Win WWII and Shape Modern America. This relatively unknown history is about a woman who yielded a great deal of political power throughout much of the 20th century, and whose legacy is little known. Who was A...

Send us Fan Mail Anne Marie stops by to wish you a happy New Year and gets a little deep and philosophical about her love of history. #happynewyear Support Armchair Historians: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/armchairhistorians Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/belgiumrabbitproductions Support the show Support the show Follow us on Social Media: Instagram: @armchairhistorians Facebook: https://www.faceboo...

Send us Fan Mail In this fourth episode of our October History and Haunting Series, Anne Marie talks to Denver Ghost Hunters' (DGH) team members Stephanie and Elise about their favorite histories and how their ghost-hunting endeavors connect to them. They share digital recordings of disembodied voices (or EVPs) of spirits from beyond and line up the history with the haunting.  With the ninete...

Send us Fan Mail In this third episode of our October History and Haunting Series, Anne Marie talks to Denver Ghost Hunters' (DGH) team members Stephanie and Elise about their favorite histories and how their ghost-hunting endeavors connect to them.  With the nineteenth-century United States Western expansion, many a restless soul came to the then Kansas Territory (Colorado) with only their d...

Send us Fan Mail Anne Marie continues her discussion with the co-authors of A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America's Ghosts.  This non-fiction book is coauthored by actress, playwright, ghost tour guide and award-winning bestselling author Leanna Renee Hieber and Boroughs of the Dead founder Andrea Janes.  “Sorrowful widows, vengeful jezebels, innocent maidens, wronged...

Send us Fan Mail If you know Anne Marie at all, you know that Halloween is her favorite holiday. Some of you may know that, as a side gig, she is the founder of Silver Queen Walking Tours. By popular demand, she does more ghost tours than straight history tours. So when she discovered this newly released book, A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America's Ghosts, by these tw...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Anne Marie talks to author, sweetheart of the sideshow, and fashion writer Ilise Carter about her new book The Red Menace: How Lipstick Changed the Face of American History.   In America, lipstick is the foundation of empires; it’s a signature of identity; it’s propaganda, self-expression, oppression, freedom, and rebellion. It’s a multi-billion-dollar industry an...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Anne Marie Talks to Andrew Nagorski about his new book Saving Freud: The Rescuers Who Brought Him to Freedom. The book recounts the dramatic true story of Sigmund Freud’s last-minute escape to London following the German annexation of Austria, why he waited until after the Nazi take over, and the colorful cast of characters who persuaded and extricated him from hi...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Anne Marie talks to professor of history and author Robert McElvaine about his latest book, The Times They Were a-Changin': 1964, the Year the Sixties Arrived and the Battle Lines of Today Were Drawn. 1964 is when the sixties truly arrived, from JFK’s assassination in November 1963 It was then that the United States began a radical shift toward a much more in...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, the third in our Mudlark Series, Anne Marie interviews Jason Sandy, co-author of Thames Mudlarking: Searching for London's Lost Treasures . Jason shares his River Thames journey and talks about the river's history and the fellowship he has found within the mudlark community. Jason Sandy is an American architect and property developer in London. He is a m...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, the second in our Mudlark series, Anne Marie talks to Mudlark Lynn Pew. Lynn mudlarks along the River Irwell in Lancashire, England, where she scours its banks for beautiful pieces of broken pottery, little pieces of history tumbled by the river for over 100 years. Lynn tells us about the river's history and where many of the pieces she finds originated. Lynn...

Send us Fan Mail In this special episode of Armchair Historians, Anne Marie is joined by her great-nephew and co-host Finley. We talk to YouTube sensation Simon Bourne of Si Finds about one of our favorite hobbies, treasure hunting and specifically mudlarking. Since the beginning, the River Thames which flows from the Cotswolds, through the heart of London, and into the North Sea has been a place...

Send us Fan Mail Today’s guest has made it his mission to look at the chroniclers who have shaped our understanding of the past by looking at their personal history and taking into account how their personal story shaped their biases and therefore their interpretation of history. Author Richard Cohen talks to Anne Marie about his new book, Making History: The Storytellers Who Shaped the Past. Cohe...

Send us Fan Mail Anne Marie and Bob are coming to you from York in the UK. They recount their favorite histories during their week-long stay in this historical cathedral city with Roman origins. York, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York Yorkshire Museum, website: https://www.yorkshiremuseum.org.uk Jorvik Viking Centre, website: https://www.jorvikvikingcentre.co.uk York City Wall: https:/...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we share Anne Marie's appearance spot on Ye Olde Crime Podcast in which podcast host, Lindsey, challenges her to crack the cramp word. Can she do it? Listen to find out! Ye Olde Crime Podcast, website: https://www.yeoldecrimepodcast.com Lindsey Valenty appearance on Armchair Historians: https://armchairhistorians.buzzsprout.com/1020073/9483164-deadly-victoria...

Send us Fan Mail Anne Marie and Bob are coming to you from Bankside in this first UK mini episode. They recount their favorite history of the day at Borough Market and Mudlarking along the Thames. River Thames: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Thames Southwark: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Borough_of_Southwark Borough Market: https://boroughmarket.org.uk Borough Market, Wikipedia: https...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Anne Marie interviews Airforce Veteran and Buffalo Soldiers of Seattle member Nick Brooks. Nick talks about the new documentary Buffalo Soldiers: Fighting on Two Fronts and the almost erased history of the first African American Soldiers who earned the nickname "buffalo soldiers" most likely from the Cheyenne people. The name stuck and followed the segre...

Send us Fan Mail Anne Marie talks to Dr. Rod Tanchanco about his new book, First Patients. This timely narrative looks at how far we’ve come; what we’ve learned from past pandemics and the real-life patient stories behind our most important medical advancements. Often marked by the desperate need to save human lives, important developments in medicine have invariably started with patients—people w...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Anne Marie talks to Gregory Smithers about his new book, Reclaiming Two-Spirits: Sexuality, Spiritual Renewal & Sovereignty in Native America. Two Spirits is a sweeping history of Indigenous traditions of gender, sexuality, and resistance that reveals how, despite centuries of colonialism, Two-Spirit people are reclaiming their place in Native nations. Gregory...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Anne Marie talks to the co-hosts of Women of Herstory Podcast about the history of body hair (its removal, its inconvenience in battle, designated gender norms on "appropriate" lengths and styles...) so many things to know about body hair! Who knew? Heather Ashley: Born in Japan, raised in Texas, and currently residing in New York, Heather is no stranger...

Send us Fan Mail In this Women's History Month episode of Armchair Historians, Anne Marie talks to Wendy Rouse about the suffrage movement, specifically about the all but erased queer history of the movement. Wendy Rouse is a historian whose research focuses on the history of gender and sexuality in the Progressive Era. Her most recent book, Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the...

Send us Fan Mail Dana Rubin is single-handedly giving voice to women throughout history. Dana's passion project, Speaking While Female, showcases female speakers across time and around the world, from antiquity to the present. Historically, women have not been silent, but their words have scarcely been noted in the history books. What they said was seldom valued, recorded, or remembered. Donn...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Anne Marie talks to Yeshiva University professor emerita Ellen Schrecker about the history leading up to today's anti-intellectualism. Ellen has been involved with the politics of higher education and academic freedom for decades. According to Ellen, the current right-wing campaign against teaching critical race theory and other so-called “divisive concepts”...