Historiansplaining: A historian tells you why everything you know is wrong

What is "culture"? And how did a metaphor from gardening invade social-science discourse in 19th-century Germany and America and then take the world by storm? Am I doing "podcast culture" right now? However you define it, I make the case that it is the defining myth of our time, and that we should get rid of it. Image: "Old New York" diorama, Museum of Natural History, New York Suggested reading:...

For over a century, scholars, politicians, and pundits have debated the supposed causes of the First World War, from German naval provocations to the rising global tide of nationalism. All of these explanations tend to ignore the simple fact that the war began in eastern Europe, triggered by regional feuding and violence in what had previously been the Ottoman provinces. We begin our exploration o...

We follow the dramatic evolution of Indian civilization after the fall of the Gupta empire, tracing from the specctacular rise of trade, art, and new religious movements in the southern kingdoms, through the tumult and fragmentation of the northern statelets and the cataclysmic invasions of raiders from Central Asia, and finally to the creation of Islamic states in the subcontinent just in time fo...

In our first video lecture, we analyzee the methods that builders, from Egypt to Rome to medieval Europe, have used to create grand structures and to enclose beautiful spaces, whether by reaching outward across the landscape or upwards toward the sky, in order to enthrall the senses and to inspire emotions from terror to tranquility. The video lecture on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9...

We consider the complex history and symbolism of an elaborately decorated sidearm weapon, originally made in Bristol, England, possibly intended as a dueling pistol, which came across the ocean to America with General Edward Braddock, witnessed the catastrophic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 h...

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 motiv...

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 audi...

--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 s...

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, a...

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...

“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 th...

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, o...

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 Bri...

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 readi...

James II was Britain's shortest-reigning monarch of the entire early modern age -- yet his brief rule caused a dramatic rupture, which in turn opened the door to the transformation of the kingdom into the constitutional, commercial, imperial state that we know as modern Britain. Was it because of his Catholic faith? His resolute -- or pig-headed -- personality? His determination to rule absolutely...

We examine the so-called "zero point of history," the "first temple," the "world's oldest building," the massive and deeply ancient complex of stone-age megalithic monuments on a hilltop in Turkey, which since being uncovered in the 1990s, has dramatically overturned received ideas about the beginnings of civilization. Correction: France & Britain allied with the Ottomans against Russia in the Cri...

In the final lecture on Florida, we examine how the tropical state, thanks to innovations like DDT, orange-juice concentrate, and air conditioning, was able to boom at an unimaginable pace, rocketing into the top five biggest states in the union, with massive scientific and artistic communities, a diverse immigrant mosaic, and after the Civil Rights movement, exceptionally volatile and unpredictab...

Sam interviews historian Margarita Fajardo, a professor of history at Sarah Lawrence College, about her new book, “The World That Latin America Created,” which traces how a movement of scholars and statesmen centering around CEPAL, a UN economic commission based in Santiago, Chile, formulated a new world-view and far-reaching agenda to foster unity and development in Latin America; the so-called “...

We consider how the crisis of legitimacy and breakdown of order following the downfall of the Zhou dynasty spurred on a flowering of philosophy, as various scholars and sages sought new principles to guide life and achieve harmony, giving rise to the enduring teachings of Taoism and Confucianism, as well as other long-forgotten sects ranging from draconian legalists to humanitarian pacifists. Hear...

Where do conspiracy theories come from? Why do some people believe in them and not others? Aren't some of them true? And what kind of purpose or agenda is served by setting apart "conspiracy thories" as a distinct realm of thought? We weigh and examine all the different perspectives, and consider why conspiracy theories are an unavoidable and fundamental aspect of modern democracy. This is a short...

Unlocked after one year for patrons only: The secretive Gnostic stream of Christianity, which taught a radically different metaphysics and spiritual cosmology from "orthodox" doctrine in the first four hundred years of the church, was largely lost to history, until 1945, when a camel-herder in a remote part of Egypt stumbled upon an old ceremic jar with 13 massive books containing 52 ancient Gnost...

We follow the southward-racing juggernaut of modern Florida, from statehood in 1845 to the 1930s – the insatiable quest of visionaries and megalomaniacs, from Jewish utopians, to slave-driving planters, to evangelical missionaries, to black politicians, to hotel magnates, to messianic cult leaders, to women’s suffragists, to Cuban revolutionaries, to bohemian poets, to impose a sense of order upon...

We follow the long struggle to build power, wealth, and lasting harmony on the rich but harsh and unforgiving landscape of China – from early farming villages, to the quasi-legendary early emperors, through dynasties obsessed with ritual and divination, the age of fragmentation and warring states, and finally, the dramatic quest for unification by the ruthless emperor that gave China its name. We...

--Three pendant amulets, in form of a forearm with closed fist --made of silver; ---about ½ inch to 2/3 inches long --found in midden at site of Spanish outpost, Los Adaes, in present-day Louisiana --dated to 18th century These three silver amulets in the form of a fist, found among the remains of the Spanish colonial fortress of Los Adaes in modern-day Louisiana, were intended to protect women an...

Unlocked after a year for patrons only: An elaborately carved oak chest of unknown origin, but marked with the initials of a young unmarried lady, exemplifies the first regional artistic style ever to arise in the American colonies -- the "Hadley Chests" of the Connecticut River valley. Suggested reading: Clair Franklin Luther, "The Hadley Chest." For non-patrons, to hear all installments in this...