History Against the Grain

Josh and Chris once again devote the episode to the history unfolding all around us, and why moral clarity and truth are better agents for justice than mere objectivity. The guys also discuss why racism is now at a moment of historical reckoning. Taking on the ‘original sin’ of slavery in world history, Josh considers how racism became the illegitimate offspring of emergent global capitalism in th...

This episode is dedicated to George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and the many others murdered by those who were supposed to protect them. Killer Mike opens the episode with a poignant bolt of truth, while Josh and Chris take a knee in honor of those confronting injustice through mass protest, and turn to history as a means of making sense of the now. As our special guest this week, history professor Ric...

It's HAG's Aluminum anniversary episode and tis the season for revision! For Episode 10 Chris and Josh dig into their own back stories by discussing how seminal moments in their lives and teaching had them seeing history from new perspectives. Speaking of new perspectives, Chris offers some fresh picked and refreshing history reads to get you through a social distanced summer, and Josh tackles the...

After rapping out all the HAG news that’s fit to print, Chris and Josh dive into the recently aired ESPN doc “The Last Dance” and suggest that Michael Jordan’s story fits the traditional hero’s journey. Like Jordan, the heroes of history are often complex and multi-dimensional figures, except when it comes to certain officially approved national heroes, who by comparison seem one-dimensional and s...

On Episode 8 of History Against the Grain, Chris and Josh explore what’s live and what’s lazy in today’s New York Times. The latter we consider in another segment of Beefin' with Meacham™ and for the live and living history we discuss Nikole Hannah-Jones and her amazing 1619 Project. Chris interviews two public school educators, Elise Robison and Kyle Fitzpatrick, from Cupertino High School about...

Heads up Vanuatu, History Against the Grain is on its way! Chris and Josh play a very special game of Love/Love, Chris discusses the massive impact of intellectual historian Hayden White on how we think about and engage with the past, and Josh interviews Lingnan University's Vincent Leung about his remarkable and extremely relevant book, The Politics of the Past in Early China.

It's on! The History Against the Grain boys are officially Beefin' with Meacham™, Josh talks about the limitations and dangers of comparative history, and Chris provides a different answer to the question "Who Freed the Slaves?" [Spoiler alert: Enslaved people freed themselves]

Chris and Josh step aside a bit to give space to two guests: Carnegie Mellon professor Benno Weiner discusses nationalism, identity, and his forthcoming book The Chinese Revolution on the Chinese Frontier while Adam Hatch comes to us from Taiwan to talk about the relationship between Taiwan and China, Taiwan's history as a crossroads of East Asia, and the weirdness and wonder of Taipei's night mar...

Chris and Josh reveal the new History Against the Grain website, play a game of Love & Hate, Chris riffs on his favorite target of American exceptionalism by reconsidering the mythic “West” of popular imagination laid bare by the Industrial Revolution, and Josh cuts through European exceptionalism and revolution in an epic drum solo played on the stage of world history. Contact us at: Historya...

Chris and Josh discuss why History Against the Grain is set to dominate your podcast feed, play a game of Love/Hate with an extra dose of hate, and Chris rips the borders off of U.S. History like a band-aid.   Contact us at: Historyagainstthegrain@gmail.com  Website: Historyagainstthegrain.com Sources cited in show: Michael McDonnell, Masters of Empire: Great Lakes Indians and the M...

Chris and Josh introduce themselves, play a game of Love and Hate, and Chris explains why the usefulness of the U.S. History survey has come to an end. Contact us: Historyagainstthegrain@gmail.com Website: Historyagainstthegrain.com Program notes: To follow up on some of the key sources cited in the episode, check out... 1. Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens (https://books.google.com/books/about/Sapiens.h...