History Talk

In this episode of History Talk, hosts Jessica Blissit and Brenna Miller interview three experts on American politics— Kimberly Hamlin , Marc Horger , and Paula Baker —in the wake of the 2016 presidential election. Together, they reflect on the nature of political campaigns, the role of race, class, and gender in American politics, and what has caused and what can be done about the growing cultura...

Since the 1970s, the " War on Drugs " has absorbed billions of dollars, fueled armed interventions overseas, imprisoned millions of individuals, and stigmatized inner city communities--all without appearing to have produced a measurable impact on actual drug use. In this episode of History Talk, hosts Patrick Potyondy and Mark Sokolsky interview three experts on the history of drug and alcohol reg...

On this episode of History Talk, host Patrick Potyondy interviews Jefferson Cowie , the James G. Stahlman Chair in the Department of History at Vanderbilt University. Cowie has written extensively on American economic, racial, cultural, and political history, and is the author most recently of The Great Exception: The New Deal and the Limits of American Politics. In this interview, Cowie helps mak...

On this episode of History Talk, guests Johanna Sellman , Gulsah Toronoglu , and Sabra Webber discuss the diverse and dynamic history of women in the Middle East and North Africa. Highlighting the region's great range of historical experiences, they question the idea that women's rights marks a divide between Islamic societies and the "West," explore the history of women's movements, and address t...

As we near the centennial of the 19th Amendment—and with the possibility of America’s first female president on the horizon—History Talk takes a look at women’s role in American politics.  Guests Kimberly Hamlin , Susan Hartmann , and David Steigerwald discuss the impact of women’s suffrage in the twentieth century, the emergence of female political candidates, and the cultural and institutio...

Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the world's fastest-growing and most diverse regions—and also one of the most misunderstood. On this episode of History Talk, scholars Ousman Kobo , Amy Pate , and Amanda Robinson discuss ethnicity, nationality, and religion in contemporary African societies. Putting the emergence of religious extremism in a broader perspective, these experts highlight regional variati...

This month, John Mueller, Andrew Bacevich , and Peter Mansoor discuss the War on Terror (a.k.a. the war formerly known as the War on Terror), the US response to terrorism following 9/11.  In separate interviews, our guests address the origins of the war on terror and how it has developed over time; how the campaign against terror fits into broader historical patterns of US statecraft; and how...

On this episode of History Talk, Patrick and Mark sit down with Donald Hempson ,  Lauren Henry , and Chris Otter to discuss the history of the European Union, an organization that has united Europeans in ways that were almost unthinkable a century ago. Today, the EU faces an unprecedented combination of challenges, including a lingering economic crisis, a massive influx of migrants, and the s...

A highway bridge collapses in Minnesota, lead poisons the water of Flint, Michigan, and Americans are reminded of the fragile state of our basic infrastructure—the roads, pipes, power lines, and waterways that make modern life possible. On this episode of History Talk, panelists Steven Conn , Bernadette Hanlon , and Clay Howard discuss the history of public investment in American infrastructure, h...

Reproduction: it's as essential to life as breathing (more, actually), yet the right to make decisions regarding one’s reproduction is among the most divisive issues of our time. On this episode, Patrick Potyondy and Mark Sokolsky sit down with  Mytheli Sreenivas ,  Allison Norris , and  Molly Farrell  to discuss the past, present, and future of reproductive rights and reproduc...

How and what we eat defines who we are. Food is both everywhere and nowhere, so normal that we rarely consider how radically the production and consumption of food have shaped not only human culture but the environment as well (and how radically the production of food has changed over time). Sample a little food history with historians  Chris Otter ,  Helen Veit , and  Sam White , w...

Delegates from across the globe will soon gather at the Paris Climate Change Conference, set to begin at the end of November. Sponsored by the  United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change , conference representatives will endeavor—not for the first time—to find ways to "stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interferenc...

Over the past months, the news media has presented dramatic scenes of desperate people trying to reach Europe by embarking on flimsy boats in Turkey and Greece, crossing barbed wire fences in Bulgaria and Hungary, catching rides in overcrowded trains in Macedonia, and sleeping in public squares in Serbia and elsewhere. But many more refugees find themselves in Middle Eastern countries like Jordan,...

A New York Times editorial has declared it “ A New Chapter for America and India .” India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made a point to reach out to the United States and will visit America for a second time at the end of September 2015. Does Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, or “BJP,” also spell a new chapter for the world’s most populous democracy? What role does religion pla...

In a recent, much publicized lecture — “It Takes a Historian to Understand the Middle East…Doesn’t It?” —  Jane Hathaway  of Ohio State's History Department offered a challenge to pundits and policymakers who seem unable to offer sound strategies for the Mideast. In this episode, hosts Leticia Wiggins and Patrick Potyondy ask three historians —  Ayse Baltacioglu-Brammer, Patrick Sch...

Money and politics. While some think these two should be like oil and water, the simple fact is they’re not. And in the wake of the 2012Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court, Americans have worried over whether money really should equal free speech. Join hosts Leticia Wiggins and Patrick Potyondy as they ask guests Paula Baker , Marc Horger , and Steven Conn about the influence of dollars on...

Violence against women has a long history in human communities. Yet, we live in a time when people across the planet are beginning to give greater attention to this problem and, at times, to stand against misogynistic violence in all its forms. Recently, the United Nations created the "He for She" campaign, which highlights that violence against women remains a global problem that exists at "alarm...

April 24, 2015 marks the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Beginning in 1915 in the midst of the strains of World War I, Ottoman officials oversaw the deportation and massacre of anywhere between several hundred thousand and 1.5 million Armenian people. The result was the physical annihilation of the Armenian communities that had lived in the Anatolian peninsula for...

NATO “officially” ended its combat operations in Afghanistan in late December 2014, but the country remains fractured by ethnic and geographical fissures, with local warlords controlling their own fiefdoms and the government in Kabul only nominally in control. And the Taliban — that American forces went in to banish in 2001— remains a force to be reckoned with. On today's History Talk, hosts Patri...

How we understand policing in the United States depends not only on what issues we focus on but also how far back we look. In this episode of History Talk, hosts Leticia Wiggins and Patrick Potyondy sit down with the historians Marcus Nevius , Lilia Fernández , and Clay Howard to take a longer and broader view of the matter. They discuss how modern policing problems are connected to a range of his...

This month History Talk hosts  Patrick Potyondy  and  Leticia Wiggins  explore the political climate of a nation that's remained on distant diplomatic terms with the United States though it's only 90 miles away from the U.S.'s southernmost point. But U.S. - Cuba relations could be in for a dramatic change since President Obama's mid-December announcement . Join in the conv...

Join hosts Patrick Potyondy and Leticia Wiggins and their guests, historians David Brakke , Tina Sessa , and Daniel Watkins as they discuss Pope Francis—the “people’s pope”—and how his actions fit into the Church's traditions and its commitment to social justice. Listen and explore hundreds of years of history of a group with over a billion adherents! Posted: December 2014 Connect with us! Email:...

Join hosts Leticia Wiggins and Patrick Potyondy in a conversation with historians—and award-winning teachers— Kevin Boyle , Stephanie Shaw , and Hasan Kwame Jeffries about the importance and difficulties of teaching race and civil rights in the classroom. “Learning about the Civil Rights Movement,” Boyle declares, “really explores the tension between America’s promise and the reality of the United...

Join hosts Leticia Wiggins and Patrick Potyondy for part one of a two-segment History Talk on race in America. In “Putting Race on Display,” they interview Ohio State historians Stephanie Shaw and Hassan Jeffries about their work renovating the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis . “It really is a place,” says Jeffries, “for living history.” Posted: November 2014 Connect with us! Email: Origin...

Twenty-five years ago this autumn, the world watched in amazement as events in Eastern Europe transformed the planet. Socialist states that had looked a permanent fixture on the map of Europe disintegrated, often with little resistance. And the Berlin Wall—that most iconic symbol of the Cold War—came tumbling down in November. The sense of possibility and astonishment were palpable: the world coul...