The History Respawned Podcast

Bob and John get together to talk about the syllabus for Bob's new class at Louisiana Tech. We chat about the readings for the class and Bob's thinking going into what kind of writing to choose, and the different kinds of assignments and student activities made possible by a class like this. You can find Bob's syllabus at http://www.historyrespawned.com/?p=267. We also mention Rachel Ponce's excel...

This week we are sharing the audio from a video episode recorded in July 2015, where John discusses Tropico 5 with our guest Dr. Renata Keller of Boston University. Topics include the history of US-Cuba relations, racial dynamics in the Caribbean, and the tricky process of trying to use humor to relate tragic histories. Music is Symphony 40 in G minor by texasradiofish (c) 2015 Licensed under a Cr...

Bob and John sit down to discuss the upcoming schedule this autumn for History Respawned. We’re going to be taking on a lot of new releases in the next few months, with Mafia 3, Battlefield 1 and Civilization VI just offering more proof there is plenty of interest out there in historical video games. We also talk about what we have been playing recently and how we’ve been thinking about these game...

Bob and guest historian Matthew Gabriele discuss the medieval inspired RPGs Dragon Age Inquisition and The Witcher 3. Topics include popular medievalism, violence, race, religion and dragons. This episode is a rebroadcast of an interview posted on YouTube on August 26 2015. Music is Symphony 40 in G minor by texasradiofish (c) 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0)l...

Bob talks with Christopher Dietrich and Joseph Parrot about Call of Duty Black Ops 1 and 2. Topics include the history of the CIA, the global Cold War, the Angolan Civil War, Jonas Savimbi, Manuel Noriega, historical representation, Black Ops lawsuits, and the fictionalization of secret operations. Music is Symphony 40 in G minor by texasradiofish (c) 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribu...

Bob and guest historian Jonathan Hunt discuss Fallout 4’s depiction of nuclear war and the game’s warped version of 1950s American culture. *Minor spoilers at 14:50 and 27:24 This episode is a rebroadcast of an interview posted on YouTube on December 23, 2015. Music is Symphony 40 in G minor by texasradiofish (c) 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0)license.dig.ccm...

Bob and historian Christopher Heaney discuss Uncharted 4. Topics include archeology versus grave robbing, the real Nathan Drake/Indiana Jones, the meaning of treasure, and traps in tombs. This is an extended version of the YouTube episode, and features an expanded discussion of Hiram Bingham and piracy as well as talk of black markets for antiquities. Music is Symphony 40 in G minor by texasradiof...

Bob and John discuss the recently released trailer for the Assassin's Creed movie, staring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard. In addition to Fassbender puns, this episode includes a brief discussion of Ubisoft's plans for an Assassin's Creed mobile MMORPG for the Chinese gaming market. Music is Symphony 40 in G minor by texasradiofish (c) 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution No...

Bob and John get together this episode to talk about the most recent History Respawned Episode on 1979 Revolution: Black Friday (0:32) and the next episode on Uncharted 4 (12:29). We also look forward a little and chat about EA Dice and Frostbite’s decision to set Battlefield 1 in World War I (23:22) and the changes announced for the next Civilization game (41:45) coming out later this year. Music...

Bob and Dr. Zackery Heern discuss 1979 Revolution Black Friday. Topics include revolutionary ideologies, religion, and America's place in the Iranian Revolution. Music is Symphony 40 in G minor by texasradiofish (c) 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license.dig.ccmixter.org/files/texasr…iofish/49560 Ft: W. A. Mozart, Big Bonobo Combo

John talks to Dr. Christine Baker of Indiana University of Pennsylvania about Crusader Kings 2: Sword of Islam. We talk about the Sunni/Shi’ite divide in the medieval world and the geopolitics that arose from that, interactions between the Islamic World and Europe during this period, and the extent to which Crusader Kings 2 successfully presents historical complexity to the player. Music is Sympho...

John talks to Dr. Andrew Byrd and Dr. Brenna Reinhart Byrd of the University of Kentucky about their work on Far Cry Primal, for which they created two distinct languages: Wenja and Izila. We discuss Proto-Indo-European, complexity in linguistic systems, and the history of linguistics. Music is Symphony 40 in G minor by texasradiofish (c) 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncomme...

Bob and John sit down to discuss what goes into the process of making an episode of History Respawned, the kind of interests that motivate the series, and a little bit of what we've been playing. Music is Symphony 40 in G minor by texasradiofish (c) 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/texasradiofish/49560 Ft: W. A. Mozart, B...

Bob and guest John Moran Gonzalez discuss Red Dead Redemption. Topics include The West in American imagination, violence in the west, the southwest borderlands, the Mexican Revolution, and the Refusing to Forget project. Music is Symphony 40 in G minor by texasradiofish (c) 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/texasradiofish/...