Then Again

Episode Notes To both the Allies fighting in Western Europe and their Axis foe Germany it was the Eastern Front. To our erstwhile ally Soviet Russia, however, it was simply The Front, covering 1,000 miles of battleground in what was to them The Great Patriotic War – a war for survival with the Soviet peoples taking more casualties than any other nation of World War II. Join Ken and Glen as they di...

Episode Notes Ok, sure, giving thanks is relatively straight forward – you’re formally expressing gratitude for something, say like surviving…but what about that “first” part? First in the United States? First in the North American continent? First European in the North American Continent? You will not be surprised that we are delighted to hold forth on these details. Join Ken and Glen as they ser...

Episode Notes “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.” So said John Kennedy at a dinner honoring Noble Prize winners, but the man he was complimenting is an enigma that one line, no matter how clever, can define. Join Ken and Glen as t...

Episode Notes 'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' – In August of 1945 atomic bombs were dropped on the Empire of Japan in an attempt to bring about its surrender before an invasion of its Home Islands by the Allies was necessary. But was the bombing itself necessary? Might Ken and Glen have opinions on the subject? Oh, you know they do. Join them as they discuss the development and d...

Episode Notes Hold onto your hat (or your pipe-weed and elf-cloak) as we go on a deep dive into J. R. R. Tolkien and his works. The mythos and worlds Tolkien created have been celebrated in their own right, have influenced numerous other authors, and inspired some of the most popular fantasy/action films ever produced – but what’s really cool is the essay he wrote on Beowulf that redefined the way...

Episode Notes Hold onto your hat (or your pipe-weed and elf-cloak) as we go on a deep dive into J. R. R. Tolkien and his works. The mythos and worlds Tolkien created have been celebrated in their own right, have influenced numerous other authors, and inspired some of the most popular fantasy/action films ever produced – but what’s really cool is the essay he wrote on Beowulf that redefined the way...

Episode Notes Our Scariest Podcast Yet! – If, that is, you define scary as speculation on urban ascendancy over agrarian society as contributing to the rise of Halloween, and if you define scary as speculation on how the animated TV classic “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!” led to the pumpkin’s dominance over all other gourds/root vegetables at Halloween, and if you define scary as how cult...

Episode Notes Roma in Italia est – and so is this second of a two-parts episode on Rome. In this episode, Ken and Glen continue the discussion on the verisimilitude and accuracy of HBO’s “Rome”, and segue into the history of Rome itself, from just another village on the Italian peninsula to the longest lived super-power the world has ever seen…and you better believe they get Constantinople in ther...

Episode Notes All roads lead to Rome, and all podcasts do too. Ok neither of those things are true, but one of them (the one about roads) was kind of true back in the day - or “reversus in die illo” as the Romans would say. In this first of a two-part episode, Ken and Glen discuss Rome through the lens of the HBO mini-series…you guessed it, “Rome” – specifically how the series got the feel of clas...

Episode Notes Victorian – is it a style of architecture? A trend in fashion? A system of morals? A movement in literature? A period of technology? Or an adjective derived from the actual human Queen Victoria that is so overused, misapplied, cliched, and imprecise as to be useless? Or the opposite of all that – except the Queen Victoria bit, that’s spot on. In this episode, Ken and Glen discuss the...

Episode Notes American Original - Quoting the fictional Michael Scott from TV’s The Office, “Abraham Lincoln once said that if you’re a racist I will attack you with the North.” The line is hilarious – and sadly accurately reflects how the popular imagination views Lincoln and the war for the nation’s preservation and rededication. In this episode, Ken and Glen discuss Lincoln as a leader who drew...

Episode Notes “There’s gold in them thar hills!” “Which whar ones?!” “I ain’t tellin’, Claim Jumper!” “Then I reckon I hafta shoot ya…” “How’s that gonna help ya?” I don’t know, I’m crazy with the Gold Fever!” That’s how it is in the movies, but the reality is quite different. In this episode, Ken and Glen discuss how a Gold Rush plays out for the people involved, the communities that develop arou...

Episode Notes So, you say you want to work in a Museum, Historic Site, History Center, or Historic House? Good Lord, what’s wrong with you?!?! In this episode, Ken and Glen (two people who do know what’s wrong with themselves) discuss the straightforward and/or circuitous ways to enter the history field, as well as some surprising skills that help. Thanks for listening! Questions? Comments? Talk t...

Episode Notes Democracy in America... Good or Bad? Was famous newscaster, and completely fictional character from the animated show The Simpsons, Kent Brockman right when he opined “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - democracy simply doesn’t work!”? No, of course not - he’s fictional! But, what is democracy? How does the voice of the people work and how has it changed over time? They don’...

Episode Notes Vikings? No, Scandinavians! Renowned merchants who had trading networks from the Baltic Sea to Constantinople! Simple farming folk who valued good land and built houses with roofs of turf! And oh, sometimes they’d get together in heavily armed groups and sail across the North Sea and up a river to murder some neighbors and take their wealth...that’s when they were “vikings”. Is that...

Episode Notes The ultimate Frontiersman – Daniel Boone! No – Davey Crockett! Wait, weren’t they the same coonskin hat wearin’, flintlock rifle totin’ guy? Nope, but the same guy, Fess Parker, did play them both on TV – thus confusing a generation. In this episode Ken and Glen head out to the Frontier to discuss what it is and isn’t, and just how accurate pop culture perceptions of The Frontier may...

Episode Notes Monuments and statues, history and heritage – how do they interact? Throw in the words “commemorate”, “honor”, and “our”, then use private funds to put something up on public land and THEN try to answer that question! In this episode, Ken and Glen discuss the very real difference between history and heritage and how the past can be interpreted or distorted in public spaces. Thanks fo...

Episode Notes Pirates? You mean murderers, robbers, extortionists, and kidnappers who prefer to work from a boat? No? Well, too bad – that’s what they are! In this episode, Ken and Glen discuss those people who in the popular imagination are happy-go-lucky, free-spirited, mischievous sailing enthusiasts, but who are in reality rum-soaked, syphilitic criminals. Enjoy! Thanks for listening! Question...

Episode Notes Dark Ages? What Dark Ages!? Did the light go somewhere? No, no it didn’t… In this episode, Ken and Glen discuss how a very misleading term for the Middle Ages came about (hint - it has something to do with Rome!) and why it has rightly fallen out of use...by them, anyway. Thanks for listening! Questions? Comments? Talk to us at thenagaincontact@gmail.com Find out more at http://www.t...

Episode Notes “Retake the Holy Land!” Wait, wait, not so fast – what do you mean “retake”? The answer may surprise you! Actually, the answer will surprise you… In this episode Ken and Glen get medieval (one of their favorite things to do) and discuss the tangled, exciting, confusing, and adventurous (and centuries long!) events known as the Crusades. Thanks for listening! Questions? Comments? Talk...

Episode Notes The metaphoric “Giant Leap” to the moon was giant indeed – about 238,900 miles. Good thing they had plenty of Tang to drink! – Even though Buzz Aldrin did say “Tang sucks.”! In this episode Ken and Glen discuss what didn’t suck about the Apollo 11 mission - namely the start of a new epoch for humanity as our species set foot on another world. Thanks for listening! Questions? Comments...

Episode Notes Smart cars powered by electricity? How about your feet powered by what you had to eat! The need to get from one place to another is something that hasn’t changed since an early human first ran away from a lion to a modern human realizing the remote was across the room. In this episode, Ken and Glen discuss travel’s fundamental importance in daily life – and how whether it’s procuring...

Episode Notes What if the newly minted United States had lost their War for Independence? Well, for one thing George Washington would definitely not be on any currency! It was certainly not a foregone conclusion that there would be an American victory and in the event Britain did pretty well despite losing. In this episode, Ken and Glen get whimsical and muse historic on how differently the course...

Episode Notes General Dwight D. Eisenhower called it “the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months”, and remained the Allied soldiers that “The eyes of the world are upon you”. And indeed they were – the eyes of the Fascist regimes in Germany and Italy, of the Allied Soviet Union, of the Japanese foe in the Pacific, of occupied peoples everywhere. In this episode, Ken and Glen...

Episode Notes HEADLINE: Notre Dame Burns to the Ground! Wait, no it didn’t, it’s made primarily of stone… The Notre Dame du Paris fire of April 2019 served as a reminder that history is not the past, but rather a preservation of the inquiry into the people, objects, and views of the past – and that even an object as seemingly transcendent of history as a cathedral are still in constant conflict wi...