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PODCAST

The Road to Now

RTN Productions

Bob Crawford (The Avett Brothers) & Dr. Ben Sawyer (MTSU History) share conversations with great thinkers from a variety of backgrounds – historians, artists, legal scholars, political figures and more –who help us uncover the many roads that run between past and present. For more information, visit TheRoadToNow.com If you"d like to support our work, join us on Patreon: Patreon.com/TheRoadToNow

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All Episodes

01:23:13

#234 Primary Problems w/ Brian Rosenwald

The Road to Now ·

2022/05/19

Brian Rosenwald joins Bob and Ben to talk about the state of American political media, its impact on the divide between Democrats & Republicans, and how the party primary election process in most states exacerbates the problem. Brian also discusses his book Talk Radio’s America: How an Industry Took over a Political Party that Took Over the United States, (Harvard University Press, 2019) and how his conclusions are holding up three years after publication. Dr. Brian Rosenwald is scholar in Residence

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45:25

The Origins of American Immigration Policy w/...

The Road to Now ·

2022/05/16

Hidetaka Hirota joins Bob and Ben for a conversation about the history of immigration law in the United States and the ways that government officials have decided who could and could not enter the United States. Hidetaka discusses the creation of Federal immigration law and the ways that looking at state immigration policies in the early to mid-19th century can help us understand the Immigration and Chinese Exclusion Acts of 1882. Dr. Hidetaka Hirota is Associate Professor of History at the

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50:17

#233 The 6th Anniversary Show w/ Matt Negrin

The Road to Now ·

2022/05/09

The Road to Now just celebrated its 6 year anniversary, so we invited our old friend (and all-time record holder for most RTN appearances) Matt Negrin to join us for a conversation about what's happening in the world and how to deal with it. Along the way, our Associate Producer, Gary Fletcher drops in for an update, and our friend (and long-time Patron) Fig White gets surprisingly brought into the conversation as well. Click here to watch the video of this episode on YouTube. Like a lot of

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29:19

#232 Attention

The Road to Now ·

2022/05/02

Bob and Ben catch up to talk about Jonathan Haidt’s recent article in the May issue of The Atlantic, “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid,” and their take on the problems of social media and the solutions posed by Haidt and others. This episode was edited by Ben Sawyer

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47:49

#231 Freedom of Speech w/ Lynn Greenky

The Road to Now ·

2022/04/25

The first amendment right to the freedom of speech is a cornerstone of American liberty, but this broad principle becomes a bit narrower when put into practice. Why, for example, is burning an American flag in protest protected by the first amendment but burning your draft card is not? Lynn Greenky, whose new book When Freedom Speaks: The Boundaries and Boundlessness of our First Amendment Rights joins Ben and Bob to answer these questions and others in a master session on the freedom of speech

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50:33

The Armenian Genocide w/ Ron Suny

The Road to Now ·

2022/04/18

Ron Suny joins Ben for a conversation about the Armenian Genocide. Ron, one of the world’s foremost experts on the history of the Armenian genocide, explains why the Ottoman government tunred on its Armenian subjects during World War I and the methods it used to carry out this atrocity. He also explains why, in spite of the evidence, recognizing this as genocide remains a political hotspot both internationally and within modern Turkey, and why it is important to remember tragedies even when doing so

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47:44

#230 1984: The Year the Music Changed Forever w/...

The Road to Now ·

2022/04/11

In this episode, music writer Michaelangelo Matos joins Bob and Ben to break down why he thinks 1984 was a crucial year for the music industry. Michaelangelo also shares why he loves books about a single year. Check out Michaelangelo Matos' book Can't Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop's Blockbuster Year here.

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58:33

#229 Benjamin Franklin w/ Dayton Duncan and David...

The Road to Now ·

2022/04/04

It’s difficult to fathom how Benjamin Franklin accomplished so much in a single lifetime. It’s equally difficult to imagine how to take such an incredible life and consolidate it into four hours of documentary film. In this episode, we cover both feats with writer Dayton Duncan and producer David Schmidt, two of the great minds behind Ken Burns’ new documentary on Benjamin Franklin. Dayton and David discuss Franklin’s life, the work that goes into creating a historical documentary film, and their

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48:17

The Russian Revolution w/ Lewis Siegelbaum

The Road to Now ·

2022/03/28

The Russian Revolution that began with the fall of Tsar Nicholas II in February of 1917 and continued into a second revolution the following October, is unquestionably one of the most significant events in modern history. The October Revolution brought Vladimir Lenin and the Bolshevik Party from relative obscurity to the leaders of the first communist nation, later called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), and the economic and ideological system espoused by Soviet leaders transformed

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01:01:43

#228 Concerts of Change: The Soundtrack of Human Rights

The Road to Now ·

2022/03/21

For the past year, Bob has been working on an audio docu-series that traces musicians’ activism for human rights through benefit concerts from the 1970s to the 1990s. That series, Concerts of Change: The Soundtrack of Human Rights, airs Tuesday, March 22 on Siriux/XM’s Volume Channel (106), so in this episode, Bob and Ben mark the occasion by discussion Bob’s work on the series, how studying and speaking with musicians who inspired him helped Bob reflect upon his own role as a musician, and what he

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39:55

#227 Russia’s Long History of Nationalizing Foreign...

The Road to Now ·

2022/03/14

The Russian government recently made moves to nationalize the property of foreign owned firms that ceased operation in response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Ben’s research is all about the history of foreign investment in Russia/the Soviet Union, so he and Bob sit down for a discussion about the very severe consequences that nationalization has had for Russia in the past and how this decision may do damage that far outlast sanctions. For more on Singer Sewing Machines in Russia, check out Ben's

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01:05:58

#226 Russian Rubles, Western Sanctions w/ Kristy...

The Road to Now ·

2022/03/07

Vladimir Putin’s decision to launch a brutal invasion of Ukraine has sparked a coordinated wave of sanctions from the US and members of the European Union. This may be the most comprehensive set of sanctions that Moscow has seen, but it is certainly not the first. In this episode, Bob & Ben speak with Kristy Ironside, who specializes in the history of the Russian & Soviet economy, for a conversation about the long history of western sanctions against Russia, the Ruble’s tenuous position in the

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41:48

#225 Inside American Militias w/ Heath Druzin

The Road to Now ·

2022/02/28

Journalist Heath Druzin’s new podcast Extremely American examines the American militia movement through first-hand interviews with militia members and their opponents. In this episode, Heath joins Bob and Ben for a discussion about what he learned while spending time with individuals in the movement, how the militia movement has changed in the last few years, and the way that these groups draw on historical events to shape their worldview. Heath Druzin is a journalist who covers the intersection of

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01:07:54

#224 The Electoral College w/ Edward Foley

The Road to Now ·

2022/02/21

The Constitution empowers the electoral college to select the President, but the process for counting electors’ votes remains in the hands of Congress. In this episode, Constitutional Law Professor Edward Foley explains the origins of the electoral college, how and why the 12th Amendment changed the process for electing Presidents, and the concerns that led Congress to codify the procedure for counting electors’ votes in 1887. Edward also offers some specific ways that updating the Electoral Count

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55:04

#223 Presidential Records & Other Controversies

The Road to Now ·

2022/02/14

Bob & Ben catch up to talk about the Presidential Records Act and how Trump's violations of the act stack up to other Presidents' handling of their records. They also discuss Neil Young and other artists' decision to pull their music from Spotify as a response to Joe Rogan's prominent position on the platform, as well as recent evidence that the 1776 report still matters. This episode was edited by Ben Sawyer. For more on The Road to Now: https://linktr.ee/RoadToNow

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53:28

#222 Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? w/...

The Road to Now ·

2022/02/07

Bob speaks with Messiah College’s John Fea about Christianity in Early America and the ways that the founders viewed the relationship between faith and politics. Fea outlines the “5 Cs” of history, the importance of approaching history with an open mind, and explains why he thinks the title of his book Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? may not be the question in approaching Christianity’s role in the establishment of the United States. John Fea is Professor of American History and Chair of

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01:13:01

#221 Ukraine w/ Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon

The Road to Now ·

2022/01/31

Ukraine has gotten a lot of intermittent attention in the US over the last few years, but the stories we hear are usually about the US and Russia. To counter that tendency, we offer you a story about Ukraine that is actually about Ukraine. In this episode, historian Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon joins Ben to talk about the key historical events that have shaped Ukraine and its place in the world today. Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon holds a MA in Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies from

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33:49

Crossroads Special: History Daily - Two Stories from...

The Road to Now ·

2022/01/29

Today we’ve got a little something special for you- something we’re calling “Crossroads.” From time to time, on weekends, Bob and I will be sharing episodes of podcasts that we think our audience might enjoy, and our first ever featured podcast is History Daily. History Daily is hosted by our friend and podcaster extraordinaire, Lindsay Graham. You might know Lindsay from some of the biggest podcasts in the country, including American Scandal and American History Tellers. Lindsay’s newest endeavor,

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45:12

#220 Processing the Past w/ Jon Grinspan

The Road to Now ·

2022/01/24

Jon Grinspan is a curator of political history at the Smithsonian Museum of American History and a frequent contributor to The New York Times. In this episode, Jon explains how his work with historical objects has informed his understanding of the past, the reasons he thinks that American politics in recent years is less of an aberration than many of us would like to believe, and his thoughts on the many ways Americans might look back on the January 6th insurrection in the future. Jon also shares

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45:14

#219 Swept Away w/ John Logan and John Gallagher

The Road to Now ·

2022/01/17

On January 9, the new musical Swept Away, which is based on the music of Bob’s band The Avett Brothers, premiered at the Berkeley Repertory Theater. In this episode, the musical’s writer, John Logan (Any Given Sunday, Skyfall, Red) and lead actor, John Gallagher Jr. (American Idiot, The Newsroom) join Bob and Ben for a discussion about how the music became a musical, their sources of creativity, and why they decided to make such a deep investment in developing and performing Swept Away. Swept Away

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437 results

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