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PODCAST

Now & Then

How can the past help inform today’s most pressing challenges? Every Wednesday, award-winning historians Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman use their encyclopedic knowledge of US history to bring the past to life. Together, they make sense of the week in news by discussing the people, ideas, and events that got us here today. Now and Then is produced by CAFE and the Vox Media Podcast Network.

history news commentary

All Episodes

53:55

Gastropod: The Milk of Life

Now & Then ·

2022/07/26

Heather and Joanne are off this week, so we’re showcasing an episode from another Vox Media Podcast Network show: “The Milk of Life,” from Gastropod. On Gastropod, hosts Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley explore the history and science behind everyday foods. Past episodes have examined everything from the evolution of the cookie to the surprising impact the coffee bean has had on world history. In this installment, originally aired on June 21st, Cynthia and Nicola use the ongoing baby formula

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50:52

Militia Movements

Now & Then ·

2022/07/19

How have American militias shaped the nation? And why do ‘militia movements’ keep returning to the fore of our national politics? On Now & Then, Heather and Joanne discuss the role of militias in the 1786 Shays’ Rebellion, during the tumultuous Reconstruction years, and in the 1990s ‘Modern Militia Movement.’ Join CAFE Insider to listen to “Backstage,” where Heather and Joanne chat each week about the anecdotes and ideas that formed the episode. Head to: cafe.com/history For more historical

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46:14

Racism and the Second Amendment (with Carol Anderson)

Now & Then ·

2022/07/12

What are the origins of the Second Amendment? And what can America’s painful racial history illuminate about our national relationship to guns? On this special Live Taping of Now & Then, Heather and Joanne talk to Carol Anderson, professor of African American Studies at Emory University and author of The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America. The trio discuss how the recent spate of mass shootings — and Supreme Court decisions striking down gun control measures in liberal-leaning

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46:22

Alcohol in American Politics

Now & Then ·

2022/07/05

Following the news of Rudy Giuliani’s inebriated advice to Donald Trump on election night, Heather and Joanne dive into the historical role of alcohol in American politics. How have the norms around alcohol shifted — and how has that impacted our history? Heather and Joanne cover Franklin Pierce’s alcoholism, Warren Harding’s Prohibition-era hypocrisy, and the 1970s reckonings over alcohol in Congress. Join CAFE Insider to listen to “Backstage,” where Heather and Joanne chat each week about the

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37:15

Processing Roe’s Reversal in Real Time

Now & Then ·

2022/06/25

Heather and Joanne react to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. How did we get here? What does the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs signal for the future of women’s reproductive rights and broader civil rights in America? What kind of unique perspective do women historians bring to understanding this moment? Join CAFE Insider to listen to “Backstage,” where Heather and Joanne chat each week about the anecdotes and ideas that formed the episode. Head to: cafe.com/history For more historical analysis of

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47:46

Encore: Investigating Democracy

Now & Then ·

2022/06/21

On this encore episode of Now & Then, originally aired in June 2021 amid a Republican filibuster of an independent commission investigating January 6th, Heather and Joanne discuss the history of congressional commissions, from the investigation of the 1856 caning of Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, to the 1871 Ku Klux Klan hearings, to 1954 back-and-forth between Senator Joseph McCarthy and the Army. We’ll be back with a new episode next Tuesday! Join CAFE Insider to listen to “Backstage,”

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52:59

Nostalgia & Political Power

Now & Then ·

2022/06/14

What are the political purposes of nostalgia? Why does the GOP idealize the American past? And what can this backward-looking perspective give or take away from our collective future? On Now & Then, Heather and Joanne discuss the role of nostalgia in American political history, from Puritan Jeremiads, to the 1913 Gettysburg and Fort Wagner reunions, to the emergence in the 1970s of a cultural obsession with the 1950s. Join CAFE Insider to listen to “Backstage,” where Heather and Joanne chat each

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49:44

The Mirage of Money (or, NFTs, WTF?)

Now & Then ·

2022/06/07

Why have NFTs captured the American imagination? What can the recent instability in the NFT market tell us about the history of speculative bubbles? Heather and Joanne put the NFT craze in context with other American financial booms & busts, from the Panic of 1792, to the 1890s Yukon Gold Rush, to the late 1990s dot-com bubble. Join CAFE Insider to listen to “Backstage,” where Heather and Joanne chat each week about the anecdotes and ideas that formed the episode. Head to: cafe.com/history For

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56:53

Free Speech: What IS Cancel Culture?

Now & Then ·

2022/05/31

Why are Americans so preoccupied with so-called “cancel culture”? What are the lines between accountability and cancellation? And what drives citizens to stand against objectionable statements? On this final episode in a three-part series on free speech, Heather and Joanne discuss the fall from grace of Loyalist politician Thomas Hutchinson during the Revolutionary period, the suppression of the German language during World War I, and the 2003 controversy over The Chicks’ public condemnation of the

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56:32

Free Speech: The Power of an Independent Press

Now & Then ·

2022/05/24

What have been the gravest threats to a free press over the nation’s history? And how can the past tell us how to safeguard our access to information today? On this second episode in a three-part series on free speech, Heather and Joanne discuss the 1837 murder of abolitionist journalist Elijah P. Lovejoy, the role of Joseph Pulitzer in the creation of the independent press, and the rise and fall of the Fairness Doctrine. Join CAFE Insider to listen to “Backstage,” where Heather and Joanne chat

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49:09

Free Speech: The Government and Us

Now & Then ·

2022/05/17

How has the federal government limited and protected free speech rights over the course of American history? How have citizens responded when Washington has limited their speech rights? And what can Elon Musk’s commentary on online free speech tell us about the difficult lines between free speech, disinformation, and political power? In this first installment of a three-episode series on free speech, censorship, and so-called cancel culture, Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman explore the

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38:40

The Weeds: How the 1918 Flu Pandemic Ended

Now & Then ·

2022/05/10

Heather and Joanne are off this week, so we’re showcasing an episode from another Vox Media Podcast Network show: “How the 1918 Flu Pandemic Ended,” from The Weeds. Hosts Dara Lind and Dylan Matthews often explore the roots of our current political issues, from healthcare, to immigration, to housing. In this installment, originally aired in January, host and Senior Vox Correspondent Dylan Matthews talks with historian John Barry, who wrote an authoritative account of the 1918 flu pandemic, “The

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51:37

A Disability Discourse

Now & Then ·

2022/05/03

How has America historically defined physical disabilities? How have disability rights activists achieved hard-fought wins? And how does the current debate over mask mandates and pandemic restrictions leave out those with disabilities or chronic illness? Heather and Joanne discuss the impact of pensions for disabled war veterans in the Revolutionary and Civil War periods, the interlocking histories of racism, sexism, and ableism, and the impact of the 1970s disability rights movement. Join CAFE

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54:28

American Jews and the American Story

Now & Then ·

2022/04/26

How have Jewish Americans fought for their identities? And how have other American groups used Jews to define themselves? White House celebrations of the recent Passover holiday have sparked conversations over how Jewish identity interacts with broader American self-definitions. Heather and Joanne discuss the early American contention that indigenous Americans were the Lost Tribes of Israel, the controversy over Ulysses S. Grant’s treatment of Jewish Americans during the Civil War, and the U.S

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45:27

Tax Dollars and Tech Dollars: Who Supports Society?

Now & Then ·

2022/04/19

Who should support the needy in American society? The news is filled with controversies over the use and misuse of philanthropy, from Mackenzie Scott’s giving drive, to Elon Musk tax avoidance claims, to GoFundMe campaigns. Heather and Joanne look at historical debates over philanthropy, from colonial community support and “warning out” laws, to Carnegie’s “Gospel of Wealth,” to the relationship between nonprofits and President Johnson’s Great Society. Join CAFE Insider to listen to “Backstage,”

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48:03

Don’t Say Gay: A Queer History

Now & Then ·

2022/04/12

State lawmakers have proposed almost 250 anti-LGBTQ laws in 2022 alone. Why are we seeing such a virulent political backlash to sexual identity? And what can the current vitriol tell us about the entwinement of sexual orientation and politics in American history? Heather and Joanne discuss the history of categorizing sexual preference, from the relative fluidity of early American sexual choices, to the rise of “Boston Marriages” and New York’s gay culture, to the McCarthy-led 1950s Lavender

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44:00

Ketanji Brown Jackson, Criminal Justice, & Public...

Now & Then ·

2022/04/05

Senate Republicans have attacked Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson for her past public defense work. How have defense attorneys elicited criticism and praise through American history? Why is the right to counsel so important to democracy? Heather and Joanne discuss past moments of transition for legal counsel, from John Adams’s representation of British soldiers implicated in the Boston Massacre, to Clarence Darrow’s plea for the lives of Leopold and Loeb, to the impact of the 1963

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46:21

War Crimes & War Codes

Now & Then ·

2022/03/29

The State Department and President Biden have both declared that Russian President Vladimir Putin has committed war crimes in Ukraine. What are the rules of war? What constitutes a war crime? And what consequences might Putin face for the brutality of his invasion? Heather and Joanne look back at the centuries-long quest by world leaders and humanitarians to regulate violence in wartime, from General George Washington’s rules of civility during the Revolutionary War, to Abraham Lincoln’s use of the

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62:04

Statecraft, Secrets, and Lies

Now & Then ·

2022/03/22

What information should a president keep secret? Recently, we’ve seen revelations about former President Trump’s removal of classified materials and a tense exchange about the Biden administration’s handling of intel on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Heather and Joanne connect these current controversies to historical debates about the balance between statecraft and transparency, from President Adams’ disclosure of the XYZ Affair, to President Grant’s ill-fated play to annex San Domingo, to

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45:48

Women Warriors: Ukraine & Beyond

Now & Then ·

2022/03/15

Stories of remarkable heroism by women in Ukraine have captured the imagination of the world over the past few weeks. How have women warriors shaped conversations over gender, violence, and heroism over the course of United States history? Heather and Joanne discuss the Revolutionary War figures Molly Pitcher and Deborah Sampson, Harriet Tubman’s Civil War spying raids, and Ukrainian sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko’s 1942 tour of the U.S. Join CAFE Insider to listen to “Backstage,” where Heather and

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123 results

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