Axelbank Reports History and Today
Episodes
212 episodes
#211: Caroline Hallemann - "The Kennedys & The Windsors: The Story of Two Dynasties, One Born, One Made"
From the publisher: "For nearly a century, two families an ocean apart have captured the world’s collective imagination: the British Windsors and the American Kennedys. Much ink has been spilled on their individual trysts, tragedies...
#210: Julian Zelizer - "The Presidency of Joseph R. Biden: A First Historical Assessment"
From the publisher:The Presidency of Joseph R. Biden presents a first draft of history by providing insights into how this one-term president fits within the broader historical forces shaping the United States in the twenty-firs...
#209: David O'Stewart - "The Democracy We Must Keep: Seven Founders, Nine Documents, and the Ideas That Shaped America"
From the publisher: "What did America's founders say about democracy-and can we remain true to their vision for America?Two hundred fifty years ago, passionate men attempted to create something the world had never seen before: a nation b...
#208: Brian Jay Jones - "The Capitol: The Surprising Biography of an American Building"
From the publisher: "An in-depth exploration of history of the US Capitol building and the incredible personalities who built it, full of dramatic stories and surprising facts; a powerful testament to what the Capitol has meant to g...
#207: SPECIAL EDITION: America at 250 with Peter Onuf - "Thomas Jefferson Survives: American Independence in His Time and Ours"
From the publisher:“Does Thomas Jefferson still matter?” ask two leading historians on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.Thomas Jefferson has been reinvented more than perhaps any American president in h...
#206: J.D. Dickey - "Boston, 1776: A Rogue Tour of Revolution City"
From the publisher: "A traveler’s journey to the heart of the American Revolution, close up at the ground level, among the patriots, amid the pandemonium, on July 4, 1776.Welcome to Revolution City—where the air smells of tar, boo...
#205: Maya Kornberg - "Stuck: How Money, Media, and Violence Prevent Change in Congress"
From the publisher:"Why fifty years of changemaking and reform haven't fixed Congress—and what that reveals about American democracy.Congress, the central democratic institution in the United States, is hanging on by a thread. On...
#204: Hampton Sides - "The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook"
From the publisher: "On July 12th, 1776, Captain James Cook, already lionized as the greatest explorer in British history, set off on his third voyage in his ship the HMS Resolution. Two-and-a-half years later, on a beach on the island...
#203: Cathryn Prince - "For the Love of Labor: The Life of Pauline Newman"
From the publisher: "From her start as one of the youngest activists in US history, Pauline Newman helped shape the International Ladies' Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) into a dominant force in industrial America. Cathryn J. Prince tells the st...
#202: Stephen Knott - "Conspirator in Chief: The Long Tradition of Conspiracy Theories in the American Presidency"
From the publisher:"Esteemed presidential historian Stephen F. Knott takes readers on a sobering tour of the lowlights in the American presidency, showing how presidents from Thomas Jefferson to Donald Trump have engaged in reckless c...
#201: Amy Littlefield - "Killers of Roe: My Investigation Into the Mysterious Death of Abortion Rights"
From the publisher: "They are going to kill people, investigative reporter for The Nation Amy Littlefield knew, when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. After a decade covering abortion, she wanted to more deepl...
#200: 200th episode celebration with Kate Carpenter of "Drafting the Past"
We are celebrating our 200th episode with Kate Carpenter, the host of the podcast, "Drafting the Past," which focuses on the art of writing history. Make sure you check out her show!On this celebration episode, we chat about how our podc...
#199: Megan Kate Nelson - "The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier"
From the publisher: "From award-winning historian Megan Kate Nelson, an epic account of the creation of the American West in the 19th century, shattering the traditional frontier myth that has dominated popular American culture.<...
#198: Andrew Porwancher - "American Maccabee - Theodore Roosevelt and the Jews"
From the publisher: "A scion of the Protestant elite, Theodore Roosevelt was an unlikely ally of the waves of impoverished Jewish newcomers who crowded the docks at Ellis Island. Yet from his earliest years he forged ties with Jews never before...
#197: Gloria Browne-Marshall - "A Protest History of the United States"
From the publisher: "Exploring 500 years of protest and resistance in US history—and what the unsung heroes of social movements past can teach us about navigating our chaotic worldIn this timely new book in Beacon’s successful
#196: Heather Ann Thompson - "Fear and Fury: The Reagan Eighties, the Bernie Goetz Shootings, and the Rebirth of White Rage"
From the publisher: "In this masterful, groundbreaking work, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Heather Ann Thompson shines surprising new light on an infamous 1984 New York subway shooting that would unveil simmering racial resentments ...
#195: Andrew Burstein - "Being Thomas Jefferson: "An Intimate History"
From the publisher: "The deepest dive yet into the heart and soul, secret affairs, unexplored alliances, and bitter feuds of a generally worshipped, intermittently reviled American icon.Perhaps no founding father is a...
#194: Richard Bell - "The American Revolution and the Fate of the World"
It's almost the 250th anniversary of America's founding. Not only did the Revolution define the fate of the continent, Dr. Richard Bell argues it was a harbinger for the rest of the world. On this episode, we explore how he discovered that, and...
#193: Vaughn Joy - "Selling Out Santa: Hollywood Christmas Films in the Age of McCarthy"
From the publisher: Christmas is not just a day or a frame of mind as Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) imparts in Miracle on 34th Street (1947); Christmas is also a vehicle for national mythmaking as an idealising mirror for American cultur...
#192: Charles Ferguson - "Presidential Seclusion: The Power of Camp David"
From the publisher: "The Presidential Retreat Camp David is shrouded in mystery, and rightfully so. The hidden retreat atop the Catoctin Mountains is the one place the President, First Family, and invited guests can gather in absolu...
#191: Matthew Davis - "A Biography of a Mountain: The Making and Meaning of Mt. Rushmore"
From the publisher:"A comprehensive narrative history of Mt. Rushmore, written in light of recent political controversies, and a timely retrospective for the monument's 100th anniversary in 2025“Well, most people want ...
#190: David Baron - "The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America"
From the publisher:“There Is Life on the Planet Mars” ―New York Times, December 9, 1906This New York Times headline was no joke. In the early 1900s, many Americans actually believed ...
#189: Joseph J. Ellis - "The Great Contradiction: The Tragic Side of the American Founding"
From the publisher:An astounding look at how America’s founders—Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, Adams—regarded the issue of slavery as they drafted the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. A daring and important wo...
#188: Julia Azari - "Backlash Presidents: From Transformative to Reactionary Leaders in American History"
From the publisher: "When Barack Obama won the White House in 2008, becoming the nation’s first Black president, the stage was set for Donald Trump’s eventual rise to power. Backlash Presidents shows how, throughout American history, a...
#187: Howard Husock - "The Projects: A New History of Public Housing"
From the publisher: As the US struggles to provide affordable housing, millions of Americans live in deteriorating public housing projects, enduring the mistakes of past housing policy. In The Projects, Howard A. Husock explains how we...