The Whiskey Rebellion

With the COVID-19 virus causing panic around the world, Frank and David talk about the history of disease and public health, including:

• The Revolutionary Era smallpox epidemic
• Typhoid Mary
• 1918 Flu Pandemic
• AIDS crisis

Last Drops

Frank: Hilary Mantel's The Mirror and the Light and Richard Ben Cramer's What It Takes

David: Ben Park's The Kingdom of Nauvoo

 

 

George Washington seems to be having something of a renaissance, with historians reinterpreting his life and legacy. 

Frank and David discuss:

• A George Washington letter at the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Research Collections
• Alexis Coe's new biography, You Never Forget Your First
• The History Channel's miniseries, Washington

Last Drops

Frank: David Laing Collection at CRC

David: Mount Vernon removes Washington Teeth Magnet from gift shop

 

After Iowa and New Hampshire, Bernie Sanders, a self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist, is currently the front runner for the Democratic nomination. Frank and David look at the history of Socialism in the United States, paying particular attention to when and how Socialists have run for office.

Last Drops

Frank: Alexis Coe's You Never Forget Your First

David: Megan Kate Nelson's The Three Cornered War  and Adam Domby's The False Cause

Frank hijacks the show's intro, congratulating David for having Raising the White Flag named as a finalist for the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize.

This week featured three major news events: the Democratic Iowa Caucus, the State of the Union, and the end of the Trump impeachment trial. Frank and David discuss what this all means and try to put it in historical perspective.

Last Drops

Frank: BBC's Americast

David: votefromabroad.org

In the aftermath of Kobe Bryant's death in a helicopter crash earlier this week, Frank and David reflect on how Americans mourn the death of celebrities, including:

• the rise of celebrity death culture in the 1950s and 1960s with the deaths of James Dean, Buddy Holly, and Marilyn Monroe
• precursors including Rudolf Valentino, Gen. Tom Thumb, and George Whitefield

Last Drops 

Frank: Historical Marker Database

David: Star Trek Picard

As President Donald Trump's impeachment trial proceeds in the Senate, Frank and David look at the actors who defined the two previous trials: the Chief Justice, the House Managers, the defense team, and the senators. 

Last Drops

Frank: National Archives photo controversy

David: end of Lee-Jackson Day in VA

In their first show of 2020, Frank and David reflect on the past 20 years. They hypothesize what big themes from these two decades future historians will highlight in textbooks and undergrad lectures. 

Last Drops

Frank: Critiques of the 1619 Project

David: NYT article on US history textbooks

This week, Frank and David talk with their University of Edinburgh colleague Dr. Megan Hunt, who teaches about the Civil Rights Movement. They discuss how she got interested in American history, how the Civil Rights Movement has been depicted in film, and how British students make sense of the Civil War Rights Movement.

Last Drops

Megan: 75th Anniversary of Korematsu decision

David: mass grave from Tulsa Massacre

Frank: Rise of Skywalker

After a brief postmortem on the British General Election, Frank and David discuss the Articles of Impeachment currently under consideration by the House Judiciary Committee and compare them to those from previous impeachments. 

Last Drops

Frank: Global 1776 

David: Heather Cox Richardson's Letter from an American

With the UCU on strike, Frank and David talk about casualisation in higher ed and how precariousness became an increasingly serious issue over the past decade. They situate the labor struggles in education within broader changes in the economy: the rise of the gig economy.

Last Drops

David: Knives Out

Frank: The Irishman