The History of the Americans Podcast

02/11/2025

I have a new Substack post up.

The title is "A Short History of the Decline of Civics," and it describes a paradox inherent in the teaching of civics in a secular democracy. Please engage in the comments, and pass it around if you find it useful.

The paradox of teaching civics in a democracy

25/10/2025

In the spirit of the day (the Iowa-Minnesota game), I wrote a piece on Floyd of Rosedale, the remarkable history of the trophy the two teams play to win.

A story of reconciliation

24/10/2025

There's a new episode up, "Bacon’s Rebellion 5: Bacon’s Lousy Luck." It has some very amusing moments. I mean, if you weren't actually there. Then it was lousy.

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Last episode ended with Sir William Berkeley, on the deck of a ship in the James, watching Jamestown burn to the ground in the wee hours of September 19, 1676. The rebels under Nathaniel Bacon were ascendant, and Berkeley resolved to return to his refuge on the Eastern Shore and…

17/10/2025

There's a new episode up, "Bacon's Rebellion 4: The Burning of Jamestown." Sir William Berkeley masterminds an audacious counterattack and appears on the brink of victory, but Nathaniel Bacon grabs the initiative yet again. Links below!

Please like and share and stuff!

Virginia Governor Sir William Berkeley has fled to the Eastern Shore with a small group of loyalist planters and a detachment of perhaps only fifty armed men. Nathaniel Bacon has occupied Berkeley's estate near Jamestown, and dispatched men to capture loyalist ships anchored there. Bacon's "navy" ha...

11/10/2025

Thoughts on gaming the Nobel Peace Prize.

Trying to think like the Selection Committee

06/10/2025

Thoughts on why it is bad to use history for domestic political purposes.

What I saw at the 2024 AHA

06/10/2025

There's a new episode up, "Bacon’s Rebellion 3: Go Ahead, Shoot!" This episode describes the dramatic session of the Virginia Assembly of June 1676, which began with Nat Bacon’s arrest and ended with he and his army holding the Assembly at gunpoint.

Nathaniel Bacon and his army of volunteers have returned from beating up on the friendly Occaneechees (Occaneechis) on the Roanoke River in southern Virginia. It is election day, and Henrico County will elect Bacon and his sidekick, James Crews, to the Virginia Assembly, which has been called into s...

01/10/2025

Thoughts on who is a historian, and who is not.

And who is not?

30/09/2025

So, I have started a Substack, which (among other things) will be a place for history stuff that doesn't fit into the timeline of the podcast. Since the podcast is ad free, some people have asked how they can support it monetarily, and becoming a paid subscriber on the Substack is a good way to do that. I will try to come up with some Paid Subscriber-only content, but the main benefit will be knowing you are helping me defray some of the several grand a year it takes to keep the show going!😇

25/09/2025

There's a new episode up, "Bacon’s Rebellion 2: The Susquehannocks Strike Back." Folks, I'm not gonna lie. It gets ugly. And we learn a lot about Sir William Berkeley, even today Virginia's longest-serving governor!

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The Susquehannocks, having successfully escaped from their beseiged fort on Piscataway Creek in Maryland, fled through the Virginia Piedmont to set up winter quarters on the James and Roanoke Rivers. In January 1676, they launched a measured counterattack. The settlers on the frontier panicked and e...