Podcast Categories: History

The 1918 Spanish Flu killed more Americans during World War I than mustard gas or trench warfare, but there are no monuments or memorials dedicated to the victims of this pandemic. Lost Prologue, a four-part series, explores the history of the 1918 pandemic — its intimate connection to WW1, the ways Americans were inequitably impacted, and the science behind the world’s deadliest pathogen. The people you’ll hear from include prominent virologists, scientists, and historians who reconstruct this missing chapter of history and shed light on the current pandemic.

The story of World War One has been told from every point of view, from every angle, by countless historians, amateurs, authors, and soldiers, a thousand times over and a bit more than that. Brilliant scholars, popular podcasters, and authors ranging from Keegan to Hemingway have scoured the Great War for truth and answers. For decades they have been shining a light into every trench, wading through every muddy decision and its deadly results, collecting the millions of tales about life during the Great War. With each passing year, we move further from the events themselves. Time has marched to its eternal drum beat, inexorably erasing the collective memories of the horrors that followed that idyllic 1914 summer.
Our show intends to share the story of the First World War in a way that is unlike any before – from three very important perspectives: bird’s eye, ground level, and perhaps most importantly… human. Each episode will cover an offensive, battle, engagement, skirmish, or dust-up by starting at the strategic level and broadly affixing its story within a proper macrocosmic context. Nicole will cover the key players, war-wide implications, and big-picture narrative as to where each event stands in the timeline of World War One. The second component zooms into the tactical aspect. Mike will tackle a particular aspect of the fighting and deliver details on how the engagement unfolded; this includes specifics on the combatant operations, what weapons were used, and more. Then in the final part of the episode, Cullen will provide a ground-level human account of the event in question. Famous warriors, iconic moments, soldiers’ personal experiences, and the odd or exciting stories warfare generates by the thousands.
To forget the Great War would be to damn the countless thousands that died unknown and unaccounted. It is a great passion and pleasure for Nicole, Mike, and Cullen to “do their bit” and share the lessons and stories of the lives lived, lost, and long past. Though we aim to entertain and educate, we must always honor and never forget.

Thank you for listening!
-Fix Bayonets Crew

The Reckoning traces the history and lasting impact of slavery in America by looking at how the institution unfolded in Kentucky. The state remained in the Union during the Civil War, but many white Kentuckians fought to hang onto slavery and the wealth the enslaved provided. In the years that followed, former Unionists and Confederates banded together to violently deny black citizens a seat at the table. As part of this story, we will meet members of two families, one white and one black, whose lives were intertwined through slavery. These families reflect how slavery touched nearly every person, place and institution in America, and how the country still needs to reconcile this painful past with the the impact slavery has had on the present day health, wealth and safety of African Americans.

Want a deep dive into the history of equity and public schooling in the U.S.? Education policy expert and former elementary school principal Dr. Aaliyah Samuel is your guide through revealing discussions with education experts across the US examining the history of race and education. Topics include impacts of desegregation, school funding, testing, curriculum, and much more. Subscribe for a one-of-a-kind look at the problems and possibilities of education in America. Covering history from the 1950’s through now, Testing America’s Freedom looks at policies put in place to perpetuate inequities based on race as well as discussing urgent solutions needed for schools and students in the wake of COVID19. The first episode features Dr. Samuel’s moving introduction to the topic, including her life-changing meeting with Civil Rights hero Minnijean Brown-Trickey and a look at a devastating artifact of racial prejudice, the Charlottesville Letter. The series concludes with an inspiring conversation with a group of student leaders from two different states.This limited podcast series was produced by NWEA, a leader in education research and pioneer in adaptive assessments. To find out more about our work, visit nwea.org.

Jason Horton revisits a different year along with the strange history and the cultural happenings during that year. Get your weird history fix with Strange Year. 

Journalist Ryan Kern travels across the country searching for the families of fallen Vietnam servicemen whose photographs are missing from the official records, helping to investigate the decades-long questions and mysteries surrounding the deaths of their loved ones more than fifty years ago.

Densho’s new podcast, Campu, tells the story of Japanese American incarceration like you’ve never heard it before. Brother-sister duo Noah and Hana Maruyama weave together the voices of survivors to spin narratives out of the seemingly mundane things that gave shape to the incarceration experience: rocks, fences, food, paper. Follow along as they move far beyond the standard Japanese American incarceration 101 and into more intimate and lesser-known corners of this history.