Nostalgia Trap

Latest Episodes:

Nostalgia Trap - Ep 398: In Levittown's Shadow w/ Tim Keogh Nov 07, 2024

Show notes

Tim Keogh is an Associate Professor of History at the Queensborough Community College in New York City. His book In Levittown's Shadow: Poverty in America's Wealthiest Postwar Suburb turns a common American story on its head, giving us a picture of life at the economic bottom of the postwar suburban housing boom. This conversation features challenges to political orthodoxies of the right and left, and gave me a lot to chew on as we reflect on Trump's stunning gains among urban and suburban New Yorkers.

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Nostalgia Trap - Ep 397: Vincent Van Gogh to the Polls w/ Peter Sabatino Oct 18, 2024

Show notes

This week I'm joined by my good friend Peter Sabatino for a conversation all about Vincent Van Gogh's personal and artistic legacy. We both read the book Van Gogh: The Life by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, a gigantic magisterial biography that affected us both in surprising ways. While Van Gogh embodies the archetypal image of the "tortured artist," there's so much more to his story, and Peter and I wanted to share our personal reactions to the aesthetic gift that Van Gogh created for the world in his short, difficult, astounding life.

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News Trap 10.14.24 - Goodbye to Reality Oct 14, 2024

Show notes

Armed militias roam the hurricane ravaged wastelands of North Carolina, no one wants children and it's not because of the economy, Apple's Vision Pro is a massive failure, we're stepping off the ship of rational discourse and entering the wonderland of feelings as facts.

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Nostalgia Trap - Ep 396: What Happened to the American Hitchhiker? w/ Jack Reid Sep 27, 2024

Show notes

Jack Reid is an American historian and the author of Roadside Americans: The Rise and Fall of Hitchhiking in a Changing Nation (UNC Press, 2020). In this conversation, we talk about the specific culture, between the 1930s and 1970s, that produced hitchhiking as a common social experience, when ordinary Americans would travel with strangers they met on the road. What happened to hitchhiking? And what does its disappearance tell us about our lonely historical moment?

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News Trap - Justin on Why Eating Dogs Matters (PREVIEW) Sep 16, 2024

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Nostalgia Trap - Episode 395: Atomic Twang w/ Joseph M. Thompson Aug 30, 2024

Show notes

Joseph M. Thompson is assistant professor of history at Mississippi State University, and the author of Cold War Country: How Nashville's Music Row and the Pentagon Created the Sound of American Patriotism (UNC Press, 2024). Thompson's history tracks the deep connections between country music and the U.S. military, uncovering a concerted effort by government officials and cultural creators to cement country culture and national pride (and of course, anti-communism). Our conversation moves from Slim Pickens to Toby Keith, as we explore how the cultural politics of country continue to shape the 21st century.

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Nostalgia Trap - Ep 394: Brother, Can You Spare a Gun? w/ Andrew C. McKevitt Aug 21, 2024

Show notes

Andrew C. McKevitt is John D. Winters Endowed Professor of History at Louisiana Tech University. His latest book, Gun Country: Gun Capitalism, Culture, and Control in Cold War America, explores how guns came to occupy a curious place between "constitutional right" and "consumer good," as the Cold War provided a cultural, political, and material framework by which guns could become the hottest item of the late 20th century. In this conversation, McKevitt shares some of the highlights of his research and provides historical context for the often simplistic "gun control" debate.

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Nostalgia Trap - Episode 393: That's Me in the Corner w/ Justin Rogers-Cooper Jun 29, 2024

Show notes

R.E.M. is one of the most influential rock bands in American music history, with a legendary arc that took them from college radio punks in the early 80s to critical darlings and arena rockers with multiple smash albums throughout the 90s. But what happened after that? This week Justin shares a thesis about the final phase of R.E.M.'s career, during which the band signed an $80 million contract with Warner Brothers – and it all went downhill from there. As we take a close look at Michael Stipe's creative output and public persona, we recoil at how even our favorite artists can succumb to the poisonous influence of money and fame.

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News Trap 6.14.24 w/ Justin Rogers-Cooper Jun 14, 2024

Show notes

Anti-immigration politics are winning the moment, the market for testosterone replacement therapy is booming, child labor is on the horizon, and United Health EATS PEOPLE.

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News Trap 6.12.24 Jun 12, 2024

Show notes

A stunning new piece in The Atlanticoffers details on the fall of America as seen from Phoenix, Arizona. Folks, 2024 is gonna be a hell of year.

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