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The Gilded Age and Progressive Era — History
The Gilded Age and Progressive Era

The Gilded Age and Progressive Era is a free podcast about the seismic transitions that took place in the United States from the 1870s to 1920s. It’s for students, teachers, researchers, history buffs, and anyone who wants to learn more about how our past connects us to the present. It is hosted by Boyd Cothran, professor of U.S. and Global history at York University, and Cathleen D. Cahill, Walter L. Ferree and Helen P. Ferree Professor in Middle-American History at Penn State University.

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Copyright: © Michael Patrick Cullinane

Latest Episodes:

The Approaching Storm Mar 29, 2022

Show notes

Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Jane Addams take center state in Neil Lanctot's latest book The Approaching Storm, an intimate look at America's decision to enter World War I. Lanctot's character-driven narrative takes the reader on transatlantic peace missions and a deep introspective about American values.

Essential Reading:

Neil Lanctot, The Approaching Storm: Roosevelt, Wilson, Addams and Their Clash over America's Future (2021).

Neil Lanctot, "Biden, like Woodrow Wilson in WWI, treads a fine line in refusing to send troops to Ukraine," Chicago Tribune, 14 March 2022.

Recommended Reading:

John Milton Cooper, The Warrior and the Priest (1983).

Kathleen Dalton, Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life (2002).

Louise W. Knight, Citizen: Jane Addams and the Struggle for Democracy (2005).

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Catastrophic Dipomacy Mar 16, 2022

Show notes

Disaster relief became an instrument of U.S. foreign policy in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. The "progressive presidents" particularly utilized aid for American interests, sparking a trend. Prof. Julia Irwin joins me to discuss her upcoming book on this very topic.

Essential Reading:

Julia Irwin, Making the World Safe: The American Red Cross and a Nation's Humanitarian Awakening (2013).

Julia Irwin, "Our Climatic Moment: Hazarding a History of the United States and the World," Diplomatic History 45, no. 3 (June 2021): 421-44.

Recommended Reading:

Cynthia Kierner, Inventing Disaster: The Culture of Calamity from the Jamestown Colony to the Johnstown Flood (2019).

Ted Steinberg, Acts of God: The Unnatural History of Natural Disaster in America (2000).

Olivier Zunz, Philanthropy in America: A History (2012).

Heather Curtis, Holy Humanitarians: American Evangelicals and Global Aid (2018).

William N. Tilchin, “Theodore Roosevelt, Anglo-American Relations, and the Jamaica Incident of 1907,” Diplomatic History 19, no. 3 (1995): 385-405

Salvatore LaGumina, The Great Earthquake: America Comes to Messina’s Rescue (2008).

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Oceans of Grain: Wheat, Russia, Ukraine, and the U.S. Mar 02, 2022

Show notes

I spoke with Prof. Nelson the very day Russia invaded Ukraine and we talk about the history of the black paths that fed the world with bushels of grain, but also became the most fought over space in Eastern Europe. Scott's new book Oceans of Grain (Basic Books) is out this week and it couldn't have come at a better time to help us understand our world today.

Essential Reading:

Scott Reynolds Nelson, Oceans of Grain: How American Wheat Remade the World (2022).

Recommended Reading:

Neal Ascherson, The Black Sea (1996).

Bettany Hughes, Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities (2017).

Avner Offer, The First World War: An Agrarian Interpretation (1989).

Vaclav Smil, Creating the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations of 1867-1914 and their Lasting Impact (2004).

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Designs on Empire Feb 23, 2022

Show notes

European imperialism had an influence on American policy makers, changing the way they thought about overseas colonization and building a new world order. Prof. Andrew Priest joins the show to discuss his latest book Designs on Empire: America's Rise to Power in the Age of European Imperialism.

Essential Reading:

Andrew Priest, Designs on Empire: America's Rise to Power in the Age of European Imperialism (2021).

Recommended Reading:

Mary Ann Heiss, “The Evolution of the Imperial Idea and U.S. National Identity,” Diplomatic History 26 (October 2002): 511-540.

A.G. Hopkins, American Empire: A Global History (2018)

Michael H. Hunt, Ideology and U.S. Foreign Policy (2nd ed. 2009).

Walter LaFeber, The New Empire: An Interpretation of American Expansion, 1860–1898 (Thirty-Fifth Anniversary edition, 1998)

Frank Ninkovich, Global Dawn: The Cultural Foundation of American Internationalism, 1865-1890 (2009).

Jay Sexton, The Monroe Doctrine: Empire and Nation in Nineteenth-Century America (2012).

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Special Episode: Laird on the Lam Feb 16, 2022

Show notes

Professor Clive Webb tells the story of Lord Gordon Gordon, a impostor and fraud that stole millions from railroad tycoon Jay Gould. The theft also sparked a diplomatic row between the United States and Canada that nearly led to war.

This story first appeared in Canada's History and the publishers have kindly allowed us to reproduce the story with Clive as the narrator. Please visit their website: https://www.canadahistory.ca/ or you can find the original article here: https://canadas-history.myshopify.com/collections/canadas-history-back-issues/products/december-2021-january-2022

Many thanks to Fesliyan Studios for the free background music. You can find royalty-free tracks at their website: https://www.fesliyanstudios.com or their YouTube pages: https://www.youtube.com/user/fesliyanstudios

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Early Career Scholars Showcase Feb 09, 2022

Show notes

This week we hear from early career scholars about cutting-edge research and research. Aroop Mukharji will talk with me about the War of 1898 and presidential decision-making; Chelsea Gibson will share teaching innovations and her work on Russian-American activism; and Alex Bryne discusses the birth of aviation and its effect on Pan-Americanism. Please take some time to read their publications!

Essential Reading:

Aroop Mukharji, "What One Word Teaches Us about the Uncertainty of American Empire," War on the Rocks (February 12, 2021).

Chelsea C. Gibson, "The John Browns of St. Petersburg: Former Abolitionists and Russian Terrorism in the Late 19th Century," OAH Presentation (2020).

Alex Bryne, "The Potential of Flight: U.S. Aviation and Pan-Americanism During the Early Twentieth Century," 19, no. 1 (January 2020): 48-76.

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The Silver King George Hearst Jan 26, 2022

Show notes

Prospector, tycoon, westerner, politician, father, and husband, George Hearst was a man of his time and as Matthew Bernstein relates, an part of the Gilded Age. In his biography, Bernstein traces Hearst's life from his Missouri childhood to the booms and busts of his mining career. As the father of William Randolph Hearst, George left quite a legacy.

Essential Reading:

Matthew Bernstein, George Hearst: Silver King of the Gilded Age (2021).

Recommended Reading:

David Nasaw, The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst (2000).

W. A. Swanberg, Citizen Hearst: A Biography of William Randolph Hearst (1963).

Judith Robinson, The Hearsts: An American Dynasty (1991).

Alexandra Nickless, Phoebe Apperson Hearst: A Life of Power and Politics (2018).

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Confederate Monuments in the Gilded Age Jan 12, 2022

Show notes

Over the last five years, many confederate statues have come down. Professor Ashleigh Lawrence-Sanders joins the show to explain why they went up in the first place. Commemoration of the confederacy offers a great insight into the politics of race in the American South and the enduring myth of the Lost Cause. So many statues go up in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era that we could (with tongues-in-cheek) consider re-naming the period the Age of Confederate Memorials. Why? Who advocated for their erection? And what do these statues say about the past and today?

Essential Reading:

Ashleigh Lawrence-Sanders, "Removing Lost Cause Monuments is the First Step in Dismantling White Supremacy," Washington Post, 19 June 2020.

Recommended Reading:

Karen L. Cox, Dixie's Daughters: The United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Preservation of Confederate Culture (2019).

David Blight, Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory (2001).

Caroline E. Janney, Remembering the Civil War: Reunion and the Limits of Reconciliation (2016).

Adam H. Donby, The False Cause: Fraud, Fabrication, and White Supremacy in Confederate Memory (2020).

Thavolia Glymph, "Liberty Dearly Bought: The Making of Civil War Memory in Afro-American Communities in the South" in Payne and Green (eds.), Time Longer than Rope: A Century of African American Activism, 1850-1950 (2003).

Gary Young, "Why Every Single Statue Should Come Down," Guardian, 1 June 2021.

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Theodore Roosevelt Double Bill - Religion and Memory Dec 29, 2021

Show notes

It had to happen: an episode about Theodore Roosevelt. I'm surprised it took ten episodes to get here! Prof. Benjamin Wetzel and I double as interviewer and interviewee in a conversation about our recent books about Roosevelt. Ben's explores TR's religiousity, a new vein of research that has been overlooked. My book shares new sources for the first time. Both depict TR in unique treatments.

Essential Reading:

Benjamin Wetzel, Theodore Roosevelt: Preaching from the Bully Pulpit (2021).

Michael Patrick Cullinane, Remembering Theodore Roosevelt (2021).

Recommended Reading:

Christian F. Reisner, Roosevelt's Religion (1922).

Kathleen Flake, The Politics of American Religious Identity: The Seating of Senator Reed Smoot, Mormon Apostle (2004).

Stacy A. Cordery, Alice: Alice Roosevelt Longworth, from White House Princess to Washington Power Broker (2008).

Hermann Hagedorn, The Roosevelt Family of Sagamore Hill (1954).

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Christmas Past Dec 15, 2021

Show notes

How did Americans celebrate Christmas in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era? This episode has a festive feel as I ask Thomas Ruys Smith about his new book Christmas Past: An Anthology of Seasonal Stories from Nineteenth Century America. We'll talk about household names such as Charles Dickens, Louisa May Alcott, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, as well as stories you may have never heard from slaves, immigrants, Native Americans, and non-Christians.

Essential Reading:

Thomas Ruys Smith, Christmas Past: An Anthology of Seasonal Stories from Nineteenth Century America (2021).

Recommended Reading:

Penn Restad, Christmas in America: A History (1995).

Stephen Nissenbaum, The Battle for Christmas: A Social and Cultural History of Our Most Cherished Holiday (1997).

Karal Ann Marling, Merry Christmas! Celebrating America's Greatest Holiday (2000).

Tara Moore, Victorian Christmas in Print (2009).

Robert May, Yuletide in Dixie: Slavery, Christmas, and Southern Memory (2019).

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