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Historiansplaining: A historian tells you why everything you know is wrong: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Samuel Biagetti, PhD
So much of what we learn in a standard history class, and in the culture around us, are just cliff-note narratives, crafted to explain how things appear, rather than how things actually came to be. Peel back the layers of time and place with this thoroughly researched, college-level history podcast with over 200 episodes that uncover the forgotten forces that shaped – and that are still shaping – our world today. There are no commercials in this long-form podcast. There’s so much to explore with historian Samuel Biagetti, PhD, in these conversational lectures and interviews, each one presenting hidden landscapes from the past that put the moments and movements of today’s world in a tangible, thought-provoking light. Press play for the joy of a great college-level course in history, without any of the homework!
Latest Episodes
The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- 2 weeks ago1h 44m
Plymouth, pt. 2: Falls from Grace
We trace how the Plymouth colony, having successfully taken hold in the New England soil, built a thriving regional fur trade, and expanded into Wampanoag territory, quickly came under strain from competition with new Puritan colonies, from internal religious dissension, and finally from contention and strife with the indigenous people, which culminated in a massive, destructive war. We consider how both the Wampanoag tribes and the Plymouth settlers sought to recover from this disaster and to protect their legal and political rights, only for the colony to lose its self-government as a distant royal board extinguished its legal existence, subsuming the first New England settlement into the larger and growing Massachusetts. Please sign on as a patron at any level, to support the pod and hear all patron-only lectures: https://www.patreon.com/c/u5530632 Image: Aerial view of the Hoxie House, ca. 1675, near Shawme Pond, Sandwich Suggested further reading: Silverman, "This Land Is Their Land"; Langdon, "Pilgrim Colony: A History of New Plymouth"
- 3 weeks ago1h 48m
Plymouth, pt. 1: Sachems & Saints
We uncover the true origins and nature of the first colony in New England and the most iconic in American history: Plymouth. Since the mid-1800s and the lead-up to the Civil War, the so-called "Pilgrims" who held the "first Thanksgiving" have been lionized as the true American founders. We explore the deep history of trade, warfare, and power politics leading up to the moment when two very different civilizations -- the Wampanoag Confederation and the English Separatist church -- each reeling from the traumas of violence and disease, unexpectedly converged and formed an unlikely alliance that would enable both to survive and cling to a fragile stability in the rich but harsh terrain of coastal New England. Please sign on as a patron to keep this podcast coming and to hear all patron-only lectures: https://www.patreon.com/c/u5530632 Image: Map of Plymouth Harbor ("Port Saint Louis") with Wampanoag villages including Patuxet, by Samuel de Champlain, published 1613 Suggested further reading: Silverman, "This Land Is Their Land"; Langdon, "Pilgrim Colony: A History of New Plymouth"
- Sep 30, 202633 min
Will the real "History of the United States in 100 Objects" please stand up?
We compare the ongoing series, "History of the United States in 100 Objects," which has been running on historiansplaining podcast since 2018, to the new series of the same title, launched earlier this year by 99% Invisible and BBC Studios -- and to the earlier prototype for both, the "History of the World in 100 Objects" based on the British Museum Collection. We consider the differences between archaeological artifacts and modern mass-produced commodities, between history based on physical records vs. based on written texts, and between storytelling based on a preconceived agenda vs. improvised. We consider some favorite or most impactful episodes in this series, including the most-played episode on the Hiawatha Belt. Finally, we hear an excerpt from the latest episode, no. 26, on the preserved thumb of George Whitefield, which is held in the Methodist Archives at Drew University. Sign on as a patron of historiansplaining in order to keep this series coming -- without ads! -- and in order to join in the live discussion with patrons on Oct. 15th. SIgn on as a patron of historiansplaining -- https://www.patreon.com/c/u5530632 Or, purchase access to the "History of the United Sates in 100 Objects" for a single flat fee: https://www.patreon.com/collection/2070759?view=condensed
- Aug 28, 202615 min
Reading -- New England poems: Lowell & Sexton
We read poems dealing with the religious and intellectual history of New England & grappling with the legacies of Puritanism, the Great Awakening, and Transcendentalism: Robert Lowell's "Mr. Edwards and the Spider" and "Jonathan Edwards in Western Massachusetts," about the colonial minister, philosopher, and fire-and-brimstone preacher, Jonathan Edwards; and Anne Sexton's "Kind Sir: These Woods," addressed to Henry David Thoreau. Please sign on as a patron at any level, to make it possible to keep this podcat coming, and to hear patron-only lectures, including the upcoming lecture on the preacher George Whitefield's preserved thumb: https://www.patreon.com/c/u5530632
- Aug 14, 20261h 40m
Newfoundland: The Amphibious Province, 1610-1697
A colony built on cod: We follow how the massive seasonal fishing industry of the 1500s, with its intense competition among Spanish, English, French, Basque, & Portuguese mariners in the frigid North Atlantic waters off of Newfoundland, eventually went ashore and began to construct year-round “plantations” around coves on the rugged shoreline, usually without state involvement or approval. We observe how planters, migratory fishermen, and aristocratic proprietors vied for control of the makeshift colonies in Newfoundland, leading to the emergence of a free-wheeling and hard-drinking colonial society, and ultimtately, to a cataclysmic war between France and England for control of the world’s richest fishing grounds. Please sign on as a patron to hear all patron-only lectures, including “The Successful Failure” on Jamestown and the founding of Virginia: https://www.patreon.com/u5530632 Our previous lecture on “The Elizabethan Dream: How England Became a Sea Power” -- https://historiansplaining.com/episodes/the-elizabethan-dream-how-england-became-a-sea-power/ Image: Scene of a Newfoundland cove with fishing ship & “stage,” from a French woodcut, via Heritage Newfoundland & Labrador, “The French Newfoundland Fishery in the 17th Century” Sources: Pope, “Fish Into Wine: The Newfoundland Plantation in the Seventeenth Century”
- Jul 28, 202612 min
Excerpt: The Bog Bodies -- sec. 2: Sometimes a Garrote is Just a Garrote
Post on patreon for patrons only for 6 months: We tackle the deepest mystery surrounding the ancient bog bodies: why were people ritually killed and deposited in bogs for millennia? Were they targets of murder, execution, or sacrifice? We analyze the long and tense debate over Britain’s most famous bog body, Lindow Man, who met a brutal end in a bog in Northwest England in the 1st century AD, and in so doing, we refute the accident and criminal-murder (or “Iron-Age mugging”) theories. We carefully dissect the notion of the “threefold death,” which purports to link bog bodies like Lindow Man to ancient Celtic gods and myths. Finally, we explore the more difficult and nuanced question of whether bog killings were primarily executions or sacrifices, weighing evidences ranging from preserved last meals to manicured nails to Julius Caesar’s macabre account of the “Wicker Man” sacrifice in ancient Gaul. Finally, we return to Lindow Moss, and consider the possibility that Lindow Man’s death was a desperate wartime measure to combat the Roman advance. Please sign on as a patron at any level to hear this lecture and all other patron-only lectures! -- https://www.patreon.com/u5530632/posts/doorways-in-time-165082926?pr=true Alternatively, non-patrons may purchase the "Doorways in Time" playlist on the great archaeological discoveries, for one small up-front fee: https://www.patreon.com/collection/2127051?view=condensed Image: English schoolchildren singing with “Lindow Man” t-shirts, with image of putative facial reconstruction of the bog body, from video for “Lindow Man, We Want You Back Again,” 1987 (video link below) Video of song, “Lindow Man, We Want You Back Again,” by Lindow Primary School, 1987: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aguYZH2_oxg SOURCES: Books: -Miranda Aldhouse-Green, “Bog Bodies Uncovered: Solving Europe’s Ancient Mystery”; -Ross & Robbins, “The Life and Death of a Druid Prince: The Story of Lindow Man, an Archaeological Sensation”; -Karin Sanders, “Bodies in the Bog and the Archaeological Imagination”; -Stead, Bourke, & Brothwell, eds., “Lindow Man: the Body in the Bog”; -Melanie Giles, “Bog Bodies: Face to Face with the Past”; -Peter Glob, “The Bog People: Iron-Age Man Preserved” MA Theses: -Solen Ruffy, “The Violent Deaths of Kings and Priests in Ireland and Britain: Case Study of the Iron Age Bog Mummies,” etc., U. of Western Brittany, 2023, https://dumas.ccsd.cnrs.fr/dumas-04560083v1/file/Memoire-2023-LCCC-RUFFY_Solen.pdf -Lydia Stewart, “Bog Bodies: Archaeological Narratives and Modern Identity,” Victoria University of Wellington, 2020 Articles: -Van Beek, et al, “Bogs, bones and bodies: the deposition of human remains in northern European mires,” Antiquity, Jan. 2023; -R.C. Connolly, “Lindow Man: Britain’s Prehistoric Bog Body,” Anthropology Today, Oct. 1985; -Dalya Alberge, “Lindow Man ‘was a simple murder victim,” The Times, March 22, 2004; -Ronald Hutton, “What Did Happen to Lindow Man?”, Worthing Archaeological Society Journal, spring 2004 -CS Briggs, “Did They Fall or Were They Pushed? Some Unresolved Questions about Bog Bodies,” in Turner & Scaife, eds., “Bog Bodies: New Discoveries and New Perspectives,” 1995 Lecture: -Ronald Hutton, “Gods of Prehistoric Britain,” 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjC0lGr4h04 Podcast Series: -“The Discovery Series: The Bog Bodies,” https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-discovery-series-the-bog-bodies/id1852306442
- Jul 14, 20261h 43m
Doorways in Time, pt. 11: The Bog Bodies -- sec. 1: Something Isn't Rotten in the State of Denmark
The most exhaustive survey that you will find of the “Bog Bodies” – the highly preserved human remains, often of ancient Iron-Age people whose lives were ended violently, that have been discovered in wetlands all across northern Europe, from Estonia to Ireland, over the past 250 years. We consider how, when, and why these often shockingly intact bodies have been found, what facts can be gleaned about who they were, and finally, when and where the practice of killing people and placing them into bogs originated (hint: it’s in the title). In the next installment, we will discuss the competing theories as to why these Iron Age people died violently, incuding murder, execution, and sacrifice. Please support this podcast at any level to hear the patron-only lectures, including the previous episode of “Doorways in Time,” examining Catalhoyuk, the oldest town site on Earth -- www.patreon.com/c/u5530632 Image: The right hand of Grauballe Man, 300s-200s B.C., discovered in Denmark, 1952 SOURCES: Books: Miranda Aldhouse-Green, “Bog Bodies Uncovered: Solving Europe’s Ancient Mystery”; Ross & Dobins, “The Life and Death of a Druid Prince: The Story of Lindow Man, an Archaeological Sensation”; Karin Sanders, “Bodies in the Bog and the Archaeological Imagination”; Stead, Bourke, & Brothwell, eds., “Lindow Man: the Body in the Bog”; Melanie Giles, “Bog Bodies: Face to Face with the Past”; Peter Glob, “The Bog People: Iron-Age Man Preserved” Dick Kirby, “Missing, Presumed Murdered: The McKay Case and Other Convictions without a Corpse” MA Thesis: Solen Ruffy, “The Violent Deaths of Kings and Priests in Ireland and Britain: Case Study of the Iron Age Bog Mummies,” etc., 2023, Articles: Van Beek, et al, “Bogs, bones and bodies: the deposition of human remains in northern European mires,” Antiquity, Jan. 2023; R.C. Connolly, “Lindow Man: Britain’s Prehistoric Bog Body,” Anthropology Today, Oct. 1985; Dalya Alberge, “Lindow Man ‘was a simple murder victim,” The Times, March 22, 2004; Ronald Hutton, “What Did Happen to Lindow Man?”, Worthing Archaeological Society Journal, spring 2004 Lecture: Ronald Hutton, “Gods of Prehistoric Britain,” 2022, Podcast Series: “The Discovery Series: The Bog Bodies,”
- Jul 5, 20261h 51m
Unlocked: The Keys of Heaven & Earth: The History of the Papacy -- pt. 2
Unlocked after 1 year for patrons only: We follow the tribulations of the Papacy through the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation, as the Pope's loyal soldiers in the Jesuit order are expelled from Catholic states and empires, the Church comes under attack in the French Reovlution, and Napoleon takes the Pope prisoner. We then follow the Papacy's gradual recovery of prestige -- through the reactionary rigorism of Pius IX and the 1st Vatican Council; the creation of Catholic social teaching and the intervention of the Church in the class struggle between capital and labor under Leo XIII; and the dramatic reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. We consider the controversies and scandals of the modern church relating to fascism, the Nazi Holocaust, the Vatican Bank, and the suppression of Liberation Theology, and finally, examine the recent shakeup of the Vatican under Pope Francis, the momentous implications of the Synod on Synodality, and the clues presaging a new political assertiveness of the Church under the first American pope, Leo XIV. Please support this podcast to hear all patron-only lectures when they are posted: https://www.patreon.com/c/u5530632 Image: Print showing Pope Pius IX presiding over the First Vatican Council in St. Peter's Basilica, 1869.
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About Historiansplaining: A historian tells you why everything you know is wrong
So much of what we learn in a standard history class, and in the culture around us, are just cliff-note narratives, crafted to explain how things appear, rather than how things actually came to be. Peel back the layers of time and place with this thoroughly researched, college-level history podcast with over 200 episodes that uncover the forgotten forces that shaped – and that are still shaping – our world today. There are no commercials in this long-form podcast. There’s so much to explore with historian Samuel Biagetti, PhD, in these conversational lectures and interviews, each one presenting hidden landscapes from the past that put the moments and movements of today’s world in a tangible, thought-provoking light. Press play for the joy of a great college-level course in history, without any of the homework!
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