A walk through Vienna, Austria became something else entirely when small brass markers in the pavement stopped me cold. This reflection traces my first encounter with Stolpersteine, memorials to Holocaust victims placed where they once lived. Read the Full Story.
The new US-Israeli air war reached the edges of one of Iran’s most important historic sites - the Golestan Palace. These moments raises a larger question about what happens when modern conflict collides with the past. This episode explores the long struggle to protect cultural heritage in wartime and why those battles still matter today. Listen to the Full Story.
We begin our rewatch of HBO’s John Adams with the Boston Massacre and a risky defense that tested the rule of law at the edge of revolution. From Abigail’s steady influence to the messy birth of independence, this episode revisits a familiar story that feels urgent again. Listen to this episode of the Public History podcast.
This Public History podcast episode explores the story of a marriage between two rising political families that exploded into one of the most sensational scandals of the 1840s. Beneath the spectacle lies a revealing story about gender, power, and reputation in antebellum America. Listen to the Full Story.
A 1990s epic becomes a doorway into an 18th-century world. This Public History podcast episode revisits Last of the Mohicans to unpack the real history of the French and Indian War - Fort William Henry, a young George Washington, and the myths that still shape how Americans imagine the frontier. Listen to the episode.
In this episode of Public History with Justin, Jake, and Molly, Jake and Molly are joined by public historian Rich Condon to explore the Port Royal Experiment - an early, improvised effort to build freedom during the Civil War. Long before Reconstruction formally began, formerly enslaved people tested land ownership, education, and self-governance in coastal South Carolina. Listen to the episode.
In this "emergency" episode of Public History with Justin, Jake, and Molly, Jake and Molly respond to the quiet removal of slavery interpretation at Philadelphia’s President’s House ahead of America’s 250th. Listen to the full episode.
In this episode of Public History with Justin, Jake, and Molly, Jake talks with author David Fleming about the Pottsville Maroons - coal miners turned football stars whose 1925 NFL championship was stripped away. It’s a story of early professional football that still resonates a century later. Listen to the episode.
In this episode of Public History with Justin, Jake, and Molly, we revisit The Patriot (2000) as both a Revolutionary War story and a product of its time. The conversation digs into mythmaking, historical shortcuts, and how Hollywood action tropes still shape how Americans imagine the Revolution. Listen to the episode.
This episode of the Public History podcast looks beyond the Irish Brigade to the everyday lives of Irish-born Union soldiers. We dig into letters, pension files, class, money, and memory with historian Damien Shiels and why Irish Civil War service has long been misunderstood on both sides of the Atlantic. Listen to the episode.