Working Historians

Researching Puerto Rican History: Deirdre Lannon - Senior Lecturer, Texas State University

Deirdre Lannon teaches history at Texas State University. In this episode, Deirdre discusses her academic and professional background (including her time fronting a rockabilly band!) and her dissertation research topic, Ruth Reynolds and her role in the fight for Puerto Rican independence.

Scott Black - Historian, Southern New Hampshire University

Scott Black teaches history at numerous colleges and universities, including Southern New Hampshire University. In this episode, Scott talks about his academic and professional background, his career teaching history, and the challenges and rewards of writing historical fiction.

This episode’s recommendations:

Sabaton: https://www.sabaton.net/

Various Authors, The American Yawp: https://www.americanyawp.com/ 

Karen Sieber - Humanities Specialist, McGillicuddy Humanities Center, University of Maine

Karen Sieber is a Humanities Specialist for the Clement and Laura McGillicuddy Humanities Center at the University of Maine. In this episode we discuss her academic and professional background, the major public history research projects with which she has been affiliated, her work at the Humanities Center, and our history-related recommendations

This week's recommendations:

Visualizing the Red Summer http://visualizingtheredsummer.com/

Goin’ North: https://goinnorth.org/

Chicago Defender: https://www.chicagodefenderarchives.org/ 

African-American Civil War Soldiers Project: https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/usct/african-american-civil-war-soldiers

Monroe Work Today: https://plaintalkhistory.com/monroeandflorencework/

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee: https://snccdigital.org/

Charleston Syllabus: https://www.aaihs.org/resources/charlestonsyllabus/

Christopher Tomlins, In the Matter of Nat Turner: A Speculative History (Princeton University Press, 2020), https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691198668/in-the-matter-of-nat-turner

Rob’s interview with Christopher Tomlins for the New Books Network: https://newbooksnetwork.com/christopher-tomlins-in-the-matter-of-nat-turner-a-speculative-history-princeton-up-2020/ 

Adam Lehman - Assistant Professor, Guilford Technical Community College

Adam Lehman is Assistant Professor of History at Guilford Technical Community College. In this episode we discuss his academic and professional background and his research into the missed privateering opportunities of the War of 1812.

This episode’s recommendations:

Jeff Kinard, “Lectures in History: Civil War Weaponry,” C-Span, https://www.c-span.org/video/?465611-1/civil-war-weaponry

Footnoting History Teaching Guide: https://www.footnotinghistory.com/teach.html 

Shenetha Solomon - Consultant, Researcher, and Teacher

Shenetha Solomon is a historical consultant, a doctoral student, and an instructor at Southern New Hampshire University. In this episode we discuss her academic and professional background, and we focus on her research into the history of the town of Taft, Oklahoma, and her family’s connections to the town. This episode’s recommendations: Daina Ramey Berry, The Price for their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved, From Womb to Grave, in the Building of a Nation (Penguin Random House, 2017): https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/538529/the-price-for-their-pound-of-flesh-by-daina-ramey-berry/ Jamie Goodall, Pirates of the Chesapeake Bay: From the Colonial Era to the Oyster Wars (History Press, 2020): https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Products/9781467141161 Rob’s New Books Network interview with Jamie Goodall about Pirates of the Chesapeake Bay: https://newbooksnetwork.com/jamie-l-h-goodall-pirates-of-the-chesapeake-bay-from-the-colonial-era-to-the-oyster-wars-the-history-press-2020/

Teaching History: Sarah Estee - Adjunct Instructor, Southern New Hampshire University

Sarah Estee teaches history at Southern New Hampshire University. In this episode, Rob and Sarah discuss the use of film as a teaching tool in history courses, and touch on some of the more notorious history-based films in recent decades (ahem, 300…).

This episode’s recommendations:

Robert Rosenstone, History on Film/Film on History (Pearson, 2006)

Disgraceland Podcast: https://www.disgracelandpod.com/

Noble Blood Podcast: http://noblebloodtales.com/

Hardcore History Podcast: https://www.dancarlin.com/hardcore-history-series/ 

AHA job report: https://www.historians.org/ahajobsreport2020 

Teaching Careers for Historians: Gregory Robinson - Adjunct Instructor, SNHU

Dr. Gregory Robinson teaches history for Southern New Hampshire University. In this episode we discuss his career teaching high school students, his research into Native American trickster gods and other aspects of mythology, his brief stint as a playwright, and the connections he has drawn between history and motorcycles.

 

This episode’s recommendations:

Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (Harper Collins, 2015)

Seamus Heaney, Beowulf: A New Verse Translation (Farrar, Strous, and Giroux, 2000)

Gar Alperovitz, Atomic Diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam (Pluto Press, 1994) 

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., A Thousand Days: JFK in the White House (Houghton Mifflin, 1965)

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., Violence: America in the Sixties (New American Library, 1968)

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., “Origins of the Cold War,” Foreign Affairs 46:1 (October 1967)

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Crisis of Confidence: Ideas, Power, and Violence in America (1969)

Vikings (TV Show)

New Books Network

Journalism Careers for Historians: Larry Tye - Author and Director, Health Coverage Fellowship

Larry Tye is a journalist and the Director of Health Coverage Fellowship, which helps print, radio, TV, and online journalists and editors better cover health care issues. He also recently published Demagogue: The Life and Long Shadow of Joe McCarthy. In this episode, we discuss the book, Larry’s background, and his perspective on the state of journalism during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Links:

Larry Tye, Demagogue: The Life and Long Shadow of Joe McCarthy (Houghton Mifflin, 2020)

Health Coverage Fellowship

Benjamin Carr discusses Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico

Benjamin Carr teaches history at Southern New Hampshire University. In this episode, Rob, James, and Ben discuss Joshua Norton, the first Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico. It’s such a San Francisco story. This episode’s recommendations: Albert Dressler, Emperor Norton: LIfe and Experiences of a Notable Character in San Francisco, 1849-1880 (Sacramento: News Publishing Company, 1927), https://archive.org/details/emperornorton1927dres Neil Gaiman and Shawn McManus, “Three Septembers and a January,” The Sandman, vol. 2, no. 31 (October, 1991)

Introducing "Policing a Free Society"

In this episode, Jeff Czarnec and Rob Denning belatedly introduce themselves, provide some background on the Policing a Free Society podcast, and attempt to define and preview many of the concepts that will pop up in future episodes of the series, including the changing interpretations of history and human behavior and the complexity of policing a free society.

Richard Driver - Assistant Professor, McLennan Community College

Dr. Richard Driver is an Assistant Professor of History at McLennan Community College in Waco, Texas. In this episode, Richard discusses his research into twentieth-century musicians and his career teaching history. This episode’s recommendations: Lisa Brooks, Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War (Yale University Press, 2019), https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300244328/our-beloved-kin and https://ourbelovedkin.com/awikhigan/index Kenneth Womack, Solid State: The Story of Abbey Road and the End of the Beatles (Cornell University Press, 2019), https://kennethwomack.com/books/beatlesbooks/solid-state-the-story-of-abbey-road-and-the-end-of-the-beatles/ Julian Zelizer and Kevin Kruse, Fault Lines: A History of the United States since 1974 (Penguin Random House, 2019), https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/605403/fault-lines-by-kevin-m-kruse/9780393357707 Song Exploder Podcast: http://songexploder.net/ Idiocracy Rob Denning and James Fennessy can be reached at workinghistorians@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/WorkHistorians.

Policing a Free Society: Demilitarization and Defunding the Police

Rob, Jeff, and Jonathan talk about the militarization of police forces in recent decades, the goals of community leaders who call for “defunding the police,” and the cancellation of the “COPS” television series after nearly 30 years on the air.

Policing a Free Society: The Death of George Floyd

In this first episode of “Policing a Free Society,” a series dedicated to the intersection of history and criminal justice, Dr. Rob Denning, Dr. Jeff Czarnec, and soon-to-be-Dr. Jonathan Wesley bring their backgrounds in history, criminal justice, philosophy, and diversity, equity, and inclusion to bear on the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police and the public response to Floyd's death.

Scotty Edler - Adjunct Professor

Scotty Edler is a student of history and political science and teaches for Southern New Hampshire University and community colleges in Texas. In this episode, Scotty talks about his pursuit of a Master of Science degree in Political Science, his historical research into Kaiser Wilhelm II and the second German Reich, the history of Mardi Gras, his experience with local and state politics, a potential project on political polling, and his college teaching career. This episode’s recommendations: Walter Langer and Peter Stearns, eds., The Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged, 6th ed. (Houghton Mifflin, 2001): https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-World-History-Medieval-Chronologically/dp/0395652375/ref=pd_lpo_14_img_0/146-0857733-3651140?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0395652375&pd_rd_r=49796635-9e8d-4f9b-a0bf-9abff15cb957&pd_rd_w=Ng3bd&pd_rd_wg=DWByh&pf_rd_p=7b36d496-f366-4631-94d3-61b87b52511b&pf_rd_r=B3J6TGBX6RZAR1VNSX23&psc=1&refRID=B3J6TGBX6RZAR1VNSX23 Chicago Manual of Style: https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html Yale University’s Avalon Project - Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/ Brigham Young University’s World War I Document Archive: https://wwi.lib.byu.edu/ The Bedford Series in History and Culture: https://www.macmillanlearning.com/college/us/discipline/History/The-Bedford-Series-in-History-%26-Culture/c/013200

Darrett Pullins - History Instructor, SNHU

Darrett Pullins teaches history for Southern New Hampshire University and for the University of Phoenix. In this episode we discuss his background, the use of photography in history, a bit about World War II, and the closure of the University of Phoenix’s physical campus in Detroit. This episode’s recommendations: The works of William Manchester Ken Burns, dir., Country Music (PBS, 2019): https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/country-music/ American Association for State and Local History and the National Council on Public History, The Inclusive Historian’s Handbook, https://inclusivehistorian.com/ J. Michael Straczynski, Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood (HarperCollins, 2019), https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062857842/becoming-superman/

Cherri Wemlinger - Adjunct Faculty, Southern New Hampshire University

Dr. Cherri Wemlinger teaches history at Southern New Hampshire University. In this episode, Dr. Wemlinger discusses her academic and professional background, her research process from start to finish, and her work on Ethiopian history.

Brent Bankus - Program Manager, U.S. Army Strategic Education Program

Brent Bankus is the Program Manager for the U.S. Army Strategic Education Program at the U.S. Army War College and is a graduate student at Southern New Hampshire University. In this episode, we talk about Brent’s background, his work on state militias and state defense forces during the twentieth century, and his history-related career within the U.S. Army. This episode’s recommendations: U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center: https://ahec.armywarcollege.edu/ Dana Goldstein, “American History Textbooks Can Differ Across the Country, In Ways That are Shaded by Partisan Politics,” New York Times, January 12, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/01/12/us/texas-vs-california-history-textbooks.html

Kate Buchanan - Office Manager

Dr. Kate Buchanan is the office manager for an immigration law firm in Bellingham, Washington. In this episode we discuss Kate’s academic and professional background, her work on the relationship between Scottish castles and their physical environment, the importance of proper formatting and citations, and the cozy relationship between the study of history and the study of law. And there’s an utterly repulsive story about Alice Cooper at the end. This episode’s recommendations: History Scotland: https://www.historyscotland.com/ The Presidio of San Francisco: https://www.presidio.gov/ Drew Fortune, No Encore: Musicians Reveal their Weirdest, Wildest, Most Embarrassing Gigs (Simon & Schuster, 2019), https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/No-Encore!/Drew-Fortune/9781642930849

Matthew Campell - Social Studies Curriculum Coach, Cypress Fairbanks ISD

Dr. Matthew Campbell is the Social Studies Curriculum Coach for Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District in Texas and an adjunct instructor for SNHU and other institutions. In this episode, Matt discusses his academic research into Southerners’ popular memory of slavery after the Civil War and how we teach history in America’s classrooms. This episode’s recommendations: James Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, 2nd ed. (The New Press, 2018), https://thenewpress.com/books/lies-my-teacher-told-me Freedom on the Move; https://freedomonthemove.org/index.html

Teaching Careers in History: Donald Shaffer - Online History Instructor, SNHU

Dr. Don Shaffer teaches history at Southern New Hampshire University and other institutions. In this episode, we discuss Dr. Shaffer’s research into black veterans of the Civil War and his life as a professor for online history courses.

This episode’s recommendations:

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 (Penguin Random House, 1991): https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/181591/a-midwifes-tale-by-laurel-thatcher-ulrich/

W. W. Norton’s “What Can I Do With a History Degree?” Infographic: https://cdn.wwnorton.com/marketing/college/images/History_HistoryCareersPoster_Q-441.jpg

Donald R. Shaffer, After the Glory: The Struggles of Black Civil War Veterans (University Press of Kansas, 2004): https://kansaspress.ku.edu/978-0-7006-1328-1.html 

Journalism and Political Careers for Historians: Matthew Avitabile - Mayor, Middleburgh NY

Matthew Avitabile teaches history at Southern New Hampshire University, is publisher of the Mountain Eagle newspaper, and mayor of Middleburgh, New York. In this episode, Matt discusses his background, his research into European history after World War II and British involvement with the Korean War, and the historical skills that he employs in his careers in journalism and public office.

This episode’s recommendations:

Richard J. Evans, The Coming of the Third Reich (New York: Penguin Random House, 2005), https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/292754/the-coming-of-the-third-reich-by-richard-j-evans/9780143034698/

Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich in Power (New York: Penguin Random House, 2006), https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/292756/the-third-reich-in-power-by-richard-j-evans/

Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich at War (New York: Penguin Random House, 2010), https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/292755/the-third-reich-at-war-by-richard-j-evans/9780143116714/

William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany, 50th anniversary ed. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011), https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Rise-and-Fall-of-the-Third-Reich/William-L-Shirer/9781451642599

Daniel Immerwahr, How to Hide an Empire A History of the Greater United States (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019), https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374172145

The Videogame Historian: Matthew Schandler - Adjunct Instructor

Dr. Matthew Schandler is an adjunct instructor in history at Southern New Hampshire University and other institutions. In this episode, we discuss Matt’s academic and professional background, with a focus on his work on the early days of the videogame industry.

This episode’s recommendations:

Nick Dyer-Witheford and Greg de Peuter, Games of Empire: Global Capitalism and Video Games (University of Minnesota Press, 2009), https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/games-of-empire

Historical videogames, good and bad. Some good, some really bad.

Abigail Pfeiffer - Executive Director, Vietnam War Digital History Project

Abigail Pfeiffer is the Course Lead for US History at Western Governors University, the Executive Director of the Vietnam War Digital History Project, and an adjunct instructor for Southern New Hampshire University. In this episode, we discuss her academic and professional background, her research on prisoners of war during the Korean and Vietnam Wars, her development of the Vietnam War Digital History Project, and her teaching career.

This episode’s recommendations:

Vietnam War Digital History Project: http://www.vwdhp.org/

Joanne B. Freeman, The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War (Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 2018): https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374154776

Truong Nhu Tang, David Chanoff, and Doan Van Toai, A Viet Cong Memoir: An Inside Account of the Vietnam War and Its Aftermath (Vintage Books, 1986): https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/176408/a-vietcong-memoir-by-truong-nhu-tang-former-minister-of-justice-with-david-chanoff-and-doan-van-toai/

Lien-Hang T. Nguyen, Hanoi’s War: An International History of the War for Peace in Vietnam (University of North Carolina Press, 2012): https://www.uncpress.org/book/9781469628356/hanois-war/ Rob’s review of Hanoi’s War for Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective (April, 2013): https://origins.osu.edu/review/hanoi-central 

Teaching Careers for Historians: Susan Keefer - Substitute Teacher and Adjunct Instructor

Susan Keefer is a substitute teacher, assessment exam grader, and adjunct instructor for history at Southern New Hampshire University. In this episode we discuss Susan’s academic and professional background, the difference between regional history and national history, historiography, the value of pursuing a K-12 teaching credential, and the use of music in history courses.

This episode’s recommendations:

Music!

The Band, "The Weight" (from The Last Waltz), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCSzL5-SPHM

Dead Moon, "54/40 or Fight", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPXSgpe0AVA

Nirvana, "Rape Me," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TsqlT0rfJI

They Might Be Giants, "James K. Polk," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSdgjP8os7U

They Might Be Giants, "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFaRklAYanY 

Teaching and Advising Careers for Historians: Jeff Ramsey - Adjunct Instructor and Academic Adviser

Dr. Jeffrey Ramsey is an academic adviser and an instructor at Southern New Hampshire University. In this episode we talk about academic and professional background, his research into the introduction of Title IX in the Big 10 sports conference, and his work as a college instructor and academic adviser.

This episode’s recommendations:

Michael Kimmel, Guyland: The Perilous World where Boys Become Men, updated (Harper, 2018), https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062885739/guyland/

New York Times 1619 podcast: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/23/podcasts/1619-slavery-anniversary.html