General History

General History

episodes

Interviews with historians about their new books.

Gullah-Geechee Diasporas: Knowledge, Culture, and Black Lowcountry Legacies

July 7, 2026

Gullah-Geechee Diasporas

Muhammad Fraser-Rahim and Elizabeth J West eds.
Hosted by Sullivan Summer

Gullah-Geechee Diasporas: Knowledge, Culture, and Black Lowcountry Legacies (University of South Carolina Press, 2026) counters romantic portrayals of…

Daniel Rood, "In the Shadow of the Great House: A History of the Plantation in America" (Norton, 2026)

July 7, 2026

In the Shadow of the Great House

Daniel Rood
Hosted by Ryan Tripp

Dan Rood’s In the Shadow of the Great House (W.W. Norton & Co., 2026) is one of the first contemporary books to focus on the primary engine of slavery…

Ted Powell, "Churchill and the Crown" (Oxford UP, 2026)

July 6, 2026

Churchill and the Crown

Ted Powell
Hosted by Charles Coutinho

Winston Churchill was born in a palace and was given a funeral worthy of a king. His family had enjoyed an intimate association with the British m…

Stephen Robertson, "Harlem in Disorder: A Spatial History of How Racial Violence Changed in 1935" (Stanford UP, 2024)

July 6, 2026

Harlem in Disorder

Stephen Robertson
Hosted by Kishauna Soljour

The violence that spread across Harlem on the night of March 19, 1935 was the first large-scale racial disorder in the United States in more than a d…

Lauren Duval, "The Home Front: Revolutionary Households, Military Occupation, and the Making of American Independence" (UNC Press, 2025)

July 6, 2026

The Home Front

Lauren Duval
Hosted by Carolyn Eastman

What was it like to live in a city experiencing occupation by a foreign army? What did it mean when a family had to quarter an officer in their home? …

S5E12 250 Years of Special Providence: On American Grand Strategy Since the Declaration with Walter Russell Mead

July 3, 2026

250 Years of Special Providence

Walter Russell Mead
Hosted by Ryan Shinkel

To celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary, Madison’s Notes is having a special Fourth of July episode to close out the season. So in Episode 12 of S…

Xian Aubin Wang, "Islam and Maoism in Southern Yunnan: State Violence and Resistance, 1949–2024" (Cornell UP, 2026)

July 3, 2026

Islam and Maoism in Southern Yunnan

Xian Aubin Wang
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Islam and Maoism in Southern Yunnan: State Violence and Resistance, 1949–2024 (Cornell University Press, 2026) by Dr. Xian Aubin Wang investigates …

Olivier Hein, "Mother of the World: The Remarkable History of Turkmenistan" (Hurst, 2026)

July 2, 2026

Mother of the World

Olivier Hein
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Turkmenistan rarely makes international headlines–and when it did, it was often stories that highlighted things like the strange cult of personality t…

Rosa Campbell, "The Book That Taught the World to Orgasm and Then Disappeared: Shere Hite and the Hite Report" (Melville House, 2026)

July 2, 2026

The Book That Taught the World to Orgasm and Then Disappeared

Rosa Campbell
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Despite being one of the leading thinkers of the second wave feminist movement, today Shere Hite is little known, little written about, and, unsurpris…

Thy Will Be Done: George Washington's Legacy of Slavery and the Fight for American Memory

July 2, 2026

Thy Will Be Done

John Garrison Marks

In Thy Will Be Done: George Washington's Legacy of Slavery and the Fight for American Memory (UNC Press, 2026), historian John Garrison Marks tells th…

Jonathan Schneer, "Nine Days in May: The General Strike Of 1926" (Oxford UP, 2026)

July 1, 2026

Nine Days in May

Jonathan Schneer
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

In May, 1926, nearly three million British workers downed tools to support nearly one million of their countrymen, miners whose employers meant to len…

Thomas Paine at the Semiquincentennial: A Conversation with Gregory Claeys

July 1, 2026

Thomas Paine at the Semiquincentennial

Gregory Claeys
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

Thomas Paine: Collected Writings (Princeton University Press, 2026) is the first major new edition of Paine’s works, bringing together all his writing…

Kate Dannies, "Conscripting Breadwinner Soldiers in the Late Ottoman Empire: Family, Law and War" (Edinburgh UP, 2026)

July 1, 2026

Conscripting Breadwinner Soldiers in the Late Ottoman Empire

Kate Dannies
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Conscripting Breadwinner Soldiers in the Late Ottoman Empire: Family, Law and War (Edinburgh UP, 2026) by Dr. Kate Dannies examines the gender and fam…

Chiara Formichi, "Domestic Nationalism: Muslim Women, Health, and Modernity in Indonesia" (Stanford UP, 2025)

June 30, 2026

Domestic Nationalism

Chiara Formichi
Hosted by Leah Cargin

In her most recent publication, Domestic Nationalism: Muslim Women, Health, and Modernity in Indonesia (Stanford UP, 2025), Chiara Formichi argues tha…

John Wills, "Doom Town, USA: The Nevada Test Site As Ground Zero of 1950s American Culture" (UP of Kansas, 2026)

June 30, 2026

Doom Town, USA

John Wills
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In March 1953 and May 1955, government officials—including the Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA), the US Department of Defense, and the Atom…

Scott Reich, "One Day in September: Baseball, Brotherhood, and the Birth of the All-Star Game" (Compass Rose, 2026)

June 30, 2026

One Day in September

Scott Reich
Hosted by Paul Knepper

On a crisp September afternoon in 1917, as the country waged war and the national pastime faced questions about its purpose, baseball paused to recons…

Christopher de Bellaigue, "The Golden Throne: The Curse of a King" (Bodley Head, 2025)

June 29, 2026

The Golden Throne

Christopher de Bellaigue
Hosted by Lucas Tse

What does a 16th century ruler reveal about the nature of power, past and present? Istanbul, 1538. The greatest of the Ottoman Sultans is at the pinn…

Fred S. Naiden, "Railroaded: A Motorman’s Story of the New York City Subway" (Rutgers UP, 2026)

June 28, 2026

Railroaded

Fred S. Naiden
Hosted by Robert Snyder

Fred S. Naiden, professor emeritus of history of at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is an authority on the ancient world. In the 1980…

Thomas S. Mullaney, "How We Disappear: A Personal History of Information" (W. W. Norton, 2026)

June 28, 2026

How We Disappear

Thomas S. Mullaney
Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

This is the third time I have the great fortune of interviewing Tom Mullaney. I can hardly think of a more worthy ambassador for the history disciplin…

Fabio Lanza, "Urban Revolution: People's Communes in Beijing" (Cambridge UP, 2026)

June 27, 2026

Urban Revolution

Fabio Lanza
Hosted by Mark Baker

During the Great Leap Forward (1958-62), the collectivization of the Chinese countryside had catastrophic results, but how did this short-lived politi…