North Americana - podcast cover

North Americana

North Americana hits the road, unearthing surprising stories that connect Americans and Canadians, then sharing insider travel tips for those who might want to go too. Award-winning journalist Liz Beatty hosts inviting along some great American storytellers and expert guests.
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Episodes

Episode 11: Canadian Black Baseball’s Quest for Cooperstown

National Geographic Editor, Heather Greenwood Davis, reveals how a black baseball team in Ontario, pre-Jackie Robinson, were among the best in the world. And how their descendants are still fighting for their due recognition.

Jan 05, 202134 minSeason 2Ep. 11

Episode 6: Butter Tarts Explained by a US Foodie

Fat, sugar and gluten come together in a way that beguiles American foodie, Carolyn Heller. She digs in to explore why butter tarts are so deeply Canadian.

Nov 10, 202034 minSeason 2Ep. 6

Episode 1: Rosie the Riveter was Canadian?

Long before there was America’s Rosie, there was Canada’s Ronnie — Ronnie the Bren Gun Girl. We follow their history from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Thunder Bay and Toronto in Ontario.

Oct 06, 202031 minSeason 2Ep. 1

Season 2 Teaser

How well do Americans and Canadians really get each other? North Americana dives into fascinating and surprising connections between our two countries. From a black baseball team in Ontario that was one of the best in the world to how Kahnawake steel workers built the New York City skyline — North Americana is a cross-border conversation.

Sep 29, 202030 sec

Episode 6: From Mountain, North Dakota to Gimli, Manitoba — The Fierce Viking Spirit of North America’s New Icelanders

“At first glance, the wide sloping field off the western shores of Lake Winnipeg looks like a death metal convention gone very very wrong” — the words this episode of Nat Geo Digital Nomad Robert Reid. He’s reporting from the Viking battle reenactment of Gimli, Manitoba’s annual Icelandic Festival — one of the longest running cultural festivals in North America. In this episode, we explore deep into that Viking heart of New Iceland — From Gimli, to Mountain, North Dakota. Two towns divided by a ...

Nov 18, 201937 minEp. 6

Episode 5: From the Midwest to Rural French-Speaking Quebec — Two American Storytellers Ask Quebecois: Why the Two Official Languages?

Former National Geographic Explorer and anthropologist Wade Davis calls language the old growth forest of the mind. In other words, language and how we know ourselves within our culture and our people are inextricably linked. And there are few places on the planet where these links are more palpable than Quebec. Still many of my American friends and colleagues just don’t “get” the notion of our two official languages. How it happened and why it stuck. To shed light on that confusion, we send two...

Nov 04, 201933 minEp. 5

Episode 4: Gospel, Slavery and the Surprising Shared Black History of the U.S. and the Canadian Maritimes.

African American roots reaching back to before the American Revolution, the underground railroad and slavery, and gospel traditions almost 200 years old. Think you have a hunch where North Americana is going this episode? You might be surprised. Twenty minutes drive due east of downtown Halifax, on Canada’s Atlantic Coast, over the MacDonald Bridge through Dartmouth and beyond, we find North Preston and some of Nova Scotia’s oldest music traditions. Visitors might expect to hear the lilt of a ce...

Oct 21, 201931 minEp. 4

Episode 3: From the Summer of Love to Nelson British Columbia — Inside “Resisterville”

Say “Summer of Love” and so many images come to mind — “far out” lingo, tie dye and flower power, San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district, the Human Be-In at Golden Gate Park where you’d sway to local bands like the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. But for a time and place that changed a generation, it’s amazing just how fleeting all this was. From what seemed like endless possibilities for 30,000 or so hippies converging on San Francisco, to total collapse in about 10 months. All amid inte...

Oct 07, 201932 minEp. 3

Episode 2: Explore the Ancient Great Lakes Crossroads Linking All North America—And Other Indigenous Revelations You Never Learned in School

Think the explorers or the voyageurs opened up North America, finding trade and travel routes? Do you imagine regional indigenous peoples once living in idyllic isolation? Think again. With the help of National Geographic Travel Media Editor Norie Quintos, North Americana explores the massive crossroads of pre-contact North America. Northern Ontario’s Manitoulin Island is a fascinating portal to the Great Lakes first peoples, and their ancient axis across which trade, people and ideas flowed fro...

Sep 23, 201936 minEp. 2

Episode 1: Broadway Goes to the Remote Eastern Edge of North America

A feel-good musical about 9/11? How does that possibly work? Award-winning Broadway actor De’Lon Grant had no idea, back when Come From Away was just a rumor among musical theatre insiders. Then he joined the cast of now Tony-nominated Come From Away — and — went to Gander, Newfoundland. With De’Lon’s help, we meet firsthand the people that inspired this global hit, get inside the culture that shaped them, and share travel tips if you want to go too. https://www.northamericanapodcast.com Faceboo...

Sep 09, 201930 minEp. 1

Teaser: North Americana

How well do Americans and Canadians really get each other? North Americana dives into fascinating and surprising connections between our two countries. From Summer of Love refugees in a remote BC town, to American Revolution Black Loyalists in Nova Scotia and the real people who inspired a Tony-nominated Broadway play set in Gander, Newfoundland on 9/11 — North Americana is a cross-border conversation.

Aug 21, 201931 sec
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