The right to privacy, a 22-year-old who went by the pseudonym “Jane Roe,” and one of the most famous court cases in United States history. Join us as we learn what happened leading up to Roe v. Wade, the fate of Norma McCorvey following the Supreme Court’s ruling, and how this piece of history echoes in the present day. That is not the only ghost of 1973 history that is still relevant, though. If you’re curious about how an oil embargo in the 70s impacts today’s gas prices and oil reserves, and ...
Nov 06, 2023•41 min•Season 13Ep. 6
What does it mean to be on the right side of history? That was a question today’s guest, Adam Kinzinger, asked himself when he chose to serve on the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol. Kinzinger joins Sharon to discuss his experience serving on the committee to defend democracy, and the personal sacrifice tied to prioritizing principals over party. If members of Congress are willing to send men and women to war to sacrifice their lives for o...
Nov 02, 2023•42 min•Season 13Ep. 5
Deep Throat, Operation Gemstone, two valiant reporters, and a secret 30 years in the making. Watergate was not a single scandal, but rather an avalanche of events and co-conspirators, all engaged in corruption to keep President Nixon in office. The stakes were so high that Nixon’s Special Security Advisor, G. Gordon Liddy, lived under fear of being assassinated, and the wife of Nixon’s Campaign Director & Attorney General was drugged and held captive in a hotel room to keep her silent. What ...
Oct 30, 2023•35 min•Season 13Ep. 4
“The week that changed the world.” Was it a chance encounter at the World Tennis Championship in 1971, “Panda diplomacy” between the U.S. and Communist China, or a break-in at the Democratic National Headquarters by a team of 5 burglars, that drastically altered the trajectory of world history? It was around this time that the Women’s Equity Action League also filed one of the farthest reaching Class Action lawsuits, leading to President Nixon signing the Education Act into law. Join us as we ta...
Oct 23, 2023•33 min•Season 13Ep. 3
Secret Police, CIA operatives, The Pentagon Papers, and The Most Dangerous Man in America. There was a time in the not-so-distant past, when the nightly news changed the game in how Americans felt about the war in Vietnam, the first “television war.” What was more of a shock to some though, was the realization that the American public had been lied to for decades by the U.S. government, spanning four presidential administrations. How did this influence the Watergate scandal? And how did the lavi...
Oct 16, 2023•43 min•Season 13Ep. 2
Welcome to our new series, Mayhem: The 1970s You Never Knew. Over the next few weeks we’ll take a journey through the Decade of Defiance, with all its scandals and secrets. As the decade devolved into war at home and abroad, Apollo 13 flew high above earth with the hope of landing safely on the surface of the moon. But then: disaster struck, and time was on no one’s side. Meanwhile, thousands of miles below the Apollo 13 spacecraft, a nationwide uprising among college students ended in disaster ...
Oct 09, 2023•46 min•Season 13Ep. 1
Today on Here’s Where It Gets Interesting, Sharon welcomes back close friend and CEO, Nicole Walters, to share all about her captivating memoir, Nothing Is Missing. The daughter of Ghanaian immigrants, Nicole writes about her experience growing up in America through the lens of a different kind of American dream, both in how she was raised, and by forging her own path as a TV personality, motivational speaker, and entrepreneur building a multi-million-dollar business. Nicole talks with humility ...
Oct 06, 2023•46 min•Season 12Ep. 29
Joining Sharon today is Mike Rothschild: journalist, author, and conspiracy theorist expert who dives deep into the history of conspiracy theories over the last two centuries. In his new book, Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories, Mike Rothschild – who is of no relation to the Rothschilds family referred to in the book – shows how many conspiracy theories today are directly connected to the same antisemitic rhetoric, myths, and accusations reaching back decad...
Oct 04, 2023•41 min•Season 12Ep. 28
On today’s episode, Sharon welcomes NPR’s Steve Inskeep, who has written a number of books about history including his newest release, Differ We Must: How Lincoln Succeeded in a Divided America. In a time when it’s common to cancel or cut ties with those we disagree with, what can we learn from Abraham Lincoln about how to disagree fundamentally, while maintaining the relationship? Even when at odds with a dear friend over the issue of slavery, Lincoln wrote, “If for this you and I must differ, ...
Oct 02, 2023•40 min•Season 12Ep. 27
Joining Sharon on the podcast today is well-known reporter Taylor Lorenz, who has written for The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Atlantic, covering technology from the user perspective as an authority on Internet culture. In her new book, Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet, Taylor takes a nostalgic trip down memory lane beginning with the rise of blogger culture, and weaving through the roads of social media and how the usage of technol...
Sep 29, 2023•36 min•Season 12Ep. 36
Joining Sharon today is comedian and author Maria Bamford, who shares the hometown of Duluth, Minnesota. Together, they discuss how Maria began her career as a comedian, and dive into her book: Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere. In this delightful conversation, they playfully banter about the irony of fundraising benefits, what makes one susceptible to cult-like mentality, and explore the cultural shift that has allowed society to speak more o...
Sep 27, 2023•35 min•Season 12Ep. 35
Sharon welcomes back political historian, author, and professor Heather Cox Richardson, one of our most popular podcast guests of all time, who has a new book out: Democracy Awakening. Taking a different approach to this book from her previous work, Heather answers some of the big picture questions – once and for all – that readers have asked for years, relating directly to America’s current standing as a Democracy. When did the political parties change sides? Is America a Democracy, or a Consti...
Sep 25, 2023•42 min•Season 12Ep. 34
In today’s episode, Sharon’s guest is Dylan Penningroth, whose new book, Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights, brings to light a new narrative of Black life in America. It’s a fascinating history of how African American communities used law, talked about law, and thought about law for almost two centuries, in ways that enabled the Civil Rights Movement before it even began. Pulling back the curtain, it explores how race actually works in American law, and does so by look...
Sep 22, 2023•47 min•Season 12Ep. 33
Joining Sharon today is Jennifer Ackerman who has written a new book titled, What an Owl Knows, to discuss some new, rich scientific discoveries about these captivating and intriguing birds. Owls have often been a symbol of knowledge and wisdom, but what does an owl truly know? In a conversation both kids and adults can enjoy, Jennifer shines a light on the 260+ species of owls, to understand the depth and complexities of these enchanting creatures. Scientists are still discovering owl species d...
Sep 20, 2023•47 min•Season 12Ep. 32
Sharon is joined today by cultural historian and author Colin Dickey, to discuss America’s fascination with conspiracies, and fear of secret societies. In his new book, Under the Eye of Power, Colin walks through the history of how paranoia is woven into the very fabric of The United States from its inception, and how conspiratorial thinking and even the most irrational beliefs reach the mainstream. From the Salem Witch Trials to Freemasonry to the Satanic Panic, the Illuminati, and QAnon, Colin...
Sep 18, 2023•39 min•Season 12Ep. 31
On today’s episode of Here’s Where It Gets Interesting, Sharon sits down with Dr. Devorah Heitner, author of Growing Up in Public: Coming of Age in a Digital World and Screenwise: Helping Kids Thrive (and Survive) in Their Digital World. At a time where every minor detail, fleeting thought, and potential misstep can be publicly documented and scrutinized online, how are parents, teenagers, and mentors expected to navigate growing up in the digital age? We all want the “right” answers, and have v...
Sep 15, 2023•49 min•Season 12Ep. 30
On today’s episode, Sharon is joined by author and professor Laurence Jurdem to discuss his book, The Rough Rider and the Professor, about the unusual thirty-five-year political friendship between President Theodore Roosevelt and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. While Roosevelt famously “rose like a rocket,” in the political spotlight with his larger-than-life personality, it was arguably his machiavellian friend Cabot who lit the fuse, and used his vast social network to boost Roosevelt. In his resea...
Sep 13, 2023•45 min•Season 12Ep. 29
Sharon’s guest today is Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and author of American Prometheus, which is the biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer that the blockbuster Christopher Nolan film was based on. Join us while Kai shares his experience of what it was like to have his work turned into a historically accurate major motion picture, and how he conducted the research required to capture the life of Oppenheimer. If you are interested in learning more about the mid-Century, World War II, hi...
Sep 11, 2023•40 min•Season 12Ep. 28
American Democracy has faced some challenging times, living through a modern day political crisis. Today, Sharon is joined by Harvard professors of government, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt to dig into all things Democracy. In their new book, Tyranny of the Minority, they explore how democracies break down throughout history and find the striking pattern that political minorities often govern over political majorities. Factor in the unsettling truth that the Constitution – even with its bri...
Sep 08, 2023•52 min•Season 12Ep. 27
On today’s episode of Here’s Where It Gets Interesting, we’re discussing all things public schools: The good, the bad, and the controversial. Joining Sharon is Dr. Bettina Love, Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University who has a new book out: Punished for Dreaming. Between chronic school underfunding, pressure placed on standardized testing, the devaluing of educators, teacher burnout, and a list of ongoing systemic challenges, many agree that something needs to change in the school sy...
Sep 06, 2023•58 min•Season 12Ep. 26
We’re joined today by returning guest, Jasmine Holmes, to dive into the state of Black history education in America, and to discuss her new book, Crowned with Glory: How Proclaiming the Truth of Black Dignity Has Shaped American History. Jasmine shares about Black abolitionists who fought for the dignity of their fellow mankind based on the principle that because people are created in God’s image, they have inherent dignity, worth, and human rights. When pockets of resistance throughout history ...
Sep 04, 2023•35 min•Season 12Ep. 25
In today’s episode, Sharon is joined by Esau McCaulley for a powerful conversation about his new book, How Far to the Promised Land. In his memoir, he took the story of his family and showed the struggles of Black people in America intergenerationally. Esau shares how it’s vital to understand how the stories of our ancestors – though they might seem insignificant – impact and shape generations to come. In a country that highly values “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps,” and the underdog, Es...
Sep 01, 2023•40 min•Season 12Ep. 24
On today’s episode, Sharon welcomes back Danielle Coke Balfour, who you may know as founder and illustrator of “Oh Happy Dani.” Sharon chats with Dani about her new book, “A Heart on Fire: 100 Meditations on Loving Your Neighbors Well.” At a time when it’s easy to become overwhelmed with the 24-hour news cycle and information overload, Danielle pauses and shares that it’s important to, “let each day be the evidence of a heart on fire,” by living in alignment with your values. In her book, she he...
Aug 30, 2023•43 min•Season 12Ep. 23
Today, Sharon welcomes back comedian and writer Taylor Wolfe to discuss her heartwarming memoir, Birdie & Harlow - Life, Loss, and Loving My Dog So Much I Didn't Want Kids (Until I Did). You might know Taylor from following her online at The Daily Tay, where she’s known for her entertaining videos and impressions of influencers, along with characters we’re all too familiar with from everyday life. Together, they discuss the nuance of modern motherhood when everyone has an opinion, the need f...
Aug 28, 2023•38 min•Season 12Ep. 22
In this episode of Here’s Where It Gets Interesting, Sharon sits down with Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America, to talk about some of the issues related to free expression and book banning. With more than 4,000 book bans at last count, this is an issue that has swept across the nation. Suzanne discusses what kind of book bans they see the most, and how veiled language about “protecting children” is used to remove books that contain narratives only a minority of people find uncomfortable. Books ar...
Aug 25, 2023•38 min•Season 12Ep. 21
Sharon is joined by North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to hear directly from the Republican Presidential candidate ahead of the presidential debate. In a time of cold wars, culture wars, and economic unknowns, Burgum makes the argument that it’s time for the federal government to refocus its priorities. Burgum also took the position that it’s time to “get away from the celebrity President and get back to the idea that the President is an operating job, and needs to focus on the job description.” Burg...
Aug 23, 2023•36 min•Season 12Ep. 20
Today, on Here’s Where It Gets Interesting, Sharon connects with journalist and celebrity biographer, J. Randy Taraborrelli, to chat about his new book “Jackie: Public, Private, Secret.” In his book, he paints a portrait of the lesser known parts of the iconic life of Jackie Kennedy Onassis. We all know public details of her time as First Lady in the White House, and recall the historic imagery of her wearing a pink Chanel suit with the matching pink hat on the day President Kennedy was assassin...
Aug 21, 2023•42 min•Season 12Ep. 19
Today, Sharon sits down with author, journalist, and educator, Samuel Freedman, to discuss a man who has arguably gotten too little credit in the Civil Rights Movement: former VP Hubert Humphrey. There would be no Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and 60s without the groundwork that was laid in the 1940s. The battles Humphrey faced overlap with many of the same battles being fought now: Against white supremacy, “America First” policies, and Christian Nationalism. What inspired a very “vanilla g...
Aug 18, 2023•48 min•Season 12Ep. 18
Today on Here’s Where It Gets Interesting, Sharon is joined by Matthew Desmond, Professor of Sociology at Princeton University and the founding director of the Eviction Lab. Together, they discuss his best-selling book, “Poverty, By America,” and take a hard look at poverty in one of the richest countries in the world, while reimagining the debate on poverty. We all know that poverty is an existing problem in the United States, but what does that actually mean? How is the “poverty line” calculat...
Aug 16, 2023•51 min•Season 12Ep. 17
Have you ever played alternative history and wondered how you’d survive being in steerage on the Titanic, or how you would have fared during The Black Death? Today, Sharon sits down with Cody Cassidy, author of “How to Survive History" to take a look at some of the most catastrophic events in world history. They discuss how past events might inform how to respond to future ones and how escape plans can be an interesting and fun way to learn about history. People often ask, “Is this the worst it ...
Aug 14, 2023•39 min•Season 12Ep. 16
