Lectures in History - podcast cover

Lectures in History

Go back to school with the country's top professors lecturing on a variety of topics in American history. New episodes posted every Saturday evening. From C-SPAN, the network that brings you "After Words" and "C-SPAN's The Weekly" podcasts.
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Episodes

Williamsburg Revolutionary War Encampment

William & Mary lecturer Robyn Schroeder discusses the Williamsburg, Virginia, site where colonial troops built an encampment ahead of the 1781 battle of Yorktown during the Revolutionary War. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 25, 20261 hr 17 min

How Martin Luther King Jr. Used Political Strategy

Boise State history professor Jill Gill lectures on Martin Luther King Jr.'s political strategies in the Civil Rights Movement up until his assassination in 1968. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 18, 20261 hr 17 min

Kentucky and Slavery: From Statehood to the Civil War

When Kentucky in 1792 became a state, it had a choice; keep slavery or abolish it. University of Kentucky professor Melanie Goan teaches a class on the state's relationship with the institution of slavery until the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 05, 202655 min

The Barbary Pirates and Early American Foreign Policy

Carroll College professor Jeanette Fregulia chronicles the Barbary pirates' conflict with American ships during the 18th and 19th centuries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 21, 20251 hr 9 min

Gunmaking & the Roots of Mass Production

Northwestern professor Ken Alder presented an image of an 1851 Colt Navy Revolver and asked why the gun was one of the first mass produced technologies in the United States. Professor Alder chronicled the origins of American mass production through gunmaking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 14, 20251 hr 16 min

How FDR Built a 12-Million-Strong Military: Robert Brigham on America’s WWII Mobilization

Vassar College professor Robert Brigham discussed his upcoming memoir about his search for his biological father, who served as a Marine in Vietnam. This event was part of the 2025 LCpl. Benjamin W. Schmidt Symposium on War, Conflict, and Society at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 07, 202550 min

Geri Spieler on Housewife Assassin: The True Story Behind a Suburban Double Life

In September 1975, 17 days apart, two women, one in Sacramento and the other in San Francisco, attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford. The first attempt on September the 5th came from Annette Squeaky Fromm. The Charles Manson follower spent over 30 years in prison, is out on parole, and is 76 years old. The other attempt came on the non-entrance side of St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco on September the 24th, 1975. The shooter, Sara Jane Moore, served 32 years in prison and died almost ...

Nov 23, 20251 hr 8 min

The 1967 Six-Day War and America’s Role in the Arab-Israeli Peace Process

The 1967 Six-Day War, 1973 Yom Kippur War, and 2023 Israel-Hamas War have all garnered the United States' diplomatic involvement. Trinity College Professor James Stocker looks at the history of the U.S. negotiating ends to Israeli-Arab conflicts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 16, 20251 hr 16 min

The Mexican-American War: Causes, Consequences, and Legacy

On September 14, 1847, Winfield Scott's Army marched into Mexico City, marking the final stages of the Mexican-American War. University of Texas professor Aaron O'Connell chronicles the war's causes, the divisions it inflamed, and its aftermath. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 01, 20251 hr 21 min

How Constitutional Order Emerged From Crisis

During Reconstruction, a campaign to overthrow the South Carolina government succeeded, triggering a constitutional crisis. University of North Carolina professor and author of "Sedition," Marcus Gadson, analyzed the history behind this event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 26, 202558 min

Gettysburg College’s Timothy Shannon on the Mystery of Roanoke

This week on the Lectures in History podcast: The mystery of the Roanoke Colony’s disappearance. In 1587, English settlers established a colony on Roanoke Island, off the coast of present-day North Carolina — only to vanish without a trace soon after. Gettysburg College Professor Timothy Shannon explores what we know about the lost colony, the people who lived there, and the theories behind one of early America’s greatest mysteries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

Oct 19, 20251 hr 14 min

The 1876 Great Sioux War and the Battle of the Little Bighorn

What happened when General Custer and Crazy Horse faced off in battle? Stetson University Professor David Morton chronicles the 1876 Great Sioux War in the South Dakota Black Hills. Stetson University is located in Deland, Florida. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 12, 20251 hr 22 min

Kentucky and Slavery: From Statehood to the Civil War

When Kentucky in 1792 became a state, it had a choice; keep slavery or abolish it. University of Kentucky professor Melanie Goan teaches a class on the state's relationship with the institution of slavery until the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 28, 202555 min

Lectures in History: 1992 Republican National Convention

The 1992 Republican National Convention speeches by former President Ronald Reagan and Pat Buchanan - who had run for the GOP nomination that year against incumbent President George H.W. Bush - was the topic of a class taught by University of Kansas political communication professor Robert Rowland. The University of Kansas is in Lawrence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 14, 20251 hr

FEED DROP: BN+ Richard J. Evans, "Hitler's People"

Sir Richard J. Evans has been writing about Germany and Adolf Hitler for his entire professional life. He was knighted in Britain in 2012 for his service to scholarship. From 2003-2008, Professor Evans published a trilogy of the Third Reich with a total of over 2,500 pages. His latest book is titled "Hitler's People: The Faces of the Third Reich." In his preface, Sir Richard, a former professor at Cambridge University writes: "The individuals who stand at the center of this book range from the t...

Sep 07, 20251 hr 3 min

James Broussard, Colonial America Before the Revolution

Professor James Broussard taught a class on the lead-up to the American Revolution. He described actions by the British government, such as the Stamp Act and stationing British troops in Boston, that American colonists began to view as an overreach of power Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 31, 20251 hr 11 min

Eric Hinderaker, Western Lands Before and After the American Revolution

University of Utah Professor Eric Hinderaker taught a class about western settlement before, during and after the American Revolution. Using the Kentucky territory as an example, he described the conflicts and relationships between the new federal government, settlers and Native Americans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 24, 20251 hr 21 min

Professor Joyce Lee Malcolm, Benedict Arnold

Law professor and author Joyce Lee Malcolm discussed Benedict Arnold's triumphs as an American army general in the Revolutionary War and questioned whether his legacy as a notorious American traitor is entirely accurate. Professor Malcolm is the author of, The Tragedy of Benedict Arnold: An American Life . This one hour talk was hosted by the University of Mary Washington as part of their Great Lives Lecture Series. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

Aug 17, 20251 hr 9 min

Garrett Graff, "The Devil Reached Toward the Sky"

Historian Garrett Graff discusses his oral history of the development, testing and deployment of the atomic bomb in August 1945. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 10, 20251 hr 14 min

George Washington's Character

Gene Allen Smith, a Texas Christian University history professor, taught a class about George Washington's character. He examined how the first president interacted with his contemporaries, how he viewed himself, and how he is remembered. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 03, 20251 hr 1 min

Colonial Tensions Pre-Revolution

Ithaca College professor Michael Trotti discussed the escalating tensions between colonists and the British government before the American Revolution. Ithaca College is located in New York. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 27, 20251 hr 3 min

1607 Jamestown Settlement

College of William & Mary lecturer Amy Stallings discussed the history of the 1607 Jamestown fort and settlement in Virginia, and how Americans have tried to preserve and remember the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. The College of William & Mary is located in Williamsburg, Virginia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 20, 20251 hr 5 min

Army Explorers of the West

Texas Woman's University history professor Cecily Zander discussed the federal government's efforts to explore and control the American west from the early 1800's through the Civil War. Texas Woman's University is located in Denton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 13, 20251 hr 22 min

Weapons Technology in the Revolutionary War

Wright State University professor Paul Lockhart taught a class on the development of weapons technology in the American Revolution. Wright State University is located in Dayton, Ohio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 06, 20251 hr 19 min
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