Professor Michael Vorenberg joins us to address one of the most perplexing questions in US history. Did the Civil War end on April 9, at Appomattox, as conventional wisdom holds, where Lee surrendered to Grant in Wilmer McLean’s parlor? Or was it ten weeks afterward, in Galveston, where a federal commander proclaimed Juneteenth the end of slavery? Or perhaps in August of 1866, when President Andrew Johnson simply declared “the insurrection is at an end”? And we talk about the general question of...
Apr 02, 2025•42 min
Professor Buzzkill seems to want to make enemies in this episode. He shows that many things central to Irish culture and identity are actually British in origin -- St. Patrick, “the craic,” and “Danny Boy” come under his withering analytical gaze. But he may surprise you with the ultimate conclusions he reaches. Maybe he’s not that much of a buzzkill after all.
Mar 14, 2025•16 min
White supremacy has been rising at an alarming rate in the last few years. The “Irish Slaves” myth has been given new life by these extremists. The famous “Irish: the Forgotten White Slaves” email has been unearthed and promoted heavily again during the St. Patrick’s season. It’s an abuse of history, as well as being reprehensible morally.
Mar 11, 2025•36 min
Carla Von Trapp Hunter (descendant of Captain and Maria Von Trapp) joins Dr. Rebecca Brenner Graham to talk about The Sound of Music, the famous musical that appeared in theaters 60 years ago this week. We bust the many myths in the Sound of Music film, and show that the real story of the von Trapps is much more fascinating! Join us for one of the very best Buzzkill discussions ever! Episode 577.
Mar 04, 2025•59 min
This week sees the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Dresden on February 13-14, 1945. It was one of the most destructive of the Allies’ late-war bombing campaigns over Germany. Somewhere between 22,000 and 25,000 people were killed and a famously beautiful city was leveled. It’s been called an Allied war crime, and Kurt Vonnegut’s famous novel “Slaughterhouse 5” reinforced that idea in the public mind for generations. But was it a war crime? Was it unnecessary? Professor Phil Nash enlightens us...
Feb 11, 2025•34 min
Frances Perkins was one of the most important Americans in the 20th century. She helped hundreds of people flee Nazi Germany and come to the United States when she was Secretary of Labor in the Franklin Roosevelt administration. As Hitler rose to power, thousands of German-Jewish refugees and their loved ones reached out to the INS—then part of the Department of Labor—applying for immigration to the United States, writing letters that began “Dear Miss Perkins…” A fascinating interview with Dr. R...
Jan 21, 2025•39 min
“Should old acquaintance be forgot”? What? Should we forget old friends? What does Auld Lang Syne actually mean? Why do we sing it every New Year’s Eve? Join the Professor as he waxes lyrical and sentimentally about Auld Lang Syne, Scotland, and good auld Robert Burns! A Professor Buzzkill Classic Episode
Dec 31, 2024•16 min
One of the most popular movies of all time, “It’s a Wonderful Life” (starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed) is a holiday classic. It has also given us a cornucopia of history myths and urban legends. Lend an ear as the Professor analyzes these stories, talks about how the movie was received when released in 1946, and highlights many overlooked supporting actors in the film. And you learn why the Professor thinks he also has a “wonderful life”! A classic Professor Buzzkill episode!
Dec 19, 2024•41 min
How exactly did Winston Churchill go about directing and managing first the Battle of Britain and then Britain’s part in the wider war? Did he act like a CEO or more like a Chairman of the Board when dealing with the British government? Allen Packwood, the Director of the Churchill Archives Centre at the University of Cambridge, joins us to explain the decisions that Churchill had to make, and how that helps understand his leadership styles. A fascinating and eye-opening show! Episode 575.
Dec 12, 2024•30 min
The “The Weeping Frenchman” photograph from the fall of France in 1940 is one of the most emotional images from World War II. Professor Buzzkill explains the story behind that famous image, and why it’s been used so much in social media by people who are upset with the recent election. The actual story of “The Weeping Frenchman” is much more interesting (and significant) than the mythical story of him watching the Nazis march into Paris. Listen and learn! Episode 574.
Dec 05, 2024•11 min
Professor Buzzkill finally gives you the “summation and inspiration” episode about The Battle Hymn of the Republic that he promised you! He traces the Battle Hymn from the post-Civil War years, the Teddy Roosevelt and the Progressive Era, the burgeoning union movement, the funerals of Churchill and RFK, schoolyard parodies and English football fan songs, and Whitney Houston’s beautiful rendition in 1991. Finally, he shows how Martin Luther King used it in his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speec...
Dec 03, 2024•35 min
Harvard Professor John Stauffer joins us to discuss the history of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and its significance and meanings for American culture. He shows that it’s a song that unites and divides the country, and that it has been used by many different groups in American social and political life. It’s a fascinating interview that takes the song all the way from its origins as “Say, Brothers…” to the union song, “Solidarity Forever,” and its use by the civil rights movement in the 195...
Oct 25, 2024•25 min
American folk singers, Sparky and Rhonda Rucker, discuss their popular and historically significant “Glory Hallelujah Suite” as part of our Julia Ward Howe/Battle Hymn of the Republic week. Learn about “Say Brothers Will You Meet Us?” “John Brown’s Body,” “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and the “Marching Song of the First Arkansas Colored Regiment.” All of these were important songs in the Civil War era, but they have been given a higher beauty by being turned into a suite by Sparky and Rhond...
Oct 23, 2024•47 min
Julia Ward Howe led one of the most significant lives in US history. She was a poet, feminist, political reformer, champion of international pacifism, and much more. Dr. Elaine Showalter joins us to discuss Julia Ward Howe’s life, and the various civil wars she witnessed and had to fight. From composing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” to writing the Mothers’ Day Proclamation for peace, she was a very strong force in an America that was growing up to become a world power. Episode 270.
Oct 22, 2024•33 min
We’re dedicating this week to shows about Julia Ward Howe and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” She wrote it in 1862 during America’s most serious crisis. As the 2024 Presidential Election looms, we’re facing another threat to our liberties and our future. We need something inspirational, something like Julia Ward Howe offered the nation during the Civil War. This brief episode sets what our shows this week will be.
Oct 21, 2024•5 min
Ned Kelly is Australia’s most famous outlaw. A mix of frontier bandit, murderer, and gang leader, Kelly has gone down in Australian lore as an anti-establishment hero. Dr. Lachlan Strahan tells the story of his great-great-grandfather, Anthony Strahan, who was one of the Australian policemen who helped hunt down Ned Kelly. Listen to this fascinating story about the famous Ned Kelly, hero worship in Australian history, but also about the men tasked to uphold the law. Episode 569.
Oct 15, 2024•34 min
Norman Holmes Pearson actually did what a great many professors dream about doing. He was an expert in his field, but he also worked as an Intelligence Officer for the US military during World War II and the Cold War. And he wasn’t a desk jockey, but an active spy. Despite a major physical disability, he parachuted into Europe during the height of World War II for espionage reasons. Oh, and he was a literature professor too, by the way. So, as a spy, recruiter, and cultural diplomat, he connecte...
Oct 08, 2024•47 min
Buzzkill Genius Dr. Philip Nash brings us a fabulous (and very relevant) show on the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. There's so much more to those events than the standard "eye-ball-to-eye-ball" story would have us believe. Among many other things, we learn why the Cold War was so cold. You'll understand so much more after listening. Encore Episode.
Oct 05, 2024•1 hr 9 min
All wars are bad. But why was World War II so extreme? Coming less than 20 years after World War I (the most extreme war up until that time), the Second World War’s death toll is _conservatively_ calculated at 60 million people. And some estimates are higher than that. Professor Phil Nash joins us to explain why the death and destruction were so severe, and to give us grim statistics on some overlooked facts. These include the number of civilian deaths outnumbering military deaths, and the numbe...
Oct 04, 2024•1 hr 1 min
Professor Philip Nash continues his excellent analysis of the famous Battle of Stalingrad. The grim complications in the details of the history of this battle give us perfect insight into the nature of warfare during this period. Dr. Nash finishes up by explaining how the Battle of Stalingrad fits into the larger period of late 1943-1943, when the war started to turn against the Axis powers. Episode 567.
Oct 03, 2024•51 min
Stalingrad. Even just the name of the city conjures up images of a brutal, months-long battle that helped change the course of the war. Professor Nash discusses the background of the battle, Hitler’s intent in attacking that part of the Soviet Union, and how the Red Army defended the area and built up the resilience to counterattack. Part 1 is fascinating, and will leave listeners yearning for Part 2. Episode 566.
Sep 24, 2024•52 min
German soldiers were kept in the Soviet Union until the late 1950s. Professor Grunewald explains why the Soviets kept the POWs after the war, what they did with them, and why they were incarcerated for so long. Was it retribution for the millions of Soviet war dead? Were the German POWs used as a necessary labor force, helping to rebuild the Soviet Union? Or were there multiple other reasons? Dr. Susan Grunewald explains all! Episode 564.
Sep 17, 2024•37 min
This 2024 Presidential election has brought the question of “birthright citizenship” up again in the United States, because Donald Trump has questioned whether Kamala Harris is a citizen. Her parents were not born in the United States, and he thinks that disqualifies her to be President. This episode explains birthright citizenship and how it developed in the United States and in the western hemisphere. And, of course, it explains the complicated history of the tradition, especially how it was a...
Sep 10, 2024•34 min
Did “image” play a role in the famous presidential debates of 1960? Did Richard Nixon appear sick and frail, compared to a hale and healthy John Kennedy? The standard story is that he did; and that it affected the way people perceived him, and how they voted. But how much of this is true, and how much in urban legend? We examine the whole thing, with an eye to what might happen if there’s a debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump during this election. Episode 563.
Sep 03, 2024•13 min
Slave trading continued in the south during the Civil War. Between Fort Sumter to Appomattox, Confederates bought and sold thousands of African-American men, women, and children. These transactions in humanity made the internal slave trade a cornerstone of Confederate society, a bulwark of the Rebel economy, and a central part of the experience of the Civil War for all inhabiting the American South. Professor Robert Colby explains all! Episode 562.
Aug 27, 2024•32 min
Professor Nash tells us about wives and lovers of leading Nazis, women who participated in Nazi crimes, and women who worked against the Nazi regime. We look at everyone from Eva Braun, Hitler’s partner, to Sophie Scholl, one of the leaders of the White Rose resistance to the Nazi state. This episode shows that German women as a whole were a representative slice of Nazi ideology and practice, as well as opposition to Nazism. Episode 562.
Aug 20, 2024•41 min
The treatment and status of women under Hitler and the Nazis is fascinating, in all the wrong ways. If the Nazi reputation wasn’t bad enough, the detail presented in this episode shows that there’s no bottom to their depravity. Professor Philip Nash explains all in the first part of a major two-part series. These are among our best shows ever! Episode 560.
Aug 13, 2024•33 min
The real Pat Nixon bore little resemblance to the woman so often described as elusive, mysterious and “plastic” in the press. Heath Hardage Lee takes us through Pat Nixon’s life and career. And myths are busted left and right! Learn how Pat Nixon, the supposed quiet housewife, was actually a career woman, and an important reason that Richard Nixon rose to the top of American politics from the 1940s to the 1970s. Episode 559.
Aug 06, 2024•45 min
July 30th is the 79th anniversary of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis during World War II in 1945, and the famous shark attack on its helpless crew floating in the Pacific Ocean. Captain Quint’s story about the USS Indianapolis in the movie “Jaws” is only the beginning of a gut-wrenching piece of history. There’s a lot more to the Indianapolis sinking than most people know. Listen to the special Anniversary Encore!
Jul 30, 2024•10 min
American Presidential primaries and conventions seem excessively complicated, and maybe even outdated. Could they all just be an email, as office workers say nowadays? Fortunately, Professor Philip Nash explains all! We can't promise that we make primaries and conventions seem logical and sensible. But we do our best! Episode 558.
Jul 25, 2024•25 min
