Episode description

Flashback has RETURNED from a thesis-finishing hiatus and bringing with it our first full-fledged Western episode: 1966’s The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, directed by Sergio Leone. Associate Professor of American History at the University of Durham Kevin Waite joins us to unpack the epic and legendary Spaghetti Western which follows three rapscallions as they search for lost Confederate gold at the height of the American Civil War. We discuss the film’s context next to other Westerns, older and newer, the Western Theater of the Civil War, Morricone’s iconic score, ask why “Southerns” don’t exist, and more! 

Kevin’s book, West of Slavery: The Southern Dream of a Transcontinental Empire (University of North Carolina Press, 2021) is available wherever (academic) books are sold.

We've moved to bluesky! Please follow us there at @flashbackhistory.bsky.social

Flashback is graciously supported by the University of Oxford's Rothermere American Institute

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