Historically Thinking
Latest Episodes
Episode 238: Generations of Reason
In February, 1853, Augustus De Morgan, Professor of Mathematics at University College London, drew the last of a series of diagrams illustrating logical syllogisms. A the center of this one was a face
Episode 241: Doing the Research
So what does research mean to you? Does it mean looking for someone somewhere on the internet who agrees with you? - Then you should really listen to this podcast. - This is another of our continuing
Episode 240: Empire and Jihad
In 1914, at the start of the Great War, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire called for a Great Jihad against France, Russia, and Great Britain. It was a logical conclusion to over fity years of conflic
Episode 239: The Chicken and the Egg, or, What Keeps (Some) Historians Awake at Night
This is one of the last in our year-long series about the skills of historical thinking, and today our focus is on one of simplest, but perhaps also the most contentious. It is Change and Causality. D
Episode 237: A Brave and Cunning Prince, or, Following the Evidence Where It Leads
At about 8 in the morning on March 22, 1622, warriors of the chiefdoms making up the Powhatan confederacy attacked the settlements of the colony of Virginia. By nightfall, the devastating attacks had
Episode 236: Let Me Put That Into Context
Great podcast title, right? Those words still trigger a sort of survival reflex in me, based upon experience with an eminent professor. When he said those very words, you could bet that he would be ta
Bonus Episode: The Higher Ed Scene, with Mark Salisbury
Sometimes, Higher Ed can feel like a battle. But not because of COVID, or CRT, or POTUS, or FL GOV...it's because someone in the administration asked the faculty if they might be so kind as to fill in
Episode 235: The Great Little Madison
If there’s one thing Americans know about James Madison, it might be that he was the shortest American President, ever–just 5’4”, or that he was married to Dolley Madison, who was not only a first lad
Episode 234: The Fall of Robespierre
“We seek an order of things in which all the base and cruel passions are enchained, all the beneficent and generous passions are awakened by the laws; where ambition becomes the desire to merit glory
Episode 233: Generation Myth
Each year millions and millions of whatever currency you’d care to have are spent explaining generations to one another. Inherent in that expensive explantation is the idea that people born at about t