Historically Thinking
We believe that when people think historically, they are engaging in a disciplined way of thinking about the world and its past. We believe it gives thinkers a knack for recognizing nonsense; and that it cultivates not only intellectual curiosity and rigor, but also intellectual humility. Join Al Zambone, author of Daniel Morgan: A Revolutionary Life, as he talks with historians and other professionals who cultivate the craft of historical thinking.
- Update frequency
- every 6 days
- Average duration
- 62 minutes
- Episodes
- 312
- Years Active
- 2019 - 2025
Episode 210: Very Personal History
One California afternoon William Damon received a call from his daughter. A sleepless night had led her to do a little internet sleuthing, and the result was Damon discovering that the father he had …
01:01:20 |
Thu 17 Jun 2021
Episode 209: Climate, Catastrophe, and Faith
Throughout human history, we have been deeply affected by our environment, particularly climate. At certain times there have been such alterations in climate that they amount to cultural shocks, resu…
01:10:57 |
Wed 09 Jun 2021
Episode 208: What’s Love Got to Do With It?
Throughout early modern Europe it was expected that neighbor would love neighbor as a spiritual practice, and that this corresponded with a discernible set of rules for everyday living. That's Katie …
00:57:32 |
Wed 02 Jun 2021
Episode 207: After the Black Death
In 1347 the population of England was something on the order of 5.5 million. After the first wave of the Black Death had crashed upon the island’s shores and then receded, that population had been re…
01:04:30 |
Wed 26 May 2021
Episode 206: Sick and Tired
In her new book Sick and Tired: An Intimate History of Fatigue, Emily K. Abel has written the first history of fatigue, one which also contains a memoir of her own experiences as a cancer survivor af…
00:56:00 |
Wed 12 May 2021
Episode 205: Can There Ever Be History for the Common Good?
A young boy hands out flags to the public prior to the start of the 1981 Inauguration Day parade. Source: US National Archives
“Patriotic history is more suspect these days than it was when I was i…
00:53:56 |
Wed 05 May 2021
Episode 204: The Peace Treaty of 1916 That Didn’t Happen
By August of 1916, the combatants in the First World War had been locked in struggle for two years. While the German Empire had enjoyed astonishing and unexpected success on the eastern front, on the…
01:04:55 |
Wed 28 Apr 2021
Episode 203: The Saint, the Count, and Sourcing (Historical Thinking Series)
This is the third of our conversations on the skills of historical thinking, and this time the subject is sourcing. It’s a term invented by Sam Wineburg–patron saint of this podcast, whom you can lis…
01:06:54 |
Thu 08 Apr 2021
Episode 202: Talking History, Podcasting, and the Age of Jackson, with Daniel N. Gullotta
Today's podcast is something we haven't done for a year, a conversation with another history podcaster. A year ago, just as the pandemic was beginning to ooze out over the globe, I talked with Michae…
00:48:47 |
Wed 31 Mar 2021
Episode 201: Isaac Newton, After Gravity
In 1696, Isaac Newton, then Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, moved rather suddenly to London. There he took the position of Master of the Royal Mint, residing at first nearb…
00:59:47 |
Wed 24 Mar 2021
Episode 200: Connecting, from an English Portrait to Galileo and Beyond, with J.L. Heilbron
This is the second of Historically Thinking’s yearlong series on the the skills of historical thinking. In our first installment this year, which was Episode 196, we heard cognitive psychologist Dan…
00:56:34 |
Wed 17 Mar 2021
Episode 199: George Washington, Politician
If you count up all his military service, George Washington was a soldier for about thirteen years. But as an elected representative he served for 26 years, first as a member of the House of Burgesse…
01:01:46 |
Wed 10 Mar 2021
Bonus: Comprehending Dante, with Guy Raffa
This bonus episode is with Guy Raffa, last heard in Episode 183 discussing his book Dante's Bones: How a Poet Invented Italy. It was a great conversation about Italy, and the culture and idea of Ital…
01:01:24 |
Fri 05 Mar 2021
Episode 198: American Heretic
"Calhoun, the cast-iron man, who looks as if he had never been born, and never could be extinguished."
-Harriet Martineau
John C. Calhoun was, for his contemporaries, an unforgettable presence wheth…
01:40:47 |
Wed 03 Mar 2021
Episode 197: An Independent Woman of the Eighteenth Century
Eliza Lucas Pinckney was born in 1722 on the island of Antigua in the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean, one of the tinier colonies of the British Empire, and she died in 1793 in Philadelphia, the cap…
01:08:40 |
Wed 24 Feb 2021
From the Archives: Episode 39: The Skills of Historical Thinking
We've just begun a unique experiment, creating a year long series devoted to explain what historical thinking is, why it's important, and how to do it. The series kicked off this week with a conversa…
00:36:52 |
Fri 29 Jan 2021
Episode 196: Comprehending What We Read (Historical Thinking Series)
When I used to grade historical essays, I would provide students with a rubric that I stole from Lendol Calder, and which allowed them to understand how they were being evaluated, and for what. The v…
01:17:54 |
Wed 27 Jan 2021
Episode 195: Battling for the Classics
On December 2, 2020, the University of Vermont announced that it would be eliminating the geology, religion, and classics departments, and also eliminating majors in Asian Studies, German, and Italia…
01:09:31 |
Wed 20 Jan 2021
Episode 194: If This Be Treason, Make the Most of It
During the American Revolution just about everyone in the thirteen colonies—or, after July 2, 1776, the new United States—could be justly termed a traitor. For rebellious colonists prior to 1776, it…
01:19:06 |
Wed 13 Jan 2021
Bonus: Mark Salisbury on Higher Ed at the End of 2020, or Continuing Higher COVIDucation
Here's a little lagniappe, a conversation with frequent guest Mark Salisbury of TuitionFit on higher ed headlines of December 2020, and some speculation about the year in higher ed to come. Also cont…
00:40:12 |
Tue 12 Jan 2021
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