Banjo Strings and Drinking Gourds Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia

In this final episode of season three, we review Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas by noted geneticist, Jennifer Raff. While the book is about the first peopling of the Americas, something that the study of DNA and mtDNA has drastically changed, a large portion of the book is also devoted to the development of physical anthropology and the archaeological evidence for the earliest peopling of both Americas. This book gives a graduate course in interdisciplinary studies of who the first people were, where they came from, and how they got here in a readily accessible and sympathetic style. We highly recommend it!

Intro Music: Zac Bell

Exit Music: Jean Claude Hatungimana

Cover Art: Emily Noble Day

Have you ever looked at something on your plate and wondered how it got there? In this episode, our guest, Misti Furr, talks about the movement of goods between the Americas, Africa, and Europe that had a significant impact on the world, both positively and negatively. The Columbian Exchange goes far beyond the humble potato or peanut!

Intro Music: Zac Bell

Exit Music: Jean Claude Hatungimana

Cover Art: Emily Noble Day

N.B.- This episode contains quotes from primary sources and may contain language considered offensive today.

Continuing on the topic of revolution and freedom, in this episode, we ask if the revolutionary rhetoric, the language used to discuss freedom from Britain, had any impact on slavery. Many founding fathers tended to compare British treatment of white male citizens of the colonies to slavery, yet slavery as an institution continued well into the 19th century in the newborn United States. Was there any sort of understanding of the hypocrisy involved? Did the prevailing themes of freedom and emancipation from Britain begin to echo in regards to race-based chattel slavery?



Also, please bear with us as the audio quality in this episode reflects our upcoming relocation of recording space.



Intro Music: Zac Bell

Exit Music: Jean Claude Hatungimana

Cover Art: Emily Noble Day

Have you ever wondered about how some events in history could have turned out differently? In this episode, we introduce a counterfactual, or according to the Cambridge Dictionary, "a mental simulation where you think about something that happened, and then imagine an alternate ending." Just in time for the Fourth of July, our guests, Sam McGinty and Davis Tierney, discuss how the British could have won and what could have been the result.

Intro Music: Zac Bell

Exit Music: Jean Claude Hatungimana

Cover Art: Emily Noble Day

Continuing our abolition series, Mark Mazzochi joins us to discuss the Haitian Revolution. While the revolt over slavery drastically impacted Haiti and it's economic conditions today, it had a surprising effect on the rest of the world as well.

Intro Music: Zac Bell

Exit Music: Jean Claude Hatungimana

Cover Art: Emily Noble Day

It's finally summer and that means it's time to indulge in some vacation reading. But have you ever picked up that guilty pleasure book or the classic you swear you'll make it through this year and wondered just how novels and fictional stories came to be? In this episode, we talk about how the art of fiction has changed forms over the centuries and just how the novel developed and proliferated. We'll also talk about the chronology of each genre, and some of those will surprise you with how far back they go!

Intro Music: Zac Bell

Exit Music: Jean Claude Hatungimana

Cover Art: Emily Noble Day