Historians Writing History: Drafting the Past

DTP Media LLC

How do historians research and write their books? In this show, host Kate Carpenter interviews historians about the writing craft. They get into the nitty gritty of their writing habits, how they turn archival materials into fascinating materials, and how they bring voice and structure to historical narratives. The goal is to help historians think about and improve their craft, learn from other writers, and expand our sense of how history can be written. After all: friends don't let friends write boring history. Since 2022, Kate has interviews more than 100 historians, including Pulitzer Prize and Bancroft Award winners, Guggenheim Fellows, academics, popular historians, public historians, and more. Once in a while, she even changes it up and talks to someone from the publishing side of the writing business for insights on editorial work, marketing, and getting an agent. If you're a historian who wants to spend more time thinking about the writing craft — or if you're a fan of history books who wants to know more about how history gets made! — you're in the right place.

  1. 4d ago

    Durba Mitra on Doing Feminist History Now

    ⭐ Subscribe to the Drafting the Past newsletter FREE for book reviews, publishing news, and more. Upgrade to a paid subscription and get exclusive content, ad-free episodes and articles, and more perks. Your support enables us to keep making episodes, publishing reviews, and shining a spotlight on nonfiction history books. If you’ve been paying much attention to the state of higher education lately, you probably know that feminist history and women’s, sexuality, and gender studies have been under attack, facing political threats and decimated by funding cuts. As you’ll hear in this episode, this work is more important than ever. But what does it mean to be doing this history in the current moment? And how do you keep doing the work at all? In this episode, Dr. Durba Mitra joins Kate to talk about some possible answers to those questions. Listen to their conversation to hear about: How she writes complex, theory laden intellectual history with the lightness of a “marshmallow”Why she has had to seek out writing adviceThe lessons about lowering the stakes of writing that she shares with her studentsThe challenges and unexpected gifts of trying to write while caregiving for a loved oneHow a fraught relationship with writing turned into a restorative practice ABOUT THE GUEST Durba Mitra is a celebrated historian of feminist political thought, sexuality studies, and global intellectual history, whose work has won many awards. She is currently the Stanley Kelley Jr. Visiting Associate Professor for Distinguished Teaching at Princeton. 📚 Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. When you purchase books through these links, a small portion of your purchase helps to support Drafting the Past (not to mention independent bookstores and authors!). MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Durba Mitra, The Future That Was: A History of Third World Feminism Against AuthoritarianismDurba Mitra, Indian Sex Life: Sexuality and the Colonial Origins of Modern Social ThoughtJoan Wallach Scott, “Gender: A Useful Category of Analysis,” The American Historical Review 81, no. 5, December 1986Robyn Wiegman, Object LessonsBarbara Ransby, Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision

    Durba Mitra on Doing Feminist History Now

  2. Oct 27

    Soyica Diggs Colbert Writes the History of Icons Through Their Friendships

    ⭐ Subscribe to the Drafting the Past newsletter FREE for book reviews, publishing news, and more. Upgrade to a paid subscription and get exclusive content, ad-free episodes and articles, and more perks. Your support enables us to keep making episodes, publishing reviews, and shining a spotlight on nonfiction history books. In her new book, Freedom’s Gate, Soyica Diggs Colbert focuses on the young adult friendships of five Black woman artists—Maya Angelou, Lorraine Hansberry, Abbey Lincoln, Miriam Makeba, and Nina Simone—and the New York nightclub that offered them a performance venue, a platform, and a place to connect with their friends. It’s a group biography that explores the importance of friendship in developing the women we now remember as iconic Black artists and Civil Rights activists. Listen to the episode to learn: Why her biography of Lorraine Hansberry led to a group biographyHow she prioritizes writing even with a busy schedule as an administratorWhy keeping up on new music and plays is crucial to Soyica’s processThe role of timelines in crafting the narrativeHer approach to translating music and performance to the pageHow she focused on the texture and uncertainty of these young women and their friendships, before they became icons ABOUT THE GUEST Soyica Diggs Colbert is the Idol Family at Georgetown University. She is a recipient of the Guggenheim fellowship and the author of the award-winning book, Radical Vision: A Biography of Lorraine Hansberry and the new book Freedom's Gate. She has also held Colbert’s writing has been featured in the The New York Times, Washington Post, Public Books and American Theatre. She has been interviewed on NPR and commented for the New York Times, USA Today, CNN, and the Washington Post. She was an Associate Director at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. and served as a Creative Content Producer for The Public Theatre’s audio play, shadow/land. Her research interests span the 19th-21st centuries, from Harriet Tubman to Beyoncé, and from poetics to performance. 📚 Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. When you purchase books through these links, a small portion of your purchase helps to support Drafting the Past (not to mention independent bookstores and authors!). MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Soyica Diggs Colbert, Freedom’s Gate: Maya Angelou, Lorraine Hansberry, Abbey Lincoln, Miriam Makeba, and Nina Simone Live at the New York Nightclub that Shaped the Civil Rights MovementSoyica Diggs Colbert, Radical Vision: A Biography of Lorraine HansberrySoyica’s playlist for Freedom’s Gate on Youtube, Apple Music, Spotify, PandoraMaggie Doherty, The Equivalents: A Story of Art, Female Friendship, and Liberation in the 1960sJonathan Eig, King: A LifeJesmyn Ward, On Witness and Repair: EssaysHanif Abdurraqib, A Little Devil in America: In Praise of Black PerformanceDana A. Williams, Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer’s Legendary Editorship

    Soyica Diggs Colbert Writes the History of Icons Through Their Friendships

  3. Oct 20

    Shane White Is An Avowed Completist

    Visit draftingthepast.com for even more great nonfiction history book coverage, including book reviews, interviews with authors, and new book releases. Note: Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. If you buy books through these links, you support independent bookstores, our authors, and Drafting the Past! About this episode:In this episode, Kate is joined by Dr. Shane White, the emeritus Challis Professor of History at the University of Sydney. Shane is a historian of US history, especially African American history, and has written or co-written seven books. His newest book is A Moment in the Sun: Black Manhattan Before the Civil War, and it is the product of decades of thinking and research. In it, he details the world of Black men and women in antebellum New York, bringing to life characters and moments that might otherwise be overlooked. As you’ll hear, it’s a book that emerges out of Shane’s incredibly detailed and intimate knowledge of one dense body of sources in particular, the district attorney’s records in the Municipal Archives of the City of New York, hundreds of thousands of files that date back to the 1790s. Listen to their conversation to learn about Shane’s dogged approach to research and his reflections on a career as a historian of the United States who lives and works in Australia. Mentioned in this episode:Shane White, A Moment in the Sun: Black Manhattan Before the Civil WarShane White, Prince of Darkness: The Untold Story of Jeremiah G. Hamilton, Wall Street’s First Black MillionaireShane White and Graham White, The Sounds of Slavery: Discovering African American History Through Songs, Sermons, and SpeechShane White and Graham White, Stylin’: African American Expressive Culture from Its Beginnings to the Zoot SuitShane White, Stephen Garton, Stephen Robertson, and Graham White, Playing the Numbers: Gambling in Harlem Between the WarsShane White, Stories of Freedom in Black New YorkShane White, Somewhat More Independent: The End of Slavery in New York City, 1770-1810The David Abraham scandalRhys Isaac, The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790Ian TyrrellMichael McDonnell, Masters of Empire: Great Lakes Indians and the Making of AmericaRobert Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York and the Lyndon Johnson books

    Shane White Is An Avowed Completist

  4. Oct 13

    Katherine Grandjean Lands Every Word Like a Tiny Punch

    Visit draftingthepast.com to subscribe and get episode updates, history book reviews, and more. You can subscribe for free, or, if you want to support our work and get ad-free episodes and articles, exclusive content, and other perks, become a paid subscriber today. Note: Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. About this episode:When Katherine Grandjean’s new book, Kingdom of Devils: A Tale of Murder in the Shadow of the American Revolution, came out earlier this summer, somehow I missed it. But I’m awfully glad someone corrected that for me (shout out to historian Robert Parkinson), because this was a remarkable book. In it, Grandjean follows the trail of a pair of brothers who terrorized the Kentucky and Tennessee countryside for nine months in 1798, murdering dozens of people for reasons that were unclear to their contemporaries and to the people who have written about them for the past two hundred years. Grandjean not only tells a gripping, beautifully written story, but she weaves it with the uncertain political and social atmosphere of the United States in the wake of the American Revolution. It’s a story about masculine violence, class, property, and the creation of the nation, and it has surprising resonance even now. Dr. Katherine Grandjean is an associate professor of history at Wellesley University, and a historian of early America. Her first book was American Passage: The Communications Frontier in Early New England. In our conversation, she had insightful things to say about building tension, balancing narrative threads, and the hard, tireless work it took to track down the evidence that makes a story like this possible to write. Mentioned in this episode:Katherine Grandjean, Kingdom of Devils: A Tale of Murder in the Shadow of the American RevolutionKatherine Grandjean, American Passage: The Communications Frontier in Early New EnglandJane KamenskyJill LeporeF. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great GatsbyMargaret Atwood, Cat’s Eye

    Katherine Grandjean Lands Every Word Like a Tiny Punch

  5. Oct 6

    Thomas Andrews Revels in Revision

    Bookshop.org links are affiliate links. Subscribe for free to the Drafting the Past newsletter for podcast updates, book reviews, and more. Paid subscribers get ad-free episodes and exclusive content. In this episode, Kate interviews Dr. Thomas Andrews, a historian who cares deeply about the writing—and revision—process. Thomas is a professor of history at the University of Colorado Boulder and is also the faculty director of the Center for the American West. He’s the author of three books, including the Bancroft-award winning Killing for Coal: America’s Deadliest Labor War, Coyote Valley: Deep History in the High Rockies, and his newest book, The Great Horse Flu: A Forgotten Pandemic and the Fate of Reconstruction America. In addition to his own writing, he has interviewed historians as part of the Writer’s Studio feature in the journal Modern American History, which is a series of terrific interviews about how some of the most highly regarded American historians work. As you might imagine, Kate and Thomas had a great time talking about the writing process and especially Thomas’ love of revision. This one also includes a treadmill desk, a harrowing publishing tale, and why he might have taken Bill Cronon’s dissertation advice a little too seriously. Mentioned in this episodeThomas Andrews, The Great Horse Flu: A Forgotten Pandemic and the Fate of Reconstruction AmericaThomas Andrews, Coyote Valley: Deep History in the High RockiesThomas Andrews, Killing for Coal: America’s Deadliest Labor WarSusan Orlean, “The Walking Alive,” on using a treadmill deskWriter’s Studio feature archives in Modern American History journalLinda GordonWilliam CrononRichard WhiteDonald WorsterPatricia LimerickCurb Your Enthusiasm

    Thomas Andrews Revels in Revision

  6. Sep 29

    Eric Jay Dolin Never Wants to Be Bored

    Note: Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. Thanks for supporting the show and independent bookstores by purchasing books through these links! About this episodeFor this episode, Kate is joined by Eric Jay Dolin, the New York Times-bestselling author of 17 books, to talk about his writing process and what it’s like to build a career as an author of popular histories. His books include Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America; A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America’s Hurricanes; Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America’s Most Notorious Pirates; and Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution. His most recent book is The Wreck of the Mentor: A True Story of Death, Despair, and Deliverance in the Age of Sail. His books have won awards and are frequently named best books of the year. Before writing history books, Eric worked in environmental policy and earned a PhD in environmental policy and planning from MIT. We talked about how his career has developed, the ups and downs of the book market, and he dished about advances, career trajectories, and why he thinks he’d rather have a huge book now than early in his career. Mentioned in this episode:Eric Jay Dolin, The Wreck of the Mentor: A True Story of Death, Despair, and Deliverance in the Age of Sail Samuel Eliot Morison, The Maritime History of Massachusetts, 1783-1860 Erik Larson, Isaac’s Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History James Truslow Adams, The Founding of New England

    Eric Jay Dolin Never Wants to Be Bored

  7. Sep 22

    Catherine Grace Katz Can Just Feel It

    Visit draftingthepast.com to sign up for the newsletter and get book reviews, podcast updates, and much more. Note: Bookshop.org links are affiliate links. About this episode:How many history books have kept you up late into the night, turning the page to find out what happens next? That’s exactly what the newest book from this episode’s guest did to Kate, but it was well worth the lost sleep. Catherine Grace Katz joins the Drafting the Past podcast to talk about her newest book, Shadow Before the Flame: The Hindenburg Disaster and the Prelude to War. Catherine is a writer, historian, and lawyer, with degrees in history from Harvard and Cambridge along with a JD from Harvard. Her first book was Daughters of Yalta: The Churchills, Roosevelts, and Harrimans: A Story of Love and War. She joined Kate to talk about what goes into writing such extraordinary true stories, from how she works without an outline to the writing tool she found in her mom’s basement, and the unlikely inspiration for the book in a classic holiday movie. Mentioned in this episode:Catherine’s websiteCatherine Grace Katz, Daughters of Yalta: The Churchills, Roosevelts, and Harrimans: A Story of Love and WarCatherine Grace Katz, Shadow Before the Flame: The Hindenburg Disaster and the Prelude to WarWilliam L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi GermanyWilliam L. Shirer, Berlin DiaryNorman MacLean, Young Men and FireGioia Diliberto, Firebrands: The Untold Story of Four Women Who Made and Unmade ProhibitionTana FrenchPatrick Radden Keefe, London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth and Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern IrelandPhillippe Sands, The Ratline: The Exalted Life and Mysterious Death of a Nazi Fugitive, and the podcast precursor, Intrigue: The RatlineHelena Merriman, Tunnel 29: The True Story of an Extraordinary Escape Beneath the Berline Wall and its podcast precursor, Intrigue: Tunnel 29The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O’MearaPitch Club

    Catherine Grace Katz Can Just Feel It

  8. Sep 15

    Tai Edwards and Charlee Huffman Let the Land Tell the Story

    Visit draftingthepast.com to sign up for our newsletter and never miss an episode or book review. In this episode, Kate spoke with Tai S. Edwards and Charlee Huffman, writers and editors of a new book, Shokhi: A Kanza Relative, A Monument, and Rematriation. This book is a little different from others that have appeared on the show: it tells the story of how a group of people, include Kaw Nation citizens, historians, artists, activists, and others worked together to bring a grandfather rock, In‘zhúje‘waxóbe, back to the Kanza people with whom they had a centuries-long relationship. The boulder had been appropriated as a memorial to the founders of Lawrence, Kansas, and the land on which it stood bore witness to many intersecting narratives of people and place. The book, is part history, part artistic expression, and part handbook for this kind of restorative work. Tai and Charlee discussed their collaborative process, incorporating disability accommodation into the heart of their work, and how they let the land lead them in telling a history with many voices. Tai S. Edwards is professor of history and director of the Kansas Studies Institute at Johnson County Community College. She is the author of Osage Women and Empire: Gender and Power and co-editor of Lyda Conley and the Fight to Preserve Huron Indian Cemetery, also published by Kansas. c. huffman is a Kaw Nation Citizen with an MFA and an MDiv who sits at the intersection of privilege, dis/ability and Indigeneity; a place where poetry and theology dance. Her writing has appeared in The Ending Hasn’t Happened Yet, a poetry anthology edited by Hannah Soyer. Note: Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. Mentioned in this Episode:Shokhi: A Kanza Relative, a Monument, and RematriationPoet Marilyn HaekerMichael Grow, US Presidents and Latin American Interventions: Pursuing Regime Change in the Cold WarUrsula K. Le Guin, Earthsea seriesUrsula K. Le Guin, The DispossessedDoorkeeper of the HeartRobin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of PlantsIlona Andrews, This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me

    Tai Edwards and Charlee Huffman Let the Land Tell the Story
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How do historians research and write their books? In this show, host Kate Carpenter interviews historians about the writing craft. They get into the nitty gritty of their writing habits, how they turn archival materials into fascinating materials, and how they bring voice and structure to historical narratives. The goal is to help historians think about and improve their craft, learn from other writers, and expand our sense of how history can be written. After all: friends don't let friends write boring history. Since 2022, Kate has interviews more than 100 historians, including Pulitzer Prize and Bancroft Award winners, Guggenheim Fellows, academics, popular historians, public historians, and more. Once in a while, she even changes it up and talks to someone from the publishing side of the writing business for insights on editorial work, marketing, and getting an agent. If you're a historian who wants to spend more time thinking about the writing craft — or if you're a fan of history books who wants to know more about how history gets made! — you're in the right place.

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