This week’s episode of HFTF features an interview with Nico Slate, an assistant professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University, and author of the brand new book, Colored Cosmopolitanism: The Shared Struggle for Freedom in the United States and India. His work explores how African-Americans and Indians made connections between their freedom struggles during the early twentieth century. Slate’s study provides a careful look not only at the shared world of these movements, but also at the shared world to which they responded: one defined by imperialism, racism, and economic inequality. On the show he describes these transnational connections, some resonances with the present, and concludes by discussing this quote from Frederick Douglass (which I cannot help but include here):
“Poets, prophets, and reformers are all picture makers–this ability is the secret of their power and of their achievements. They see what ought to be by the reflection of what is, and endeavor to remove the contradiction.”
Play this Episode!
This week, Robert W. McChesney returns to the program almost two years after speaking with HFTF about his 2010 book, The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution That Will Begin the World Again. McChesney is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor of Communications at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and host of the weekly radio program on WILL-AM 580, “Media Matters.” On History for the Future, McChesney discussed the state of political journalism, the role of “super-PACs” in the current election season, as well as the press coverage of the Occupy Movement. It was a great discussion. Enjoy!
McChesney, along with John Nichols, recently penned an article for The Nation titled, “The Attack of the Super-PAC.” Find it at thenation.com.
Play this Episode!
This week, History for the Future turns to the New Deal, as guest Neil Maher discusses his book, Nature’s New Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Roots of the American Environmental Movement (2008). Maher, who is a professor of history at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers University-Newark, shows in this study how the CCC helped transform the conservationist tradition in the U.S. into what we can recognize today as the modern environmental movement. On the show, Maher explains what “planning” looked like in the 1930s and describes how the New Deal’s most popular program came under fire from wilderness advocates and ecologists alike towards the end of that decade. Give it a listen and also hear what Maher has to say about the what a Green New Deal might look like today.
Play this Episode!
After an almost two month hiatus from the radio, HFTF is back with a new episode featuring an interview with Anthony DiMaggio on his brand new book, The Rise of the Tea Party: Political Discontent and Corporate Media in the Age of Obama (Monthly Review Press, 2011). DiMaggio’s book questions the widely shared notion that the Tea Party constitutes a “mass movement,” and instead shows how media filters and political power have shaped the perceived size and power of the group. In the interview, DiMaggio also discusses the meaning of “propaganda,” the state of Tea Party in 2012, and the Occupy Movement. It was an interesting interview; give it a listen!
At the end of the show, Tony recommended a few of the news outlets he likes for good critical reporting and commentary. Here they are: Democracy Now! (also airing on WRCT, weekdays at 8am), truthout, Counter Punch, and Z-Magazine.
Play this Episode!
On this brand new episode of HFTF, journalist and author Dave Zirin talks about sports, politics, and history. Zirin is the sports editor at The Nation magazine, and the author of a number of books, including Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games We Love, and most recently, The John Carlos Story: The Sports Moment that Changed the World (with John Carlos). His columns and weekly satellite radio show can be found at edgeofsports.com. On the show we discussed public financing of stadiums, the NFL and NBA lockouts, the Penn State scandal, and much more. Give it a listen!
Play this Episode!
This week on HFTF, Colby College historian James R. Fleming discusses his 2010 book, Fixing the Sky: The Checkered History of Weather and Climate Control. Fleming’s work traces the efforts of visionaries and charlatans since antiquity to manipulate weather and climate. On the show, Fleming describes weather manipulation in classical mythology, 19th century attempts to make it rain, and British military undertakings to clear fog from airport runways during World War II. In showing the mix of hubris and confusion marring many historical efforts at weather control, Fleming’s work offers a powerful caution for those who propose “geoengineering” to mitigate climate change. Give the show a listen!
At the end of the show, James Fleming mentioned a couple of authors exploring the ethical and human dimensions of geoengineering. To take a look at Stephen Gardiner’s recent publications, click here, and for Alan Robock’s article, “20 Reasons Why Geoengineering May Be a Bad Idea,” click here (.pdf).
Play this Episode!
On this new episode of History for the Future, Rutgers University historian Lloyd C. Gardner discusses his new book, The Road To Tahrir Square: Egypt and the United States from the Rise of Nasser to the Fall of Mubarak. Inspired by the revolution this year in Egypt, Gardner traces the long and contentious history of U.S. – Egyptian relations since the end of World War II. It was an enjoyable discussion; give it a listen!
Play this Episode!
This week on HFTF, historian David Kinkela discusses his brand new book, DDT and the American Century: Global Health, Environmental Politics, and the Pesticide that Changed the World. Kinkela, who teaches at the State University of New York-Fredonia, traces the history of the controversial pesticide DDT, starting with its early deployment during World War II as Allied troops sought to halt the spread of disease carrying insects in war torn Europe. Increasingly used as a “miracle” agricultural pesticide and malaria deterrent, DDT became famous – or infamous – in Rachel Carson’s 1962 classic, Silent Spring. On the show, Kinkela discusses the ecological and political reasons for DDT’s eventual removal from the domestic market, and much more. Give it a listen!
Play this Episode!
As the Occupy Wall Street movement sweeps across the country and the world – including Pittsburgh – this week’s HFTF considers protest in American history. On the show, Scott R. Nelson, labor and economic historian, and professor at the College of William and Mary, discusses what he calls “Occupy Chicago, 1894.” In that year, a grassroots movement of railroad workers led by Eugene V. Debs spread from a Chicago strike to much of the country, with railroad workers and many others demanding significant changes in the way that American labor relations worked. What were the short and long term effects of this “occupation”? What can it tell us about the current Occupy movement? Listen in!
You can find Nelson’s youtube clip here, and be sure to keep an eye out for his forthcoming book from Knopf, Crash: An Uncommon History of America’s Financial Panics.
Play this Episode!
On this episode of HFTF, University of Virginia history professor and author, Sophia Rosenfeld, discusses her new book, Common Sense: A Political History. Starting about one hundred years before Thomas Paine’s famous 1776 pamphlet, writers in England began to make arguments by appealing to readers’ “common sense.” Though obscure in its origin, Rosenfeld shows how “common sense” has become… well… a common sense way to make political arguments in Europe and the United States. In charting this history, Rosenfeld asks questions that continue to reverberate in our own political moment: Who does “common sense” benefit? And who does it exclude? In other words, who doesn’t have common sense?
Also, click to view Rosenfeld’s April 2011 Washington Post article, “Beware of Republicans Bearing ‘Common Sense.’”
Play this Episode!
This week’s episode of HFTF features an interview with Nico Slate, an assistant professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University, and author of the brand new book, Colored Cosmopolitanism: The Shared Struggle for Freedom in the United States and India. His work explores how African-Americans and Indians made connections between their freedom struggles during the early twentieth century. Slate’s study provides a careful look not only at the shared world of these movements, but also at the shared world to which they responded: one defined by imperialism, racism, and economic inequality. On the show he describes these transnational connections, some resonances with the present, and concludes by discussing this quote from Frederick Douglass (which I cannot help but include here):
