BackStory with the American History Guys

GroupAccount image

BackStory  is a weekly podcast that uses current events in America to take a deep dive into our past. Hosted by noted U.S. historians, Ed Ayers, Brian Balogh, Peter Onuf, Nathan Connolly and Joanne Freeman, each episode provides listeners with different perspectives on a particular theme or subject – giving you all sides to the story and then some.

Please confirm carriage of evergreen BackStory with the American History Guys episodes by contacting Diana Williams @(434)-924-6894 or dwilliams@virginia.edu.

Moving from current headlines to drill down into U.S. history, each surprising BackStory episode features lively interviews with a diverse roster of scholars, experts, and ordinary citizens from around the country; listener calls; host discussions; and produced pieces. Topics are as diverse as college sports, reenactments, sugar, memorials, domestic terrorism, birthing, homeownership, the post office, philanthropy, protests, privacy, marriage, revivalism, and childhood—all in the context of American history.

BackStory is produced by  Virginia Humanities. Major funding is provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities with additional corporate, foundation, institutional, and individual support.

Please visit our station landing page for upcoming episodes, promotional photos, and other information.

 


Series

Series image
0 Pieces

This series is for stations that want to subscribe to Backstory for WEEKLY deliveries using PRX's SubAuto system.

Series image
188 Pieces

A collection of the best stories and features from BackStory, meant for excerpt by programs or stations.

Series image
1 Piece

A collection of one-hour BackStory specials for use in station holiday programming.

Series image
42 Pieces

Promos for stations airing upcoming episodes of BackStory with the American History Guys.

Series image
0 Pieces

A special three-part series of hour-long episodes exploring the causes and consequences of the American Civil War.


Pieces

Caption: The mountain pass, Sierra Nevada, Credit: Library of Congress
Writer Emma Marris and historian Paul Sutter join the Guys as they discuss the Wilderness Act of 1964, and how American ideas of wilderness and how...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Sep 15, 2014
  • Length: 10:43
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: The mountain pass, Sierra Nevada, Credit: Library of Congress
Producer Jesse Dukes has the story of some five hundred families who were made to leave their homes in an area supposedly “pristine and free of hum...

Bought by New Hampshire Public Radio and PRX Remix


  • Added: Sep 15, 2014
  • Length: 08:03
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: A woman in a "state of hysteria.", Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Recent estimates suggest that more than 50% of Americans will suffer from a “mental disorder” at some point in their lifetime, making the once “abn...

Bought by WEZU, WXDU, KSVR Studios: Skagit Valley Radio, and WRIR


  • Added: Jul 18, 2014
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 4
Piece image
Host Brian Balogh talks with sociologist Harry Edwards, founder of the Olympic Project for Human Rights, about the iconic moment at the 1968 Olympi...

Bought by WAMC Northeast Public Radio, WXDU, KFAI Minneapolis, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jul 14, 2014
  • Length: 09:20
  • Purchases: 4
Piece image
Producer Bruce Wallace explains how ping-pong helped to thaw U.S.- China relations during the 1970s, while remaining a potent field for propaganda ...

Bought by WOUB, KFAI Minneapolis, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jul 14, 2014
  • Length: 11:14
  • Purchases: 3
Piece image
Producer Kelly Jones and archivist Jane Tuttle bring us the story of trailblazer Lucile Godbold’s participation in international athletics in the 1...

Bought by New Hampshire Public Radio, KFAI Minneapolis, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jul 14, 2014
  • Length: 06:11
  • Purchases: 3
Piece image
Using oral histories of early East Texas oil workers, recorded in the 1950s, we hear about the chaos and excess that accompanied the discovery of oil.

Bought by KFAI Minneapolis and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 02, 2014
  • Length: 05:12
  • Purchases: 2
Piece image
Historian H.W. Brands talks with host Ed Ayers about John D. Rockefeller, the Standard Oil trust, and the contradictory capitalism of the Gilded Age.

Bought by WOUB, KFAI Minneapolis, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 02, 2014
  • Length: 09:32
  • Purchases: 3
Piece image
BackStory producer Nina Earnest tells the story of the oil shocks of 1973 and how they continue to shape the world we live in today, with help from...

Bought by KUFM - Montana Public Radio, WABE, Louisville Public Media, KFAI Minneapolis, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 02, 2014
  • Length: 10:11
  • Purchases: 5
Piece image
Ed sits down with historian Adam Shprintzen to discuss the 19th-century Americans who saw a vegetarian diet as a powerful tool of moral reform, one...

Bought by WOUB and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: May 20, 2014
  • Length: 08:45
  • Purchases: 2