BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites

Series produced by BackStory with the American History Guys

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

BackStory is a weekly one-hour public radio show that provides a national broadcast audience with an enjoyable and accessible way of engaging challenging themes in American history and how they connect with today.

The pieces in this series are available for individual excerpt. If you are interested in full episodes of BackStory, check out our main series page.


188 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Little America
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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Hosts Brian Balogh and Peter Onuf tell the story of the founding of Liberia.

Bought by KRZA, Radio Newark, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Apr 22, 2013
  • Length: 06:43
  • Purchases: 3
Blurring the Blurry Lines
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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BackStory Producer Eric Mennel tells the story of how a turn-of-the-century American writer grappled with his own ambivalence about the meanings an...

Bought by KSVR Studios: Skagit Valley Radio, Radio Newark, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Apr 29, 2013
  • Length: 08:04
  • Purchases: 3
Seen and Believed
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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Ed Ayers talks with historian Amy Wood about how lynching photographs were used first by white supremacists to spread terror.

Bought by Radio Newark and PRX Remix


  • Added: Apr 29, 2013
  • Length: 11:26
  • Purchases: 2
Bounding Manifest Destiny
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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Host Peter Onuf talks with Amy Greenberg, an historian at Pennsylvania State University, on the rogue diplomat that ended the Mexican-American War ...

Bought by XRAY.fm, Radio Newark, and PRX Remix


  • Added: May 06, 2013
  • Length: 11:01
  • Purchases: 3
A Negotiable End Date
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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Host Brian Balough explores the meaning of "wartime" with Mary Dudziak, an historian at Emory University's School of Law. Well after V-J Day, Dudz...

Bought by WEZU, Radio Newark, KBRP Community Radio, and PRX Remix


  • Added: May 06, 2013
  • Length: 10:50
  • Purchases: 4
Before the Ward
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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Laurel Thatcher Ulrich talks to Host Ed Ayers about the movement away from midwifery and towards hospital births.

Bought by Radio Newark, KHNS, KBRP Community Radio, and PRX Remix


  • Added: May 13, 2013
  • Length: 09:03
  • Purchases: 4
Devil Babies
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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Host Peter Onuf talks to religion scholar Peggy Bendroth about “Day of Doom” by Michael Wigglesworth, a poem in which dead babies talk to us from b...

Bought by KSVR Studios: Skagit Valley Radio, Radio Newark, KBRP Community Radio, and PRX Remix


  • Added: May 13, 2013
  • Length: 07:13
  • Purchases: 4
To Pledge Allegiance
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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The American History Guys riff on citizenship. Does being born on American soil guarantee American citizenship?

Bought by Radio Newark, KFAI Minneapolis, KHNS, and PRX Remix


  • Added: May 13, 2013
  • Length: 07:07
  • Purchases: 4
Copyright and Creativity
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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Media and legal scholar Siva Vaidhyanathan talks with Host Brian Balough about the expansion of copyright protections.

Bought by WOUB, Radio Newark, and KHNS


  • Added: May 20, 2013
  • Length: 08:30
  • Purchases: 3
Freedom of Expression™
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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BackStory hears from Kembrew McLeod – journalist, professor, and intellectual property “prankster” – on how a system meant to encourage innovation ...

Bought by Louisville Public Media, Radio Newark, and KBRP Community Radio


  • Added: May 20, 2013
  • Length: 02:39
  • Purchases: 3
Who Owns Comedy?
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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Host Brian Balough chats with Law professor Chris Sprigman about the intellectual property debates surrounding standup comedy – no joke!

Bought by WABE, PRX Remix, WEZU, Radio Newark, KHNS and more


  • Added: May 20, 2013
  • Length: 10:32
  • Purchases: 6
Face the Changes
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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Host Brian Balogh talks with Teresa Bergman about the evolving film presentations the National Park Service has used to welcome tourists at Mount R...

Bought by Radio Newark and KBRP Community Radio


  • Added: May 28, 2013
  • Length: 10:11
  • Purchases: 2
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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BackStory producers Eric Mennel and Nell Boeschenstein visit Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia to tell the story of a monument in honor of Heyward Shep...

Bought by WABE and Radio Newark


  • Added: May 28, 2013
  • Length: 10:49
  • Purchases: 2
Mourning Glory
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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The American History Guys talk with a listener about how the trend of memorializing lost loved ones on Facebook has historical precedence.

Bought by WRGY, Prairie Public, KSFR, and Radio Newark


  • Added: May 28, 2013
  • Length: 08:28
  • Purchases: 4
Are you Depressed?
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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Sociologist Allan Horwitz discusses psychiatric diagnosis in the late 20th Century, and our changing perceptions of “sadness” and “depression.”

Bought by Radio Newark, PRX Remix, and WEZU


  • Added: Jun 03, 2013
  • Length: 05:44
  • Purchases: 3
Sleepwalking to the Asylum
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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BackStory producer Eric Mennel and literature professor Benjamin Reiss brings us the story of Jane Rider, a sleepwalking servant girl whose case in...

Bought by WABE, New Hampshire Public Radio, Radio Newark, PRX Remix, and KBRP Community Radio


  • Added: Jun 04, 2013
  • Length: 11:38
  • Purchases: 5
Creaky Boards and Cobwebs
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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Film critic David Edelstein takes us on a tour of haunted houses in the movies.

Bought by Radio Newark, Louisville Public Media, KHNS, PRX Remix, and KREV-LP


  • Added: Jun 10, 2013
  • Length: 06:06
  • Purchases: 5
Heed the Deed
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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Host Brian Balogh talks with historian Loren Moulds about Herbert Hoover’s career-long crusade to promote home ownership.

Bought by Radio Newark, KHNS, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 10, 2013
  • Length: 05:08
  • Purchases: 3
Welcome to the Big Leagues
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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Host Brian Balogh unpacks the saga of the Contract Buyers League, a local activist group in Chicago’s Lawndale neighborhood that organized in the 1...

Bought by PRX Remix and KREV-LP


  • Added: Jun 10, 2013
  • Length: 13:27
  • Purchases: 2
The Worst Steamboat Money Can Buy…
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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Host Ed Ayers talks with historian Walter Johnson about the rise of steamboats in the 19th Century, and how the cotton economy fueled an ever more ...

Bought by Radio Newark, KHNS, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jun 17, 2013
  • Length: 08:58
  • Purchases: 3