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
The Fear of "Mexicanization"
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Piece image
Historian Greg Downs tells host Brian Balogh about an anxiety about “Mexicanization” that ran through Reconstruction-Era politics, as Americans saw...

Bought by Radio Newark and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Jan 21, 2014
  • Length: 09:52
  • Purchases: 2
Lavender is the New Red
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Piece image
Host Brian Balogh sits down with historian David Johnson to discuss the “Lavender Scare” of the 1950s, which saw thousands of gays and lesbians exc...

Bought by WDBM, Radio Newark, Louisville Public Media, KFAI Minneapolis, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Feb 03, 2014
  • Length: 08:02
  • Purchases: 5
The "Great Gay Poet"?
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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BackStory producer Jesse Dukes explores the complex debates surrounding Walt Whitman’s sexuality, with help from poet Richard Tayson.

Bought by New Hampshire Public Radio, Radio Newark, and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Feb 03, 2014
  • Length: 09:15
  • Purchases: 3
Wearing the Trousers
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Piece image
Host Ed Ayers talks with historian Emily Skidmore about the 19th Century media fascination with women who lived as men.

Bought by Radio Newark, KFAI Minneapolis, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Feb 03, 2014
  • Length: 09:17
  • Purchases: 3
Tainted with Blood
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Piece image
Host Ed Ayers sits down with historian Alan Taylor to discuss the 18th Century search for a sweetener untainted by slavery.

Bought by Radio Newark, KFAI Minneapolis, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Feb 10, 2014
  • Length: 07:39
  • Purchases: 3
Sickly Sweet?
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 Carolyn de la Peña about the rise of artificial sweeteners in the 20th Century, as they went from unhealthy ...

Bought by Radio Newark, KFAI Minneapolis, WRST-FM Oshkosh, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Feb 10, 2014
  • Length: 10:08
  • Purchases: 4
Sugar in your Tea Party?
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Piece image
Political scientist Peter Andreas tells host Peter Onuf about the ways sugar – and smuggling – shaped early America, and helped fuel the Revolution.

Bought by XRAY.fm, Radio Newark, and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Feb 10, 2014
  • Length: 08:41
  • Purchases: 3
Not So Safe Space
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Piece image
Host Ed Ayers speaks with historian Jim Downs about how disease devastated populations of escaped slaves in contraband camps behind Union lines dur...

Bought by Radio Newark and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Feb 17, 2014
  • Length: 09:09
  • Purchases: 2
The Things They Carried
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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BackStory contributor Catherine Moore tells the story of how soldiers returning from World War I brought the Spanish flu back with them.

Bought by KICI Iowa City, WABE, New Hampshire Public Radio, Radio Newark, and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Feb 17, 2014
  • Length: 08:22
  • Purchases: 5
By Government Decree
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Piece image
Historian Michael O’Malley tells host Brian Balogh about the strange connections drawn by critics of Reconstruction, between fiat currency on the o...

Bought by Radio Newark and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Feb 24, 2014
  • Length: 11:29
  • Purchases: 2
Not Worth a Continental
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Piece image
Host Peter Onuf talks with historian Benjamin Irvin about the design of the Continental Dollar, and how it sought to inspire confidence in the new ...

Bought by Radio Newark and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Feb 24, 2014
  • Length: 08:23
  • Purchases: 2
What History Tells Us About Bitcoin
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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Historian Stephen Mihm tells host Brian Balogh why Bitcoin is going against the lessons of history – the established dominance of a government-back...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio, Radio Newark, KFAI Minneapolis, WRST-FM Oshkosh, and WEZU


  • Added: Feb 24, 2014
  • Length: 10:05
  • Purchases: 5
Beyond the Buyers Club
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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The American History Guys talk to AIDS activist Mark King about the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s, and its representation in the movie Dallas Buyers...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio, Radio Newark, and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Mar 04, 2014
  • Length: 06:54
  • Purchases: 3
The Abolitionist Audience
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Piece image
Host Ed Ayers talks with historian Mary Niall Mitchell about the ways slave narratives like Solomon Northup’s "12 Years a Slave" were used to aid t...

Bought by Radio Newark


  • Added: Mar 04, 2014
  • Length: 07:27
  • Purchases: 1
The HISTIES
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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The American History Guys discuss what makes a good historical movie, make nominations for the best one – that deserving a “HISTIE” – from the crop...

Bought by Radio Newark and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Mar 04, 2014
  • Length: 09:38
  • Purchases: 2
Buzzer Beater
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 a 24-second experiment that saved one of America’s most beloved sports.

Bought by Radio Newark and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Mar 10, 2014
  • Length: 06:59
  • Purchases: 2
Friday Night Lights
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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Contributor Meg Cramer tells the story of the first electrically lit town in America -- Wabash, Indiana.

Bought by Radio Newark, KFAI Minneapolis, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Mar 10, 2014
  • Length: 06:21
  • Purchases: 3
Green Superheroes
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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BackStory producer Andrew Parsons talks with comic book author Denny O’Neill and historian Bradford Wright, about Green Lantern and Green Arrow - t...

Bought by WOUB, New Hampshire Public Radio, WABE, New Hampshire Public Radio, Radio Newark and more


  • Added: Mar 18, 2014
  • Length: 08:59
  • Purchases: 7
A Green Welcome
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Piece image
BackStory producer Jess Engebretson explains how the Statue of Liberty gained new meaning in American life – as a symbol of immigration – as it dev...

Bought by WOUB, New Hampshire Public Radio, Radio Newark, and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Mar 18, 2014
  • Length: 09:05
  • Purchases: 4
The Game that Changed the South...Sort Of
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Piece image
Host Ed Ayers explains how the South used college football to reassert itself in American culture after the Civil War, and Backstory producer Eric ...

Bought by Radio Newark and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Mar 25, 2014
  • Length: 12:34
  • Purchases: 2