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
Married to the Job
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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What is the role of the First Lady, anyway? Host Brian Balogh and scholar Lisa Burns discuss the ill-defined role of First Ladies, and the backlash...

Bought by WTJU and PRX Remix


  • Added: Dec 08, 2014
  • Length: 09:45
  • Purchases: 2
(Over)rulers
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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Legal scholar Bruce Ackerman talks about how presidents from Lincoln to Obama have used their military powers. This segment is from the BackStory e...

  • Added: Dec 08, 2014
  • Length: 09:22
Meatless Moralism
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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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 XRAY.fm and PRX Remix


  • Added: Dec 01, 2014
  • Length: 08:45
  • Purchases: 2
Calming the System
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Caption: Student nurses being trained in nutrition, New York, 1942 – photographed by Fritz Henle
Ed talks with Pomona College English professor Kyla Wazana Tompkins about the austere diet created by Sylvester Graham, designed to ward off a new ...

Bought by Troy Public Radio


  • Added: Dec 01, 2014
  • Length: 10:09
  • Purchases: 1
A Political Diet Plan
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Caption: Student nurses being trained in nutrition, New York, 1942 – photographed by Fritz Henle
Host Brian Balogh talks with food journalist Marian Burros about the US Senate’s attempt to encourage healthy eating in the 1970s, and the pushback...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Dec 01, 2014
  • Length: 07:41
  • Purchases: 1
War on the Gridiron
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Caption: Chief Hollow Horn Bear depicted as the “American Indian” on a 14-cent stamp, 1922. , Credit: U
Historian David Wallace Adams tells the story of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School football team, who were successful on the field - but not al...

Bought by WXDU, New Hampshire Public Radio, WABE, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Dec 01, 2014
  • Length: 07:52
  • Purchases: 4
Nothing but the Truth
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Caption: Chief Hollow Horn Bear depicted as the “American Indian” on a 14-cent stamp, 1922. , Credit: U.S. Postal Service.
Historian Christian McMillan discusses a legal case between the Hualapai tribe and the Santa Fe Pacific Railroad, which makes it all the way to the...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Dec 01, 2014
  • Length: 09:53
  • Purchases: 1
'Reel' Indians
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Caption: Chief Hollow Horn Bear depicted as the “American Indian” on a 14-cent stamp, 1922. , Credit: U.S. Postal Service.
Producer Kelly Jones and scholar Barbara Meek talk through Hollywood Indian English - a grammatical stereotype that often endures in today's media ...

Bought by Troy Public Radio and PRX Remix


  • Added: Dec 01, 2014
  • Length: 07:11
  • Purchases: 2
Let's Make Up: An Uncivil War
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Caption: John Adams presented to King George III, in 1785, as first American ambassador to the English court. Wood engraving, 19th century., Credit: The Granger Collection, New York.
Historian Rebecca Brannon tells the story of brutal fighting between Loyalists and Patriots in South Carolina during the Revolutionary War, and the...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Nov 11, 2014
  • Length: 09:45
  • Purchases: 1
Let's Make Up: Gang Related Reconciliation
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Caption: John Adams presented to King George III, in 1785, as first American ambassador to the English court. Wood engraving, 19th century., Credit: The Granger Collection, New York.
From BackStory's episode on the history of reconciliation in America. BackStory producer Andrew Parsons has the story of a peace summit between gan...

Bought by WABE and PRX Remix


  • Added: Nov 11, 2014
  • Length: 09:16
  • Purchases: 2
Let's Make Up: Friendship out of Fallout
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Caption: John Adams presented to King George III, in 1785, as first American ambassador to the English court. Wood engraving, 19th century., Credit: The Granger Collection, New York.
From BackStory's episode on reconciliation in American history. Brian Balogh speaks with Shigeko Sasamori, a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing, and...

Bought by KUAF Public Radio, KPIK-LP, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Nov 11, 2014
  • Length: 09:31
  • Purchases: 3
Let's Make Up: Out of Body Experience
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Caption: John Adams presented to King George III, in 1785, as first American ambassador to the English court. Wood engraving, 19th century., Credit: The Granger Collection, New York.
From BackStory's episode on reconciliation in American history. Anthropologist Orin Starn tells us about the the battle between the Smithsonian and...

Bought by Radio Newark


  • Added: Nov 11, 2014
  • Length: 10:14
  • Purchases: 1
Buzzer Beater
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Piece image
Producer Eric Mennel tells the story of a 24-second experiment that saved one of America’s most beloved sports. This story is part of the BackStory...

Bought by WABE


  • Added: Oct 31, 2014
  • Length: 07:00
  • Purchases: 1
Friday Night Lights
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Piece image
Contributor Meg Cramer tells the story of the first electrically lit town in America — Wabash, Indiana. This story is part of BackStory episode "On...

Bought by New Hampshire Public Radio and WABE


  • Added: Oct 31, 2014
  • Length: 06:21
  • Purchases: 2
Muslims on the Mic
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Caption: Classroom in the Islamic School in Seattle, Washington, 1982., Credit: Library of Congress
Scholar Su’ad Abdul Khabeer tells BackStory producer Kelly Jones about Islam’s impact on hip-hop – and how hip-hop opened doors between different M...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio, New Hampshire Public Radio, WABE, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Oct 31, 2014
  • Length: 08:35
  • Purchases: 4
So, A Man Breaks Into A Mosque...
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Caption: Classroom in the Islamic School in Seattle, Washington, 1982., Credit: Library of Congress
Anthropologist Nabeel Abraham tells host Brian Balogh about the fight between two Muslim communities over the future of a Dearborn, Michigan mosque...

  • Added: Oct 31, 2014
  • Length: 09:42
A Sea Change
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Caption: Classroom in the Islamic School in Seattle, Washington, 1982., Credit: Library of Congress
Frank Cogliano of the University of Edinburgh speaks with host Peter Onuf about the first Barbary War, which has often been cast as the first confl...

  • Added: Oct 31, 2014
  • Length: 09:05
Echoes of the Call
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Caption: Classroom in the Islamic School in Seattle, Washington, 1982., Credit: Library of Congress
Sylviane Diouf of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture talks with Ed Ayers about some of the overlooked legacies of enslaved Muslims ...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Oct 31, 2014
  • Length: 06:24
  • Purchases: 1
Kill the Indian
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Caption: Pedro Pan girls, Florida City, Fla., 1962. , Credit: Courtesy of Ileana Ortega Menéndez.
Historian Tsianina Lomawaima talks about the enduring legacy of Indian boarding schools, which sought to forcibly integrate tribal children into wh...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio and PRX Remix


  • Added: Oct 08, 2014
  • Length: 09:31
  • Purchases: 2
Go West, Young Orphan
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Caption: Pedro Pan girls, Florida City, Fla., 1962. , Credit: Courtesy of Ileana Ortega Menéndez.
For nearly 75 years, children from the orphanages of New York and other cities were shipped west to families in the West who needed farm labor. Som...

Bought by WOUB and PRX Remix


  • Added: Oct 08, 2014
  • Length: 08:05
  • Purchases: 2