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
Not So Safe Space
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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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
Sugar in your Tea Party?
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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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
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
Tainted with Blood
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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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
Wearing the Trousers
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 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
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
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 Fear of "Mexicanization"
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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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
Comanches as Kingmakers
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Piece image
Host Ed Ayers talks with historian Brian DeLay about the two-front war Mexico faced in its 1840s conflict with the United States – fighting both th...

Bought by Radio Newark and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Jan 21, 2014
  • Length: 11:30
  • Purchases: 2
The Argentine Firecracker
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Piece image
Historian Julian Zelizer talks with host Brian Balogh about the sex scandal that brought down Wilbur Mills – one of the most powerful congressman o...

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


  • Added: Dec 10, 2013
  • Length: 09:40
  • Purchases: 4
A High Society Murder?
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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BackStory Producer Andrew Parsons brings us the story of alleged murder of an illegitimate baby, which scandalized Virginia high society in the ear...

Bought by Radio Newark, PRX Remix, and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Dec 10, 2013
  • Length: 09:05
  • Purchases: 3
Precious Bodily Fluids
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Piece image
Host Brian Balogh talks with historian Andrew Case about the supposed Communist conspiracy that lay behind the fluoridation of water in the mid-20t...

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


  • Added: Dec 02, 2013
  • Length: 10:21
  • Purchases: 4
The Myth of "Malaise"?
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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Gordon Stewart, former speechwriter to President Jimmy Carter, helps Brian Balogh tell the story of the “crisis of confidence” speech Carter delive...

Bought by WABE, XRAY.fm, Radio Newark, PRX Remix, and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Nov 18, 2013
  • Length: 10:06
  • Purchases: 5
Who will Mourn for Logan?
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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Peter Onuf sits down with historian Carolyn Eastman, who explains the emphasis placed upon Native American speeches in the early Republic, and the ...

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


  • Added: Nov 18, 2013
  • Length: 09:23
  • Purchases: 4
A Woman's Voice
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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Brian Balogh talks with historian Lisa Tetrault about the rise of women orators in the Lyceum movement of the late 19th Century.

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


  • Added: Nov 18, 2013
  • Length: 10:03
  • Purchases: 4
PTSD by any other name
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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Host Ed Ayers talks with psychotherapist Edward Tick about the history of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD.

Bought by KVNF and Radio Newark


  • Added: Nov 12, 2013
  • Length: 11:00
  • Purchases: 2
Women on the Homefront
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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Host Brian Balogh interviews historian Rebecca Plant about war veterans and “mom-ism.”

Bought by Radio Newark and PRX Remix


  • Added: Nov 12, 2013
  • Length: 07:24
  • 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 WOUB, Radio Newark, and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Nov 04, 2013
  • Length: 06:21
  • Purchases: 3
Buzzer Beater
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
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Producer Eric Mennel tells the story of a 24-second experiment that saved one of America’s most beloved sports.

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


  • Added: Nov 04, 2013
  • Length: 06:59
  • Purchases: 5
Reconstructing Republicanism
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites
Piece image
Host Ed Ayers talks with historian Annette Gordon-Reed about the Republican Party’s own civil war in the late 1860s, over the nature of Reconstruct...

Bought by Radio Newark


  • Added: Oct 28, 2013
  • Length: 07:09
  • Purchases: 1