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
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Host Brian Balogh sits down with historian Joseph Crespino, who explains the Democratic conflict that led to the Dixiecrat Bolt of 1948.

Bought by Radio Newark


  • Added: Oct 28, 2013
  • Length: 09:27
  • Purchases: 1
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Reporter Nate DiMeo tells the story of the Kate and Margaret Fox, the small-town girls who triggered the 19th century movement known as Spiritualism.

Bought by WABE, Troy Public Radio, Radio Newark, PRX Remix, and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Oct 21, 2013
  • Length: 06:23
  • Purchases: 5
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Host Peter Onuf speaks with Harvard historian Anne Braude about the intersection of Spiritualism with 19th century social reform movements.

Bought by Radio Newark and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Oct 21, 2013
  • Length: 08:33
  • Purchases: 2
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Kristen Egan walks us through a creepy utopian novel from 1915, and explains why environmentalism and eugenics went hand in hand in the early 20th ...

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


  • Added: Oct 07, 2013
  • Length: 06:50
  • Purchases: 4
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Historian Kathleen Mapes talks with Ed Ayers and Brian Balogh about the anti-imperialist stance of America’s sugar beet farmers at the turn of the ...

Bought by KBRP Community Radio and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Sep 30, 2013
  • Length: 06:55
  • Purchases: 2
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Host Brian Balogh sits down with political scientist Adam Sheingate, to discuss how the struggling American farmer turned into the farm lobby—one o...

Bought by Radio Newark and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Sep 30, 2013
  • Length: 08:38
  • Purchases: 2
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BackStory producer Andrew Parsons talks with Sergei Khrushchev and Liz Garst on the unlikely friendship between their father and grandfather – Sovi...

Bought by New Hampshire Public Radio, WABE, XRAY.fm, and Radio Newark


  • Added: Sep 30, 2013
  • Length: 08:20
  • Purchases: 4
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The Guys share a little-known story about that time Stalin coined the term “American Exceptionalism"

Bought by WOUB, Radio Newark, and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Sep 23, 2013
  • Length: 06:32
  • Purchases: 3
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Host Brian Balogh talks with musicologist Katherine Meizel about the song “America the Beautiful” and its unsung verses.

Bought by WOUB, PRX Remix, and Radio Newark


  • Added: Sep 23, 2013
  • Length: 06:42
  • Purchases: 3
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Host Brian Balogh sits down with historian Daniel Feller, to talk about Jacksonian America and the so-called “humanitarian” claims made on both sid...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio, KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio, Radio Newark, and KSRQ


  • Added: Sep 16, 2013
  • Length: 07:27
  • Purchases: 4
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Historian Ann Marie Wilson talks with host Brian Balogh about the call for intervention in Armenia during the early 1890s, and how arguments about ...

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


  • Added: Sep 16, 2013
  • Length: 07:12
  • Purchases: 3
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Host Brian Balogh talks with former aid worker David Koren about his experiences during the Biafran airlift in the late 1960s, and explores whether...

Bought by Radio Newark


  • Added: Sep 16, 2013
  • Length: 09:09
  • Purchases: 1
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Historian Caroline Winterer tells host Peter Onuf about a debate over practicality and purpose in higher education after the Civil War, and how the...

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh and Radio Newark


  • Added: Sep 09, 2013
  • Length: 08:07
  • Purchases: 2
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Host Ed Ayers talks with historian Caitlin Rosenthal about an early wave of for-profit universities in the mid-19th Century, and a road not taken i...

Bought by Radio Newark


  • Added: Sep 09, 2013
  • Length: 06:16
  • Purchases: 1
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The American History Guys Peter Onuf, Ed Ayers, and Brian Balogh talk with historian Richard Price about why chemical weapons became taboo.

Bought by Radio Newark


  • Added: Sep 03, 2013
  • Length: 08:25
  • Purchases: 1
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BackStory producer, Eric Mennel, profile Francis Lieber, the Prussian immigrant who authored General Orders No. 100.

Bought by WABE, Radio Newark, and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Sep 03, 2013
  • Length: 07:57
  • Purchases: 3
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Historian William P. Jones talks with host Brian Balogh about the origins of the march idea, first floated during a campaign against employment dis...

Bought by Radio Newark and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Sep 03, 2013
  • Length: 09:17
  • Purchases: 2
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Historian David Blight talks with host Ed Ayers about the continuing impact of the Civil War in shaping the context within which the march took pla...

Bought by Radio Newark and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Sep 03, 2013
  • Length: 12:22
  • Purchases: 2
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Host Brian Balogh and historian Rachel Moran discuss how the federal government began to claim a stake in the public’s physical fitness, and Moran ...

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


  • Added: Jul 29, 2013
  • Length: 09:44
  • Purchases: 3
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Host Peter Onuf talks with historian Katherina Vester about the rise of dieting in the 19th century and about how it was preferable for men to be s...

Bought by Radio Newark and KFAI Minneapolis


  • Added: Jul 29, 2013
  • Length: 10:05
  • Purchases: 2