Historiansplaining: A Historian Tells You Why Everything You Know Is Wrong

What is with the spate of 1980s themes on current "prestige" television? Is it Gen. X. nostalgia for their youthful days in suburban malls? Or something more? Television critic Sonia Saraiya discusses how our unresolved identity crises seem to have led us into a fascination with the last years of the Cold War, and with the secret mistakes and machinations that took place on both sides of the old Iron Curtain. please support this podcast! -- https://www.patreon.com/creator-home The pledges for this installment will be split evenly between the two collaborators. Television series discussed: "The Americans," "Stranger Things," "When They See Us," "Chernobyl," "Leaving Neverland" Correction: The famous quote that nuclear power is "a hell of a way to boil water" comes from journalist Karl Grossman's 1980 book, "Cover Up."

What did people do when the Roman empire fell apart around them? Recent scholarship, based on new archeological discoveries and techniques, argues that in the "dark" centuries between 450 and 750 AD, the people of western Europe, from conquering kings to ordinary peasants, improvised new political alliances, maintained law and order, improved the productivity of their land, and invented new crafts and art forms, building a resilient and inventive society on the foundations (often literally) of the old. Please support this podcast -- www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632 Suggested further reading: Peter Wells, "Barbarians to Angels" Cover image: Visigothic bronze belt buckle with garnet and glass inlays, belonging to a woman in Spain, mid-6th century AD; image provided by Cleveland Museum of Art.

Unlocked for all listeners after one year for patrons only: -about 10 ft. long -made in France, ca. 1540s -lost in shipwreck, ca. 1562-5 -located on bottom of the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Canaveral We examine the mysteries surrounding a French bronze cannon recently discovered on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean near Florida, amidst the wreckage of an unidentified sixteenth-century fleet. The cannon and other artifacts are rare, priceless remnants of French Protestants’ ill-fated attempts to colonize North America before the Spanish, and their discovery sparked a heated international legal dispute. The mysterious shipwreck gives us a window into a rare moment when Europe’s vicious religious wars spilled over into the Americas. Image courtesy of Bobby Pritchett., Pres., Global Marine Exploration Inc. Introductory music: Domenico Scarlatti, Sonata in D, played by Wanda Landowska on harpsichord.

Could it be that "Shakespeare" wasn't Shakespeare? -- that someone else, perhaps a highly-educated aristocrat, actually wrote the works attributed to the actor from Stratford? Am I a crackpot for even entertaining such a ridiculous idea? We consider the evidence. This is the last installment in my series about William Shakespeare. Become a patron to hear the whole discussion: https://www.patreon.com/posts/32922586

Unlocked after one year for patrons only, a discussion of our fixation with organizing political views into an axis "left" against "right": As new political parties -- left-populists, neo-fascists, and secessionists -- rapidly rise and fall across Europe and other Western countries, and spontaneous protests blur partisan boundaries in the streets of Paris, the old left-to-right scale of political ideology is just not working. What value does this one-dimensional model of politics have, and where did it come from? In fact, it has to do with where you sit at a formal dinner party. Become a patron to hear my upcoming discussion of the Shakespeare authorship controversy (the notion that somebody else wrote the works of Shakespeare) www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632 Suggested further reading: Yuval Levin, "The Great Debate"; Jonathan Haidt, "The Righteous Mind"

How could Shakespeare have possibly allowed his sonnets -- personal, sexual, and often scandalous -- to be published? I advance my own theory to account for the printing of the most shocking book of poetry in the history of literature, and discuss the possibilities as to the identities of the alluring Young Man and Dark Lady. Finally, we consider the light that the Sonnets shed upon Shakespeare's plays, particularly his obsession with gender ambiguity and androgyny. Become a patron to hear my upcoming discussion of the Shakespeare authorship controversy (the notion that somebody else wrote the works of Shakespeare) www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632 CORRECTION: In thanking my patrons at the end of this episode, I mistakenly referred to "Christopher Grant" instead of "Christopher Grady." Apologies and thanks. Poems analyzed in this lecture: 17, 20, 135, 136, 138, 144 Full text of Shakespeare's sonnets, searchable: www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/Archive/allsonn.htm Suggested further reading: Katherine Dunc

What do Shakespeare's sonnets actually say? What can they tell us about the life or character of the man who penned them? Not only romantic and philosophical, the sonnets are erotic, desperate, and often angry, laced with shocking sexual imagery and emotional confession; as a group, they break all conventions of Elizabethan poetry, and trace the ghostly outline of two passionate affairs -- one a brief, tawdry fling with a mature voluptuous woman, and one a long, fraught relationship with an androgynous young man. This will be followed by a discussion of the publication of the sonnets, the possible identities of the "Dark Lady" and "Fair Youth," and their relation to the plays; and then by a discussion for patrons only of the "authorship controversy." Please support this podcast in order to keep the lectures coming and make them regular and dependable! -- www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632 Poems analyzed in this lecture: 1, 18, 20, 27, 33, 50, 52, 80, 86, 116, 127, 128, 129, 144 Full text of Shakespeare's

Who was William Shakespeare? He is far more elusive, and his life more obscure, than his fans and biographers will admit. We consider the massive, bloated mythology that has built up around the great Bard over the centuries, and then examine the remarkably scant surviving documentary records from the writer's own lifetime, which tend to paint a both bizarre and unflattering picture. The first of three installments examining the reality of Shakespeare. Please support this podcast in order to keep the lectures coming and make them regular and dependable! -- www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632 Suggested further reading: S. Schoenbaum, "William Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life"; James Shapiro, "Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare?"; Diana Price, "Shakespeare's Unorthodox Biography."

Struggles between chief executives and legislatures are dominating the news on both sides of the Atlantic, as Americans debate impeachment and the UK is engulfed by a Brexistential crisis. Most of the terms and precedents for these struggles go back to the 1600s and King Charles I's efforts to govern without the support of Parliament, which led to political backlash, civil war, and social upheaval from the halls of Westminster to the smallest peasant farmsteads. Please support this podcast in order to keep the lectures coming and make them regular and dependable! -- www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632 Suggested further reading: Hill, "The Elizabethan Puritan Movement"; Tyacke, "The Anti-Calvinists"; Walzer, "The Revolution of the Saints"; Mendle, ed., "The Putney Debates"

After one year, my lecture on the only authentic pre-Columbian European artifact aver found in the United States becomes public. Please support this podcast on Patreon to hear the patron-only lectures when they are posted (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632). --Created in Norway, 1069-1080 AD, during reign of King Olaf Kyrre --Made of silver alloy --Found at Goddard Site, Naskeag Point, Maine, dated 1100s-1200s AD The only authentic Norse artifact ever found in the United States, this small silver coin dated to the 11th century may be an elaborate hoax, or a crucial clue to trade and contact between Europe and America in the centuries between the fall of Vinland and the arrival of Columbus.

We consider the vast sweep of Central Asian history, from the first nomads to tame the horse and gain mastery of the steppes, to the splendrous cities of the first Silk Road, to the rise of Ghenghis Khan. Few Westerners learn the dizzyingly complex and tumultuous history of Central Asia, even though it forms the linchpin connecting all the major civilizations of the Old World, from Europe to Persia to China. Finally, we consider the unsettling paradox of the Mongol empire, which fostered a vibrant cosmopolitanism at the same time that it brutally repressed subject peoples. Please support this podcast! -- https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632 Suggested further reading: Peter Golden, "Central Asia in World History"; Gavin Hambly, "Central Asia"; Rene Grousset, "The Empire of the Steppes"

Freemasonry: What is it? Where does it come from? What is one taught as a Freemason? What do they do in their closed-door rituals -- and why? Freemasonry in the 1700s is my own field of research, and as a thank-you for reaching 50 patrons, I give a deep illumination of this unusual Society's roots in the gatherings of stonemasons in the late Middle Ages, its mythical connections to Solomon's Temple and the Crusades, and its elaborate system of symbols and initiatory rituals, which cast the Masons as a quasi-priestly caste with a shamanic connection to the world of the dead. Please support this podcast and hear the next lecture! -- www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632 Suggested Further Reading: David Stevenson, "Origins of Freemasonry: Scotland's Century"; Margaret Jacob, "Living the Enlightenment"; Jessica Harland-Jacobs, "Builders of Empire"; Ric Berman, "The Foundations of Modern Freemasonry"; Steven Bullock, "Revolutionary Brotherhood"; Jasper Ridley, "The Freemasons"

After one year for patrons only, the fourth Myth of the Month becomes free for the public: Do societies become more "secular" as they become modern? Do science, technology, or democracy weaken religious belief? We consider theories of secularization ranging from Max Weber's story of "disenchantment" to Charles Taylor's "A Secular Age." Current survey data show a dramatic rise in the number of "nones" -- those who do not adhere to any particular religious group, even though most of them still pray, read scriptures, or express belief in God. Please support this podcast and hear the next upcoming Myth of the Month! -- https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632 Suggested Further Reading: Charles Taylor, "A Secular Age"; Max Weber, "Science as a Vocation"; Pew Research Center, "In America, Does More Education Equal Less Religion?" Image of abandoned church courtesy of Emma (https://www.flickr.com/people/27505473@N02) via Flickr.

-Found in Monroe County, Illinois -Made of bauxite or "flint clay" -Dated to early 12th cent. AD One year after being shared with patrons only, this second installment of History of the United States in 100 Objects becomes public. We consider the statuette of a woman tearing into the back of a serpent (known to archaeologists as the Birger Figurine), which was found broken in pieces and buried in a pit outside of a small village site in Illinois. The figurine, despite its small size and condition, is the most exquisite piece of art surviving from the Mississippian civilization, a massive and powerful urban society that dominated the interior of North America for more than three hundred years before falling into decline and obscurity. The statuette most likely represents a goddess of death and rebirth that presided over the Mississippians' prosperous golden age. Suggested further reading: Timothy Pauketat, "Ancient Cahokia and the Mississippians"; Reilly and Garber, "Ancient Objects and Sacred Realms";

We put the disastrous fire at Notre Dame de Paris into historical perspective -- by considering the history of Gothic cathedrals, their cosmic religious meanings, and their remarkably powerful and mysterious construction. How did medieval builders create these massive, complex structures without steel, steam power, electricity, or even written plans? We also follow the tumultuous experiences of Notre Dame itself, the social and symbolic center of Paris--from religious riots and Revolutionary iconoclasm to malign neglect and controversial restorations. Finally, we consider the resilience of Gothic buildings through fire, lightning, earthquake, war, and revolution, and ask what other important monuments or community buildings we should support in our own communities. Please support this podcast, so that you can hear all of my patron-only materials, including a new special discussion of Game of Thrones and the magic of monarchy: www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632 Intro music: Domenico Scarlatti, "Fandango," played

--In time for Passover, this lecture on the myth of the Exodus from Egypt, which I recorded solely for patrons one year ago, becomes public for all.-- We examine the origins and the political and theological meanings of the myth of the Israelites' exodus from Egypt. We consider the possible real historical events that might underly the exodus story, including the argument put forward in Richard Elliot Friedman's new book, The Exodus. Finally, we trace some of the many ways that peoples around the world, from the early Christians to Rastafaris, have adopted the exodus myth and cast themselves as the new Israelites. Please support this podcast, so that you can hear all of my patron-only lectures as soon as they come out! --www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632

Universities are unique -- a quintessential product of the High Middle Ages that has miraculously survived and even flourished in the modern world. In the first part of the history of universities, we examine the origins of the first universities in the power struggles of Popes and emperors; the ways that medieval students learned, lived, and annoyed their elders; and the ways that universities adapted to and withstood serious challenges from Renaissance humanism and the republic of letters. Next will be the rise of universities in America, the modern research university, and the current crisis of academia. Please support Historiansplaining, in the spirit of knowledge and inquiry, and to get patron-only lectures such as my latest on political left and right: www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632 Suggested further reading: Walter Ruegg, ed., “A History of the University in Europe,” 4 vols.; William Clark, “Academic Charisma and the Origins of the Research University”; Olaf Pedersen, "The FIrst Universities." Im

In the first half of my discussion of Patrick Deneen's "Why Liberalism Failed," I examine the structure of Deneen's argument, tracing his effort to connect present-day crises in education, science, culture, and morality to the fundamental flaws in "liberalism," which he calls the "operating system" of modern Western society, and which he claims has left us isolated, lonely, and afraid, with our social system possibly on the brink of collapse into a totalitarian nightmare. Cheers! Please support Historiansplaining, in the spirit of knowledge and inquiry, and to get more free lectures in the bargain: www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632

We follow how a relatively obscure family of Swiss counts took advantage of the chaos of the late Middle Ages to become the most powerful dynasty in the history of central Europe, towering over European affairs, ruling "an empire on which the sun never sets," and even setting their sights on the dream of global dominion. We then consider the obstacles that the French, the Ottoman Turks, and the Protestants threw in their way, leading to the disastrous Thirty Years' War and their gradual fall from power. Please become a patron and contribute what you can in the spirit of knowledge and inquiry! www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632 Suggested further reading: Paula Sutter Fichtner, "Meaning Well: The Curious Life of a Habsburg Idealist."

We unearth the tangled roots of the earliest forms of modern science, beginning with the radical alchemical theories of the rabble-rousing healer called Paracelsus, and running through the heated debates over Galileo's astronomy, which broke down the distinction between the earth and the heavens. Due to these shocks, the old teleological, or purpose-driven, scheme of the world broke down, giving way to a free-for-all of speculation and apocalyptic excitement. We question the historical meaning of the concept of "science," and consider how modern-day pop scientists like Neil DeGrasse Tyson portray the past selectively in order to build the myth of reason and science as beacons of light amidst superstition. Please become a patron and contribute what you can in the spirit of knowledge and inquiry! www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632 Suggested further reading: Walter Pagel, "Paracelsus"; Charles Webster, "The Great Instauration"; Francis Bacon, "The New Atlantis"; Pamela Smith, "The Body of the Artisan";