Backtrack History

If you were a Roman citizen living in Constantinople in the 530's, your life revolved around one thing: chariot racing. Roman society cheered for one of two rival factions of charioteers: the Blues and Greens. While the Roman world around them changed radically, the people of Constantinople consoled themselves by supporting their team. It became part of their identity. But when the new emperor sentenced leaders of both teams to death and the executions were botched, the two factions forgot their differences and rose up in rebellion. Join us as we talk about one of the most interesting emperors in Roman history, his brilliant and courageous wife, and how what started as a day at the races nearly destroyed the largest city in the world.

When five cowboy brothers stumbled on staggering cliff dwellings of the ancient Ancestral Puebloans in a remote corner of Colorado, their curiosity turned into a passion. That passion ignited a chain reaction that led to the creation of a controversial power entrusted to the President of the United States through the Antiquities Act.

Americans know the story of Pearl Harbor well; at least, we know the story from the moment planes showed up in the skies over Oahu. But many of us don't know the decades-long pressure that compelled the Japanese to attack and how that attack affected the lives of real people, including Stu's old neighbor, whose life was forever changed on December 7, 1941.

Ancient Egypt, one of the oldest civilizations in the world, was a total mystery to historians. For 1400 years, the ability to understand hieroglyphs had been lost to the world. So while they were surrounded by 3000 years of records, historians couldn't read them. But in a chain of events that involved Alexander the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte, a stone was discovered that would prove to be the key to Egypt's ancient secrets. And two bitter rivals set off on a race to turn the key first.

Charles Darwin was a known and well-respected scientist in 19th Century England. But few knew that for 20 years, he'd been holding back a theory that would radicalize our understanding of Biology and the history of life on Earth. He held it back because he knew all too well how intensely it would clash not only with the scientific thought of the day, but especially with religious belief. It has been a source of controversy from the moment he finally published his theory in his famous book, On the Origin of Species.

While the English settlers we now know as Pilgrims fought to survive the deadly first winter in New England, they weren't aware their fates were being determined by an Indian chief called Massasoit and a captive of Massasoit's tribe, a man called Tisquantum. Their decisions formed one of the most fateful alliances in American history and became a myth we now call Thanksgiving.

In 1692, two little girls started acting strangely. After examining them, the town's doctor gave a diagnosis that sent shockwaves through the community: witchcraft. Soon, a local slave woman was put on trial as a suspected witch. She pleaded guilty. And in her testimony, she admitted not only was she a witch, but others lurked in the town as well. Fear gripped Salem and the paranoid hunt was on. Soon, former friends and neighbors were being marched to the gallows to hang as convicted witches.

The story of the Pilgrims of the Mayflower is steeped in American lore. We know they fled Europe seeking religious freedom, but what did they believe? Who was persecuting them? And why is their story the one we remember over other colonists who preceded them? This week in Backtrack History, we look at the Puritan Separatists of Scrooby, England, and why they eventually risked everything to set foot on the famous Mayflower.

This week Stu looks at the historic contexts of the symbols displayed and protested in the recent violence at Charlottesville, VA. Was the Civil War about slavery? How do we remember the Confederacy and the war that tore the country in two?

For over two centuries, Japan was a locked country. Any foreigner who set foot on Japanese soil was executed. But the world wasn't it content to let it stay closed forever. In 1853, a brash American Commodore sailed into the forbidden waters of Edo (Tokyo) Bay, turned his guns on the city, and demanded Japan open its doors.

A distracted, daydreaming assistant clerk once imagined he was riding a bus traveling at light speed. In a rush of inspiration, he suddenly understood the universe in ways no one had ever imagined. When his published theories invalidated two centuries of scientific thought, Einstein was in a race to prove his theory, but World War I threatened to unravel everything.

Over two millennia ago, Julius Caesar led a small army across a river. In that moment, he was swept up in a tide of events that hard started flowing nearly ninety years before. Ultimately, not only would that tide lead to his assassination, but it would cause the entire Roman world to shudder and usher in the death of the Roman Republic.

One snowy night in Boston, an argument broke out between a teenager and a lone soldier. Within minutes, five men were dead, others wounded, and the foundation of the American Revolution had been laid. This is the story of the Boston Massacre.

America's wilderness was a complete mystery for the first century of our country's existence. When white settlers started exploring the Yellowstone River Basin in the Montana Territory, what they found was so alien and strange that no one believed them. It took the survival story of an unlucky wanderer to vault Yellowstone into the limelight. This is the story of the creation of Yellowstone National Park.