BackStory

By BackStory

BackStory is a weekly public podcast hosted by U.S. historians Ed Ayers, Brian Balogh, Nathan Connolly and Joanne Freeman. We're based in Charlottesville, Va. at Virginia Humanities.

There

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4.5

28922,892 ratings

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FAQs about BackStory:

How many episodes does BackStory have?

The podcast currently has 328 episodes available.

BackStory episodes:

August 14, 2025 Anatomy of a Geo-Block
In a world where episode content shouldn't be heard everywhere, only one thing stands between that and total disaster...

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2min
August 13, 2025 All About Geo-Fencing
This episode is all about the fascinating world of geo-fencing. This practice allows content distributors to either allow or prevent digital consumers from accessing their content, based on their location in the world.

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2min
June 18, 2025 Test Audio Episode
Test Audio Episode

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59min
June 18, 2025 Amazing video episode
Amazing video episode

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2min
October 05, 2023 Test Episode
test episode

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2min
October 04, 2023 Test Episode
Test

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2min
July 03, 2020 331: The End of the Road: BackStory and the History of Finales in America
On this final episode of BackStory, Nathan, Brian, Joanne and Ed explore different kinds of finales throughout American history. They also consider what it’s like being a part of their own finale and how finales can sometimes lead to new beginnings.

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1h 20min
June 30, 2020 Teaser: BackStory and the History of Finales in America
Coach Tony Bennett knows a thing or two about big finales. He’s the head coach of the men’s basketball team at the University of Virginia. This is a clip from Brian's conversation with Coach Bennett about the power of sports and how you have to be able to accept the outcome of a big game, whether it’s a buzzer-beater win or a heartbreaking loss.

The full episode is coming to you this Friday, July 3.

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7min
June 26, 2020 330: Best of BackStory: The Time the People Picked
As BackStory nears the end of its production, we’ve asked our listeners to call in with moments from the show’s history and compile their very own “Best of BackStory.”

We got some great responses covering a range of topics, each of them meaningful to the present moment in their own way.

So in this best of BackStory, we present three of our listener’s favorite interviews from the show. You’ll learn about the early U.S. Postal Service, and hear from residents of Hamlet, North Carolina as we explore the painful memory of a 1991 tragedy. Then, you’ll discover the long evolution of the Confederate flag’s design.

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52min
June 24, 2020 Introducing: Seizing Freedom
Coming Feb 2021…

In most history classes, students learn that the Emancipation Proclamation and Union victories “freed the slaves.” But ending slavery in America required much more than battlefield victories and official declarations. Black people battled for their own freedom, taking incredible risks for a country that had actively denied their right to it. And after the Civil War, they made freedom real by organizing for equality and justice.

On Seizing Freedom, you’ll hear stories of freedom taking and freedom making, in the words of those who did both. Drawing on stories from diaries, newspapers, letters, and speeches, we’ll recreate voices that have been muted time and time again.

This excerpt is from the first episode of the series. It tells the story of those who escaped slavery to enlist with the Union Army—an army that wasn’t particularly interested in having them.

Subscribe to the entire series here.

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19min

FAQs about BackStory:

How many episodes does BackStory have?

The podcast currently has 328 episodes available.

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