BackStory

By BackStoryEducation History

BackStory episodes

August 31, 2017 43. Alex Rowland
Larpwright Alex Rowland on designing opportunities for care, queering boffer, and the time for subtlety.
51 min
August 25, 2017 Starry-Eyed: A History of the Heavens
Why do we want to travel to the moon, to Mars, or beyond? We’re saluting this week’s total solar eclipse by looking at how Americans in the past have made sense of meteors, eclipses, and the stars.

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50 min
August 24, 2017 42. Jessica Hammer
Game designer and Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University Jessica Hammer explores how we can take a more precise approach to transformative play through research and iteration.
1 hr 11 min
August 18, 2017 207: Charlottesville: Our Town, Our Country
Brian, Ed, Joanne, and Nathan share their personal reactions to last week’s violence in Charlottesville, when white supremacists and Neo-Nazis showed up in town, some of them heavily armed. Violent clashes left one counter protester dead, and 34 injured. The BackStory hosts also discuss the meaning of Confederate statutes, and why they’re suddenly so polarizing. They conclude the conversation with why we’re seeing this resurgence in white nationalist activism in 2017.

29 min
August 11, 2017 Revisionist Climate: Americans & the Atmosphere
On this week’s episode, Nathan, Brian and Ed, talk about how Americans have interacted, dealt with, and tried to actively change the North American climate.

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46 min
August 06, 2017 41. Banana Chan
Video artist and freeform designer Banana Chan talks haunted dolls, designing for anxiety, and new models for publishing larp. (Also! See you at Gen Con, nerds!)
54 min
July 20, 2017 40. Jay Treat
Designer and long-time small-time con organizer Jay Treat joins us to talk cards, larps, and the careful calibration of tone.
53 min
July 14, 2017 Skin Deep: Whiteness in America
This week, BackStory looks at whiteness in America by broadcasting segments from podcasts we admire. These stories -- from the podcasts Scene on Radio and What’s Ray Saying along with a segment from BackStory’s archives -- explore what it means to be white in America, and how the concept of whiteness has fundamentally shaped our country.

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53 min
July 07, 2017 Hometown History: Local Stories From Across The Country
This week, BackStory looks at local history by broadcasting segments from podcasts we admire. These stories -- from Chicago, New Orleans, St. Louis and San Francisco -- illuminate big themes in American history and tell us something about what makes these places so unique.

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1 hr 10 min
July 06, 2017 39. Todd Nichols
Sociologist and podcast co-host Todd Nichols joins us to talk making stuff, putting it out there, and encouraging other folks to do the same.
1 hr 8 min

About BackStory

From the publisher's feed

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.