Brigham Young: American Moses? (September 6, 2014)

Brigham Young was a rough-hewn transient from New York who was electrified by the Mormon faith. He married more than 50 women, and transformed a barren desert into his vision of the Kingdom of God. In his biography of Brigham Young, John Turner (George Mason University) explores Young’s thirty-year battle with the U.S Government for the control of Utah and his role in the massacre of settlers who came out west. Also featured: Since 1950, the South has undergone the most dramatic political transformation of any region in the United States. Quentin Kidd (Christopher Newport University) argues the once solid Democratic-South is now overwhelmingly Republican, and African Americans are voting at levels comparable to those of whites.

Later in the show: In the 18th century it was hard cider, not beer, that was the alcoholic beverage of choice. Even children drank hard cider because it was safer than the water. David Williams (George Mason University) investigates how this preference for hard cider disappeared from the American palate. Also featured: Deborah O’Dell (University of Mary Washington) studies magnetic orientation in bees, which, like homing pigeons, use magnetic fields to orient themselves. She’s interested in studies that suggest that bees living near cell phone towers may become disoriented and produce less honey.