Drafting the Past: How Historians Write History

For the tenth episode of Drafting the Past, Kate Carpenter interviews historian and journalist David M. Perry. David is the author of many, many essays (find the whole list here), as well as Sacred Plunder: Venice and the Aftermath of the Fourth Crusade (Penn State University Press, 2015). More recently, he is the co-author, with Matthew Gabriele, of The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe (HarperCollins, 2021). Our conversation covered everything from how David uses a recorder to draft his work, how he and Matthew approached co-writing, how he came to love writing after first considering it an ordeal, and much more.

For the ninth episode of Drafting the Past, I interviewed historian and novelist Nishant Batsha about his debut novel, Mother Ocean Father Nation (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2022). We talked about the connections between his training as a historian and his work as a novelist, the bad habits he had to break from academia, and writing for character and story, whether in fiction or non-fiction.

Host Kate Carpenter interviews geographer and historian Elizabeth Hennessy about her first book, On the Backs of Tortoises: Darwin, the Galápagos and the Fate of an Evolutionary Eden (Yale, 2019). We talk about bringing a wide variety of sources and approaches together in a book, how she made Darwin funny, and the benefits of an undergraduate education in journalism.

Host Kate Carpenter interviews historian Ben Railton about his long-standing online writing, the relationship between blogging and his books, and the surprising impact that Glenn Beck has had on his career.

In episode 6 of Drafting the Past, host Kate Carpenter interview historian Carole Emberton about her new book, To Walk About in Freedom: The Long Empancipation of Priscilla Joyner (Norton, 2022). Tune in to hear about Dr. Emberton's writing and research process, her agent and editor's advice for making her work resonate with audiences, and the craft book that she returns to again and again.

In episode 5, Kate Carpenter interviews historian Mia Bay, author of several books and articles on African American history and co-editor of multiple collections. Dr. Bay's most recent book, Traveling Black: A Story of Race and Resistance (Harvard, 2021), has won numerous awards, including the Bancroft Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in American history writing. We talk about Dr. Bay's embrace of imperfect first drafts, the long and winding process for writing Traveling Black, and the value of good feedback and editing.

For the fourth episode of Drafting the Past, I talked to historian Zachary Schrag. Dr. Schrag is a professor of history at George Mason University. He is the author of three books of history: The Fires of Philadelphia: Citizen-Soldiers, Nativists, and the 1844 Riots Over the Soul of a Nation, (Pegasus, 2021), Ethical Imperialism: Institutional Review Boards and the Social Sciences, 1965-2009 (JHU Press, 2010), and The Great Society Subway: A History of the Washington Metro (JHU Press, 2006). He is also the author of the tremendously helpful Princeton Guide to Historical Research (Princeton, 2021), a book I wish someone had handed me on the first day of graduate school.

Listen to hear more about how Schrag organizes his notes, how he uses a working document, and his (and my!) love for Scrivener.

Kate talks with environmental historian Bathsheba Demuth about her book, Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait (Norton, 2019), her essays, and how she helps readers to feel, see, and even smell the places she's writing about. Listen to learn how she organizes her many forms of research, the writers she's looking to for inspiration now, and what advice she would give to herself in grad school.

In this episode, Kate talks with historian and American Studies scholar Davarian Baldwin about his books, In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: How Universities Are Plundering Our Cities (Bold Type, 2021) and Chicago's New Negroes: Modernity, The Great Migration, and Black Urban Life (UNC Press, 2007). Listen to find out how Dr. Baldwin gradually came around to narrative writing, how he procrastinates by crafting phrases in his head, and the unexpected piece of public writing he has coming out this year.

For the debut episode of Drafting the Past, host Kate Carpenter talks to Megan Kate Nelson, author of Three-Cornered War (2021 Pulitzer Prize finalist in history) and the forthcoming Saving Yellowstone, about her exit from academia, how she uses fiction for narrative structure inspiration, and why she prefers writing in cafes (unless there's something really juicy happening there).