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In this episode, Lou interviews the preeminent cultural historian of the 19th-century USA, David S. Reynolds. This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the publication of Reynolds' landmark biography, John Brown Abolitionist. Reynolds opens by describing his most recent project, the forthcoming Two Ships (Penguin), and then revisits the writing of John Brown Abolitionist, rehearsing some key themes from the book as well as reflecting on his  background and methodology as a cultural historian. The interview finishes with a shift to Reynolds' 2020 opus, Abe, a cultural biography of Abraham Lincoln. 

There is also an AI-generated visual overview available based on this interview. See "John Brown Sparked a War" (https://youtu.be/OMEwfYZQ3hM).

Content Warning: This episode contains two direct quotes from historical sources that include a racial slur. The audio has been edited to reduce the volume of the word to minimize harm to listeners.