Welcome to the first episode of SNAFUBAR!

Over the course of each episode, SNAFUBAR will look at stories from military history and particular moments of U.S. military blunders with added context that can be used by and is accessible to a wide range of audiences. The histories we will look at will make clear the degree to which the U.S. is a warful nation, contrary to the myth of a peaceful nation forced into combat. And we’ll try to clarify the degree to which we romanticize and fetishize the military while not really providing the support that service members need for their time in, or for their return. 

George Washington: The Early Years is the first episode in our three part series that focuses on the first president of the United States. This episode brings us through his childhood, his time working as a land surveyor and operating as a colonizer in the larger movement to push indigenous peoples from the land and his beginnings as a young, upstart military leader. We will also discuss the role the Ohio River Valley played for the French and English in their desire to expand power and control in America.

SNAFUBAR is hosted by Sara Hart, who teaches Religious Studies at Cal Poly Humboldt, and Jeff Crane who is an Environmental Historian and Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Cal Poly Humboldt.

Research and writing for the show by Liam Salcuni and Roman Sotomayor

SNAFUBAR is produced by Abigail Smithson and brought to you by the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Cal Poly Humboldt.

Works Cited:

Mount Vernon Ladies Association

American Battlefield Trust

George Washington and the American Military Tradition by Don Higginbotham

Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow

Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution by Woody Holton