Historians Writing History: Drafting the Past

In this episode of Drafting the Past, host Kate Carpenter is joined by Dr. Judith Giesberg. Dr. Giesberg is a historian and professor at Villanova University. She is the author of six books focused on the U.S. Civil War and its aftermath. She is also an active digital and public historian, and her newest book is the culmination of these interests. Inspired by an ongoing digital project, Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families draws on advertisements placed by formerly enslaved people after the Civil War—in some cases, long after—attempting to find loved ones who had been stolen away from them when they were sold by enslavers. It's a fascinating book, at turns heartbreaking and inspiring, and I was delighted to get to ask Judy more about the project and her research process.

In this episode Kate is joined by writer and historian Dr. Rebecca Brenner Graham. Rebecca is a post-doctoral research associate at Brown University, but before that she taught high school history, an experience that we talk a lot more about in this episode. Her first book, out now, is called Dear Miss Perkins: A Story of Frances Perkins's Efforts to Aid Refugees from Nazi Germany, and it is not only a compelling history but holds valuable lessons for readers now. I also asked Rebecca to dig into her approach for publicizing a recently released book, and I think her advice will be a big help for other authors.

This is Drafting the Past, a podcast about the craft of writing history. In this episode, host Kate Carpenter is joined by historian Dr. Marlene Daut. Marlene is a professor at Yale University and is the author of four books, as well as an editor of several more. The most recent two of those books are Awakening the Ashes: An Intellectual History of the Haitian Revolution, which was a winner of the 2024 Frederick Douglass Book Prize, and The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe. She is also the author of many articles and essays in places like The New Yorker, Harper's, Essence, The Nation, and more. Our conversation covers some burning questions about Marlene's work, including how she works on more than one book at a time, why you might find her typing into her phone at the grocery store, and she is inspired by the work of investigative journalists. Enjoy Kate's conversation with Dr. Marlene Daut.

In this episode, host Kate Carpenter is joined by Dr. James Tejani. James is an associate professor of history at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. His first book, A Machine to Move Ocean and Earth: The Making of the Port of Los Angeles—and America came out last year with Norton, and it's a fascinating history that covers Western settlement, slavery, the Civil War, science and engineering, and much more. Our interview ranges from how Tejani came to think of himself as a writer to how developing tendonitis changed his writing practice.

Welcome back to Drafting the Past, a show about the craft of writing history. In this episode, Kate Carpenter interviews historian Dr. Seth Rockman. Seth is a historian at Brown University. His first book was called Scraping By: Wage Labor, Slavery, and Survival in Early Baltimore, and he is also the co-editor of the volume Slavery's Capitalism: A New History of American Economic Development. He does a great deal of interesting interdisciplinary work on labor history, and he has even been called on to share his research findings on slavery and capitalism with the U.S. House Financial Services Committee. His new book, out now, is called Plantation Goods: A Material History of American Slavery. You'll love Seth's responses about how challenging the writing process can be, the joys of archives and the need for deadlines to drag us out of them, and why his dissertation adviser's advice is always in his ear while he writes.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Drafting the Past.You can visit draftingthepast.com to find notes from this and every episode of the show. Until next time, remember that friends don't let friends write boring history.

Hello there, this is Drafting the Past, and I'm Kate Carpenter. In each episode, I interview a historian about their writing process, and today I'm joined by Duke University historian James Chappel. James is the author of two books. His first book is titled Catholic Modern: The Challenge of Totalitarianism and the Remaking of the Church, and it focuses on the transformation of the Catholic church in twentieth century Europe. But for his second book, which is out now, he has gone in a bit of a different direction. The new book is called Golden Years: How Americans Invented and Reinvented Old Age. We'll get into how he moved between subjects, why he says he's always writing, and how he took a mountain of fascinating research on the history of old age and retirement and turned it into one interesting and easy to read book.

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Episode 55 features Dr. Robin Bernstein. Robin is a cultural historian who specializes in race and racism from the nineteenth century to the present, and is the Dillon Professor of American History at Harvard University. Her first, award-winning book was Racial Innocence: Performing American Childhood from Slavery to Civil Rights, and she has written essays and articles on a wide range of subjects. Her new book is called Freeman's Challenge: The Murder that Shook America's Original Prison for Profit, and it's truly remarkable. I had a hard time putting it down, so I was especially delighted to find out more about how Robin researched, wrote, and revised to reach the finished product.

In this episode I'm so happy to welcome historian Prithi Kanakamedala to talk about writing with me. Prithi is a professor of history at Bronx Community College CUNY, and is also a faculty member at CUNY Graduate Center. She is an active public historian, who has worked with a wide range of cultural organizations. One of the projects she worked on as a historian and curator for a wide-ranging public history project called In Pursuit of Freedom, which included an exhibit at the Brooklyn Historical Society. Out of this project emerged Prithi's new book Brooklynites: The Remarkable Story of the Free Black Communities that Shaped a Borough. I was so excited to talk with Prithi about the relationship between her writing and her public history work, and how she sees her role as a historian in relationship to the communities she studies. Enjoy my conversation with Dr. Prithi Kanakamedala.

Drafting the Past is created, hosted, and produced by Kate Carpenter.

Welcome to Drafting the Past, a podcast all about the craft of writing history. I'm Kate Carpenter, and in each episode I talk with a historian about the practices, archival frustrations and joys, drafts and revisions and more that go into writing history. In this episode, I'm delighted to be joined by Dr. Andrew Kahrl. Andrew is a professor of history and African American Studies at the University of Virginia. His third book was published by the University of Chicago Press earlier this year, titled The Black Tax: 150 Years of Theft, Exploitation, and Dispossession in America. Andrew is especially interested in issues of housing and real estate, land use and ownership, and local tax systems. He is the author of two additional books, The Land Was Ours: African American Beaches from Jim Crow to the Sunbelt South, and Free the Beaches: The Story of Ned Coll and the Battle for America's Most Exclusive Shoreline. In addition to his books, Andrew regularly writes for public outlets like the New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, and more. In our conversation, we talked about how Andrew wrestled the research for his latest book into a compelling narrative argument, and why he firmly believes in the importance of history that speaks to present-day issues. He also shared some unexpected writing advice from his dad that I think you'll enjoy hearing about. Enjoy my conversation with Dr. Andrew Kahrl.

Welcome back to Drafting the Past, a podcast about the craft of writing history. In this episode, host Kate Carpenter welcomes someone a little bit different to the podcast: writer and writing coach Helen Betya Rubinstein.

Helen is neither a historian nor a writer or history herself, but she has been working as a writing coach for the past six years, often with historians and other academics. If you remember my conversation with Anna Zeide in episode 29 last year, Helen was the writing coach that Anna and her co-editors brought in to a workshop to help book contributors work on writing essays aimed at wider audiences. I'm delighted to have the chance to talk more with Helen about what exactly a writing coach does and the kinds of conversations she finds herself having with historians. In addition to her work as a coach and teacher, Helen is a writer with MFA degrees from Brooklyn College and the University of Iowa, and her essays and fiction have appeared in publications including The Kenyon Review, The Paris Review Daily, and Literary Hub. She is the author of a book of lyric fictions and also has a forthcoming book about writing, teaching, and publishing.