Historically Thinking

In this week’s podcast, Brian Leech discusses his award-winning work on Butte, Montana, “the city that ate itself.” Leech and host Al Zambone discuss mining and its history, the rich cultural and social world of an isolated city in Montana, and how the transition from underground to open pit mining changed everything about all of […]

This week Al Zambone talks with his colleague Todd Cleveland about Todd's new book Stones of Contention: A History of Africa's Diamonds. During their conversation they touch on the interaction between geological history and human history; the moral difficulties of determining what a conflict diamond actually is; how this history is related to how outsiders have always imagined the African continent; and whether Todd would, knowing what he now knows, still buy a diamond.

This week Al Zambone talks with his colleague Todd Cleveland about Todd’s new book Stones of Contention: A History of Africa’s Diamonds. During their conversation they touch on the interaction between geological history and human history; the moral difficulties of determining what a conflict diamond actually is; how this history is related to how outsiders […]

This week Al Zambone chats with his colleague Marco Cabrera-Geserick, who is currently in the early stages of a project investigating what Marco calls "republics prior to nations". These were Latin American republics that had brief lives prior to the nation-states that now occupy the same geographical and cultural space. Typically these have been dismissed as "ephemeral republics" of little importance. But Cabrera-Geserick believes that not only are their births and deaths fascinating in and of themselves, their lifespans have much to tell us about the history of other nation-states.

This week Al Zambone chats with his colleague Marco Cabrera-Geserick, who is currently in the early stages of a project investigating what Marco calls “republics prior to nations”. These were Latin American republics that had brief lives prior to the nation-states that now occupy the same geographical and cultural space. Typically these have been dismissed […]

Matthew T. Dickerson of Middlebury College and David L. O’Hara of Augustana College (South Dakota) talk with Historically Thinking host Al Zambone about their book, Downstream: Reflections on Brook Trout, Fly Fishing, and the Waters of Applachia. A mix of memoir, narrative, reporting, and meditation, Downstream explores the relationship between humans and the rivers around them. The conversation moves from brook trout and the elemental facts of fly-fishing, to rivers that the authors fish and love.

Books, Articles, and Links to Things Mentioned in the Conversation

A River Runs Through It (Book)

A River Runs Through It (Movie)

Wikipedia Bibliography of Fly Fishing

Best Places to Fly Fish (Travel and Leisure website article)

Fly Fishing Reports and Conditions

A Fly Fishing History

The American Museum of Fly Fishing

Take Me Fishing: What is Fly Fishing?

Fly Fishing 101

Michael Connolly of Purdue University North Central talks about presidents and their legacies with Historically Thinking host Al Zambone.

Connolly surveys past presidents, and argues that the way in which we assess them is often mistaken. He argues that presidential history is a very real and necessary sub-discipline. Given public interest in presidential history, Connolly asserts, historians disregard it at their own risk.

Books, Articles, and Links to Things Mentioned in the Conversation

Michael Connollly, Capitalism, Politics, and Railroads in Jacksonian New England

Jordan Michael Smith, "The Letters the Harding Family Didn't Want You to See." The New York Times, July 7, 2014.

The Harding-Fulton Correspondence, Library of Congress

The Center for Presidential History, Southern Methodist University

The Miller Center, University of Virginia

Warren Harding House and Tomb

Calvin Coolidge Historic Site

Wheatland, Home of President James Buchanan

Michael Connolly of Purdue University North Central talks about presidents and their legacies with Historically Thinking host Al Zambone. Connolly surveys past presidents, and argues that the way in which we assess them is often mistaken. He argues that presidential history is a very real and necessary sub-discipline. Given public interest in presidential history, Connolly […]

Today Lendol Calder talks about uncoverage, a term he coined some years ago to describe how he thinks history survey courses ought to be taught.

Zambone and Calder discuss how surveys are usually taught, and why history teachers should consider another approach.

Calder describes how his finest moment as a lecturer led him to stop lecturing; discusses his new approach to introductory history courses; and argues that how he teaches now conforms more closely to how historians actually study history.

Calder's Essay

Lendol Calder

“Uncoverage: Toward a Signature Pedagogy for the Historical Survey”

Journal of American History, 2006.

For Further Reading

Peter Burkholder.  "A Content Means to a Critical Thinking End: Group Quizzing in the History Survey."  The History Teacher, 47 (4), 551-578.

Timothy D. Hall &  Renay Scott. “Closing the gap between professors and teachers: ncoverage as a Model of Professional Development for History Teachers.” The History Teacher, 2007.

Daisy Martin & Sam Wineburg“S. eeing Thinking on the Web." The History Teacher, 2008.

Joel M. Sipress and David J. Voelker. “From Learning History to Doing History,” in Exploring Signature Pedagogies: Approaches to Teaching Disciplinary Habits, Eds. Regan A. R. Gurung, Nancy L. Chick, Aeron Haynie, 2008.

John C. Savagian. "Toward a Coherent Curriculum: Teaching and Learning History at Alverno College.” Journal of American History, 2009.

Joel M. Sipress & David J. Voelker. "The End of the History Survey Course: The Rise and Fall of the Coverage Model." Journal of American History, 2011.

Today Lendol Calder talks about uncoverage, a term he coined some years ago to describe how he thinks history survey courses ought to be taught. Zambone and Calder discuss how surveys are usually taught, and why history teachers should consider another approach. Calder describes how his finest moment as a lecturer led him to stop lecturing; discusses his […]