History Ago Go

Art historian and author Jennifer Dasal talks about some the the most fascinating and truly unbelievable stories in art history.  She details the wild journey of the Mona Lisa and indicates that it might be possible the one on display is actually a forgery.  She discusses the possiblity that the infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper might actually have been British artist Walter Sickert.  Dasal explains how it is also possible that Vincent van Gogh did not commit suicide, but may have been murdered.  She talks about the connection between the CIA and the expansion and popularity of modern art and covers a host of topics from UFOs in art, ghosts directing paintings and the most infamous art theft in history.

HOST:  Rob Mellon

FEATURED BREW:  Hell's Belle Belgian Blond Ale, Big Boss Brewing Company, Raleigh, North Carolina

BOOK:  ArtCurious: Stories of the Unexpected, Slightly Odd, and Strangely Wonderful in Art History
https://www.amazon.com/ArtCurious-Unexpected-Slightly-Strangely-Wonderful/dp/0143134590/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=artcurious&qid=1618286869&sr=8-1

MUSIC:  Bones Fork
https://bonesfork.com/

The nation's leading Ulysses S. Grant interpreter talks about the campaign for Petersburg and the end of the American Civil War as General Grant.  He discusses the difficulty but importance of crossing the James River to put General Robert E. Lee in a vice.  He explains the challenge of assuming command of the entire United States Army as General-in-Chief after he moved east from the western theater of the war.  General Grant talks about meeting President Lincoln at City Point and the directives he was given by the President toward the end of the war.  He finishes with a detailed explanation of what happened at Appomattox Court House.

HOST:  Rob Mellon

FEATURED BREW:  Lucky 25 American Brown, Trapezium Brewing Company, Petersburg, Virginia

MUSIC:  Bones Fork
https://bonesfork.com/

CLIP:  The Battle Cry of Freedom (George F. Root, 1862)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok1tw2Lt3Rc

Set against the backdrop of the Age of Exploration, Black Flags, Blue Waters reveals the dramatic and surprising history of American piracy’s “Golden Age”―spanning the late 1600s through the early 1700s―when lawless pirates plied the coastal waters of North America and beyond. Best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin illustrates how American colonists at first supported these outrageous pirates in an early display of solidarity against the Crown, and then violently opposed them. Through engrossing episodes of roguish glamour and extreme brutality, Dolin depicts the star pirates of this period, among them towering Blackbeard, ill-fated Captain Kidd, and sadistic Edward Low, who delighted in torturing his prey.  Upending popular misconceptions and cartoonish stereotypes, Dolin provides this wholly original account of the seafaring outlaws whose raids reflect the precarious nature of American colonial life.

HOST:  Rob Mellon

FEATURED BREW: Gold and Haze of Piracy Belgian Wit, Pirate Republic Brewing Company, Nassau, The Bahamas

BOOK:  Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America's Most Notorious Pirates
https://www.amazon.com/Black-Flags-Blue-Waters-Notorious/dp/1631492101/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1617743551&sr=1-1

MUSIC:  Bones Fork
https://bonesfork.com/

CLIPS: Hoist the Colours (Pirates of the Caribbean) Cover - Colm McGuinness Music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX0r4H2i9uY

Drunken Sailor - Sean Dagher · Michiel Schrey · Nils Brown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOu9W9Nmj6U

Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirates life for me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A19q7rysLs

The Wellerman (Sea Shanty) - From TikTok to Epic Remix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgsurPg9Ckw

Reinhard Heydrich is widely recognized as one of the great iconic villains of the twentieth century, an appalling figure even within the context of the Nazi leadership. Chief of the Nazi Criminal Police, the SS Security Service, and the Gestapo, ruthless overlord of Nazi-occupied Bohemia and Moravia, and leading planner of the "Final Solution," Heydrich played a central role in Hitler's Germany. He shouldered a major share of responsibility for some of the worst Nazi atrocities, and up to his assassination in Prague in 1942, he was widely seen as one of the most dangerous men in Nazi Germany. Yet Heydrich has received remarkably modest attention in the extensive literature of the Third Reich.

Robert Gerwarth weaves together little-known stories of Heydrich's private life with his deeds as head of the Nazi Reich Security Main Office. Fully exploring Heydrich's progression from a privileged middle-class youth to a rapacious mass murderer, Gerwarth sheds new light on the complexity of Heydrich's adult character, his motivations, the incremental steps that led to unimaginable atrocities, and the consequences of his murderous efforts toward re-creating the entire ethnic makeup of Europe.

HOST:  Rob Mellon

FEATURED BREW:  Naughty Temple Ale Aged in Whiskey Barrels, Toppling Goliath Brewing Company, Decorah, Iowa

BOOK:  Hitler's Hangman: The Life of Heydrich
https://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-Hangman-Heydrich-Robert-Gerwarth/dp/0300187726/ref=sr_1_1?crid=Y38Z536MKWKZ&keywords=hitlers+hangman&qid=1617420204&s=books&sprefix=hitlers+hangman%2Cstripbooks%2C411&sr=1-1

MUSIC:  Bones Fork
https://bonesfork.com/

CLIPS:  Hangmen Also Die! (1943) - USA

Benjamin Grierson’s Union cavalry thrust through Mississippi is one of the most well-known operations of the Civil War.   There were other simultaneous operations to distract Confederate attention from the real threat posed by U. S. Grant’s Army of the Tennessee. Grierson’s operation, however, mainly conducted with two Illinois cavalry regiments, has become the most famous, and for good reason: For 16 days (April 17 to May 2) Grierson led Confederate pursuers on a high-stakes chase through the entire state of Mississippi, entering the northern border with Tennessee and exiting its southern border with Louisiana. The daily rides were long, the rest stops short, and the tension high. Ironically, the man who led the raid was a former music teacher who some say disliked horses. Throughout, he displayed outstanding leadership and cunning, destroyed railroad tracks, burned trestles and bridges, freed slaves, and created as much damage and chaos as possible.

Grierson’s Raid broke a vital Confederate rail line at Newton Station that supplied Vicksburg and, perhaps most importantly, consumed the attention of the Confederate high command. While Confederate Lt. Gen. John Pemberton at Vicksburg and other Southern leaders looked in the wrong directions, Grant moved his entire Army of the Tennessee across the Mississippi River below Vicksburg, spelling the doom of that city, the Confederate chances of holding the river, and perhaps the Confederacy itself.

Novelists have attempted to capture the large-than-life cavalry raid in the popular imagination, and Hollywood reproduced the daring cavalry action in The Horse Soldiers, a 1959 major motion picture starring John Wayne and William Holden. Although the film replicates the raid’s drama and high-stakes gamble, cinematic license chipped away at its accuracy.

Based upon years of research and presented in gripping, fast-paced prose, Timothy B. Smith’s The Real Horse Soldiers captures the high drama and tension of the 1863 horse soldiers in a modern, comprehensive, academic study. Readers will find it fills a wide void in Civil War literature.

HOST:  Rob Mellon

FEATURED BREW:  Cavalry Scout Stout, El Paso Brewing Company, El Paso, Texas

BOOK:  The Real Horse Soldiers: Benjamin Grierson’s Epic 1863 Civil War Raid Through Mississippi (Timothy B. Smith)
https://www.amazon.com/Real-Horse-Soldiers-Griersons-Mississippi/dp/1611215307/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

MUSIC:  Bones Fork
https://bonesfork.com/

CLIP:  The Horse Soldiers (1959)

A political Field of Dreams. A moderate US president is struggling to lead amidst the country's dysfunctional polarization when he stumbles upon a centuries-old saloon where he can drink at a nightly party with every former president, living or dead. He relishes this escape and the camaraderie with his new drinking buddies who understand his problems and sympathize with him. When he realizes that they all want only the best for both him and the country, unlike what he experiences in Washington each day, he starts to wonder if somehow this saloon can have greater value. Can he tap into the collective wisdom of Washington, Jefferson, the Roosevelts, Kennedy, Reagan and all the others to craft a solution to fix the country's broken and divisive political dynamic?

HOST:  Rob Mellon

FEATURED BREW:  Cliff Hanger Marzen German-Style Auburn Lager, Gordon Biersch Brewing Company, California

BOOK:  Presidential Spirits: A Novel
https://www.amazon.com/Presidential-Spirits-Dan-Coonan/dp/1597132128/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=presidential+spirits+dan+coonan&qid=1616812427&s=books&sr=1-1

MUSIC:  Bones Fork
https://bonesfork.com/

Journalist and author Bill Knoedelseder discusses the crazy and extremely interesting life of one of America's "royal" families - the Busch family.  He starts from the beginning and details how a young German brewer took a small neighborhood brewery and turned it into an international powerhouse.  He explains how the flagship beer of Anheuser-Busch Budweiser got its name and how the company weathered the temperance movement and Prohibition.  The author explains the succession from father to son from the original Adolphus Busch to the current patriarch of the family.  He talks about how "Gussie" Busch married baseball and beer in St. Louis and the day he was forced from power by his son.  He finishes with the story of how the brewing giant was bought out by a company that didn't even exist a few years before the historic company was purchased.

HOST:  Rob Mellon

FEATURED BREW:  Michelob Ultra Pure Gold, Anheuser-Busch, St. Louis, MO

BOOK:  Bitter Brew: The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America's Kings f Beer
https://www.amazon.com/Bitter-Brew-Anheuser-Busch-Americas-Kings/dp/0062009273/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1616456667&sr=1-2

MUSIC:  Bones Fork
https://bonesfork.com/

Author and historian John Woolf discusses the amazing freak performers and freak shows of the 19th century.  He talks about famous performers such as Tom Thumb (Charles Stratton) and the greatest showman P.T. Barnum.  He explains how the meeting between General Tom Thumb and Queen Victoria brought the freak performers and shows into mainstream entertainment of the day.  He also discusses the early fascination with little people and others with abnormalities, such as Jeffrey Hudson who was in the court of Charles I of England.  Woolf covers several additional freak performers such as Chang and Eng, Joice Heth, Maximo and Bartola, the WhatIsIt and the influence Charles Darwin's research had on the freak shows of the age.  He explains the life of the Elephant Man (Joseph Merrick) and how exploitation led to the decline of popularity of the shows.  He finishes with a discussion on whether the extraordinary performers were exploited or empowered by the freak shows of the 19th century.

HOST:  Rob Mellon

FEATURED BREW:  Freakshow Crush Hazy IPA, Flying Monkey Craft Brewery, Barrie, Ontario

BOOK:  The Wonders: The Extraordinary Performers Who Transformed the Victorian Age
https://www.amazon.com/The-Wonders-John-Woolf-audiobook/dp/B07YCXCWQ1/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=john+woolf&qid=1615864967&s=books&sr=1-2

MUSIC:  Bones Fork
https://bonesfork.com/

CLIP:  This is Me, The Greatest Showman, Atlantic Records

Author Mike Mitchell talks about his comprehensive book about the early years of the St. Louis Cardinals.  He explains the tremendous impact that baseball executive Branch Rickey had on the game.  The discusses Rickey's early years and how he first got into baseball.  Mitchell covers the mediocre baseball playing career of Branch Rickey and his service in the Chemical branch of the Army during WWI.  The discussion includes how Rickey first got to the Cardinals and his move to the front office.  Mitchell describes the minor league system that Rickey developed that lasted 100 years.  He discusses the several pennants and World Series titles during his tenure.  He used the farm system to produce amazing talent from Dizzy Dean to Stan Musial.  Rickey's move to the Dodgers is covered including breaking baseball's color barrier.  The talk concludes with Rickey's return to the Cardinals in 1962 and his final days.

HOST:  Rob Mellon

FEATURED BREW:  Urban Underdog American Lager, Urban Chestnut Brewing Company, St. Louis, MO

BOOK:  Branch Rickey's Redbirds: Baseball, Beer, Scandals & Celebrations in St. Louis
https://www.amazon.com/Mr-Rickeys-Redbirds-Baseball-Celebrations/dp/0578693879/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=branch+rickey&qid=1615349110&s=books&sr=1-2

MUSIC:  Bones Fork
https://bonesfork.com/

CLIPS:  Baseball's Best Moments (MLB.com), Stan Musial Biography, St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame, Wabash Cannonball

West Point Professor Emeritus of History Ty Seidule talks about is recently released book Robert E. Lee and Me.  He discusses growing up in the American South and how he was indoctrinated into the myth of the Lost Cause.  He explains the difference of living in Alexandria, Virginia and living in rural Georgia.  He talks about the deification of Robert E. Lee and the groups that perpetuated the myth.  Seidule explains the history of the flags of the Confederacy including the Confederate Batte Flag.  The discussion includes why several Army posts were named for Confederate officers and how and why that should change in the future.  He explains the importance of Lincoln and Grant's leadership and why that is downplayed by the Lost Cause philosophy.  He discusses the history of Arlington National Cemetery and when Confederate graves and statues were allowed on the grounds.  He finished with how racism has infected the American bloodstream and the steps that can be taken to tell the full nature of our shared history.

HOST:  Rob Mellon

FEATURED BREW:  Ground Pounder Pale Ale, Service Brewing Company, Savannah, Georgia

BOOK:  Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause
https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Lee-Me-Southerners-Reckoning/dp/1250239265

MUSIC:  Bones Fork
https://bonesfork.com/

CLIPS:  From an interview with Shelby Foote, the U.S. Army oath, quote from Andrew Young the former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., and a speech given by Harry Truman to the NAACP