History Talk, the history podcast from Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective

Peter Mansoor discusses his new book, Redemption: MacArthur and the Campaign for the Philippines, focusing on the strategic and operational decisions made by American and Japanese leaders, the organization of military forces, air and naval actions, intelligence, logistics, and guerrilla warfare. Redemption is both a campaign history and a study in the strategic leadership of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, for both aspects are required to understand the totality of the largest American campaign in the Pacific during World War II. This talk explores the complexities of the Philippines campaign and MacArthur's role in it.

Peter R. Mansoor, Professor, General Raymond E. Mason Jr. Chair in Military History

Nicholas Breyfogle (Moderator), Professor of History and Director, Goldberg Center for Excellence in Teaching, The Ohio State University.

In the early 1900s, Mary Mallon, a cook, was unknowingly a healthy carrier of Typhoid fever.

Written by Claudia Jansen, Morgan Metz, and Marian Moser Jones. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video production by Laura Seeger, Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle, and Hannah Keller. A transcript is available at https://origins.osu.edu/read/who-was-typhoid-mary.

This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit origins.osu.edu.

Learn More:

• Ashurst, John V., Justina Truong, and Blair Woodbury. “Typhoid Fever (Salmonella Typhi),” StatPearls [online book] Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan–. PMID: 30085544. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519002/

• Bourdain, Anthony. Typhoid Mary: An Urban Historical. United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2010.

• Hasian, M.A. Power, Medical Knowledge, and the Rhetorical Invention of “Typhoid Mary”. Journal of Medical Humanities 21, 123–139 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009074619421

• “Individual who tested positive for COVID-19 being held in Spokane County Jail after refusing to self-isolate,” NBC Right Now (Tri-Cities, Yakima, WA), July 2, 2020 https://www.nbcrightnow.com/regional/individual-who-tested-positive-for-covid-19-being-held-in-spokane-county-jail-after-refusing/article_ee6606ca-a4b2-5dec-824c-c0d4f184d1e9.html

• Leavitt, Judith Waltzer. Typhoid Mary: Captive to the Public’s Health (Boston: Beacon Press, 1996), pp. 16-18, 27-29, 45-46, 71.

“Spokane health officer issues order to jail COVID-19 positive man who refused to self-isolate,” Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA), July 2, 2020. https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/jul/02/spokane-health-officer-issues-order-to-jail-covid

• Teicher A. Typhoid Mary Was Not a Super-Spreader (and Super-Spreaders Are Not "Typhoid Marys"). Am J Public Health. 2023 Dec;113(12):1249-1253. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2023.307434. Epub 2023 Oct 12. PMID: 37824810; PMCID: PMC10632844, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37824810/

• “Tuberculosis patient in Washington who was arrested for refusing treatment is finally cured,” NBC News, July 23, 2024, https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/washington-tuberculosis-patient-cured-arrested-refusing-treatment-rcna163302.

The Battle of Bosworth Field was one of the last major battles of the Wars of the Roses, a decades-long conflict between the House of York and the House of Lancaster over claims to the English throne.

Written and narrated by Hannah Keller. Video production by Hannah Keller, Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle, and Laura Seeger. A transcript is available at https://origins.osu.edu/read/battle-bosworth-field.

Learn More:

Carpenter, Christine. The Wars of the Roses: Politics and the Constitution in England, c. 1437-1509. Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Foard, Glenn and Anne Curry. Bosworth 1485: A Battlefield Rediscovered. Oxbow Books, 2013.

Hicks, Michael. The Wars of the Roses. Yale University Press, 2010.

Jones, Dan. The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors. Penguin Books, 2015.

Jones, Michael. Bosworth 1485: Psychology of a Battle. Tempus, 2002.

Langley, Philippa. The Princes in the Tower: How History’s Greatest Cold Case Was Solved. Pegasus Books, 2023.

Pollard, A.J. The Wars of the Roses. Palgrave Macmillan, 2001.

This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit origins.osu.edu.

When a Simi Valley jury announced the “not guilty” verdicts in the case of four police officers charged in the beating of African American motorist Rodney King on April 29, 1992, Los Angeles erupted in a firestorm of anti-police protest.

Written by Max Felker-Kantor. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video production by Hannah Keller, Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle, and Laura Seeger. A transcript is available at https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/may-2017-1992-los-angeles-rebellion-no-justice-no-peace.

Learn more about the L.A. Riots:

Abu-Lughod, Janet L. Race, Space, and Riots in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007)

Cannon, Lou. Official Negligence: How Rodney King and the Riots Changed Los Angeles and the LAPD (Boulder: Westview Press, 1999)

Davis, Mike. “Who Killed Los Angeles? A Political Autopsy.” New Left Review 197 (1993): 3–28.

Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department, “Report of the Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department,” (Los Angeles: The Commission, 1991)

Stevenson, Brenda. The Contested Murder of Latasha Harlins: Justice, Gender, and the Origins of the LA Riots (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013).

Webster, William H., and Hubert Williams. “The City in Crisis: A Report by the Special Advisor to the Board of Police Commissioners on the Civil Disorder in Los Angeles.” Los Angeles, October 21, 1992.

This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit origins.osu.edu.

Listen to Allison Mitchell and special guest Dr. Anthony Harris discuss Black history and her Picturing Black History essay, "⁠The Children of the Mississippi Freedom Summer⁠."

Learn more about Allison Mitchell at ⁠https://picturingblackhistory.org/author/mitchell/ ⁠

Explore more photographs and stories that changed the world from Picturing Black History at ⁠⁠https://www.picturingblackhistory.org/⁠⁠, a collaboration between Origins: Current Events In Historical Perspective (⁠⁠https://origins.osu.edu⁠⁠) and Getty Images

(⁠⁠https://www.gettyimages.com/⁠⁠).

Picturing Black History strives to contribute to an ongoing public dialogue on the significance of Black history and Black life. We embrace the power of images to capture stories of oppression and resistance, perseverance and resilience, freedom dreams, imagination, and joy within the United States and around the globe.

Interviewed by Paul McAllister

Listen to Allison Mitchell and special guest Dr. Anthony Harris discuss Black history.

Learn more about Allison Mitchell at ⁠https://picturingblackhistory.org/author/mitchell/ ⁠

Explore more photographs and stories that changed the world from Picturing Black History at ⁠⁠https://www.picturingblackhistory.org/⁠⁠, a collaboration between Origins: Current Events In Historical Perspective (⁠⁠https://origins.osu.edu⁠⁠) and Getty Images (⁠⁠https://www.gettyimages.com/⁠⁠).

Picturing Black History strives to contribute to an ongoing public dialogue on the significance of Black history and Black life. We embrace the power of images to capture stories of oppression and resistance, perseverance and resilience, freedom dreams, imagination, and joy within the United States and around the globe.

Interviewed by Paul McAllister

President James A. Garfield was shot on July 2, 1881, by Charles Guiteau, a disgruntled political hopeful. Months later, Garfield died from an infection which ravaged Garfield’s body for two and half months. Who was responsible and what was their motivation?

Written by Lisa Zevorich Susner. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video production by Laura Seeger, Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle, and Hannah Keller. A transcript is available at https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/july-2016-assassination-president-garfield-135-years-ago.

This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit origins.osu.edu.

Percival Lowell was a prominent astronomer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who believed in the existence of a planet beyond Neptune, which he called “Planet X.”

Written by Kevin Schindler. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video production by Hannah Keller, Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle, and Laura Seeger. A transcript is available at https://origins.osu.edu/read/discovering-pluto.

This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit origins.osu.edu.

Learn More:

Pluto and Lowell Observatory: A History of Discovery at Flagstaff. Kevin Schindler & Will Grundy. 2018. The History Press. 192 pages.

Discovering Pluto: Exploration at the Edge of the Solar System.

Dale Cruikshank & William Sheehan. 2018. University of Arizona Press. 504 pages.

The Pluto System After New Horizons. Alan Stern, Jeffrey Moore, William Grundy, Leslie Young, Richard Binzel (editors). 2021. University of Arizona Press. 688 pages.

Planets X and Pluto. William Hoyt. 1980. University of Arizona Press. 302 pages.

Clyde Tombaugh: Discoverer of Planet Pluto. David Levy. 2007. Sky Publishing. 232 pages.

The World Series has been played annually since 1903 (with two exceptions in 1904 and 1994). Here, Origins offers ten 20th Century World Series contests that are landmark moments in baseball’s evolution as a commercial enterprise and its adaptation to the significant social and cultural changes of modern America.

Written by Russell Field. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video production by Laura Seeger, Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle, and Hannah Keller. A transcript is available at https://origins.osu.edu/connecting-history/top-ten-origins-world-series.

Links to individual Top Tens:

00:55 # 1 - 1903 World Series: Boston Americans beat Pittsburg Pirates, 5 games to 3.

02:20 # 2 - 1919 World Series: Cincinnati Reds beat Chicago White Sox, 5 games to 3.

03:36 # 3 - 1921 World Series: New York Giants beat New York Yankees, 5 games to 3.

05:04 # 4 - 1947 World Series: New York Yankees beat Brooklyn Dodgers, 4 games to 3.

06:05 # 5 - 1955 World Series: Brooklyn Dodgers beat New York Yankees, 4 games to 3.

07:04 # 6 - 1959 World Series: Los Angeles Dodgers Beat Chicago White Sox, 4 GAMES to 2.

08:19 # 7 - 1960 World Series: Pittsburgh Pirates Beat New York Yankees, 4 Games To 3.

09:56 # 8 - Three from the early 1970s: 1970 World Series when Baltimore Orioles Beat Cincinnati Reds, 4 Games To 1; 1971 World Series When Pittsburgh Pirates Beat Baltimore Orioles, 4 Games To 3; and 1972 World Series When Oakland A’s Beat Cincinnati Reds, 4 Games To 3.

11:31 # 9 - 1992 World Series: Toronto Blue Jays Beat Atlanta Braves, 4 Games to 2.

12:34 # 10 - 1994 World Series: When the World Series was cancelled.

13:20 Bonus - 1924 Colored World Series: Kansas City Monarchs Beat Hilldale Giants, 5 Games to 4.

This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at the Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit origins.osu.edu.

Gwangju, a major city in southwestern South Korea, has been widely recognized as a center of civil resistance since May 1980, when a brutal military crackdown targeted citizens protesting against dictatorship.

Written by Hieyoon Kim. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video production by Hannah Keller, Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle, and Laura Seeger. A transcript is available at https://origins.osu.edu/read/gwangju-isnt-over.

This is a production of Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective at the Goldberg Center in the Department of History at The Ohio State University and the Department of History at Miami University. Be sure to subscribe to our channel to receive updates about our videos and podcasts. For more information about Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, please visit origins.osu.edu.

Learn More About Gwangju:

Human Acts by Han Kang, translated by Deborah Smith https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/536652/human-acts-by-han-kang/

Mirror Nation by Don Mee Choi https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/violence-repeated-on-don-mee-chois-mirror-nation/

Gwangju uprising: the rebellion for democracy in South Korea. Edited by Hwang Sok-yong, Lee Jae-eui, and Jeon Yong-ho, compiled by the Gwangju Democratization Movement Commemoration Committee, translated by Slin Jung. https://www.versobooks.com/products/932-gwangju-uprising?srsltid=AfmBOoo0LMGm_zCFYHSL6b91jzhNjyukxd2OSC0lHfpyiC4iSlHBvc_m