It's a History Podcast

Hello!In this weeks episode, I am joined by Andrew Rowen to discuss his most recent release, the Historical Novel Isabel, Anacaona & Columbus's Demise: 1498-1502 Retold.

This week marked our annual recognition of what is now indigenous peoples day on October 12 but had been Columbus day for almost 90 years. This day and what it means has evolved over time, and in speaking with andrew about his research into this time period, we can gain just a bit more knowledge on how these three individuals, Isabel, Anancaona, and Columbus lived this experience.

This novel is grounded in primary sources and anthropological research that reconstructs from both European and Native perspectives the period of Caribbean history when permanent European colonial settlement began, commencing with Columbus's third voyage.

Andrew Rowen has researched the history of the initial encounters between Europeans and the Caribbean's Taíno peoples for over a dozen years. His novels retell that history from a bicultural perspective based on primary sources, anthropological studies, and site research. He is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley and Harvard Law School and practiced law as a partner at a law firm before writing.

You can find Andrew here: https://www.andrewrowen.com

You can find the book here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/isabel-anacaona-columbus-s-demise-1498-1502-retold-andrew-rowen/5f0dab1f27d21191?ean=9780999196168&next=t

Hello! In this week's episode we are taking a look at the history of Ice Cream. Ice Cream is a dessert that has many different origins, as multiple cultures from around the world have enjoyed eating some version of an ice cream style dessert for centuries.

There have been multiple inventions that have helped Ice Cream become the everyman dessert we know it as today, including the Hand Crank Ice Cream Maker.

There is also a bit of myth with this history as we look at just how waffle cones became popular.

Sources for today episode include:

An article from the Museum of Ice Cream titled The History of Ice Cream: How Every Culture Invented It Independently

https://www.museumoficecream.com/blog/history-of-ice-cream/

Another article from the Museum of Ice Cream titled: A Scoop of History: Nancy Johnson's Ice Cream Revolution

https://www.museumoficecream.com/blog/a-scoop-of-history-nancy-johnsons-ice-cream-revolution/

An article from PBS titled Explore the Delicious History of Ice Cream by Tori Avery

https://www.pbs.org/food/stories/explore-the-delicious-history-of-ice-cream

If you would like to send me any questions, comments, or ideas for future podcast episodes please email me at [email protected].

You can also find me on Instagram and Threads @itsahistorypodcast

Thank you for listening!

Hello! In this week's episode I am joined by Author Rebecca Chamian Ribaudo to discuss her recent release Crossing Division Street. Rebecca is a Chicago based author, nonprofit leader, and advocate for free expression and civil discourse. Crossing Division Street Traces four generations living through a century of defining events in Chicago and American History Drawing from research spanning 1891 to 2001.

The book begins at the intersection of Division and Larrabee Streets, a crossroads at the center of a nation's story, where Little Sicily became Cabrini-Green and was remade again. Rebecca connects one changing neighborhood's history to a larger American tension: our need to belong to families and communities without surrendering the individuality that makes pluralism possible.

The Book is out now and can be found here: https://bookshop.org/beta-search?bkshp-astro=t&keywords=crossing+division+street

You can find the Instagram for the book Here: https://www.instagram.com/crossingdivisionstreet?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&stkn=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

You can find the website for the book here:https://www.crossingdivisionstreet.com/

If you would like to send me any questions, comments, or ideas for future podcast episodes please email me at [email protected].

You can also find me on Instagram and Threads @itsahistorypodcast

Thank you for listening!

Hello! In this Week's final episode of the Formal Food safety series we wrap up with Harvey and continued development of the Food and Drug Law. We dive into multiple trials regarding various food additives such as nitrates in bleached flour and bones in boneless cod. We also discuss the conspiracy in the Department of Agriculture to try to remove Harvey from his position.

Sources include:

Coppin, Clayton A., and Jack High. "Umpires at Bat: Setting Food Standards by Government Regulation." Business and Economic History, vol. 21, 1992, pp. 109–18. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23703213. Accessed 22 Sept. 2026.

Blum, Deborah. The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century (pp. xi-xii). (Function). Kindle Edition.

Check out the book here!

https://bookshop.org/beta-search?bkshp-astro=t&keywords=poison+squad

Want to start at the beginning of the series?

Start here:

The History of Food Safety Part 1

https://www.itsahistorypodcast.com/the-history-of-food-safety-part-1-historic-methods-of-food-safety-germ-theory-and-pasteurization/

The History of Food Safety Part 2

https://www.itsahistorypodcast.com/the-history-of-food-safety-part-2-fraud-food-adulteration-and-harvey-washington-wiley/

The History of Food Safety Part 3:

https://www.itsahistorypodcast.com/the-history-of-food-safety-part-3-the-poison-squad-the-worlds-fair-and-upton-sinclair/

If you would like to send me any questions, comments, or ideas for future podcast episodes please email me at [email protected].

You can also find me on Instagram and Threads @itsahistorypodcast

Thank you for listening!

Hello! In This weeks Episode we are going to be continuing our look at the history of food safety. This week we are looking at the Poison Squad experiments themselves, Harvey's continued work in making the Public Aware of the state of food, and a trail on canned beef.

In the two previous parts of this series we discussed the state of food safety when it came to milk and dairy products. We also took a look at the changing landscape of commercially processed foods and their increasing use of untested preservatives.

We also met Harvey Wiley, the chief chemist at the department of agriculture who is an integral part of this story. Where we left off, Harvey was just starting to think that maybe we should be testing these preservatives in a controlled environment with human test subjects. So just know that that is circulating in his mind while he continues to test and bring awareness to the effects of preservatives in the food supply, as well as other additives that were added to make the food go further, such as crushed coconut shells, crushed charcoal, and chalk.

The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century by Deborah Blum

You can Find Part 1 Here: https://www.itsahistorypodcast.com/the-history-of-food-safety-part-1-historic-methods-of-food-safety-germ-theory-and-pasteurization/

You can find Part 2 Here: https://www.itsahistorypodcast.com/the-history-of-food-safety-part-2-fraud-food-adulteration-and-harvey-washington-wiley/

Bonus 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair: https://www.itsahistorypodcast.com/025-the-1893-chicago-worlds-fair-how-a-fair-goes-from-concept-to-reality-in-just-three-years/

If you would like to send me any questions, comments, or ideas for future podcast episodes please email me at [email protected].

You can also find me on Instagram and Threads @itsahistorypodcast

Thank you for listening!

Hello! In This Weeks continuation of the History of Food Safety, we lay the ground work for the work of one man, Harvey Washington Wiley, and his work to introduce a food safety bill and educate the American People on what exactly they were eating.

Harvey was a chemist with a special interest in food Safety and through his work, we were able to discover just how adultered the food being produced and sold in the US actually was.

Make sure to check out Part One where we go into further detail on Milk Safety, Germ Theory, and Pasteurization: https://www.itsahistorypodcast.com/the-history-of-food-safety-part-1-historic-methods-of-food-safety-germ-theory-and-pasteurization/

Today's episode relies heavily on the book The Poison Squad: One Chemist Single Minded Crusade for Food Safety At the Turn of the Twentieth Century written by Debrah Blum.

The read the book, check it out here: https://bookshop.org/beta-search?bkshp-astro=t&keywords=poison+squad

If you would like to send me any questions, comments, or ideas for future podcast episodes please email me at [email protected].

You can also find me on Instagram and Threads @itsahistorypodcast

Thank you for listening!

Hello! In this week's episode we are starting a multi part series on the history of food safety in the US. Looking at the recent food recalls we have had in the US, I got to thinking about how we got to where we are today.

In today's episode we look at some historic methods of food safety including cooking, drying, and pickling. We take a brief look at the history of germ theory, and then spend the rest of the episode looking at the history of milk safety after the rapid industrialization and urbanization of cities.

If you want to learn more about tenement housing, you can listen to this episode here:https://www.itsahistorypodcast.com/002-tenement-houses/

I am not sure how many parts this series will be, but stay tuned for more episodes about food safety!

Sources for todays episode include:

An Article from Food Unfolded titled Ancient Food Safety: A Story of Fire and Ice

https://www.foodunfolded.com/article/ancient-food-safety-a-story-of-ice-and-fire

An article from The Museum of Healthcare titled Discovering Diseases: The beginnings of Germ Theory and Preventative Precautions by Jessica Lanziner

https://www.museumofhealthcare.ca/blog/discovering-diseases-the-beginnings-of-germ-theory-and-preventative-precautions

An article titled A brief History of Milk Hygiene and Its Impact on Infant Mortality from 1875 to 1925 and Implications for Today: A Review by Russell W Currier and John A Widness

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0362028X22087610?via%3Dihub

Hello! In this episode I am Joined by Professor and Author Felicia Salber to discuss her Up coming novel "Kinightly Whispers". This novel is rooted in Arthurian times, and Felicia pulls from historical sources to keep her story based acuartley in this Medieval Era.

There is discussion of sex and sexuality in this episode.

Find Felicia Here:

Substack ("The Carriage"): http://feliciasalber.substack.com Webpage: http://feliciasalber.wordpress.com Instagram: http://instagram.com/felicia.salber.author Episodes mentioned: Episode 32: https://www.itsahistorypodcast.com/032-american-vikings-a-conversation-with-martyn-whittock-on-american-vikings-the-evidence-they-we/ Episode 35: https://www.itsahistorypodcast.com/035-the-complex-history-of-romance-novels-what-is-a-romance-novel-their-criticism-and-their-popu/ Episode 50: https://www.itsahistorypodcast.com/050-vikings-in-the-east-a-conversation-with-martyn-whittock-about-vikings-in-modern-day-ukraine-an/

If you would like to send me any questions, comments, or ideas for future podcast episodes please email me at [email protected].

You can also find me on Instagram and Threads @itsahistorypodcast

Thank you for listening!

Hello! This week we are taking a look at the Hindenburg Disaster. In episode 100, we took a look at the history of Zeppelins themselves which was made up of many different periods of trial and error to create an airship that was suitable for both passengers and war.

This week we take a look at the Hindenberg Itself, What went wrong, and the Hindenbergs Nazi Connections. We also look at the live recording from Herbert Morrison of a minute by minute live audio description of the Hindenberg Landing.

Check out episode 100 for more information on Zepplins: https://www.itsahistorypodcast.com/the-zeppelin-from-fantasy-to-reality/

Sources for today's episode include:

Monsters: The Hindenburg Disaster and the Birth of Pathological Technology by Edward Regis

If you would like to send me any questions, comments, or ideas for future podcast episodes please email me at [email protected].

You can also find me on Instagram and Threads @itsahistorypodcast

Thank you for listening!

Hello! In this weeks episode I am joined by William W. Campbell, a neurologist, writer, artist, philanthropist, and retired US Army colonel whose creative writing career began with short stories about memorable patients encountered over nearly fifty years of medical practice.

Today we are going to discuss his most recent release A historical fiction titled Soldier For the Union that explores the secret heroism of women who fought in disguise on the front lines of the Civil War.

Links to find William:

https://www.williamcampbellauthorartist.com/soldier-for-the-union-book

https://williamcampbellauthor.substack.com

The book:

https://bookshop.org/p/books/soldier-for-the-union-william-w-campbell/5d88a28d75f2123d?ean=9798897471638&next=t

If you would like to send me any questions, comments, or ideas for future podcast episodes please email me at [email protected].

You can also find me on Instagram and Threads @itsahistorypodcast

Thank you for listening!