Second Decade

 In the summer of 1817, residents of the coastal town of Gloucester, Massachusetts suddenly began seeing a mysterious creature swimming around in their harbor. Though reports differed as to exactly what the monster looked like, how long it was and how fast it could move, the similarities between the reports and the trustworthiness of the witnesses seemed too substantial to ignore. A scientific association quickly convened a committee to investigate the creature. But the Gloucester sea monster was much more than just a strange anomaly that wagged tongues and sold newspapers: it was part and parcel of a much larger and more serious debate about the relative merits of the New World versus the Old, a debate in which prominent Americans like Thomas Jefferson had a significant political stake.

In this quirky and unusual episode of Second Decade, historian Sean Munger not only presents contemporary accounts of the Gloucester monster—compiled in a nifty pamphlet rushed into print in Boston before the news cycle moved on—but also delves into the cultural and literary tradition of sea serpents in the early modern world, and why questions about big, strange animals mattered to the identity of the new United States. In this episode you’ll meet a French noble who was outsmarted by a moose skeleton, a local justice of the peace who treated sea monster stories like a high-stakes legal case, a society of amateur scientists who were a little overeager to prove the existence of the creature, and a sea captain who went out do battle with the monster itself. Was there really a beastie out there, or was this just a fish story? You decide!

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This bonus episode, released in conjunction with Sean Munger’s upcoming novel Jake’s 88 (which is set in the 80s), examines the political, cultural and social history of the 1980s and why, far from being simply a grab-bag of pop culture tropes, this decade stands at the very heart of modern history. Beginning with an almost incredible snap decision made in a Detroit hotel room that completely changes the next 40 years of history, this roving spotlight on various aspects of the decade also tackles how John Hughes got ‘80s teens terribly wrong, The Day After and the specter of nuclear annihilation, Bill Cosby and the complex question of race in the ‘80s, and the almost surreal spectacle of the issue-free 1988 Presidential campaign between George H.W. Bush and his aggressively underwhelming nemesis, Michael Dukakis.

Jake’s 88 is a coming-of-age romance set in the year 1988. It’s deeply steeped in the curious head space of the decade and loaded with pop culture references. It’s available for preorder here on Amazon Kindle (and a paperback version will also be available). The book releases January 15, 2019.

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“Waterloo” is a name so historic and iconic that it’s taken on more than its literal meaning—when we speak of someone “meeting their Waterloo,” we’re talking about their final epic defeat. Napoleon Bonaparte certainly did meet that end on the farm fields of Belgium in June 1815, but the story of how his brief restoration as France’s Emperor came crashing down is more than just the story of a single battle. Historians since 1815 have been more guilty than anyone else at distorting and sanitizing the story of this event, turning a tragic occurrence with real human consequences into little more than a tabletop strategy game with a lot of maps and symbols that obscure what really happened on that field. What was Waterloo really about? What were the stakes? Why are we so reluctant to remember it as anything more than a textbook military exercise? These are the questions that underlie this episode.

In this, the final installment in a three-part series on Napoleon’s Hundred Days, Dr. Sean Munger will throw away the maps and symbols and try to get to the heart of what the Battle of Waterloo was. In this episode you’ll learn why what you may think you know about Napoleon’s defeat is wrong, or at least distorted; you’ll ponder the existential implications of getting a bayonet in the face; you’ll marvel at how such a consequential man as Napoleon ultimately had so little to offer the people he asked to die for him by the thousands; and you’ll meet a 19th century British model-maker who landed the job of a lifetime and wound up seriously screwing up an important moment in European history. This is one of the highlight moments of the entire Second Decade, and one of the main reasons this podcast exists!

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In retellings of history, Napoleon’s brief return to power in the spring of 1815 is often portrayed as an audacious surprise, the ultimate comeback from an indefatigable historical personality. Actually it wasn’t. Having returned to Paris and run off the rickety reboot of the Bourbon monarchy, Napoleon immediately found himself faced with a dizzying array of insoluble problems. Chief among them was the fact that all the other powers of Europe had suddenly banded together and declared war on him. He would obviously have to fight to remain in power, but with France’s treasury empty and her manpower already drained from previous years of Napoleon’s wars, this time Bonaparte really didn’t have a second act. That raises the question: did he really think he was going to get away with it this time?

In this, the second of a three-part series on Napoleon’s final play on the world stage, Dr. Sean Munger counts the dwindling francs left in the French treasury, chronicles the treachery of Napoleon’s disloyal ministers who were plotting against him, and takes you into the rather tepid celebrity lunches that Bonaparte threw at the Tuileries Palace to try to make it look like he was the center of attention. You’ll learn about Napoleon’s drooling problem, why it’s a bad idea to ask fed-up troops who’ve already deserted your army once before to pretty-please come back and die for you once more, and why imperial coronation robes should generally not be worn more than once. This is a picture not of an audacious and incisive leader with one more trick up his sleeve, but more of a deluded narcissist totally out of gas and without a clue what to do.

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Napoleon was the kind of guy who didn’t know when the party was over. Following his disastrous defeat in Russia in 1812 (chronicled in Episodes 10-12 of this podcast) and yet another war in Europe, Napoleon’s enemies invaded France and forced him off the throne in the spring of 1814. Bonaparte was given the paltry consolation prize of the island of Elba, which proved stifling, and he had little hope that his enemies, particularly Britain, Austria and the restored monarchy of France, would abide by their word not to bother him. Within nine months of exile Napoleon had returned to France for another bid at power—an adventure that would ultimately lead to the Battle of Waterloo. Was Napoleon just desperate, stroking his ego, or was there really a chance that his return could have worked?

In this episode, the first in season three, Dr. Sean Munger delves into the back-story of Napoleon’s audacious comeback, including the circumstances of how and why he ended up on Elba and why he thought he had to leave. We’ll explore the shifting and contradictory motives of the allies, why Napoleon suddenly found himself broke, how and why Louis XVIII, the new King of France, totally deluded himself, and the currents and turmoils within France that ultimately made the success of Napoleon’s comeback a definite long-shot. This is the first in a projected three-part series that will chronicle Napoleon’s final turn on the world stage, ultimately ending with the climactic Battle of Waterloo—one of the most dramatic moments of the Second Decade.

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This is a bonus episode which goes outside the parameters of the main Second Decade show.

Astoria, Oregon was founded in 1811 as an outpost for fur trapping and trading on the Northwest coast, and was intended to be a crucial part of a global empire of commerce envisioned by German-born New York City millionaire John Jacob Astor. It didn’t quite work out that way, but the long history of Astoria has involved a number of fascinating people, encounters and accidents that have shaped this small Oregon city throughout the two centuries of its existence. There’s no way the entire history of Astoria can be crammed into a single podcast episode, but a few colorful anecdotes from its past will give you a sense of what this place is like and how it came to be what it is.

In this Off Topic episode, recorded partially on location in Astoria and neighboring areas, Dr. Munger will give a brief history of the town as a whole, focusing on its establishment in the Second Decade, and then you’ll journey through three stories of Astoria’s past. You’ll learn about the famous winter camp of Lewis and Clark, and why it was a particularly itchy place; you’ll travel with a famous Astorian named Ranald MacDonald, who deliberately marooned himself in Japan in 1848; and you’ll learn the history of the Oregon coast’s most famous shipwreck, which has been sitting there on the beach just south of the town since 1906. This is just a peek at the long tapestry of Astoria’s history.

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This is a bonus episode which goes outside the parameters of the main Second Decade show. 

Sometime in the middle of the 19th century, somebody got it in their head that there was a cache of fabulous treasure buried on a remote island in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia called Oak Island. Said to have begun with an impromptu expedition to the island in 1795 by some local kids, the legend of the famed “Money Pit” has grown over the centuries to amass a mythology of self-referential books, occult and New Age theories and a gonzo reality show on the History Channel. But is there any historical substance behind the legend? What do we really know about what happened on Oak Island in the middle 1800s, and how do we avoid being carried away by 150 years of hucksters’ hype? 

In this informal episode, historian Sean Munger, who was originally entranced by the Oak Island legend more than 25 years ago, drills into the facts, the historical record and the logical analysis of the story. In this episode, you’ll learn why the so-called “box drains” on the island are fishier (and saltier) than they seem; why flood tunnels are a mirage; who fabricated the over-the-top clue of a stone supposedly found in the pit with a tantalizing inscription; and you’ll understand why the revelation that there was nothing at the bottom of the famed “Borehole 10X” couldn’t have been less surprising. While there’s definitely no treasure on Oak Island, the historical and logical journey of how we get to that conclusion is still a lot of fun.

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At the end of the Second Decade, after many tumultuous years of war and revolution, Spain’s colonial empire in the New World began to collapse at a rapid rate. It was due in no small part to Simón Bolívar and his daring military conquests, which were crowned by an audacious and harrowing trek through swamps and mountains which led to the pivotal Battle of Boyaca in 1819. But how did Bolivar, who had suffered at least as many failures and setbacks as he had clear successes, come to this point? His prowess as a commander—questioned by some—was not the whole story. As a political leader fighting for democracy and self-determination, he could never quite conquer his dictatorial tendencies. The result was a successful revolution against Spanish rule, but also an imperfect one.

In the conclusion of the three-part series on Simón Bolivar—and the season finale of Second Decade—Dr. Sean Munger takes you into the forbidding jungles and frozen mountains of South America, onto the battlefields of the wars for independence, and, as much as anyone can, into the head of one of the world’s most famous revolutionaries. In this episode you’ll learn how Bolivar wrote New Granada’s constitution in a small boat, how he used a threat of giving up his power to obtain even more, and why mud, rain, horses and mosquitoes played such an important role in the decisive battle that made modern South America. As an epilogue, you’ll learn about Bolivar’s life post-Second Decade, and why his legacy remains controversial today.

After this episode, Second Decade will be on hiatus for the summer (with the possible exception of one or more “Off Topic” episodes). See you in the fall!

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The process of detaching Latin America from three centuries of colonial Spanish rule was hardly a linear one. Simón Bolívar, the most important but hardly the only revolutionary in Venezuela and New Granada (Colombia), came in and out of exile several times, was often defeated (sometimes by his own mistakes), and continually forced to try to “reboot” the revolution after another failed start. In the meantime, warfare and violence continued unremittingly within the contested areas, usually fueled by racial and class resentment. Despite all the challenges and reverses, Bolívar managed to advance his cause in a “three steps forward, two steps back” kind of way, and his mistakes tell us as much about him as his successes.

In this episode, Dr. Sean Munger continues the story of the Latin American revolution begun in the previous episode, and carries the story of Bolívar from his first exile in 1812 to his rocky consolidation of leadership of the revolutionary movement in late 1817. Here you’ll meet more of Bolívar’s colorful lovers, you’ll eat meat cured in horse sweat with the “Legions of Hell,” and you’ll dodge bullets from firing squads as the Venezuelan revolutionaries invariably fall out among one another. Was Bolívar a hero, deserving the accolades heaped upon him (at least on a few occasions) by his people, or was he a villain who overreached his power and betrayed the principles he supposedly espoused? You be the judge.

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Simón Bolívar is one of the giants of Latin American history, with statutes, portraits and monuments to him everywhere from Panama to Tierra del Fuego, and even an entire country—Bolivia—bears his name. But how much do you really know about him? Where did he come from, what was Spanish America like at the time he arose, and how did he begin his incredible journey to liberate three-quarters of a hemisphere from one of the world’s oldest colonial powers? Although Bolívar clearly was the right man at the right time, the Spanish empire in the Americas was moribund and brittle by the beginning of the 19th century, with political, economic, social and racial tensions running deep. Into this complicated world came Bolívar, a man of wealth and privilege who claimed to speak for the forgotten man. He was also a passionate man, scarred forever by the premature death of his wife, and prone to flamboyant excess in both his personal and professional life.

In this episode, the first of a three-part series on Bolívar’s life and career, Dr. Sean Munger finally delves into one of the most important stories of the decade of the 1810s. You’ll learn about the history of the Bolívar family and how they made their money in New Spain; you’ll meet arrogant revolutionaries in exile, a passionate woman who made Bolívar a man at age 15, indecisive Venezuelan autocrats, and vengeful Spanish military captains intent on punishing treason against their king. This episode begins a colorful pageant of history that will ultimately take us the length and breadth of Latin America as Bolívar, sometimes right, sometimes wrong but always sure of himself, takes on an entire empire and rises to the height of power.

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