AnnalsPornographie discusses morality and immorality in late 16th and 17th Century England, as urbanization, population increase, and a growing middle class combined to form new approaches to controlling the morality of society. We discuss the debauchery of the court of Charles II, the moral backlash of the Glorious Revolution, and finally delve deep into the workings of the Society for the Reformation of Manners before reflecting on more modern debates over obscenity. (63min)

The conversation with CptBuck continues as we move south from Anatolia and the new state of Turkey into the regions of Mesopotamia, Syria, and the Levant. The politics and conflicts which led to the borders and formation of the modern states of Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and Israel/Palestine are all discussed, as well as a quick digression into Egypt. We end with a discussion on whether the borders of these nations predestined them for future conflicts. (60mins)

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CptBuck gives us the first of two episodes looking at WW1 in the Middle East, discussing the political intrigue and wrangling between the Ottomans, British, French, and Russians, among others. This episode focuses primarily on the Turkish area of the Ottoman Empire, and the various plans hatched both before and after Armistice to divvy up the Ottoman state. Along the way we talk about the Sykes-Picot, the Young Turks, the Greco-Turkish War, and Lawrence of Arabia. (59min)

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Snapshot52 discusses Federal Indian Policy in the United States, with a particular focus on the Termination Era of the mid-20th Century. The evolution of how the Federal government approached sometimes disparate goals of exclusion and assimilation, as well as Tribal sovereignty, over the decades are covered from pre-Dawes Act to the current day. (69min)

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KoineLingua discusses the practices and purposes of sacrifice in the Ancient Near East. The conversation covers the various forms of animal sacrifice, as well as the understanding of the divine being sacrificed to, before turning to the question of human sacrifice in the region and Biblically. (50min)

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The conversation on the Kansas-Nebraska Act continues with the political wrangling in Washington. The discussion moves from the passage of the Act on towards Bloody Kansas and the opposing sides (and constitutions) vying to be recognized at the legitimate government of the newly formed Kansas. We conclude with a brief historiographical commentary on the importance of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. (70min)

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Freedmanspatrol discusses the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act, which gave us "Bloody Kansas" and paved the way to the Civil War. The focus is on the political (and geographic) landscape as well as the Washington DC wrangling over the deal. Along the way we also discuss the transcontinental railroad, the Second Party System of the Whigs and Democrats, and the ambitions of Stephen Douglas and men of the F Street Mess. (77min)

Read more from our guest at the blog Freedmen's Patrol: Exploring the Civil War Era.

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DryLaw discusses the society of early Colonial Mexico (aka New Spain), particularly the interrelations between American and European peoples. The focus is primarily on the historical writings produced by Nahua and Mestizo writers producing histories of thier own societies and lineages, as well as those works by Spanish friars focusing on indigenous culture and history. Major literary works by Tezozomoc, Ixtlilxochitl, are Chimalpahin covered and put into context, as are works by Sahagun and Duran. (59min)

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SunshineBag discusses the intersection of sport and nationalism, as we cover both the rise of Mussolini's Fascists and the growth of the sport of calcio in Italy. The ways the Fascists attempted to use football as a medium for building a national spirit and demonstrate Italian strength on the world stage is discussed, as is the backdrop of Italian national disunity and regionalism. (59min)

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Alvise Falier discusses medieval communes, a term for a complicated and heterogeneous system of local rule in the 11th through 13th centuries. The focus is on the city of Milan, and northern Italy in particular, under the dominion of the Holy Roman Empire, but with a distinct political and cultural difference from that entity. In this conversation we trace the development of the communal system in Milan from the end of Charlemagne up through the end of the system with the establishment of the Duchy of Milan by the Visconti dynasty. Issues of Italian disunity, with local identification taking precedence over a singular national identity are discussed. (68min)