This week, Hour of History features Travis Roy. Our conversation is a discussion about popular culture and history, and will interest anyone who studies modern American history. Popular culture is something that has always been important to Travis, who has recently turned this appealing field into scholarly work. You may remember Travis from an interesting conversation we had about environmental history in July.

Some Highlights:

Minstrel shows and carnivals

Cultural appropriation and cultural exchange

Who makes popular culture

How popular culture is consumed

Marvel vs. DC

Disney's connection to nature

Netflix and the future of popular culture

Why historians of all fields need to take a deeper look at popular culture

Weekly Suggestions:

Steven: Walt Disney nature documentaries

Travis: The Music of Young Jesus

https://youtu.be/h2AnPC3Bm1I

[powerpress]

This week, in a part two of our narrative break from interviews (we return next week with an interview), Hour of History looks back to Calcutta কলকাতা from Independence to Modernity. This episode is a look back to the city that rose from a hotbed of Indian nationalism to one of the most modern megalopolis in the world. By selecting important moments and items in the history of the city, your host, Steven, draws on power, politics, and technology to understand Calcutta's recent years.

Some Highlights:

From nationalism to Marxism

Independence from the British and Partition

Modernity and history

A global city

A new name

Historical Memory

Weekly Suggestion:

Steven - Detective Byomkesh Bakshy

https://youtu.be/n3BcUezfSGg

 

This week, in a part two of our narrative break from interviews (we return next week with an interview), Hour of History looks back to Calcutta কলকাতা from Independence to Modernity. This episode is a look back to the city that rose from a hotbed of Indian nationalism to one of the most modern megalopolis in the world. By selecting important moments and items in the history of the city, your host, Steven, draws on power, politics, and technology to understand Calcutta's recent years.

Some Highlights:

From nationalism to Marxism

Independence from the British and Partition

Modernity and history

A global city

A new name

Historical Memory

Weekly Suggestion:

Steven - Detective Byomkesh Bakshy

https://youtu.be/n3BcUezfSGg

 

[powerpress]

This week, in a break from interviews, Hour of History looks back to Calcutta কলকাতা 150 years after Gandhi was born. Gandhi, of course, was not from Calcutta, but he was there on the day India won its independence from the United Kingdom. This episode is a look back to the city that rose from a fishing village to one of the British Empire's most important colonial cities. By selecting important moments and items in the history of the city, your host, Steven, draws on history, religion, and art to understand Calcutta's early years.

Some Highlights:

From fishing village to imperial town

The Black Hole of Calcutta or the Black Hole of Empire?

The British East India Company

Enlightenment and the growth of empire

Colonial Divisions

Weekly Suggestion:

Steven - Black Hole of Empire - Partha Chatterjee

 

Gandhi released from prison in Calcutta.

Your host, on a distant shore, far from Calcutta.

https://youtu.be/DVasGR-bpAE

This week, in a break from interviews, Hour of History looks back to Calcutta কলকাতা 150 years after Gandhi was born. Gandhi, of course, was not from Calcutta, but he was there on the day India won its independence from the United Kingdom. This episode is a look back to the city that rose from a fishing village to one of the British Empire's most important colonial cities. By selecting important moments and items in the history of the city, your host, Steven, draws on history, religion, and art to understand Calcutta's early years.

Some Highlights:

From fishing village to imperial town

The Black Hole of Calcutta or the Black Hole of Empire?

The British East India Company

Enlightenment and the growth of empire

Colonial Divisions

Weekly Suggestion:

Steven - Black Hole of Empire - Partha Chatterjee

 

https://youtu.be/DVasGR-bpAE

[powerpress]

This week, Hour of History sits down with Mingyuan Zhang  an anthropologist at the University of Western Ontario. Mingyuan lived in Madagascar to study the Chinese community and understand how "being Chinese" is culturally and socially constructed between Mandarin-speaking Chinese and Malagasy people.

Some Highlights:

Chinese-owned sugar plantations

Global connections between Chinese and Malagasy businessmen

Learning languages globally

Antsiranana

Approaches to ethnographic fieldwork

The Confucius Institute

Growing business in Africa

International Trade

Weekly Suggestions:

Steven: Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh  also available for download as an audiobook

Mingyuan: Anxious Wealth by John Osburg and Made in Madagascar by Andrew Walsh

 

https://youtu.be/LaOFFC4sg0Y

Andrea Siotto, a historian at Temple University and technology expert joins HoH to talk about the history of technology and using technology to write history. This episode is helpful for people who want to know about technology in history and how to speed up their research and writing.

Some Highlights:

Noticing technology in history

Trench warfare

What techonology is and what technology is not

Toilets

Smart research

Why you need to learn how to code

Weekly Suggestions:

Andrea - 20,000 Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne

Steven - Foundation by Isaac Asimov

https://youtu.be/ZMddCGRx8ek

 

Adam Rawnsley , one of Philadelphia's finest journalists joins us this week on Hour of History. Rawnsley currently writes for Foreign Policy and has written for a number of publications such as The Daily Beast, Wired, and War is Boring.

Some Highlights:

United States Intelligence

Operations in North Korea

Kim il-Sung

Republic of Korea and Democratic People's Republic of North Korea

Journalists and Academics

The wide availability of declassified documents available for public research

Read Adam's Work:

The Great Leader's Shadow War

North Korea's Special Ops Assassins

South Korea's Covert Ops

How South Korea thwarted Kim il-Sung's Shadow War

How (not) to Kill Kim Jong-Un

Weekly Suggestions:

Mathias - Bruce Cumings, Origins of the Korean War

Adam - CIA Crest Database

Steven - Korean Drama: Iris

https://youtu.be/CHLquv9GkqE

Malcolm Harris, the author of the upcoming book Kids These Days: Human Capital and the Making of Millennials joins us on the Hour of History Podcast to talk about human capital, millennials, and exploitation in the United States. Harris' work has appeared in n+1,  New Republic, medium, and New York Times Magazine among a number of other publications.

Some Highlights:

The purpose of education

Stress from competition

Protest

Community organization

The future of our society

The value of a college education

Capital and Employers

Weekly Suggestions:

Mathias - Café Cubano

Malcolm - Bob's Red Mill

Steven - The conversation (not the movie) - talk to someone new!

https://youtu.be/X8GFdVgqles

Dr. Tamir Sorek, a professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies at the University of Florida, sits down to talk about the power of sport to shape politics, nationalism, and a number of aspects of our world. Sorek's fine work, Arab Soccer in a Jewish State, is central to our discussion- one that was far too short to cover his other work which is published in multiple languages, numerous articles, and multiple books. Anyone who has followed along with the NFL protests, the World Cup, or good academic work needs to listen to this episode of the Hour of History Podcast.

Some Highlights:

Arab Soccer in a Jewish State

Ethno-national conflicts

Sport and politics

FIFA

Basketball, Football, and the United States

Protest in Sports

 Ittihad Abna' Sakhnin, Hapoel Be'er Sheva B.C., Celtic, and Rangers

1968 Olympic Games

Social Media and Athletes today

Racial Differences and National Pride 

Weekly Suggestions

Tamir - Stick around to the end of the episode, You don't want to miss this suggestion!

Steven - Icarus

https://youtu.be/RDwiPWjFXTY