The Rob Burgess Show

Hello and welcome to The Rob Burgess Show. I am, of course, your host, Rob Burgess.

On this, our 262nd episode, our returning guest is Brian VanDeMark.

You first heard Brian VanDeMark on Episode 134 of the podcast.

Brian VanDeMark grew up and attended college in Texas, went to graduate school in California, and now lives in Maryland. He teaches history at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, where he has been a member of its History Department since 1990. The author of several books on American history, he co-authored Robert McNamara's #1 best-selling Vietnam memoir, “In Retrospect,” which became the basis of Errol Morris's Academy Award-winning documentary film, "The Fog of War."

His book, “Road to Disaster: A New History of America's Descent into Vietnam” was published by HarperCollins in 2018.

His latest book, “Kent State: An American Tragedy” was published by W. W. Norton & Company in August 2024.

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Hello and welcome to The Rob Burgess Show. I am, of course, your host, Rob Burgess.

On this our 261st episode, our returning guest is Jonathan Fowler.

Jonathan is the all-time most frequent guest of The Rob Burgess Show. You first heard Jonathan Fowler on Episode 2, Episode 10, Episode 20, Episode 21, Episode 29, Episode 30, Episode 31, Episode 32, Episode 34, Episode 35, Episode 43, Episode 48, Episode 51, Episode 56, Episode 64, Episode 74, Episode 83, Episode 92, Episode 102, Episode 103, Episode 104, Episode 105, Episode 106, Episode 107, Episode 108, Episode 109, Episode 111, Episode 114, Episode 115, Episode 116, Episode 119, Episode 126, Episode 127, Episode 133, Episode 137, Episode 140, Episode 146, Episode 147, Episode 149. Episode 153, Episode 156, Episode 158, Episode 160, Episode 162, Episode 164, Episode 167, Episode 168, Episode 169, Episode 172, Episode 173, Episode 174, Episode 179, Episode 180, Episode 181, Episode 185, Episode 236, Episode 247, Episode 249 and Episode 251.

And on Episode 82 and Episode 216, Jonathan was a guest along with fellow regular guest Ash Burgess.

Jonathan graduated with a BA in history from Indiana University in 2006. He is an unabashed left-wing political junkie. He has lived and worked in South Korea for over a decade, trying to help the citizens of that great nation, hopefully, "talk pretty one day."

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Hello and welcome to The Rob Burgess Show. I am, of course, your host, Rob Burgess.

On this, our 260th episode, our returning guest is Louis Moore.

You first heard Louis Moore on Episode 53 and Episode 75 of the podcast.

Louis Moore is a professor of history at Grand Valley State University, where he teaches African American history, sports history and gender history. He graduated with a B.A. from California State University, Sacramento in 2001, an M.A. from the University of California, Davis in 2005, and a Ph.D.

His research and writing examines the interconnections between race and sports. He is the author of “I Fight for a Living: Boxing and the Battle for Black Manhood, 1880-1915” and “We Will Win the Day: The Civil Rights Movement, the Black Athlete, and the Quest for Equality.” In addition, he has two Audible lectures, “African American Athletes Who Made History” and “A Pastime of Their Own: The Story of Negro League Baseball.” He has also written for various online outlets including The New York Daily News, Vox, The Global Sports Institute, First and Pen and the African American Intellectual Historical Society. He has appeared on NPR, MSNBC, CNN and BBC Sports. He is the co-host of the “Black Athlete Podcast.” His latest book, “The Great Black Hope: Doug Williams, Vince Evans and the Making of the Black Quarterback” will be released on Sept. 24.

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Hello and welcome to The Rob Burgess Show. I am, of course, your host, Rob Burgess.

On this our 259th episode our guest is Chuck Rosenthal.

Chuck Rosenthal is a writer living in Topanga Canyon, California. He is the author of, “Awake For Ever in a Sweet Unrest,” as well as 14 other novels and five other books. He is a Romantic writer.

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Hello and welcome to The Rob Burgess Show. I am, of course, your host, Rob Burgess.

On this our 258th episode our guest is Mark Rohrer.

Mark Rohrer was born and raised in northwest Indianapolis, in Pike Township. After graduating Indiana University and working in Operations Management for three years, he went back to work for the family business, Reno's Music - GuitarHotline. Reno, Mark's father, opened Reno's Music in 1991 and currently continues to serve the local and nationwide community with guitar sales. He has been happily married to his true love since 2014 and has two children.

A quick programming note: For this episode, I decided to try something new. At the end, Mark and I played and sang a few songs on guitar. Mark sang the first song, “The Way Country Sounds” by Jeremy Pinnell. I sang the second song, “Dead Flowers” by the Rolling Stones. And Mark sang the third song, “I Don't Wanna Move” by the Oracle Sisters. The first two are songs we've played together many times and I practiced them ahead of time. The third song, though, was completely new to me and I had never heard it before. So, you might hear a few wrong chords played in that one, which was my fault.

Also, Mark filmed a video version of this episode, which he is releasing on his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ItsWelby

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Hello and welcome to The Rob Burgess Show. I am, of course, your host, Rob Burgess.

On this our 257th episode our returning guest is Ash Burgess.

You first heard Ash Burgess on Episode 16, Episode 26, Episode 27, Episode 39, Episode 58, Episode 63, Episode 77, Episode 86, Episode 91, Episode 100, Episode 124, Episode 130, Episode 136, Episode 142, Episode 143, Episode 148, Episode 151, Episode 154, Episode 165, Episode 176, Episode 184, Episode 191, Episode 196, Episode 198, Episode 203, Episode 209, Episode 214, Episode 219, Episode 222, Episode 228, Episode 231, Episode 238, Episode 239, Episode 246 and Episode 253 and Episode 82, and Episode 216 both which also featured regular guest Jonathan Fowler of the podcast.

Ash Burgess has a dusty degree in Religious Studies and an appetite for both high and low culture. She strives to celebrate the best of every season with her young children.

Follow her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/ashburgess/ and subscribe to her YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl2Bis7mhGmekVi0ZioJFOg?app=desktop

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Hello and welcome to The Rob Burgess Show. I am, of course, your host, Rob Burgess.

On this our 256th episode, our returning guest is Tom Maxwell.

You first heard Tom Maxwell on Episode 224.

In the 1990s, Tom was a member of the hot jazz indie band Squirrel Nut Zippers and wrote their hit song “Hell,” which peaked at no. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and propelled the band to multi-platinum status. The Zippers were inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2021. After Tom left the Zippers, he composed for television and motion pictures.

Now Tom is a writer who specializes in creative nonfiction with an emphasis on music and musicians. He has contributed to Longreads, Al Jazeera America, Salon, Slate, The Oxford American, The Bitter Southerner, Tape Op, and AARP Magazine, among others. He is a faculty member of the North Carolina Writers Guild and a contributor to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress.

Along with his partner Brooklyn, Tom is the creator of “Shelved,” an Audible podcast produced by Gunpowder & Sky.

His first book, “Hell: My Life in the Squirrel Nut Zippers,” was published in 2014.

His latest book, “A Really Strange and Wonderful Time,” a nonfiction book about the '90s Chapel Hill music scene was published by the Hachette Book Group in 2024.

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Hello and welcome to The Rob Burgess Show. I am, of course, your host, Rob Burgess.

On this our 255th episode our guest is Robert Nickelsberg.

Robert Nickelsberg worked as a Time magazine contract photographer for nearly 30 years beginning in El Salvador and Central America from 1981 to 1984. He is the author of, “Afghanistan – A Distant War,” published by Prestel and “Afghanistan’s Heritage: Restoring Spirit and Stone,” done in conjunction with the U.S. Department of State, published in English, Dari and Pashtu.

His latest book, “Legacy of Lies: El Salvador 1981–1984,” will be published Sept. 3.

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Hello and welcome to The Rob Burgess Show. I am, of course, your host, Rob Burgess.

On this our 254th episode our guest is Dr. Donna J. Nicol.

Dr. Donna J. Nicol is the Associate Dean of Personnel and Curriculum in the College of Liberal Arts and a professor of history at California State University Long Beach.

She is the immediate past department chair and professor of Africana Studies at CSU Dominguez Hills, a post she held from 2017 to 2023. She earned her doctorate degree in Educational Studies (with a specialization in History and Philosophy of Higher Education and a graduate minor in African American and African Studies) from The Ohio State University in 2007.

Dr. Nicol’s research focuses race, conservative philanthropy, and U.S. higher education, and the history of African American women’s educational activism. Her work has been published in Race, Ethnicity

and Education, The Feminist Teacher (twice), History of Philanthropy, Palimpsest: A Journal of Women, Gender and the Black International, The Encyclopedia of American Women’s History, Encyclopedia of Multiracial America and Habitus of the Hood. In February 2021, Dr. Nicol was a featured guest expert for the Al Jazeera English documentary, “The Big Picture: A Race for America.” Dr. Nicol has also published opinion columns on racism in philanthropy for Al Jazeera Digital and has appeared on the Insufferable Academics podcast, the Fresh Off the Vote podcast and the Peace and Justice Radio Show.

Prior to becoming an academic, Dr. Nicol spent three years teaching secondary language arts and social studies for Los Angeles Unified School District and seven years in various academic administrative roles at Mt. St. Mary's College and The Ohio State University. She serves on the board of directors for the Historical Society of Southern California, co-principal investigator for the State of Black Los Angeles County Report (2023) and is active in a number of professional academic and social service organizations.

Her latest book, “Black Woman on Board: Claudia Hampton, The California State University and the Fight To Save Affirmative Action,” was published May 7 by the University of Rochester Press.

A quick editor's note: Since we recorded this episode, Donald Trump agreed to debate Kamala Harris on ABC News on Sept. 10.

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Hello and welcome to The Rob Burgess Show. I am, of course, your host, Rob Burgess.

On this our 253rd episode our returning guest is Ash Burgess.

You first heard Ash Burgess on Episode 16, Episode 26, Episode 27, Episode 39, Episode 58, Episode 63, Episode 77, Episode 86, Episode 91, Episode 100, Episode 124, Episode 130, Episode 136, Episode 142, Episode 143, Episode 148, Episode 151, Episode 154, Episode 165, Episode 176, Episode 184, Episode 191, Episode 196, Episode 198, Episode 203, Episode 209, Episode 214, Episode 219, Episode 222, Episode 228, Episode 231, Episode 238, Episode 239, Episode 246 and Episode 82, and Episode 216 which also featured regular guest Jonathan Fowler of the podcast.

Ash Burgess has a dusty degree in Religious Studies and an appetite for both high and low culture. She strives to celebrate the best of every season with her young children.

Follow her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/ashburgess/ and subscribe to her YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl2Bis7mhGmekVi0ZioJFOg?app=desktop

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