Annette Laing, a "proper historian" with a Ph.D. in the field, wants to dispel the myth that history education occurs only in the classroom. She is the chief proprietor of "Non-Boring History,"a Substack devoted to bringing the past to bear on the present in a way accessible to history buffs of all ages. If you are a public historian, you do not want to miss this episode.

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What is the difference between "fortress thinking" and "pilgrimage thinking"? How do these modes of thinking shape the academy today? In this episode, Rhonda and Douglas Jacobsen present a new approach to the Christian intellectual life. They are the authors of Christianity and Intellectual Inquiry: Thinking as Pilgrimage.

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What is a “white liberal” and why do people hate them so much? Conservatives hate them for being so tolerant. Libertarians hate them for believing that the government might have a role to play in advancing a good society. Socialists and others on the left blame white liberalism for promoting capitalism. Our guest on this episode is Kevin Schultz, author of Why Everyone Hates White Liberals (Including White Liberals): A History.

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Our guest in this episode, historian Andrew Hartman, writes, "Americans are thinking about [Karl] Marx to a degree not matched since the 1960s, or perhaps even the 1930s." Join us for a discussion of Hartman's new book, Karl Marx in America.

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Our guest on this episode of the podcast is Jeffrey Rosen, the president of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. He is with us to talk about his more recent book, The Pursuit of Liberty: How Hamilton vs. Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle Over Power in America. In the wake of the American Revolution, Hamilton and Jefferson developed contrasting, often clashing visions for balancing liberty and power in the new republic. It is a debate that continues to define–and divide–our country.

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Most of the stories we will tell about the American Revolution during the nation's 250th anniversary in 2026 will take on a feel of American exceptionalism. They will come mostly from within the geographical bounds of what today is the United States, and most of those stories will concentrate on the eastern seaboard—the so-called "13 colonies." Our guest in this episode, University of Maryland historian Richard Bell, encourages us to take a broader view. He is the author of The American Revolution and the Fate of the World.

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Many Americans have heard of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin. But did you know that her father was a famous evangelist, her brother was "the most famous man in America," and her sister founded the home economics movement? In this episode, we talk with author Obbie Tyler Todd about the Beecher family, one of the most important families in 19th-century America. Todd is the author of The Beechers: America's Most Influential Family.

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In this episode, we talk with David Waldstreicher, author of the George Washington Prize-winning The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet's Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence. We discuss early American poetry as the eighteenth-century equivalent of pop music and tweeting, the influence of evangelical Christianity on Wheatley's poetry, and the tension between slavery and the American Revolution in colonial Boston.

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In this episode we talk with historian Paul Putz about the history of Christianity and sports in America. This episode is for sports fans, history buffs, and anyone interested in how sports ministries like Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Athletes in Action navigated some of the major social, cultural, and political events of post-World War II America.

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What does it mean to be Black and evangelical—and why has that story been so often overlooked?

In this episode, John Fea sits down with Vincent Bacote, co-creator and host of the new documentary Black and Evangelical. They explore the history of Black evangelicals in America, from the Nottage Brothers and the Great Migration to the founding of the National Black Evangelical Association and the unforgettable moment Tom Skinner took the stage at Urbana ‘70.

Bacote discusses why this documentary matters today, how white evangelical institutions shaped (and sometimes constrained) Black evangelical life, and the enduring tension between gospel proclamation and confronting systemic racism.

Watch the documentary for free at blackevangelicals.com

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