Ok, sure, giving thanks is relatively straight forward – you’re formally expressing gratitude for something, say like surviving…but what about that “first” part? First in the United States? First in the North American continent? First European in the North American Continent? You will not be surprised that we are delighted to hold forth on these details. Join Ken and Glen as they serve up a feast of thoughts on the “First” Thanksgiving.

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“I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.” So said John Kennedy at a dinner honoring Noble Prize winners, but the man he was complimenting is an enigma that one line, no matter how clever, can define. Join Ken and Glen as they discuss the brilliant legacy and troubled reputation of Thomas Jefferson.

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'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' – In August of 1945 atomic bombs were dropped on the Empire of Japan in an attempt to bring about its surrender before an invasion of its Home Islands by the Allies was necessary. But was the bombing itself necessary? Might Ken and Glen have opinions on the subject? Oh, you know they do. Join them as they discuss the development and deployment of the only nuclear weapons ever used, and what dual purpose their use had in 1945.

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Hold onto your hat (or your pipe-weed and elf-cloak) as we go on a deep dive into J. R. R. Tolkien and his works. The mythos and worlds Tolkien created have been celebrated in their own right, have influenced numerous other authors, and inspired some of the most popular fantasy/action films ever produced – but what’s really cool is the essay he wrote on Beowulf that redefined the way it’s taught and understood! In this episode Ken and Glen – in the first of who knows how many as they’re kind of obsessed with Tolkien – discuss Tolkien’s life, influences, WWI service, work as a linguist, love of trees, surprise at fame, love of beer and pipe smoking, being bitten by a baboon spider at age two…well, the list just goes on.

Thanks for listening! Questions? Comments? Talk to us at [email protected]

Find out more at http://www.thenagainpodcast.com

Hold onto your hat (or your pipe-weed and elf-cloak) as we go on a deep dive into J. R. R. Tolkien and his works. The mythos and worlds Tolkien created have been celebrated in their own right, have influenced numerous other authors, and inspired some of the most popular fantasy/action films ever produced – but what’s really cool is the essay he wrote on Beowulf that redefined the way it’s taught and understood! In this episode Ken and Glen – in the first of who knows how many as they’re kind of obsessed with Tolkien – discuss Tolkien’s life, influences, WWI service, work as a linguist, love of trees, surprise at fame, love of beer and pipe smoking, being bitten by a baboon spider at age two…well, the list just goes on.

Fun note! The lovely cross stitch art on our episode cover was made by the History Center's own Lesley Jones! The center tree is the White Tree of Gondor, a symbol of the High Kings of Middle-Earth. It reads:

Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them

Thanks for listening! Questions? Comments? Talk to us at [email protected]

Find out more at http://www.thenagainpodcast.com

Our Scariest Podcast Yet! – If, that is, you define scary as speculation on urban ascendancy over agrarian society as contributing to the rise of Halloween, and if you define scary as speculation on how the animated TV classic “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!” led to the pumpkin’s dominance over all other gourds/root vegetables at Halloween, and if you define scary as how cultural appropriation/assimilation by the Medieval Catholic Church prepared the ground for Halloween…and we do! In this episode Ken and Glen discuss Halloween’s origins and modern manifestations.

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Roma in Italia est – and so is this second of a two-parts episode on Rome. In this episode, Ken and Glen continue the discussion on the verisimilitude and accuracy of HBO’s “Rome”, and segue into the history of Rome itself, from just another village on the Italian peninsula to the longest lived super-power the world has ever seen…and you better believe they get Constantinople in there.

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All roads lead to Rome, and all podcasts do too. Ok neither of those things are true, but one of them (the one about roads) was kind of true back in the day - or “reversus in die illo” as the Romans would say. In this first of a two-part episode, Ken and Glen discuss Rome through the lens of the HBO mini-series…you guessed it, “Rome” – specifically how the series got the feel of classical Rome right.

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Victorian – is it a style of architecture? A trend in fashion? A system of morals? A movement in literature? A period of technology? Or an adjective derived from the actual human Queen Victoria that is so overused, misapplied, cliched, and imprecise as to be useless? Or the opposite of all that – except the Queen Victoria bit, that’s spot on. In this episode, Ken and Glen discuss the era that defined 19th-century “progress” and inadvertently gave rise to Steam Punk.

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American Original - Quoting the fictional Michael Scott from TV’s The Office, “Abraham Lincoln once said that if you’re a racist I will attack you with the North.” The line is hilarious – and sadly accurately reflects how the popular imagination views Lincoln and the war for the nation’s preservation and rededication. In this episode, Ken and Glen discuss Lincoln as a leader who drew a keen distinction between his personal beliefs and the powers of the Presidency, how he practiced and uplifted the concepts of civic responsibility, enlightened self-interest, and civic virtue envisioned by the Founders – and how he got along with Frederick Douglass!

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Find out more at http://www.thenagainpodcast.com