Western Civ

The Cry of Dolores sparks the Mexican Independence Movement ending in victory over Spain in 1821. 

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There is no issue that dominated American politics like chattel slavery between the American War of Independence and the American Civil War. Today we go back to Bacon's Rebellion to try and explain why and then work our way all the way through the administration of John Quincy Adams.

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Today I sit down with author and historian James McDougall and talk about his most recent book: Worlds of Islam: A Global History. 

From its birth in seventh-century Arabia, Islam has been a faith on the move. Over the span of a thousand years, armies, missionaries, and merchants carried it to the edges of Europe, the coasts of Southeast Asia, and the remote interior of China. By the nineteenth century, Islam encompassed a world of great diversity, from Muslim-ruled empires to new nations where Muslims lived out their faith among many others. As empires fell and new superpowers rose, Muslims proved to be as adaptable and dynamic as modernity itself.

In Worlds of Islam, historian James McDougall explores Islam’s origins and transformations as Muslims adapted to changing times and conditions, from Late Antiquity to the digital age. In the twentieth century, while monarchs in the Gulf asserted dynastic privilege and fundamentalists in Egypt and Pakistan preached social morality, revolutionaries from Algeria to Indonesia fought for national self-determination, and activists in North America and Europe campaigned for civil liberties and social justice.

Sweeping and authoritative, Worlds of Islam narrates the epic story of how Muslims emerged as a community, built empires, traversed the globe, came to number in the billions, and became modern.

Buy The Book HERE.

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The Congress of Vienna sought to put Europe back together after the Napoleonic Wars. It was not an easy task. But, by and large, the delegates were successful and peace prevailed for 99 years until the outbreak of World War One.

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Napoleon returns from exile for one last chance at empire. His defeat at Waterloo, however, seals his fate.

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Desperate to enforce his Continental System, Napoleon invades Russia. But Tsar Alexander will not fight and, instead, Napoleon finds himself cornered and finally beaten.

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James Madison watches as Washington DC burns. But America emerges from the War of 1812 more united and confident than ever before.

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Thomas Jefferson's administration was full of contradictions and sweeping successes. 

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France, under Napoleon, reaches the apex of its power. But, within the empire, the Spanish Ulcer and Continental System begin to unravel everything he had built.

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Napoleon reaches the height of his powers on the frozen fields of Moravia.

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