I’ve written before about the Camino de Santiago, which is the journey thousands of pilgrims take every year to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Especially now, it feels like such journeys that build humanity are more important than ever. And even though we can’t all walk the Camino, one can join the peregrino community through the …
When did World War II begin? Most people say September 1, 1939 with the Nazi invasion of Poland. Others say it was two days later when Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany. There are even more possibilities to consider if you think about Pearl Harbor, Czechia, Austria, Albania, Ethiopia, and China. I spoke …
Three years ago I talked to my dad’s uncle, Fr. John Baumann, about community organizing and his role in founding PICO (now Faith in Action International). It was a great chance to get to know my family better and hear about some of his amazing experiences building an organization to help people. From the original …
We are looking at the Spanish Civil War in my 20th Century History Class and it still seems remarkable to me that Franco remained in power and pivoted to an internationally respected (or at least tolerated) status. Here is a conversation I had with an expert on Spain on the Hour of History Podcast:
In my US history class we are watching the film Harriet which brings up a lot of questions about slavery and the Underground Railroad. I had a couple great podcasts on the subject that remain relevant supplements to the heartbreaking story of people who fought hard for their freedom from slavery. You can hear my …
Three years ago, I recorded this cities podcast about the de facto and de jure division between Indian and British life in colonial Bengal. We don’t have any formal laws here in the United States that separate towns by origin of birth, but when I run long from Moorestown to Philadelphia I pass through several …
In Fall 2019, I decided to take a leave of absence from my history PhD candidacy to search for a K-12 teaching job. In returning to K-12 education after three years in higher education, I knew how important finding the right school was and I wanted to focus all my resources on my search, which …
One of my smaller projects was the Hour of History Cities Podcast. I recorded short informational lectures based on items that defined important cities in the world. The most popular, it seems, is my discussion of El Chino de la Charada in Havana. There are some cool sources on this out there, but I haven’t …
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! The first ever Hour of History episode was an experimental conversation about the origins and history of the patron saint of Ireland, who is the inspiration for the celebrations that take place all around the world on March 17. We came a long way from that first episode, and re-released it …
Just watched “The Dig” on Netflix and it reminded me of a fun conversation I had with Dr. Courtnay Konshuh on the Hour of History Podcast. We talked about Anglo-Saxons and where archaeology meets history and art. I still haven’t read Beowulf, but I will someday!