Historically Thinking

By Al Zambone

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Category: History

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Rate for this podcast

Subscribers: 117
Reviews: 2
Episodes: 300

Jeff
 Feb 14, 2024
A very well done show, thoughtful and well researched.

Aaron
 Aug 29, 2020
One of my absolute favourite podcasts. The interviews are so engaging and dig deep into such a range of fascinating topics. Can't recommend it highly enough!

Description

We believe that when people think historically, they are engaging in a disciplined way of thinking about the world and its past. We believe it gives thinkers a knack for recognizing nonsense; and that it cultivates not only intellectual curiosity and rigor, but also intellectual humility. Join Al Zambone, author of Daniel Morgan: A Revolutionary Life, as he talks with historians and other professionals who cultivate the craft of historical thinking.

Episode Date
Athens and Sparta: The Rivalry That Shaped Ancient Greece
May 13, 2026
1453: The Conquest and Tragedy of Constantinople
May 06, 2026
Nuclear Weapons: An International History
Apr 29, 2026
Europe: A New History
Apr 22, 2026
Terrible Intimacy: Melvin Patrick Ely on Interracial Life in the Slaveholding South
Apr 15, 2026
The Firearm Revolution: Catherine Fletcher on how the firearm changed society
Apr 09, 2026
Syria: Daniel Neep on the Modern History of a Very Old Place
Mar 25, 2026
The Great Historian: Andrew Meyer on Sima Qian and the invention of history
Mar 19, 2026
Introducing Historically Thinking Field Guides
Mar 11, 2026
Worse Than Hell: W. Fitzhugh Brundage on Prisoners of War and Prison Camps of the American Civil War
Feb 25, 2026
Civil War Religion: Timothy D. Grundmeier on Lutheranism, the Civil War Era, and American Culture
Feb 18, 2026
To Rule All Under Heaven: Andrew Seth Meyer on the Revolution of Classical China, and How It Changed Human History
Feb 11, 2026
Historically Thinking Roundtable: Historians, Historical Thinking, Civic Trust, and America at 250
Feb 04, 2026
Caesar Augustus: Adrian Goldsworthy on the First Emperor of Rome
Jan 28, 2026
The Great Shadow: Susan Wise Bauer on the History of How Sickness Shapes What We Do, Think, Believe, and Buy
Jan 21, 2026
Inventing the Future: Bruno Carvalho on Cities, Planning, and the History of Urban Imagination
Jan 14, 2026
Lady Frances Berkeley/Amy Stallings: Bacon’s Rebellion, Colonial Virginia, and First-person Historical Interpretation
Dec 23, 2025
The Party's Interests Come First: Joseph Torigian on the Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping
Dec 17, 2025
Poinsettia Man: Lindsay Schakenbach Regele on Joel Roberts Poinsett, Adventures, Diplomacy, Espionage, Trade, Self-Dealing, South Carolina, and the Paradoxes of American Patriotism
Dec 10, 2025
Plato's Letters: Ariel Helfer on the Political Challenges of the Philosophic Life
Dec 03, 2025
Vector: Robyn Arianrohd on the Surprising Story of Space, Time, and Mathematical Transformation
Nov 26, 2025
Oral History: Douglas A. Boyd explains the basics of the oldest—and newest—historical method
Nov 19, 2025
Love, War, and Diplomacy: Eric H. Cline on the Discovery of the Amarna Letters and the Bronze Age World They Revealed
Nov 12, 2025
War and Power: Phillips Payson O’Brien on Who Wins Wars and Why
Nov 05, 2025
Bloody Crowns: Michael Livingston on Two Hundred Years of War, Power, and Transformation
Oct 29, 2025
Wolfpack: Roger Moorhouse on the view from inside of Hitler's U-Boat war
Oct 22, 2025
Republic and Empire: Andrew O’Shaughnessy on the global causes and consequences of the American Revolution
Oct 15, 2025
The Age of Hitler, and How We Shall Survive It
Oct 08, 2025
1942: Peter Fritzsche on the year when war engulfed the world
Oct 01, 2025
Fuji: Andrew Bernstein on the human history of the ever-changing mountain
Sep 24, 2025
Cold War Analogies: Francis J. Gavin on how (and how not) to use the Cold War as a guide
Sep 17, 2025
Prague: The Heart of Europe
Sep 10, 2025
Thinking Historically: Francis J. Gavin on What History Can Do for Policymakers...and the Rest of Us
Sep 03, 2025
Jews vs. Rome: Two Centuries (or More!) of Rebellion Against the World's Mightiest Empire, with Barry Strauss
Aug 27, 2025
Amanda Roper, Public Historian
Aug 20, 2025
The Ramos Gin Fizz: A New Orleans Liquid History, with John Shelton Reed
Aug 13, 2025
Thomas Jefferson and the Fight Against Slavery, with Cara Rogers Stevens
Aug 06, 2025
Spellbound: Molly Worthen on Charisma, Four Centuries of American History, and the Search for Meaning
Jul 30, 2025
The Great Museum of the Sea: A Human History of Shipwrecks, with James Delgado
Jul 23, 2025
Phantom Fleet: U-Boats, Codebreakers, and the Daring Capture of U-505, with Alexander Rose
Jul 16, 2025
Light on Darkness: The Untold Story of the Liturgy of the Western Christian Church, with Cosima Clara Gillhammer
Jul 09, 2025
Londoner, Lawyer, Humanist, Husband, Statesman, Saint: The Life of Thomas More, with Joanne Paul
Jul 02, 2025
The Accidental Tyrant: Kim Il-Sung’s Rise to Power, and How He Kept It, with Fyodor Tertitskiy
Jun 25, 2025
Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet, with John G. Turner
Jun 18, 2025
Revolution to Come: Dan Edelstein on Thinking About Revolution...and History
Jun 11, 2025
Stephen Aron and Barry Strauss on History, Engaging a Wider Public, and Intellectual Humility
Jun 04, 2025
Episode 406: Rogue Agent
May 05, 2025
Episode 405: Free Creations
Apr 28, 2025
Episode 404: Intellectual Humility, with Mikaberidze and Nelson
Apr 21, 2025
Episode 403: Visionary Histories
Apr 14, 2025
Episode 402: Broken Altars
Mar 31, 2025
Episode 401: Rot
Mar 23, 2025
Episode 400: Talking Cure
Mar 17, 2025
Episode 399: Replicating History
Mar 10, 2025
Episode 398: The Celts
Mar 03, 2025
Episode 397: Mutiny on the Black Prince
Feb 24, 2025
Episode 396: Obscure Important Historian
Feb 17, 2025
Episode 395: Summer of Fire and Blood
Feb 10, 2025
Episode 394: Greek Revolution
Feb 03, 2025
Episode 393: Lawless Republic
Jan 27, 2025
Episode 392: Papa von Ranke
Jan 13, 2025
391: Roman Roads
Jan 07, 2025
Episode 390: Atlantic Ocean
Dec 30, 2024
Episode 389: Indian Religions
Dec 23, 2024
Episode 388: Agent Zo
Dec 16, 2024
Episode 387: The Study
Dec 09, 2024
Episode 386: College Sports
Dec 04, 2024
Episode 385: Golden Years
Nov 25, 2024
Episode 384: Intent to Destroy
Nov 22, 2024
Episode 383: Quaker Founder
Nov 18, 2024
Episode 382: Women and the Reformations
Nov 08, 2024
Episode 381: Philosophy to the People
Nov 04, 2024
Episode 380: Madrid
Oct 28, 2024
Episode 379: Philadelphia
Oct 14, 2024
Episode 378: Old New World
Oct 07, 2024
Episode 377: BIG HISTORY (From the Archives)
Sep 30, 2024
Episode 376: Venerable Bede
Sep 24, 2024
Episode 375: Bible History
Sep 16, 2024
Episode 374: Serpent in Eden
Sep 04, 2024
Episode 373: Spycrafte
Aug 30, 2024
Episode 372: Glorious Lessons
Aug 26, 2024
Episode 370: Enemies of All
Aug 19, 2024
Episode 371: Forming National Character
Aug 12, 2024
Episode 369: Horse
Jul 29, 2024
Episode 368: Mosquito
Jul 22, 2024
Episode 367: Bloody Tuesday
Jul 15, 2024
Episode 366: Longing for Connection
Jul 08, 2024
Episode 365: Chesapeake Bay Sea Monster
Jul 01, 2024
Episode 363: Flying Saucers
Jun 17, 2024
Episode 362: Out of One, Many
Jun 03, 2024
Episode 361: Book Makers
May 27, 2024
Intellectual Humility and Historical Thinking: Joseph Manning
May 20, 2024
Episode 360: City of Light, City of Darkness
May 13, 2024
Episode 359: Damascus Events
May 06, 2024
Episode 358: Narrative
Apr 29, 2024
Episode 357: Empire of Climate
Apr 22, 2024
Episode 356: First Dark Ages?
Apr 15, 2024
Episode 355: Steam Powered
Apr 08, 2024
Episode 354: Collisions
Apr 01, 2024
Episode 353: Devils’ Rise
Mar 25, 2024
Intellectual Humility and Historical Thinking: Mark Carnes
Mar 14, 2024
351: Pox Romana
Mar 11, 2024
Episode 350: Revolutionary Age
Mar 04, 2024
Intellectual Humility and Historical Thinking: Leah Shopkow
Feb 27, 2024
Episode 349: Fallingwater
Feb 26, 2024
Episode 348: Nasty Little War
Feb 19, 2024
Intellectual Humility and Historical Thinking: Suzanne Marchand
Feb 02, 2024
Episode 347: Abolitionist Civil War
Jan 22, 2024
Episode 346: The World That Wasn’t
Jan 15, 2024
Episode 345: Ecology of Nations
Jan 08, 2024
Intellectual Humility and Historical Thinking: Jonathan Zimmerman
Dec 21, 2023
An Introduction to Disorder
Dec 11, 2023
Episode 344: Founding Scoundrels
Dec 04, 2023
Episode 343: Talking Anglo-Saxon
Nov 28, 2023
Episode 342: Fish Market
Nov 13, 2023
Episode 341: The Forgers
Nov 06, 2023
Episode 340: Price of Collapse
Oct 30, 2023
Episode 339: Hollow Crown
Oct 23, 2023
Episode 338: Rivals
Oct 16, 2023
Episode 337: Disorder
Oct 10, 2023
Episode 336: Tory’s Wife
Oct 02, 2023
Intellectual Humility Series: What’s Historical Thinking Got to Do With It?
Sep 28, 2023
Episode 335: PAX
Sep 25, 2023
Episode 334: Civic Bargain
Sep 18, 2023
Episode 333: City of Echoes
Sep 11, 2023
Episode 332: Rome v. Persia
Sep 05, 2023
Episode 331: Red Hotel
Aug 28, 2023
Episode 330: His Majesty’s Airship
Aug 21, 2023
Episode 329: Nature’s Messenger
Aug 14, 2023
Episode 328: Making Medieval Money
Aug 07, 2023
Episode 327: American South
Jul 31, 2023
Episode 326: The Professor and the Rough Rider
Jul 24, 2023
Episode 325: Brother Mauro’s Map
Jul 17, 2023
Episode 324: Civil War Politics
Jul 10, 2023
Episode 323: President Garfield
Jul 07, 2023
Episode 322: Roman Walks
Jun 26, 2023
Episode 321: Amazing Iroquois
Jun 19, 2023
Episode 320: The Devils Will Get No Rest
Jun 15, 2023
Episode 319: Working College
Jun 05, 2023
Episode 318: Speaking Yiddish to Chickens
May 30, 2023
Episode 317: Third Reich Village
May 25, 2023
Episode 316: Redcoat’s Son
May 15, 2023
Episode 315: Street Food
May 08, 2023
Episode 314: Peerless Among Princes
Apr 20, 2023
Episode 313: Intellectual Humility, Social Psychologically Speaking
Apr 17, 2023
Episode 312: Gods of Thunder
Apr 10, 2023
Episode 311: Knowledge Towns
Apr 06, 2023
Episode 310: Intellectual Humility and the “Internet of Us”
Apr 03, 2023
Episode 309: What’s the Use of Your Humanities Degree in an AI World?
Mar 27, 2023
Episode 308: Breakfast Cereal
Mar 20, 2023
Episode 307: Eisenhower’s Guerrillas
Mar 13, 2023
Episode 306: Long Walk
Mar 06, 2023
Episode 305: Degrading Equality
Feb 27, 2023
Episode 304: Mass Expulsion
Feb 20, 2023
Episode 303: Victorian Jacobites
Feb 13, 2023
Episode 302: Tudor England
Feb 06, 2023
Episode 301: Wandering Army
Jan 23, 2023
Episode 300: Wild Problems
Jan 09, 2023
Episode 299: The Good Country
Jan 05, 2023
Episode 298: How the Victorians Took Us to the Moon
Dec 19, 2022
Episode 297: Reign of Arrows
Dec 12, 2022
Episode 296: Mercy
Dec 05, 2022
Episode 295: New England Fashion
Nov 28, 2022
Episode 294: Black Suffrage
Nov 21, 2022
Episode 293: Brilliant Commodity
Nov 14, 2022
Episode 292: Mutiny!
Nov 07, 2022
Episode 291: True Blue
Oct 31, 2022
Episode 290: Oh, Dakota!
Oct 27, 2022
Episode 289: Peace and Friendship in the American West
Oct 24, 2022
Episode 288: The American Revolution in Hapsburg Lands
Oct 20, 2022
Episode 287: The Hessians are Coming!
Oct 17, 2022
Episode 286: Weavers, Scribes, and Kings
Oct 13, 2022
Episode 285: Finding Agatha Christie
Oct 10, 2022
Episode 284: The Greatest Russian General, in War and Peace
Oct 03, 2022
Episode 283: Two Houses, Two Kingdoms
Sep 29, 2022
Episode 282: Griffins, Greek Fire, and Ancient Poisons
Sep 26, 2022
Episode 281: The Great Atlantic Freedom Conspiracy
Sep 16, 2022
Episode 280: Thinking about Historically Thinking
Sep 14, 2022
Episode 279: Count the Dead
Sep 08, 2022
Episode 278: Healing a Divided Nation
Sep 05, 2022
Episode 277: Saving Freud
Aug 29, 2022
Episode 276: The Secret Syllabus
Aug 22, 2022
Episode 275: The World the Plague Made
Aug 08, 2022
Episode 274: Afghan Crucible
Aug 01, 2022
Episode 273: Founder of Modern Poland
Jul 25, 2022
Episode 272: Germans without Borders
Jul 18, 2022
Episode 271: The Man at the Center of Two Revolutions
Jul 04, 2022
Episode 270: Great Tomatoes of World History
Jun 27, 2022
Episode 269: Free People of Color
Jun 20, 2022
Episode 268: Feeding Washington’s Army
Jun 13, 2022
Episode 267: African Founders
Jun 06, 2022
Episode 266: Happy Dreams of Liberty
May 30, 2022
Episode 265: How to Win a Power Struggle
May 23, 2022
Episode 264: The Persian Version
May 16, 2022
Episode 263: The Man Who Understood Democracy (Part Two)
May 09, 2022
Episode 262: The Man Who Understood Democracy (Part One)
May 02, 2022
Episode 261: The Long Land War
Apr 25, 2022
Episode 260: The Making of History
Apr 18, 2022
Episode 259: In Praise of Good Bookstores
Apr 11, 2022
Episode 258: The Pursuit of Perfection
Apr 04, 2022
Episode 257: Inventing a New World Order
Mar 28, 2022
Episode 256: The War That Made the Roman Empire
Mar 21, 2022
Episode 255: Denmark Vesey’s Bible
Mar 14, 2022
Episode 254: Saving Yellowstone
Mar 07, 2022
Episode 253: Beer!
Mar 03, 2022
Episode 252: The Great War and Modern Medicine
Feb 28, 2022
Episode 251: The History of Technology, from Leonardo to the Internet
Feb 24, 2022
Episode 250: Amber Waves of Grain
Feb 21, 2022
Behind the Book: The Family That Lost America
Feb 17, 2022
Episode 249: Postcards from the Past
Feb 14, 2022
Episode 248: Athens
Feb 10, 2022
Episode 247: The Greeks
Feb 07, 2022
Episode 246: The Rule of Laws
Feb 03, 2022
Episode 245: Queens of Jerusalem
Jan 31, 2022
Episode 244: Hitler’s First One Hundred Days
Jan 27, 2022
Episode 243: The Story Paradox
Jan 24, 2022
Behind the Book: Down the Road to the Cedars
Jan 20, 2022
Episode 242: Was Abraham Lincoln a Racist?
Jan 17, 2022
Episode 238: Generations of Reason
Jan 13, 2022
Episode 241: Doing the Research
Jan 10, 2022
Episode 240: Empire and Jihad
Jan 03, 2022
Episode 239: The Chicken and the Egg, or, What Keeps (Some) Historians Awake at Night
Dec 27, 2021
Episode 237: A Brave and Cunning Prince, or, Following the Evidence Where It Leads
Dec 13, 2021
Episode 236: Let Me Put That Into Context
Dec 07, 2021
Bonus Episode: The Higher Ed Scene, with Mark Salisbury
Dec 01, 2021
Episode 235: The Great Little Madison
Nov 18, 2021
Episode 234: The Fall of Robespierre
Nov 15, 2021
Episode 233: Generation Myth
Nov 08, 2021
Episode 232: Talking About Each Other’s Gods
Nov 01, 2021
Episode 231: Multiple Perspectives, or, Seeing the Same Thing in Different Ways
Oct 28, 2021
Episode 230: What the Amish Can Do For Us
Oct 25, 2021
Episode 229: Mr. Jefferson and His University
Oct 21, 2021
Episode 228: The Intellectual Life in Difficult Circumstances
Oct 18, 2021
Episode 227: The First French Revolution
Oct 11, 2021
Episode 226: Adventures Through Time, with Dominic Sandbrook
Oct 04, 2021
Episode 225: Noble Volunteers, or, The British Soldier in the American Revolution
Sep 27, 2021
Episode 224: Disruption
Sep 20, 2021
Episode 223: Climbing Denali
Sep 13, 2021
Episode 222: The Chemistry of Fear
Sep 09, 2021
Episode 221: Prohibition Wasn’t American
Sep 06, 2021
Episode 220: From the Archive, The First Three Weeks of College
Sep 01, 2021
Episode 219: The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome
Aug 23, 2021
Episode 218: To Her Credit
Aug 16, 2021
Episode 217: When Money Talks
Aug 09, 2021
Episode 216: The Appalachian Trail
Aug 02, 2021
Episode 215: The Other Face of Battle
Jul 26, 2021
Episode 214: Just a Few Questions
Jul 19, 2021
Episode 213: From Rebel to Ruler
Jul 12, 2021
Episode 212: The Perennial Russian Pivot to Asia
Jul 08, 2021
Episode 211: The [Quiet] Russian Revolution
Jun 23, 2021
Episode 210: Very Personal History
Jun 17, 2021
Episode 209: Climate, Catastrophe, and Faith
Jun 09, 2021
Episode 208: What’s Love Got to Do With It?
Jun 02, 2021
Episode 207: After the Black Death
May 26, 2021
Episode 206: Sick and Tired
May 12, 2021
Episode 205: Can There Ever Be History for the Common Good?
May 05, 2021
Episode 204: The Peace Treaty of 1916 That Didn’t Happen
Apr 28, 2021
Episode 203: The Saint, the Count, and Sourcing (Historical Thinking Series)
Apr 08, 2021
Episode 202: Talking History, Podcasting, and the Age of Jackson, with Daniel N. Gullotta
Mar 31, 2021
Episode 201: Isaac Newton, After Gravity
Mar 24, 2021
Episode 200: Connecting, from an English Portrait to Galileo and Beyond, with J.L. Heilbron
Mar 17, 2021
Episode 199: George Washington, Politician
Mar 10, 2021
Bonus: Comprehending Dante, with Guy Raffa
Mar 05, 2021
Episode 198: American Heretic
Mar 03, 2021
Episode 197: An Independent Woman of the Eighteenth Century
Feb 24, 2021
From the Archives: Episode 39: The Skills of Historical Thinking
Jan 29, 2021
Episode 196: Comprehending What We Read (Historical Thinking Series)
Jan 27, 2021
Episode 195: Battling for the Classics
Jan 20, 2021
Episode 194: If This Be Treason, Make the Most of It
Jan 13, 2021
Bonus: Mark Salisbury on Higher Ed at the End of 2020, or Continuing Higher COVIDucation
Jan 12, 2021
Episode 193: The Plot to Bring Down the Soviet Revolution
Jan 06, 2021
Episode 192: Distracted, or, How to be Attentive
Dec 30, 2020
Episode 191: Pacifist Prophet
Dec 23, 2020
Episode 190: Porcelain
Dec 16, 2020
Episode 189: Keeping in Time
Dec 09, 2020
Episode 188: The Amateur Hour, or, A History of Why College Professors Can’t Teach
Dec 02, 2020
Episode 187: The Light Ages
Nov 25, 2020
Episode 186: Think More Like Shakespeare
Nov 18, 2020
Episode 185: The Anvil and Forge That Created the Modern World
Nov 11, 2020
Episode 184: This is Sparta
Nov 04, 2020
Episode 183: Dante’s Bones, or, A History of the Idea of Italy
Oct 28, 2020
Episode 182: Philip of Macedonia, and Son
Oct 21, 2020
Episode 181: Westward to Zion
Oct 14, 2020
Episode 180: Great State, or, China and the World since 1250
Oct 07, 2020
Episode 179: What’s the Good of Ambition, or, Socrates and Alcibiades
Sep 30, 2020
Episode 178: Medieval Mediterranean Slavery
Sep 23, 2020
Episode 177: The Forgotten City
Sep 16, 2020
Episode 176: Men on Horseback, or, What Charisma Has To Do With It
Sep 09, 2020
Episode 175: American Dorm
Sep 02, 2020
Bonus Episode: The Virus and the Dorm, or, Higher COVIDucation Part One
Aug 31, 2020
Episode 174: Polybius of Megalopolis
Aug 26, 2020
Episode 173: Thinking is Human, or, Lost in Thought
Aug 19, 2020
Episode 172: The Last Voyage of the Whaling Ship Progress
Aug 12, 2020
Episode 171: The Gunpowder Revolution, or, China and the West
Aug 05, 2020
Episode 170: Bound by War, or, the Philippines and the United States in the First Pacific Century
Jul 29, 2020
Episode 169: The History of the Future
Jul 22, 2020
Episode 167: How Black Americans Created American Citizenship
Jul 16, 2020
Episode 166: Beauty and Terror, or, the Italian Renaissance Re-envisioned
Jul 08, 2020
Episode 165: Western Civ Has Got to…
Jul 01, 2020
Episode 164: The Open Sea, or, the Economies of the Ancient Mediterranean
Jun 24, 2020