It's a History Podcast

Hello! In this weeks Episode I am joined by Author Stan Haynes to discuss his most recent release, The Historical Fiction And Slavery No More. Stan began his career as a trial attorney in Baltimore while fostering an interest in presidential history.  This interest in Presidential history led to three non fiction books about presidential history, and most recently three historical fiction books.  And Slavery no more focuses on 1862 and pivotal moments in the civil war with Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation and the Confederacy and the invasion of Maryland at the Battle of Antietam. You can find the book here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/and-slavery-no-more-stan-haynes/2aea4a0a64c83cd7?ean=9781737766971  You can find Stan Here: https://stanhaynes.com  If you would like to send me any questions, comments, or ideas for future podcast episodes please email me at [email protected]. You can also find me on Instagram and Threads @itsahistorypodcast Thank you for listening!   

Hello! In this week episode instead of a new episode I am re-uploading two of my very early episodes that discuss voting rights and the electoral college. For one, I am recording this bit on election day and I have been too distracted by election day activities to get you guys a new episode written and recorded by Thursday. It is also why I am posting this two days earlier than I normally do.  But, with that I have been thinking quite a bit about the importance of voting and that your vote really does count. I am not overtly vocal on where my leanings lie, but I would hope from the content I post, and the stories I share, that you all know where my heart is. I have been very vocal online as a blue dot in a red state and in a red county, and I want to make that clear for everyone listening today.  If you are listening to this on election day, and have not yet voted, I urge you to please go out and vote. Every vote matters, especially in state and local elections. If you are listening to this after election day, this sentiment still stands for the next election and the election after that. Democracy works when everyone participates, and to do that, going out and voting is one of the most important things you can do as a citizen of the United States.  Before I send you back to 2024 when I originally recorded these episodes prior to the presidential election, I want to leave you with this. Change takes time. It does not happen immediately, especially in government. Yes this election matters, but to make change happen we have to show up at each and every election. If you would like to send me any questions, comments, or ideas for future podcast episodes please email me at [email protected]. You can also find me on Instagram and Threads @itsahistorypodcast Thank you for listening!   

Hello! This week I am joined by Author Barbara Carroll Roberts to discuss her most recent release When George Washington Bowed to the New Nation, illustrated by Anne Yvonne Gilbert In this book, barabra presents a pivotal moment in history when given the opportunity, George Washington gave up his power, going against the centuries old norm of the winner of the battle taking up power.  Join us for a wonderful conversation on George Washington and creating meaningful stories for children. You can find the book here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/when-george-washington-bowed-to-the-new-nation-barbara-carroll-roberts/627d718a65d24821?ean=9781568464619  You can find Barbara here: https://barbaracarrollroberts.com  If you would like to send me any questions, comments, or ideas for future podcast episodes please email me at [email protected]. You can also find me on Instagram and Threads @itsahistorypodcast Thank you for listening!   

This week I am sharing an episode that I guested on from the History Buffs or Bluffs podcast. History Buffs or Bluffs is A podcast where an author tells his wife a wild historical tale that's either completely true or totally made up and she has to guess which!  Kyle Kochenberger is an author who is also a history buff and his wife Sydney doesn't know a whole lot about history. In this podcast, Kyle will be telling a story that he either thoroughly researched or completely made up from his writer's mind and at the end Sydney and the listeners will have a chance to guess if the story is true or not.  In this episode Kyle tells me and Sydney about the Cadaver Synod of 897. Find them online here: https://www.instagram.com/historybuffsorbluffspod/  Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/show/0tLAKs6RzsiOi2cWlxfUtt?si=dd87df9f61f84d94   

Hello!In this weeks episode, I am joined by Andrew Rowen to discuss his most recent release, the Historical Novel Isabel, Anacaona & Columbus's Demise: 1498-1502 Retold.  This week marked our annual recognition of what is now indigenous peoples day on October 12 but had been Columbus day for almost 90 years. This day and what it means has evolved over time, and in speaking with andrew about his research into this time period, we can gain just a bit more knowledge on how these three individuals, Isabel, Anancaona, and Columbus lived this experience. This novel is grounded in primary sources and anthropological research that reconstructs from both European and Native perspectives the period of Caribbean history when permanent European colonial settlement began, commencing with Columbus's third voyage. Andrew Rowen  has researched the history of the initial encounters between Europeans and the Caribbean's Taíno peoples for over a dozen years. His novels retell that history from a bicultural perspective based on primary sources, anthropological studies, and site research. He is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley and Harvard Law School and practiced law as a partner at a law firm before writing. You can find Andrew here: https://www.andrewrowen.com You can find the book here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/isabel-anacaona-columbus-s-demise-1498-1502-retold-andrew-rowen/5f0dab1f27d21191?ean=9780999196168&next=t 

Hello! In this week's episode we are taking a look at the history of Ice Cream. Ice Cream is a dessert that has many different origins, as multiple cultures from around the world have enjoyed eating some version of an ice cream style dessert for centuries.  There have been multiple inventions that have helped Ice Cream become the everyman dessert we know it as today, including the Hand Crank Ice Cream Maker.  There is also a bit of myth with this history as we look at just how waffle cones became popular.   Sources for today episode include:  An article from the Museum of Ice Cream titled The History of Ice Cream: How Every Culture Invented It Independently https://www.museumoficecream.com/blog/history-of-ice-cream/ Another article from the Museum of Ice Cream titled: A Scoop of History: Nancy Johnson's Ice Cream Revolution https://www.museumoficecream.com/blog/a-scoop-of-history-nancy-johnsons-ice-cream-revolution/  An article from PBS titled Explore the Delicious History of Ice Cream by Tori Avery  https://www.pbs.org/food/stories/explore-the-delicious-history-of-ice-cream If you would like to send me any questions, comments, or ideas for future podcast episodes please email me at [email protected]. You can also find me on Instagram and Threads @itsahistorypodcast Thank you for listening!   

Hello! In this week's episode I am joined by Author Rebecca Chamian Ribaudo to discuss her recent release Crossing Division Street. Rebecca is a Chicago based author, nonprofit leader, and advocate for free expression and civil discourse.  Crossing Division Street Traces four generations living through a century of defining events in Chicago and American History Drawing from research spanning 1891 to 2001.   The book begins at the intersection of Division and Larrabee Streets, a crossroads at the center of a nation's story, where Little Sicily became Cabrini-Green and was remade again. Rebecca connects one changing neighborhood's history to a larger American tension: our need to belong to families and communities without surrendering the individuality that makes pluralism possible. The Book is out now and can be found here: https://bookshop.org/beta-search?bkshp-astro=t&keywords=crossing+division+street You can find the Instagram for the book Here: https://www.instagram.com/crossingdivisionstreet?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&stkn=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==  You can find the website for the book here:https://www.crossingdivisionstreet.com/ If you would like to send me any questions, comments, or ideas for future podcast episodes please email me at [email protected]. You can also find me on Instagram and Threads @itsahistorypodcast Thank you for listening!   

Hello! In this Week's final episode of the Formal Food safety series we wrap up with Harvey and continued development of the Food and Drug Law. We dive into multiple trials regarding various food additives such as nitrates in bleached flour and bones in boneless cod. We also discuss the conspiracy in the Department of Agriculture to try to remove Harvey from his position.   Sources include: Coppin, Clayton A., and Jack High. "Umpires at Bat: Setting Food Standards by Government Regulation." Business and Economic History, vol. 21, 1992, pp. 109–18. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23703213. Accessed 22 Sept. 2026.   Blum, Deborah. The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century (pp. xi-xii). (Function). Kindle Edition.  Check out the book here! https://bookshop.org/beta-search?bkshp-astro=t&keywords=poison+squad    Want to start at the beginning of the series?    Start here:   The History of Food Safety Part 1 https://www.itsahistorypodcast.com/the-history-of-food-safety-part-1-historic-methods-of-food-safety-germ-theory-and-pasteurization/   The History of Food Safety Part 2 https://www.itsahistorypodcast.com/the-history-of-food-safety-part-2-fraud-food-adulteration-and-harvey-washington-wiley/   The History of Food Safety Part 3: https://www.itsahistorypodcast.com/the-history-of-food-safety-part-3-the-poison-squad-the-worlds-fair-and-upton-sinclair/  If you would like to send me any questions, comments, or ideas for future podcast episodes please email me at [email protected]. You can also find me on Instagram and Threads @itsahistorypodcast Thank you for listening!   

Hello! In This weeks Episode we are going to be continuing our look at the history of food safety. This week we are looking at the Poison Squad experiments themselves, Harvey's continued work in making the Public Aware of the state of food, and a trail on canned beef. In the two previous parts of this series we discussed the state of food safety when it came to milk and dairy products. We also took a look at the changing landscape of commercially processed foods and their increasing use of untested preservatives. We also met Harvey Wiley, the chief chemist at the department of agriculture who is an integral part of this story. Where we left off, Harvey was just starting to think that maybe we should be testing these preservatives in a controlled environment with human test subjects. So just know that that is circulating in his mind while he continues to test and bring awareness to the effects of preservatives in the food supply, as well as other additives that were added to make the food go further, such as crushed coconut shells, crushed charcoal, and chalk. The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century by Deborah Blum You can Find Part 1 Here: https://www.itsahistorypodcast.com/the-history-of-food-safety-part-1-historic-methods-of-food-safety-germ-theory-and-pasteurization/ You can find Part 2 Here: https://www.itsahistorypodcast.com/the-history-of-food-safety-part-2-fraud-food-adulteration-and-harvey-washington-wiley/  Bonus 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair: https://www.itsahistorypodcast.com/025-the-1893-chicago-worlds-fair-how-a-fair-goes-from-concept-to-reality-in-just-three-years/ If you would like to send me any questions, comments, or ideas for future podcast episodes please email me at [email protected]. You can also find me on Instagram and Threads @itsahistorypodcast Thank you for listening!   

Hello! In This Weeks continuation of the History of Food Safety, we lay the ground work for the work of one man, Harvey Washington Wiley, and his work to introduce a food safety bill and educate the American People on what exactly they were eating.  Harvey was a chemist with a special interest in food Safety and through his work, we were able to discover just how adultered the food being produced and sold in the US actually was. Make sure to check out Part One where we go into further detail on Milk Safety, Germ Theory, and Pasteurization: https://www.itsahistorypodcast.com/the-history-of-food-safety-part-1-historic-methods-of-food-safety-germ-theory-and-pasteurization/  Today's episode relies heavily on the book The Poison Squad: One Chemist Single Minded Crusade for Food Safety At the Turn of the Twentieth Century written by Debrah Blum. The read the book, check it out here: https://bookshop.org/beta-search?bkshp-astro=t&keywords=poison+squad  If you would like to send me any questions, comments, or ideas for future podcast episodes please email me at [email protected]. You can also find me on Instagram and Threads @itsahistorypodcast Thank you for listening!