What is fraternity? Our guest in this episode of The Way of Improvement Leads Home Podcast, political scientist Susan McWilliams Barndt, discusses her father’s 1973 magnum opus The Idea of Fraternity in America. We talk about the work of Wilson Carey...
We talk to authors, teachers, museum professionals, and historians. Over the years we have interviewed Jim Grossman, Daniel K. Williams, Yoni Appelbaum, Sam Wineburg, Tim Grove, Nate DiMeo, Paul Lukas, Annette Gordon-Reed, Peter Onuf, Marc Dolan, Steve Edenbo, Ann Little,...
What is American evangelicalism? In her new book The Evangelical Imagination, Karen Swallow Prior, one of the most careful observers of, and participants in, evangelical life, analyzes the literature, art, and popular culture that has surrounded the movement and unpacks some of...
Did you know the Jesuits were some of the largest slaveholders in colonial America? Our guest in this episode is Rachel L. Swarns, author of The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved And Sold to Build the American Catholic Church. We...
In this episode we talk to historian Larry Eskridge about the film “Jesus Revolution.” Eskridge, the author of God’s Forever Family: The Jesus People Movement in America, places the film in context, discusses the legacy of the Jesus People Movement for...
If you want to learn more about the evangelical fascination with the rapture, Israel, the antichrist, and the prophetic books of the Bible you will enjoy this episode. Our guest is Daniel Hummel, author of The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism:...
The National Basketball Association is a multi-billion-dollar industry driven by Black athletes with global influence. But as our guest Theresa Runstedtler argues, the success of today’s NBA players rests on the labor activism of 1970s NBA stars who fought with...
It sure looks like it. In 1976, four teams from the American Basketball Association joined the National Basketball Association. Learn more about the ABA and the merger here or you can listen to our forthcoming podcast interview with Theresa Runstedtler,...
In this episode we talk with historian and biographer Nancy Koester about her new book on nineteenth-century abolitionist and women’s rights advocate Sojourner Truth. Our discussion focuses on Truth’s lifelong pursuit of a just society, a deeper knowledge of God, and...
In this episode we explore the life, ideas, and writings of one of the 20th-century most influential American historians–C. Vann Woodward, author of The Strange Career of Jim Crow. Our guest is James Cobb, author if C. Vann Woodward: America’s Historian. In...
The American Revolution happened in the midst of a smallpox epidemic. In one of the timeliest history books of the publishing season, historian Andrew Wehrman visits the podcast to talk about what the patriots of the American Revolution and the...
In this episode we chat with historian Jonathan D. Cohen about his edited collection Long Walk Home: Reflections on Bruce Springsteen and the current state of “Springsteen Studies.” We also ask Cohen if there is any connection between his current book, For a Dollar...
According to historian Kathryn Gin Lum, Americans have long viewed the world as a realm of suffering heathens whose lands and lives needed their intervention to flourish. The term “heathen” fell out of common use by the early 1900s, but...
Are you an educator? An administrator? A school board member? Does your life intersect in some way with a public school? If so, this episode is for you. We talk about the religion and transatlantic roots of American public education...
Last weekend we dropped Episode 103 of The Way of Improvement Leads Home Podcast with historian Vaneesa Cook, author of Spiritual Socialists: Religion and the American Left. I hope you enjoy this episode. If you are interested in learning more...
Does the American Left have religion problem? What can progressives learn from people like Dorothy Day, Ignazio Silone, Henry Wallace, Staughton Lynd, and Cornel West? Many of these thinkers and activists offered a powerful vision for a moral and just...
Our guest on this episode, public historian Alena Pirok, explains how John D. Rockefeller’s vision of Colonial Williamsburg eventually gave way to a vision of the site championed by an early 20th century clergyman who saw ghosts. Join us for a conversion...
In this episode, our 100th, host John Fea redelivers his 2022 Conference on Faith and History presidential address. Listen at: Apple Podcasts Stitcher iHeartRadio Spotify Podchaser Podbean The Way of Improvement Leads Home Podcast is a product of Current. If you...
Do you do genealogical research? In this episode, historian Francesca Morgan talks about her new book A Nation of Descendants: Politics and the Practice of Genealogy in U.S. History. She discusses Americans’ fascination with tracking family lineage through three centuries and how the...
What do Sammy Davis Jr., Muhammad Ali, Clare Booth Luce, Whitaker Chambers, and Charles Colson all have in common? They all had very public religious conversions. In this episode, historian Rebecca Davis joins us to talk about her new book Public...
