January 24

Ep. 0092: Top Ten Dangerous US History Books

Join CJ as he discusses:

  • Crisis & Leviathan by Robert Higgs
  • The Creature from Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin
  • The Tragedy of American Diplomacy by William Appleman Williams
  • A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
  • The Triumph of Conservatism by Gabriel Kolko
  • The Yankee and Cowboy War by Carl Oglesby
  • The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto
  • Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men by Jeffrey Hummel
  • Family of Secrets by Russ Baker
  • A Renegade History of the United States by Thaddeus Russell
  • Plus several other ‘honorable mentions’ that for one reason or another didn’t quite make CJ’s top 10

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Category: American History, Book Reviews, Podcasts | 1 Comment on Ep. 0092: Top Ten Dangerous US History Books
January 17

Ep. 0091: Assassination Ruminations

I’m back to work after Christmas break, and so fittingly I’ve got an episode recorded while commuting in The Silver Bullet (my silver Hyundai Accent hatchback.)

How should we think about the deaths of famous and/or influential people?  Are all deaths of such people suspicious?  I don’t have all the answers, but here are some of my thoughts on these complicated matters.  It’s time to do something very difficult: Moderate conspiracy theorizing, wherein one neither believes the official story nor jumps to outlandish conclusions based on shaky (or nonexistent) evidence.

Join CJ as he discusses:

  • An overview of all presidents who’ve died in office, whether from natural, unnatural, or disputed causes
  • A few words about other assassinations of important people in relatively recent history, such as Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • A few words about recent deaths of important media figures that at least some people find questionable
  • How, in order to be intellectually honest, we have to be willing to accept a degree of uncertainty on many of these deaths and assassinations, and we must be willing to accept “I don’t know” and/or “we’ll never know for sure” where appropriate
  • How assassinations rarely result in any significant change to the track that the state is on when they occur, and how, more often than not, assassinations simply accelerate existing trends

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Category: American History, Concepts and Theories, Podcasts | LEAVE A COMMENT
December 15

Ep. 0088: Thaddeus Russell on Undermining Jihadists with Britney Spears & more

Thaddeus Russell is a historian and cultural critic and the author of A Renegade History of the United States. He holds a Ph D from Columbia University. He teaches American history and cultural studies at Occidental College and has taught at Columbia University, Barnard College, the New School for Social Research, and Eugene Lang College.   He has published articles in a variety of scholarly and popular venues.  Russell has appeared on the History Channel, Al-Jazeera, Fox News, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Join CJ & Thad as they discuss:

  • Thad’s background, including how the material that eventually became A Renegade History of the United States prevented him from getting a tenure-track position at Barnard College
  • Thad’s thoughts on cultural history vs. Marxism, the consumer revolution, the market, and capitalism
  • The tensions between puritanism and hedonism in capitalism and in American history
  • The influence of Michel Foucault on Thad’s work
  • The puritanism and asceticism of democracy
  • How ‘ideology free’ or ‘objective’ history is nonsense
  • Thad’s rejection of objective reality and morality
  • Some thoughts on the present and future of higher education
  • Thad’s current project on the history of American pop culture’s spread & influence around the world

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Category: American History, Interviews, Podcasts | 1 Comment on Ep. 0088: Thaddeus Russell on Undermining Jihadists with Britney Spears & more
November 5

Ep. 0084: DHP Villains: Robert Morris, Original Bankster

Robert Morris is one of the lesser-known “Founding Fathers” today, even though arguably he was one of the most important and influential.  He served as a virtual chief executive of the country in the latter years of the Revolutionary war and was the father of the American Federal Leviathan and the crony capitalist system that lives in symbiosis with it.

(BTW, I was a bit under the weather, but happy to get this one cranked out anyway!)

Join CJ as he discusses:

  • Robert Morris’ origins, rise in business, and entry into American politics
  • His role early in the war as a key member of the Secret Committee of Trade, and some of his questionable dealings in that capacity
  • Morris’ leaving of Congress in 1778 and return in 1781 as Superintendent of Finance, a post he held until 1784
  • Morris’ role as one of the most powerful members of what historians now refer to as the “Nationalists,” who pushed for a stronger central government, more taxes, a central bank, and a large, fully funded national debt, as means by which to create a system in America more to their liking
  • The eventual success the ‘Nationalists’ had several years after the war, when they became the ‘Federalists’ who wrote & implemented the Constitution
  • How Robert Morris’ handpicked man for Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, succeeded in implementing most of Morris’ wishlist during the Washington Administration, and the legacy that has passed onto American history ever since

Please consider supporting the Dangerous History Podcast via Patreon!

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Category: American History, DHP Villains, Economic History | 1 Comment on Ep. 0084: DHP Villains: Robert Morris, Original Bankster
August 11

Ep. 0072: The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki

This month is the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki, and the subsequent surrender of Japan to the United States, ending World War II.  The standard mainstream American narrative about this portrays it as a no-brainer, a morally unquestionable & absolutely necessary decision that saved untold numbers of lives.  This narrative is not supported by many serious academic historians who are experts on this topic these days, and it is highly questioned in countries other than the United States, to put it mildly.  What’s the truth about these bombings?

Join CJ as he discusses:

  • A brief word on mass-bombing of civilians in WWII, and how prior to its entry into the war, the US government condemned any mass bombing of civilians, but began engaging in it on a larger scale than anyone else once in the war
  • The successful “Trinity” test of an A-bomb, and the effect that had on the US government’s decision-making
  • What was going on in the Japanese government & in the US government at the time
  • The Potsdam Conference & Declaration of July, 1945
  • The bombing of Hiroshima & its effects
  • The entry of the Soviet Union into the war against Japan & its effects
  • The bombing of Nagasaki & its effects [*Note:  Had an error I made here pointed out by a listener named Matt via Facebook: I said in the episode that Enola Gay also dropped the second bomb; it did not.  The E-G was involved in the 2nd mission as a weather recon plane, but another B-29 named “Bockscar” actually dropped the 2nd bomb.  I messed that detail up in my notes & as a result messed it up in the episode.]
  • Japan’s surrender
  • Some closing thoughts & observations on the bombings, their morality (or lack thereof), and debates that have continued ever since

Become a supporter of the Dangerous History Podcast on Patreon — will be putting out bonus episodes for patrons there starting soon!

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Category: American History, Military History, Modern World History, Podcasts | 9 Comments on Ep. 0072: The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki
July 30

Ep. 0071: The Calusa Indians

The Calusa were a fascinating Native American people who populated the southwestern coast of Florida.  Despite having no real agriculture, they developed a dense, sedentary, complex society, with all the good & bad that entails.

Join CJ as he discusses:

  • The origins of the Calusa
  • Their physical description
  • Their society, hierarchy, and religion
  • The relationship of the Calusa to their environment, a highly productive estuary which they used to efficiently procure nourishment and materiel
  • The fate of the Calusa
  • CJ’s thoughts on lessons we might learn from them

Please consider signing up as a Dangerous History Podcast patron on CJ’s Patreon account!

Category: American History, Podcasts | 3 Comments on Ep. 0071: The Calusa Indians
July 1

Ep. 0066: Revolutionary Aftershocks Part II: The Whiskey Rebellion

Today we cover the last blow in the American Revolution’s Thermidor:  the Whiskey Rebellion of the early 1790s.

Join CJ as he discusses:

  • Raising more questions about what history really is and what most historians really do, using Bentley Little’s short story “The Washingtonians” (which was also adapted into an episode of the TV series Masters of Horror), a story that CJ thinks has direct relevance to the Dangerous History Podcast in general, and to this episode in particular
  • The long history of anti-excise sentiment in the Anglo-American world
  • The origin of Alexander Hamilton’s excise tax on whiskey
  • The grievances that many Westerners had regarding this tax, and a variety of other issues
  • Anger on the part of many Westerners (especially the poor), culminating in rebellion
  • The crackdown in Western Pennsylvania
  • The troubling & somewhat ambiguous aftermath & legacy of this rebellion, and how it fits into the Revolution/Thermidor framework outlined last episode

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Category: American History, Podcasts | 8 Comments on Ep. 0066: Revolutionary Aftershocks Part II: The Whiskey Rebellion
June 18

Ep. 0065: Revolutionary Aftershocks Part I: Shays’ Rebellion


Every revolution produces people (generally of the lower ranks within the revolutionary faction) who take the rhetoric & supposed ideology of the revolution at face value and expect that rhetoric & ideology to actually apply to them.  But every revolution also produces people (generally of the elite within the revolutionary faction) who really just want to be the “new boss” and, as a result, are often willing to blatantly violate the stated ideals of the revolution they were ostensibly leading.

Here we see this phenomenon in regards to the aftermath of the American Revolution, and two oft-overlooked ‘rebellions’ in early post-Independence History — Shays’ Rebellion of the 1780s and the Whiskey Rebellion of the 1790s.  This episode will cover Shays’ Rebellion, and next episode will cover the Whiskey Rebellion.

Join CJ as he discusses:

  • The concept of Thermidor and how the things we’re talking about in this episode (plus the writing & ratification of the Constitution, which we’re not getting into in great detail here, & the Whiskey a Rebellion we’re covering next time) constituted Thermidor for the (partial as it was) American Revolution
  • Shays’ Rebellion, from its origins through its suppression and aftermath
  • How the Rebellion added impetus to those pushing for a bigger, stronger federal government (eventually called “Federalists”) and how the Federalists’ victory with the US Constitution set the stage for the next Revolutionary Aftershock, the Whiskey Rebellion, which we’ll cover next episode

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Category: American History, Podcasts | 11 Comments on Ep. 0065: Revolutionary Aftershocks Part I: Shays’ Rebellion
June 8

Ep. 0063: The American Revolution Part VI: Reflections on the Revolution

Finally -we wrap up our American Revolution coverage with a hodepodge grab-bag of thoughts & observations on the Revolution, what it was really about, how revolutionary it really was, and lessons we can learn from it today.

Join CJ as he discusses:

  • Patriotism vs Nationalism
  • Why you should avoid hero-worship
  • Meet the new boss, same as the old boss
  • Winning battles vs winning wars
  • Well-armed populations are harder to oppress
  • Decentralization as a strength, not a weakness
  • An extended exploration of whether or not the American Revolution was really a revolution — to which CJ argues there’s not a clear-cut answer — and a suggestion as to how present-day radicals for freedom should see the American Revolution

Internal Links

  • DHP Ep. 59 (see the comments referred to in this episode)
  • DHP Ep. 54 (“Three Leftist Historians Every Libertarian Should Read” – referenced in this episode in regard to William Appleman Williams’ America Confronts a Revolutionary World)

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Category: American History, Podcasts | 11 Comments on Ep. 0063: The American Revolution Part VI: Reflections on the Revolution