Bob Crawford (The Avett Brothers) & Dr. Ben Sawyer (MTSU History) share conversations with great thinkers from a variety of backgrounds – historians, artists, legal scholars, political figures and more –who help us uncover the many roads that run between past and present. For more information, visit TheRoadToNow.com If you'd like to support our work, join us on Patreon: Patreon.com/TheRoadToNow
Latest episodes
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56 min
How Charisma Shaped American History from the Puritans to Trump w/ Molly Worthen
Bob speaks with UNC-Chapel Hill historian Molly Worthen about her new book Spellbound: How Charisma Shaped American History from the Puritans to Trump. This episode originally aire…
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58 min
The Elections of 1994 (Midterm Elections Series #4)
In 1994, the Republican Party took both houses of Congress for the first time in more than four decades, defeating a Democratic Party that, just two years earlier, had pulled off a…
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50 min
The Elections of 1946 (Midterm Elections Series #3)
In 1946, the Democrats had held the majority in both houses of Congress and the Presidency for fourteen years, in which time they had led the country through both the Great Depress…
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53 min
The Elections of 1874 w/ Jefferson Cowie (Midterm Elections Series #2)
Most histories mark the 1876 Presidential election as the end of post-Civil War reconstruction, but the end of that era might have already been signaled when Democrats took control…
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48 min
The Elections of 1858 (Midterm Elections Series #1)
Would Kansas be admitted as a slave state? Would the US purchase Cuba from Spain (and perhaps admit it as another slave state)? And what could be done in the wake of the Supreme Co…
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1 h 00
Hannah Arendt: Facing Tyranny w/ Jeff Bieber
Hannah Arendt witnessed the rise of Nazism in Germany and her groundbreaking works, including The Origins of Totalitarianism, sought to understand how regular people could be seduc…
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55 min
The Hindenburg w/ Catherine Grace Katz
Catherine Grace Katz joins us to talk about her new book, Shadow Before the Flame: The Hindenburg Disaster and the Prelude to War, and just how much the story of the ill-fated Germ…
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54 min
George Carlin's American Dream w/ Michael Bonfiglio & Kliph Nesteroff
George Carlin had a comedy career that spanned half a century, and his take on the US remains relevant more than a decade after his death in 2008. The HBO documentary George Carlin…
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57 min
Miracle Road: The Story of Research Triangle Park w/ Mack Paul
North Carolina's Research Triangle has been a hub of innovation and economic growth for more than half a century, but the most remarkable invention in the area's history might be t…
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52 min
The Pursuit of Happiness w/ Jeffrey Rosen
The inalienable right to "the pursuit of happiness" is enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, but what exactly does that phrase mean? While Americans today may associate it…
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54 min
The Road to Venecky w/ Ben & Bob
Ben & Bob catch up for a conversation about bad Ai textooks, new discoveries about precolonial American societies and a new take on the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. Make sure…
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53 min
The Senate's Hard Summer w/ Ben & Bob
Ben & Bob talk about the history of the US Senate and why the august body is now under attack from both the Freedom Caucus and the Democratic Socialists of America. For readings di…
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58 min
Good Government w/ Lindsey Cormack
In an era of cynicism towards politics, Lindsey Cormak wants you to focus on what government has gotten right and to raise your kids to be active citizens. And as the host of the n…
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53 min
Necropolis: Disease, Power & Capitalism in 19th Century New Orleans w/ Kathryn Olivarius
Kathryn Olivarius joins Bob & Ben to explain the powerful role that Yellow Fever played in shaping all aspects of life in New Orleans during the 19th Century. Kathryn is Associate…
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52 min
The Civilian Conservation Corps w/ Neil Maher
Between 1933 and 1942, the Civilian Conservation Corps enlisted more than three million young men in a project that planted two billion trees, slowed soil erosion on forty million…
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53 min
Mitch McConnell: The Price of Power w/ Michael Tackett
Journalist Michael Tackett joins Ben & Bob to discuss his book The Price of Power: How Mitch McConnell Mastered the Senate, Changed America and Lost his Party (Simon & Schuster, 20…
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59 min
Citizen Coke: The History of Coca-Cola w/ Bartow Elmore
Coca-Cola is one of the most well-known products on planet earth, but did you ever wonder how a brown fizzy drink fueled the rise of a corporate juggernaut? The answer, says Ohio S…
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10 min
The Declaration of Independence
On July 2nd, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted a resolution stating that "that these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states." Two days…
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51 min
Benjamin Franklin w/ Dayton Duncan and David Schmidt
This week, as we approach the 250th anniversary of American independence, we shine a light on one of the founding generation's greats: Benjamin Franklin It's difficult to fathom ho…
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1 h 00
Obstinate Daughters: Women in the American Revolution w/ Denise Kiernan
The American Revolution touched the lives of everyone living in the American colonies, and though the focus is often on the battlefields and political debates, those who were exclu…