The Road to Now

#375 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 to catch Bob at his endless book tour for America's Founding Son! Dates available by following him on Instagram at @bobcrawfordbass. Sources discussed in this episode: ·      Adi Schane, "'Venecky' instead of Kentucky," WDRB.com, July 29, 2026. ·      John Green, Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of our Deadliest Infection, (Penguin, 2025). ·      Pärssinen, M., Kalliola, R., Ranzi, A. et al. "Over 20,000 precolonial earthworks in the Southwest Amazonia."Nature (2026).   This episode was edited by Ben Sawyer.

#374 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 discussed in this episode, check out Michael Trotti's "The Troubling Roots of Off-Year Gubernatorial Elections" from Made By History (Oct. 29, 2025) and Article 5 of the US Constitution, which states: "The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate." This episode was edited by Ben Sawyer.

#373 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 new podcast Government That Doesn't Suck (alongside History That Doesn't Suck's Greg Jackson), and the author How to Raise a Citizen (And Why It's Up to You To Do It), she has evidence and a framework for how to get there. In this conversation we cover all this, as well as Lindsey's research on Veterans and her work to document political rhetoric via congressional emails at DCInbox.com. Dr. Lindsey Cormack is Associate Professor of Political Science at Stevens Institute of Technology. Click here to follow her on substack. This episode was edited by Gary Fletcher.

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 Professor of History at Stanford University and the author of Necropolis: Disease, Power & Capitalism in the Cotton Kingdom, (Harvard University Press, 2022). She was also a 2024 recipient of the Dan David Prize. This is a rebroadcast of #329, which originally aired on March 10, 2025. This episode was edited by Ben Sawyer.

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 acres of farmland, and enjoyed support across political and geographic divides. In this episode we talk with Neil Maher, author of Nature's New Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Roots of the American Environmental Movement (Oxford University Press, 2008) about how the CCC helped solidify FDR's New Deal and spread the seeds of environmental activism for generations to come. Dr. Neil Maher is a Professor of History and Master Teacher in the Federated History Department at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers University-Newark. He is also the author of Apollo in the Age of Aquarius (Harvard University Press, 2017). You can find out more about his work at NeilMaher.com. This is a rebroadcast of episode #274 which aired as The Original Green New Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps with Neil Mahr on May 29, 2023. This rebroadcast was edited by Ben Sawyer.