From Here to History
Chris Swanson & Jason Weidert
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About This Podcast
The history podcast where Chris Swanson and Jason Weidert discuss events and people of the past with as much openness, understanding, and fairness as we can muster. Our only agenda is to inform in an entertaining and engaging way.
We teach high school, after all, and that's a tough audience. Our hope is that if we can keep teenagers interested we may be able to pull off a worthwhile podcast, too.
We try to release one episode every month. But we're teachers with busy young families so if we go a little longer than that between episodes, bear with us!
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Recent Episodes
The Cold War, Pt 1: Marx & The Bolsheviks
The Cold War was the great ideological conflict of the 20th century. In the first of our multi-part series, we will discuss one of the two ideological belligerents in that war: communism. We try to…
Houdini Among the Spirits, Pt 2
In the second of two episodes on Houdini and the Spiritualists, we discuss Houdini's multi-front war against fraudulent mediums. It was an all-consuming undertaking, waged from the stage, in print,…
Houdini Among the Spirits
Just in time for Halloween! In the first of two parts, we will weave a kind of dual biography: Harry Houdini and the spiritualist movement. While Houdini is perfecting his craft to become the world's…
Dolly Parton: No Slowing Down
In our second and final episode on the life and music of Dolly Parton, we pick up in the 1980s. Dolly makes a splash into Hollywood, endures some dark times in her personal life, gets dropped by her…
Dolly Parton: Her Early Life and Career
It's time for Jason to make his case! In part 1 of 2 biographical sketches of Dolly Parton, we discuss Dolly's background, her early music career, her challenges and opportunities, and try our hands…
The Comanches, Pt 4: Until Day Breaks
The Comanche peaked and then fell in the decades between 1840 and 1880. In this episode, we discuss that story arc. From the Comanche retaliation against Texas for the Council House Massacre, through…
The Comanches, Pt 3: Confluence and Collision
In the third episode of our series on the Comanche, Comancheria slowly divorces itself from New Spain to seek better fortunes in the bustling American markets. The Mexican government inherits a…
Halloween Special: Ghosts of Tragedies Past
Just in time for Halloween! Join Chris and Jason as they discuss two historic sites that are reputed to be haunted: Poveglia Island in the Venetian Lagoon and Greyfriars Kirkyard in Old Town…
The Comanches, Pt 2: War and Peace
The Comanche entered the southern great plains slowly and imperceptibly, ultimately to find themselves one part of a very restless world. There were imperial tensions between European powers, as well…
The Comanches, Pt 1: Coming of the Numunu
"They came to the plains from the west, slipping through the canyon passes of the Sangre de Cristo Range in small, roving bands...They were few in number, possessed little wealth...New Mexico's…
The Zulu Nation, Pt 4: Fall of the House of Shaka
Lord Chelmsford, looking to redeem himself from his failed first invasion, crosses into Zululand in force for a second attempt. Pressure on Chelmsford mounts as Field Marshal Garnet Wolseley races…
The Zulu Nation, Pt 3: Invasion
In this episode on the Zulu nation, we discuss Cetshwayo's violent march to the Zulu throne, his cozying up to the British as a bulwark against the Boers, and then the inexplicable events that thrust…
The Zulu Nation, Pt 2: We Three Kings
The Zulu nation as we remember it was forged in a world of upheaval under the leadership of the intelligent, dynamic, and ruthless king Shaka Kasenzangakhona. Shaped by the tumultuous events known as…
The Zulu Nation, Pt 1
We took a holiday hiatus but we're back with the first in a 3-part series on the most dominant tribal nation in 18th-century South Africa: The Zulus. In this episode, we range from their Bantu…
Halloween Special: Adventures in Exorcism
In From Here to History's first ever Halloween episode, spirits, demons, and the bodies they try to possess are the topic. Join Chris and Jason as they discuss an anthology of stories and beliefs…
The Rise and Fall of the Neo-Assyrians
The Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III inaugurated the golden age of his empire's power between 745 and 727 BC. Just over a century later, Sin-Summu-Ishkin watched as that empire took its dying…
The Ancient Assyrians
Massive statues of winged bulls with human heads, stone reliefs depicting gruesome lion hunts and mass executions of captured soldiers, ancient history's most impressive library, kings with complex…
This is Sparta, Part 2
One episode just wasn't enough to capture the Spartans, so we settled on two episodes. Now, looking back, two episodes probably weren't enough, either. They were a major force in the ancient Greek…
This is Sparta
They were controversial in their own time as well as ours. A society capable of impressive discipline and moments of jaw-dropping heroism. They were also a rigidly hierarchical culture who could use…
The March Madness of History: And the Winner is...
Back in March we hosted our second annual tournament of history on our campus. Styled after the NCAA March Madness tournament, our students considered 16 names and voted their way to a champion. Last…
Frequently Asked Questions
From Here to History has published 36 episodes since February 2022, covering topics in Documentary, History.
From Here to History is currently highly active with new episodes every 2 months. Average episode length is 1h 15m.
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