Back in the dim and misty days of the early 1990s, when I was a freshman in college, I enrolled in a course called Honors Humanities. It was abbreviated in the course catalog as HHUM and therefore known by students as HoHum. It was a three-semester survey of Western Civilization that was taught by a team of faculty from the history, art history, religion, and literature departments.
I like to think I've come a long way since the dim and misty days of the early 1990s, but HoHum shaped my intellectual foundations. I've always appreciated its multidisciplinary approach to history. It taught me a key reality: nothing happens in isolation. Art is shaped by politics; science is shaped by literature. And so here I am today, with a blog that attempts the same strategy.
I'm a freelance writer and author with three books to my name. You can learn more about my work and find links to my books at my personal website, www.lunday.com.
Elizabeth Lunday has hosted 27 Episodes.
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After You've Gone
February 2nd, 2022 | Season 1 | 51 mins 23 secs
1919, african-american history, american history, history, mexican history, native american history, season1, world history
There's so much I haven't had a chance to tell you about the year 1919, so I'm telling you now. Learn about hemlines, haircuts, Transatlantic air travel, interracial marriage, Native American citizenship, Emiliano Zapata, and the road trip to end all road trips--plus the number one song of the year.
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Through Cloud, Hopeful: Eddington, Einstein, and the Eclipse of 1919
July 4th, 2021 | Season 1 | 58 mins 16 secs
1919, albert einstein, arthur eddington, astronomy, european history, gravity, physics, relativity, science, season 1, technology, world history, world war 1
Arthur Eddington was committed to testing Einstein's General Theory of Relativity during the 1919 Solar Eclipse, not only to remove all doubts about the theory but also to demonstrate the value of scientific internationalism. But the British Army was determined to send him to the Front. Eddington faced the greatest challenge of his life: proving his opposition to violence and his dedication to science were both a matter of conscience.
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The Pursuit of Truth: Eddington, Einstein, and the Eclipse of 1919
June 28th, 2021 | Season 1 | 51 mins 51 secs
1919, albert einstein, arthur eddington, astronomy, european history, gravity, physics, relativity, science, season 1, technology, world history, world war 1
In 1914, most scientists claimed their work knew no borders, but the Great War slammed the door on international scientific cooperation. So when a obscure German physicist named Albert Einstein presented a radical new explanation of gravity, he feared no one outside of Germany would be willing to help confirm his theory. He had no idea that his work would come to the attention of the one man able to make the critical observations and willing to explore German ideas--the pacifist astronomer Arthur Eddington.
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Dulce Et Decorum Est: The Legacies of Fritz Haber
May 29th, 2021 | Season 1 | 1 hr 7 mins
1919, albert einstein, european history, fritz haber, science, season 1, technology, world history, world war 1
German scientist Fritz Haber is credited with one of the most important scientific inventions in human history. You are likely alive right now thanks to Haber. But the same man is also responsible for introducing one of the greatest horrors of the Great War, poison gas. What do we owe this man, who gave life with one hand and took it away with the other?
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The Last Night of the Bubbling Glass: The Passage of the 18th Amendment
September 24th, 2020 | Season 1 | 1 hr 2 mins
18th amendment, 1919, american history, prohibition, season 1, temperance, woman suffrage
By 1914, the temperance movement had achieved significant gains in its goal to outlaw the sale of alcohol in the United States. But every push for nationwide prohibition had failed. Would the war--and the accompanying anti-German hysteria--give the Anti-Saloon League enough power to cross the finish line? Was a golden age of sobriety waiting on the other side?
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Do You Expect Us to Turn Back Now: Alice Paul and the Fight for Woman Suffrage
June 28th, 2020 | Season 1 | 55 mins 48 secs
1919, alice paul, american history, season 1, spanish flu, woman suffrage, woman's history
Women in the United States began fighting for the right to vote in 1848, and by 1910 they had achieved a few hard-won victories. But success nationwide seemed out of reach. Then Alice Paul arrived on the scene with a playbook of radical protest strategies and an indomitable will. She focused in on one target: the president, Woodrow Wilson. How far would Paul and her fellow suffragists have to go to get Wilson's support?
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Flu Fences and Chin Sails: Answering New Questions about the Spanish Flu
May 26th, 2020 | Season 1 | 55 mins 28 secs
1919, african-american history, american history, labor, medicine, red scare, science, season 1, spanish flu
Living through the COVID-19 pandemic raises all sorts of new questions about the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1919. This episode seeks to answer those questions. We look at the multiple waves of the flu, popular home remedies, who went to the hospital and who stayed home, how the federal government responded to the outbreak, the effect on the economy, resistance to face masks, and how the flu shaped the Roaring Twenties.
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Say It Ain't So: The Black Sox Scandal and Baseball in 1919
May 5th, 2020 | Season 1 | 59 mins 48 secs
1919, american history, baseball, labor, season1, spanish flu, world war i
Baseball was the only truly national American sport in 1919, loved by fans across the United States. But the mood among players was grim--team owners kept salaries artificially low. When the Chicago White Sox won their league championship, the temptation to accept hard cash from gamblers to deliberately lose the World Series was irresistible. After all, what could possibly go wrong?
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Radical and Agitator: William Monroe Trotter and the Fight for Justice
February 17th, 2020 | Season 1 | 59 mins 9 secs
1919, african-american history, american history, lynching, race riots, radicals, red summer, season1, spanish flu
William Monroe Trotter was among the richest, best-educated, and most-well-connected African-American men in the United States--and he dedicated every ounce of his privilege into helping his fellow black Americans. By 1919, he had fought with the elder statesmen of his community, been arrested in protests over "Birth of a Nation," and denounced Woodrow Wilson's racial policies to president's face. But 1919 would bring one of Trotter's greatest challenges: he would need to learn how to peel potatoes.
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There Is No Justice Here: The Red Summer of 1919
January 21st, 2020 | Season 1 | 57 mins 55 secs
1919, african-american history, american history, bolsheviks, lynching, race riots, radicals, red summer, reds, season1, wobblies
A constant threat of violence hung over the lives of African Americans in the early 20th century, an unrelenting terror that served to deter economic progress and enforce a racist social order. But 1919 was different: violence spread out of the south into northern and midwestern cities and took the form of random, terrifying riots. But the response of African-American leaders in 1919 was also different. They decided enough was enough. The time had come to fight back.
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Reign of Terror: The First Red Scare
December 19th, 2019 | Season 1 | 1 hr 1 min
1919, american history, bolsheviks, labor, radicals, red scare, reds, season1, wobblies
Americans felt under attack in 1919 as a series of riots, strikes, disasters, and bombings hit the country. After radicals attempted to blow up the house of Attorney General Mitchell Palmer, he decided enough was enough. It was time to stop the Red Menace using any means possible. But would Americans tolerate the loss of their civil liberties in the pursuit of Bolsheviks?
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Pie in the Sky: The Wobblies and the Fight for Labor
December 10th, 2019 | Season 1 | 58 mins 56 secs
1919, american history, i.w.w., labor, season 1, wobblies
The I.W.W. was a tough, militant, radical union, and its very existence terrified business owners, factory bosses, and the entire U.S. government. Since its founding, the law had been out to get the Wobblies. In 1919, as a record number of Americans went on strike for better wages and working conditions, would the union be able to help them? Would the union even survive?
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Send All Available Personnel: The United States and the Great Molasses Flood
November 26th, 2019 | Season 1 | 59 mins 19 secs
1919, american history, labor, molasses flood, season 1
The Purity Distilling Company molasses tank dominated the North End of Boston, standing 50 feet tall over the surrounding tenements. Residents of the area were accustomed to the sight of tank oozing syrup from its seams and making strange rumbling noises from its depths. And one day in January 1919, life changed forever for Bostonians when the walls of the tank suddenly, inexplicably failed. Was it negligence? Or a vicious attack by anarchists?
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The Great Tide of Our Age: Colonies, Mandates and the Failed Promise of Self-Determination
November 19th, 2019 | Season 1 | 50 mins 29 secs
1919, afghanistan, china, colonies, egypt, fascism, fiume, gabriele d'annunzio, imperialism, italy, japan, korea, league of nations, mussolini, season1, vietnam
Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points promised self-determination to colonies around the globe, raising hopes of independence and freedom for millions. But Wilson and the Allies had no intention of letting occupied peoples throw off imperialism. What would be the long-term consequences of raising the hopes and then dashing the dreams of so many people?
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A Grubby Little War: The Collapse of the Ottoman Empire
November 12th, 2019 | Season 1 | 57 mins 9 secs
1919, colonies, imperialism, iraq, israel, mesopotamia, ottoman empire, palestine, season 1, turkey, world history
The collapse of the Ottoman Empire set off a mad scramble for territory. No one paid any attention to what the people who actually lived in the former empire actually wanted. But in the heart of Anatolia, one Turkish general was determined to preserve his homeland.
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No Question of Undue Severity: The India Independence Movement
October 29th, 2019 | Season 1 | 59 mins 29 secs
1919, colonies, imperialism, india, indian history, season 1, world history
At the end of World War I, Great Britain promised India increased autonomy with one hand and took civil rights away with another. The furious population welcomed the leadership of a nationalist with a compelling message of non-violence and self-reliance, one Mohandas K. Gandhi. But when Gandhi organized nationwide protests, the British reacted with fear and force, especially in Amritsar, where a mob lashed out against English residents. The confrontation would end in one of the most shocking events in colonial history.