The Founding Era is fascinating in many ways; it marks the beginning of our American history and laid the foundation for the democratic republic we know today. But it's a more complicated period than what you learn in school. Infighting and partisan factionalism nearly strangled the American infant in her cradle. I talk with Chris Dougherty about the founding era, about Alexander Hamilton, and the great democratic experiment.

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This is my attempt to get something out for you while you wait for TO THE SOUND part 2!

What would have happened if the Axis powers won World War 2?? What about if the Roman Empire never fell? Have I toured Civil War battlefields? and more!

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Today on the show, I'm interviewing author and historian Scott Ellsworth. His newest book, Midnight on the Potomac, narrates the final year of the Civil War, the myriad Lincoln assassination attempts of 1864/65, and John Wilkes Booth's association with the confederacy.

Grab a copy of Midnight on the Potomac: https://amzn.to/47G5WYm

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They say America's greatest strength is its ability to compromise. But what happens when compromise fails—when Americans on opposite sides of a moral and political divide find no recourse except violence? In the 1850s and '60s, the debates between northern and southern states migrated from marble halls to virgin fields, where rhetoric gave way to rifles.

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To the Sound of Distant Guns Bibliography (so far)

AJ Bauckman, who runs the Instagram account @21stcent_history, and I connected recently to talk about Trump’s attacks on Iran. Merits of the attacks aside, we both were intrigued by the presidential power aspect of this conversation and decided to hop on Zoom and chat about it.

We dive into how presidential power (and legislative power) has changed over the past 50 years, disagreements about the Executive's role in government, and much more!

Disclaimer: This show is more political in nature. If that's not your jam, see you in the next one!

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This show attempts to answer some of the questions I had (or address things I didn't know I'd need to know) before starting Compendium.

I'm talking with Matt from Reflecting History (a podcasting OG) about what you're signing up for by starting a history podcast, how to research, how to process audio, and what to expect when you begin.

It's a great conversation, and it's only Part 1. The second half of our conversation is on the Reflecting History feed, so go check that out! We talk over there about what the great podcasters do so well, opening and closing lines, how we can know history happened, and much more.

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Nixon and Kissinger think they’ve cracked the code. But handing off the war to South Vietnam proves no easier than it was for the three administrations before them, because some things change, but the quagmire doesn’t.

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Sources here

Murky victory conditions and an obsession with body count turn the jungles of Vietnam into a human meat grinder. While the United States struggles to manage an increasingly brutal war, Hanoi prepares a knockout blow to break the stalemate.

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