Our guest today is scholar of the military, labor, and American imperialism, Justin F. Jackson. Now a Lecturer and Visiting Scholar in the Department of History at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Justin was a tenured Associate Professor of History at Bard College at Simon’s Rock when the institution sadly closed in June 2025. He began his career as an Assistant Professor/Faculty Fellow in Global History with New York University’s John W. Draper Interdisciplinary Master’s Program in Humanities and Social Thought. A native of beautiful Jefferson, Maine, Justin received his BA from Hampshire College, an MA in History from UMASS Amherst, and his PhD from Columbia University.

Justin’s first book, The Work of Empire: War, Occupation, and the Making of American Colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines, was published by UNC Press. His articles have appeared in The Journal of American History, Labor: Studies in Working Class History of the Americas, and the Journal of Historical Sociology. Justin has been a visiting scholar at Harvard University's Weatherhead Initiative in Global History, the Center for Advanced Study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Third World Studies Center at the University of the Philippines–Diliman, Quezon City. Justin’s current book project is titled Occupying America: War, Politics, and Military Government’s Rise and Fall in the United States and a Globalizing World.

Join us for a fun, uplifting chat with Justin Jackson; we'll talk about being an identical twin, Boston, watching Gettysburg as a kid, Big Papi, military labor, the Dead Kennedys, and more. He's experienced firsthand the trend of small college closures, but his positivity and passion for history are unwavering. You'll enjoy this one.

Rec.: 10/22/2026

What a treat today! Our guest is Second World War historian and author James Holland. James is a prolific author of both fiction and non-fiction, a media personality, and an occasional battlefield tour guide. James earned a BA in History at St. Chad’s College, Durham, and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Research Fellow at Swansea University. He has authored fourteen books on the Second World War, including Brothers in Arms: One Legendary Tank Regiment's Bloody War from D-Day to VE-Day (Bantam Press) and Normandy '44: D-Day and the Battle for France (Bantam Press), which was a Military History Matters Book of the Year in 2020. James' first history book was Fortress Malta: An Island Under Siege 1940–43 (Orion). Additionally, he has written books on the Second World War and Burma, the Battle of Britain, the Dam Busters, North Africa, and the Sicily/Italy campaigns. His forthcoming book is The Savage Storm: The Brutal Battle for Italy, 1943 (Atlantic Monthly Press). Additionally, he has written eight books on the Second World War for children and nine novels, many of which are part of the popular Jack Tanner series.

He is co-founder and program director of the Chalke Valley History Festival and he has his own collection at the Imperial War Museum. He also worked with the National Army Museum to develop an exhibit based on Brothers in Arms. James has presented and written programs for the BBC, National Geographic, The History Channel, The Discovery Channel, and the PBS documentary series Pritzker Military Presents. A few of the documentaries James has been part of were short-listed for BAFTAs! He is the co-host with Al Murray of the incredibly popular ⁠We Have Ways of Making You Talk⁠ podcast (600 episodes strong!), which if you have any interest in the Second World War you should check out.

James is dedicated to bringing the history of the Second World War to as wide an audience as possible. We'll talk about doing the work of a historian, the process of writing, "Chik Lit," Ian Botham, podcasting, the Italian Campaign, the Beatles . . . What didn't we talk about? Join us for a wonderful chat with the energetic and prolific James Holland!

Shoutout to the Horseshoe Inn in Ebbesbourne Wake, Wiltshire!

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Rec.: 05/22/2023

From Down Under, it's Megan Hamilton, newly arrived from King's College, London, now at the University of New South Wales! Megan is a brand new lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales Canberra at the Australian Defence Force Academy. She earned her PhD in Military History from the Defence Studies Department at King’s College London. Her dissertation research explored the development of training methods in the British Army throughout the British Empire during the Second World War. She also holds an MA in History from the University of Waterloo and a BA in History from Wilfrid Laurier University.

Megan's research has been supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). She completed professional development programs at the Imperial War Museum and the Australian War Memorial. Her article titled “The Vernon Military Camp and the Imperial Training Archipelago 1939-1945” appeared in Canadian Military History in 2024. Finally, Megan is a regional director for the Second World War Research Group.

At the UCD/RMC conference in Dublin, Friend-of-the-Pod Gary Sheffield said "You've got to have Megan on your podcast!" Who are we to argue with Gary? We're glad we took the suggestion. She's come a long way from being on the Canadian National Rhythmic Gymnastics Team to being a newly minted PhD in military history now in Australia!

Join us for what was for Megan a very late night chat - we'll talk small-town British Columbia, not doing so well in an accountancy course, the importance of mentors, working in archives all over the world, poutine, and even curling! We enjoyed meeting Megan in Dublin and we were happy to get up early in the morning to chat with her for this fun episode. Enjoy!

Rec.: 10/15/2026

We're starting a new "occasional" segment - Listener Highlight! For our first, we're chatting with Steve Cook in Peterborough, UK. Steve has a career in the travel industry but has always been, in his words, a "history nerd." At university, he spent a semester abroad at Ripon College in Wisconsin, taking a keen interest in American history. He's now pursuing an MA in history at Wolverhampton, looking at German POWs held in the camps near his home in Peterborough during World War II. Steve came to Military Historians are People, Too, via We Have Ways and History Rage, and we are most grateful for his support, for sharing on socials, and for his positive comments. We'll talk about becoming a Cheesehead, cathedral towns, the community that can come from listening to history podcasts, attending We Have Ways Fest, the off chance of picking up a Wolverhampton history program pamphlet, Oasis, and more.

And if you are an avid listener, get in touch!

Rec.: 10/08/2026

Our guest today is James J. Kimble. Jim is Professor of Communication & the Arts at Seton Hall University and is a scholar of war rhetoric and propaganda. From 1997-2005, he was Visiting Assistant Professor of Communication at George Mason University, where he was the Director of Forensics and Speech. He completed his BSEd in Communication & Political Science at the University of Nebraska and an MA, in Rhetoric & Communication at Kansas State University enroute to a PhD in Rhetoric & Political Culture at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Jim is the author of two books, Mobilizing the Home Front: War Bonds and Domestic Propaganda (Texas A&M University Press) and Prairie Forge: The Extraordinary Story of the Nebraska Scrap Metal Drive of World War II (University of Nebraska). The latter won the Nonfiction Book of the Year Award from the Nebraska Center for the Book. He has co-edited two books, Enduring Ideals: Rockwell, Roosevelt & the Four Freedoms (Abbeville Press) with Stephanie Plunkett, and The 10¢ war: Comic Books, Propaganda, and World War II, with Trischa Goodnow. Jim has also written three documentaries for the Norman Rockwell Museum, and Produced/Directed/Written another, titled Scrappers: How the Heartland Won World War II (with T.R. Rondinella). He has authored more than two dozen articles and chapters, and he is the founding editor of the journal Home Front Studies. Finally, Jim served as a guest curator for the Norman Rockwell Museum international traveling exhibition.

Jim is a Senior Fellow at the Rockwell Center for American Visual Studies, a Fulbright Scholar, and the recipient of the National Communication Association’s Karl R. Wallace Memorial Award. His research has reached academic and popular audiences. Jim's work on the identity of Rosie the Riveter appeared in People magazine, the New York Times, and on the television show Mysteries at the Museum, ultimately hitting over 1.3 billion media hits worldwide.

Join us for a fun and very interesting chat with Jim Kimble. We'll talk Rosie the Riveter, war propaganda art, starting an academic journal, Mrs. Maisel, and the Alan Parson's Project! Shoutout to Taco John's!

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Rec.: 05/22/2023

Our guest today is National Park Ranger Richard P. Condon. Rich is a Park Ranger and Volunteer Coordinator at the National Park Service’s Catoctin Mountain Park in Thurmont, Maryland, and previously served as a park ranger at Reconstruction Era National Historical Park in Beaufort, South Carolina, and the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, but he got the public history bug working one summer for the Franklin Battlefield Trust. A former Nashville session player (bass!), Rich earned his BA in Public History and Historic Preservation from Shepherd University and is currently completing an MA in 19th-century American History at Gettysburg College, where he actually lives within the Gettysburg National Military Park boundary. Rich is a co-founder and contributor to the online platforms Pennsylvania in the Civil War and Civil War Pittsburgh, as well as the American Battlefield Trust, Civil War Times, and the publication National Park Service. He is an award-winning historical interpreter and a frequent invited speaker at Civil War Roundtables and similar forums.

Join us for another delightful chat - Rich tells us about Pittsburgh, visiting Gettysburg as a kid, Fred Rogers, Huffy bikes, angry folk bands, the trajectory of public history, dealing with know-it-all park visitors, living on a Civil War battlefield, and what to order at Primanti Brothers. Enjoy!

Shoutout to Primanti Brothers in Pittsburgh!

Rec.: 10/06/2026

We wanted to introduce our FIRST EVER student intern - the pride of Warrington, Cheshire, UK - Caitlin Conroy! Caitlin is a history major at Georgia Southern University and a standout starting midfielder and defender for the Georgia Southern University Eagles Women's Soccer Team! "Ringo," as she is known to some of us because of her soccer days in Liverpool, is helping us with background on guests and learning the ropes of recording and editing, though she's already had good experience doing a podcast in Bill's Podcasting History course last Spring (you can listen to her episode of Get After Those Archives, the Georgia Southern University history student-produced podcast that Bill's class created!).

We'll talk about coming to the States, and more specifically to Statesboro, from the UK, being interested in history as a kid, living in America, and surprising her with our knowledge of Gulliver's World Theme Park. We're glad to have Caitlin on the MHPTPodcast team!

Shoutout to Caitlin's mom in Warrington!

Rec.: 09/29/2026

Our guest today is the brilliant and entertaining Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy. Andrew is Professor of History at the University of Virginia and the former Saunders Director of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello. From 2015-2022 he was the Vice President of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. Andrew also spent thirteen years at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, where he served as the Chair of the Department of History and held the Rosebush Professorship. Andrew attended Columbia University before earning a BA, MA, and PhD in History from Oriel College at Oxford University.

Andrew is the author of The Illimitable Freedom of the Human Mind: Thomas Jefferson’s Idea of a University (University of Virginia Press), and is the co-editor with John Ragosta and Peter Onuf of The Founding of Thomas Jefferson’s University (University of Virginia Press) and European Friends of the American Revolution with John A. Ragosta and Marie-Jeanne Rossignol (forthcoming, University of Virginia Press). Andrew is perhaps best known for The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the Revolutionary War and the Fate of Empire (Yale University Press), which won numerous awards, including the George Washington Book Prize, The Society for Military History’s Distinguished Book Award in US History, the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution’s Excellence in American History Book Award, and the New-York Historical Society Annual American History Book Prize. His first book, An Empire Divided: The American Revolution and the British Caribbean (University of Pennsylvania), has now gone through its third printing. In addition, Andrew is widely published in many of the top journals in the field.

Andrew is an award-winning teacher and he has held numerous visiting professorships and fellowships. Most recently, he was a Visiting International Fellow at the Wilberforce Institute at Hull University. In 2016-17, he was the Sons of the American Revolution Visiting Professor at King’s College, London. Andrew is a fellow of the American Antiquarian Society and, of course, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Andrew first researched in an archive when he was only 15, and has never looked back. Join us as we chat about growing up in the US and the UK, the American War for Independence, the Grenadier Guards band, hosting Presidents at Monticello, and Virginia wines!