Cambridge American History Seminar Podcast
Episodes
Dr. Brenna Greer, "African Americans and the Photographic Seat of Honour"
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
‘Why do people look at Black people the way they do?’ This is the central provocation of our guest scholar's work. Dr Brenna Greer is an Afric...
Dr. Kaeten Mistry, "Exposure: How State Secret Disclosures Helped Construct and Undermine the Cold War Consensus"
15 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Kaeten Mistry discusses his current research on the history of secrecy and the tensions it raises between civil liberties and national security. Th...
Dr. Kaisha Esty, ““Live as Becomes a Free Christian Woman”: Freedwomen and State-Sanctioned Reform in the Era of Emancipation.”
10 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Please note that this episode contains discussion of sexual violence.This week, PhD candidates Sam Lanevi and Megan Renoir sit down with Dr. Kaisha Es...
Dr. Lydia Walker, “We Don’t Call Them Wars Anymore: International Intervention and the United Nations.”
15 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“We Don’t Call Them Wars Anymore,” explores the history of international intervention after the Second World War, and how the role of the United...
Dr. Wendell Nii Laryea Adjetey, 'Cross-Border Cosmopolitans: The Making of a Pan-African North America'
24 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Wendell Nii Laryea Adjetey (Nii Laryea Osabu I, Atrékor Wé Oblahii kè Oblayéé Mantsè) — Associate Professor of History and William Dawson ...
Dr. Tara Bynum, ‘Obour Tanner Makes an Archive: Or, How to Remember Your Famous (and Deceased) 18th-Century Friend, Phillis Wheatley’
08 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the Cambridge American History Seminar Podcast, we’re joined by Dr Tara Bynum, Associate Professor of English & African Ameri...
Special Episode: Dr. Mia Bay: Her career and vision as the new Paul Mellon Professor
24 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this special episode, we’re joined by the incoming Paul Mellon Professor, Dr. Mia Bay.Dr. Bay is a leading scholar of American and African Americ...
Prof. Axel Schäfer, 'The “Tempest Tost” and the “People of Plenty”: Migration and the Politics of Consumption in the U.S. Since the 1880s'
16 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Axel Schäfer, Professor in American Studies at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, and of U.S. History at the Obama Institute, joins us in this e...
Prof. Molly Warsh, 'Servants of the Seasons'
02 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’re talking with Molly Warsh, Associate Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh, about her new book project, 'Servan...
Prof. Kimberly Welch, "Eulalie Mandeville’s Money: A Free Black Woman and Her Legacy in Antebellum New Orleans"
25 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’re joined by Kimberly Welch, Associate Professor of History and Law at Vanderbilt University. Kim is currently a Fellow-in-Resid...
Prof. Elizabeth N. Ellis, ‘The Great Power of Small Nations: Indigenous Diplomacy in the Gulf South’
02 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today on the podcast, we speak with Elizabeth Ellis, Associate Professor of History at Princeton University, about her recent book titled ‘The Great...
Dr. Sophie FitzMaurice, "From Perishable Property to Industrial Preservation: Remaking the Telegraph Pole in the Early 20th Century U.S"
24 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the podcast, PhD candidates Hugh Wood and Megan Renoir sit down with Sophie FitzMaurice, Research Fellow at the Centre for History and Ec...
Dr. Shane Hamilton, "The Persistence of Glyphosate: Monsanto’s Strategic Maintenance of Roundup, the World’s Most Enduring Herbicide Technology"
17 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, PhD candidates Fergus and Caroline are joined by Shane Hamilton, Reader in Strategy, Management and Society at the University of York. They...
Dr. Tom Smith, "Word Across the Water: American Protestant Missionaries, Pacific Worlds, and the Making of Imperial Histories"
10 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the podcast, Dr. Tom Smith, Affiliated Lecturer and Keasbey Fellow in American Studies at Selwyn College, University of Cambridge, exam...
Special Episode: Prof. Gary Gerstle - A Career in Reflection
17 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Gary Gerstle, the outgoing Paul Mellon Professor of American History at Cambridge and author of multiple award winning books including American Crucib...
Dr. Lila Chambers, "Liquid Capital: Alcohol and the Rise of Slavery in the British Atlantic, 1580-1737"
03 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Lila Chambers, research fellow at Gonville and Cauis College, Cambridge, joins Shea Hendry and Hugh Wood to discuss her upcoming book, Liquid Capi...
Prof. Steven Hahn, "Illiberal America: A History"
26 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Prof. Steven Hahn, Pulitzer Prize winning historian, joins Fergus Seldson Games and Hugh Wood to talk about his new work, Illiberal America: A History...
Prof. Daniel Widener, "The Dream of a Common Language: Afterlives of U.S. Thirdworldism"
19 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel Widener is a Professor of History at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author of Black Arts West and the book under discussion...
Prof. Erika Lee, "Reclaiming Lost Histories of Asian America"
12 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Erika Lee, this year’s Pitt Professor of American History and Institutions at Cambridge University, Bae Family Professor of History, and Radcliffe A...
Arianne Sedef Urus, "Common Shores: Property and Resource Access in the Eighteenth Century Newfoundland Cod Fisheries"
05 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Arianne Sedef Urus, Assistant Professor of Early American History and Fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge, joins Megan Renoir and Hugh Wood to d...
Prof. Manfred Berg, "The Right to Bear Arms: Guns, Mass Shootings, and the Militia Movement"
29 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Prof. Manfred Berg, Curt Engelhorn Chair in American History at the University of Heidelberg, joins Megan Renoir and Hugh Wood to discuss the 2nd Amen...
Erik Mathisen, "The Problem of Free Labor and the Origins of the Republican Party"
30 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Erik Mathisen joins Hugh Wood and Rob O'Sullivan to discuss his paper "The Problem of Free Labor and the Origins of the Republican Party....
Elizabeth R. Varon, "White Supremacy in American Politics: An Origins Story"
19 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Elizabeth Varon, Harold Vyvyan Harmsworth Professor of American History, University of Oxford, and Langbourne M. Williams Professor of Amer...
Dr. Noam Maggor - "Escaping the Periphery: Railroad Regulation as American Industrial Policy"
06 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Noam Maggor, Senior Lecturer in American History at Queen Mary, joins the podcast to discuss the transformation of American capitalism in the late...
Prof. Jefferson Cowie - "Freedom's Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power"
28 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We discuss the complex history of ‘freedom’ in American history with 2023 Pulitzer Prize winner Jefferson Cowie (Vanderbilt University).
Prof. Andrew Preston - A Bridge in Chicago: The New Deal and National Security
22 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Prof. Andrew Preston is joined by two of his supervisees, Sam and Caleb. They discuss his next book project, which is about the invention of national ...
Prof. Stephanie Lewthwaite - "Relational Memories: Latinx Art in New York City Since the 1970s"
14 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Tune in for Latinx visual culture, New York's alternative 'artworlds' of the 1970s, Black Atlantic women artists and the nature of canonis...
Dr. Joanna Cohen, "Hall’s Sympathies: Loss, Law, and the Limits of Feeling in Nineteenth Century America"
05 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Joanna Cohen, Reader in American History at Queen Mary University of London, invites Fergus and Rob to consider some major problems in nineteenth ...
Dr. Lewis Defrates, "Neutrality by Absence: The Selective Repatriation of Americans at the Beginning of the First World War"
19 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Lewis Defrates discusses his paper "Neutrality by Absence: The Selective Repatriation of Americans at the Beginning of the First World War.&q...
Prof. Nick Guyatt, Writing American History in Uncertain Times
14 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Prof. Nick Guyatt, Caleb Woodall, and Hugh Wood discuss Nick's role as editor of the upcoming Oxford Illustrated History of the United States. We ...
Prof. Richard J. M. Blackett, "Looking For Samuel Ringgold Ward"
07 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Richard J. M. Blackett, Andrew Jackson Professor of History at Vanderbilt University, joins Fergus and Shea to discuss the largely forgotten abolition...
Dr. Grace Mallon, "Federalism for Beginners: Intergovernmental Relations and Interdependent Sovereignty after 1789"
07 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Grace Mallon - Kinder Junior Research Fellow in Atlantic History, and fellow of University College, Oxford - joins Jasmin Bath and Hugh Wood to di...
Prof. Andrew Preston, The Iraq War: 20 Years On
31 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Prof. Andrew Preston discusses the causes and implications of the American invasion and occupation of Iraq with Fergus and Hugh.
Prof. Gregory Daddis, "Faith and Fear: America's Relationship with War in the Modern Era"
24 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Prof. Daddis joins Caleb Woodall and Fergus Selsdon Games, both PhD candidates here at Cambridge, to discuss his forthcoming work Faith and Fear: Amer...
Dr. Meg Jacobs, "The New Deal's AAA Reconsidered: State-Building from the Bottom Up"
18 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For the final episode before Easter break, Dr. Meg Jacobs and Caleb Woodall join Hugh Wood to discuss the New Deal's Agricultural Adjustment Agenc...
Prof. Emily West, "Enslaved Women and the Duality of Feeding in the Antebellum South"
13 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Prof. Emily West, from Reading University, and Meg Roberts, a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge, join Hugh Wood to discuss Prof....
Prof. Sophie White, "His Master's Grace": Extra-Judicial Violence in Atlantic Slave Societies"
03 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Prof. Sophie White and Will Johnson, an MPhil here at Cambridge, join Hugh Wood to discuss Prof. White's paper, "His Master's Grace": Extra...
Dr. Robert Lee, "Indigenous Land and Sovereign Wealth in America: The Case of the Connecticut School Fund"
27 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Dr. Robert Lee and Megan Renoir join Hugh Wood to discuss indigenous dispossession, institution building, and the complexities of post-revo...
Dr. Emily Brady, "I Didn't Know She Took Pictures": African American Women Photographers in the Long Civil Rights Movement"
07 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Emily Brady - the Broadbent Junior Research Fellow at Christ Church College, Oxford - joins Marie Puysségur and Hugh Wood to discuss her work on ...
Prof. Bruce J. Schulman, "From the 'Smoke Filled Room' to the 'Singing Teapot': Women Voters and the Transformation of American Politics, 1924-1928"
30 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Prof. Bruce J. Schulman, discusses some research drawn from his current book project, a monumental volume of the Oxford History of the Unit...
Dr. Caitlin Harvey, "Eureka! Gold Rushes, Universities, and Globalization, 1840-1910"
24 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For the first episode of 2023 (re-uploaded due to a technical error!), we're joined by Dr. Caitlin Harvey, an early career research fellow at Fitzwill...
Dr. Erin Trahey, "Power Ever Follows Property: Sugar Heiresses and the Devises Act of 1761" - 2/12/22
13 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Dr. Erin Trahey, Assistant Professor of Early American History at Cambridge, discusses a chapter from her upcoming book project, Free...
Prof. Fredrik Logevall, "JFK: The Road To Power" - 28/11/22
01 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Professor Fredrik Logevall discusses a chapter from the upcoming second volume of his biography of President John F. Kennedy. Theo Ze...
Prof. Angus Burgin: "From the New Economy to Neoliberalism" - 21/11/22
24 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Professor Angus Burgin discusses his paper, "From the New Economy to Neoliberalism" with PhD students Sam Pallis and Hugh Wood.
Mario Del Pero on 'In the Shadow of the Vatican', 17/2/20
19 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Mario Del Pero, Professor of International History, Institut d’études politiques at Sciences Po, Paris, speaks about his paper 'In the Sh...
Emma Teitelman on 'Class and State in America’s Greater Reconstruction', 3/2/20
04 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Back to our normal format this week. Emma Teitelman, Mellon Research Fellow in American History at the University of Cambridge, talks to Lewis Defrate...
Heather Ann Thompson Pitt Inaugural Lecture 27/1/2020
30 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This is a special episode of the CAHS podcast, as Pitt Professor of American History and Institutions Heather Ann Thompson delivers her inaugural lect...
Peter Mancall on ‘The Origins of the American Economy’, 20/1/2020
21 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We're back after a long winter break. The dust has been blown off, our legs have been stretched, and the Cambridge American History Seminar is up and ...
Robert A. Schneider on 'The Rise and Fall of the “Resentment Paradigm” (ca 1935-1975)
19 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Robert A. Schneider, a historian of early modern France at Indiana University Bloomington, and the former long-standing editor of the American Histori...
Katherine Paugh Interview 12/11/19
13 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
After a week away, we're back with another episode and another exciting and thought-provoking seminar paper! Katherine Paugh, an Associate Professor...
Sarah Pearsall Interview 29/10/19
29 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We have a special edition of the podcast and seminar this week as we celebrate the release of our esteemed colleague Dr Sarah M.S. Pearsall’s new bo...
Heather Ann Thompson Interview 21/10/19
22 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It's that time of the week! Here's another top-notch interview discussing some new work with one of the most important and highly-acclaimed historians...
Noam Maggor & Stefan Link Interview 14/10/19
15 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Back again after a long break, it's the podcast with the catchiest title and the freshest insights into some of the most exciting work in the field of...
Brooke Blower Interview 20/5/19
22 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Final seminar and final podcast of the year! We might have some more content for you over the summer, but for now, what a way to close out the academi...
Ari Kelman Interview 13/5/19
15 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Here's the penultimate seminar interview of the academic year, and our first time in actual recording studio! We hope your ears will thank us. Ari Ke...
Michell Chresfield Interview 6/5/19
07 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Here's the second episode of Easter Term, which marks the midway point of our Easter seminars! Dr Michelle Chresfield, a lecturer in United States His...
Beverly Gage Interview 29/4/19
30 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We're back, with four episodes to close out the academic year! Professor Beverly Gage, Professor of History and American Studies and the Director Brad...
David Blight Interview 11/3/19
12 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Here is the last episode of term, and it’s a big one in every sense! Professor David Blight, the Class of 1954 Professor of American History, and Di...
Susan Carruthers Interview 4/3/2019
05 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The episodes keep coming! In episode six of Lent Term, Susan Carruthers, Professor of American Studies at Warwick University, talks to PhD student Cle...
Kate Masur Interview 25/2/2019
26 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Another week and another episode! This week Professor Kate Masur, associate professor of history at Northwestern University, speaks to Cambridge PhD s...
Andrew Hartman Interview 18/2/2019
19 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Lent term is whizzing by- here's the fourth episode of term! Dr Andrew Hartman, a professor of history at Illinois State University and the founding p...
Karine Walther Interview 11/2/2019
12 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It's the third episode of Lent 2019, and a fascinating (and timely) conversation to boot! Karine Walther, Associate Professor at Georgetown Universit...
Barbara Savage Interview 4/2/2019
05 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Back after a week’s sabbatical, here is the second episode of Lent term, and the first episode featuring a guest host! Barbara Savage, the Geraldi...
Naomi Lamoreaux Interview 22/01/2019
22 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Guess who's back! It's the first Cambridge American History Seminar Podcast of 2019, and a great one to start the year with! Naomi Lamoreaux, the visi...
Jane Dinwoodie Interview 26/11/18
27 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Here's the 8th and final Cambridge American History Seminar podcast of the Michaelmas term. Jane Dinwoodie, a Junior Research Follow at Jesus College...
Robert Lee Interview 19/11/18
20 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Here's the seventh episode of the Cambridge American History Seminar Podcast! Bobby Lee of Cambridge University and the Harvard Society of Fellows tal...
Sarah Knott Interview 12/11/18
13 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In the sixth episode of the Cambridge American History Seminar Podcast, Sarah Knott of Indiana University and the Rothermere Institute, University of ...
Corey Robin Interview 5/11/18
06 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
We're keeping them coming! Here's the fifth episode of the Cambridge American History Seminar Podcast. Lewis Defrates talks to Corey Robin of Brookly...
Kate Carté Interview 29/10/18
31 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Fourth episode of the Cambridge American History Seminar podcast incoming! Lewis Defrates talks to Katherine Carté of Southern Methodist University i...
Tony Badger Interview 22/10/18
23 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Here's the third episode of the Cambridge American History Seminar podcast! Lewis Defrates talks to Cambridge legend Tony Badger, who is a Professor o...
Jennifer Luff Interview 15/10/18
16 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In the second episode of the Cambridge American History Seminar Podcast, Lewis Defrates speaks to Dr Jennifer Luff, associate professor in Modern Amer...
Alex Goodall Interview 8/10/18
08 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The is first of what we hope will become a series of weekly podcasts with presenters at the Cambridge American History Seminar. Dr Alex Goodall, seni...