Historians Writing History: Drafting the Past

Soyica Diggs Colbert Writes the History of Icons Through Their Friendships

⭐ Subscribe to the Drafting the Past newsletter FREE for book reviews, publishing news, and more. Upgrade to a paid subscription and get exclusive content, ad-free episodes and articles, and more perks. Your support enables us to keep making episodes, publishing reviews, and shining a spotlight on nonfiction history books. In her new book, Freedom’s Gate, Soyica Diggs Colbert focuses on the young adult friendships of five Black woman artists—Maya Angelou, Lorraine Hansberry, Abbey Lincoln, Miriam Makeba, and Nina Simone—and the New York nightclub that offered them a performance venue, a platform, and a place to connect with their friends. It’s a group biography that explores the importance of friendship in developing the women we now remember as iconic Black artists and Civil Rights activists. Listen to the episode to learn: Why her biography of Lorraine Hansberry led to a group biography How she prioritizes writing even with a busy schedule as an administrator Why keeping up on new music and plays is crucial to Soyica’s process The role of timelines in crafting the narrative Her approach to translating music and performance to the page How she focused on the texture and uncertainty of these young women and their friendships, before they became icons ABOUT THE GUEST Soyica Diggs Colbert is the Idol Family at Georgetown University. She is a recipient of the Guggenheim fellowship and the author of the award-winning book, Radical Vision: A Biography of Lorraine Hansberry and the new book Freedom's Gate. She has also held Colbert’s writing has been featured in the The New York Times, Washington Post, Public Books and American Theatre. She has been interviewed on NPR and commented for the New York Times, USA Today, CNN, and the Washington Post. She was an Associate Director at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. and served as a Creative Content Producer for The Public Theatre’s audio play, shadow/land. Her research interests span the 19th-21st centuries, from Harriet Tubman to Beyoncé, and from poetics to performance. 📚 Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. When you purchase books through these links, a small portion of your purchase helps to support Drafting the Past (not to mention independent bookstores and authors!). MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Soyica Diggs Colbert, Freedom’s Gate: Maya Angelou, Lorraine Hansberry, Abbey Lincoln, Miriam Makeba, and Nina Simone Live at the New York Nightclub that Shaped the Civil Rights Movement Soyica Diggs Colbert, Radical Vision: A Biography of Lorraine Hansberry Soyica’s playlist for Freedom’s Gate on Youtube, Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora Maggie Doherty, The Equivalents: A Story of Art, Female Friendship, and Liberation in the 1960s Jonathan Eig, King: A Life Jesmyn Ward, On Witness and Repair: Essays Hanif Abdurraqib, A Little Devil in America: In Praise of Black Performance Dana A. Williams, Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer’s Legendary Editorship

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118: Shane White Is An Avowed Completist

Visit draftingthepast.com for even more great nonfiction history book coverage, including book reviews, interviews with authors, and new book releases. Note: Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. If you buy books through these links, you support independent bookstores, our authors, and Drafting the Past! About this episode: In this episode, Kate is joined by Dr. Shane White, the emeritus Challis Professor of History at the University of Sydney. Shane is a historian of US history, especially African American history, and has written or co-written seven books. His newest book is A Moment in the Sun: Black Manhattan Before the Civil War, and it is the product of decades of thinking and research. In it, he details the world of Black men and women in antebellum New York, bringing to life characters and moments that might otherwise be overlooked. As you’ll hear, it’s a book that emerges out of Shane’s incredibly detailed and intimate knowledge of one dense body of sources in particular, the district attorney’s records in the Municipal Archives of the City of New York, hundreds of thousands of files that date back to the 1790s. Listen to their conversation to learn about Shane’s dogged approach to research and his reflections on a career as a historian of the United States who lives and works in Australia. Mentioned in this episode: Shane White, A Moment in the Sun: Black Manhattan Before the Civil War Shane White, Prince of Darkness: The Untold Story of Jeremiah G. Hamilton, Wall Street’s First Black Millionaire Shane White and Graham White, The Sounds of Slavery: Discovering African American History Through Songs, Sermons, and Speech Shane White and Graham White, Stylin’: African American Expressive Culture from Its Beginnings to the Zoot Suit Shane White, Stephen Garton, Stephen Robertson, and Graham White, Playing the Numbers: Gambling in Harlem Between the Wars Shane White, Stories of Freedom in Black New York Shane White, Somewhat More Independent: The End of Slavery in New York City, 1770-1810 The David Abraham scandal Rhys Isaac, The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790 Ian Tyrrell Michael McDonnell, Masters of Empire: Great Lakes Indians and the Making of America Robert Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York and the Lyndon Johnson books

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117: Katherine Grandjean Lands Every Word Like a Tiny Punch

Visit draftingthepast.com to subscribe and get episode updates, history book reviews, and more. You can subscribe for free, or, if you want to support our work and get ad-free episodes and articles, exclusive content, and other perks, become a paid subscriber today. Note: Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. About this episode: When Katherine Grandjean’s new book, Kingdom of Devils: A Tale of Murder in the Shadow of the American Revolution, came out earlier this summer, somehow I missed it. But I’m awfully glad someone corrected that for me (shout out to historian Robert Parkinson), because this was a remarkable book. In it, Grandjean follows the trail of a pair of brothers who terrorized the Kentucky and Tennessee countryside for nine months in 1798, murdering dozens of people for reasons that were unclear to their contemporaries and to the people who have written about them for the past two hundred years. Grandjean not only tells a gripping, beautifully written story, but she weaves it with the uncertain political and social atmosphere of the United States in the wake of the American Revolution. It’s a story about masculine violence, class, property, and the creation of the nation, and it has surprising resonance even now. Dr. Katherine Grandjean is an associate professor of history at Wellesley University, and a historian of early America. Her first book was American Passage: The Communications Frontier in Early New England. In our conversation, she had insightful things to say about building tension, balancing narrative threads, and the hard, tireless work it took to track down the evidence that makes a story like this possible to write. Mentioned in this episode: Katherine Grandjean, Kingdom of Devils: A Tale of Murder in the Shadow of the American Revolution Katherine Grandjean, American Passage: The Communications Frontier in Early New England Jane Kamensky Jill Lepore F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby Margaret Atwood, Cat’s Eye

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116: Thomas Andrews Revels in Revision

Bookshop.org links are affiliate links. Subscribe for free to the Drafting the Past newsletter for podcast updates, book reviews, and more. Paid subscribers get ad-free episodes and exclusive content. In this episode, Kate interviews Dr. Thomas Andrews, a historian who cares deeply about the writing—and revision—process. Thomas is a professor of history at the University of Colorado Boulder and is also the faculty director of the Center for the American West. He’s the author of three books, including the Bancroft-award winning Killing for Coal: America’s Deadliest Labor War, Coyote Valley: Deep History in the High Rockies, and his newest book, The Great Horse Flu: A Forgotten Pandemic and the Fate of Reconstruction America. In addition to his own writing, he has interviewed historians as part of the Writer’s Studio feature in the journal Modern American History, which is a series of terrific interviews about how some of the most highly regarded American historians work. As you might imagine, Kate and Thomas had a great time talking about the writing process and especially Thomas’ love of revision. This one also includes a treadmill desk, a harrowing publishing tale, and why he might have taken Bill Cronon’s dissertation advice a little too seriously. Mentioned in this episode Thomas Andrews, The Great Horse Flu: A Forgotten Pandemic and the Fate of Reconstruction America Thomas Andrews, Coyote Valley: Deep History in the High Rockies Thomas Andrews, Killing for Coal: America’s Deadliest Labor War Susan Orlean, “The Walking Alive,” on using a treadmill desk Writer’s Studio feature archives in Modern American History journal Linda Gordon William Cronon Richard White Donald Worster Patricia Limerick Curb Your Enthusiasm

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115: Eric Jay Dolin Never Wants to Be Bored

Note: Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. Thanks for supporting the show and independent bookstores by purchasing books through these links! About this episode For this episode, Kate is joined by Eric Jay Dolin, the New York Times-bestselling author of 17 books, to talk about his writing process and what it’s like to build a career as an author of popular histories. His books include Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America; A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America’s Hurricanes; Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America’s Most Notorious Pirates; and Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution. His most recent book is The Wreck of the Mentor: A True Story of Death, Despair, and Deliverance in the Age of Sail. His books have won awards and are frequently named best books of the year. Before writing history books, Eric worked in environmental policy and earned a PhD in environmental policy and planning from MIT. We talked about how his career has developed, the ups and downs of the book market, and he dished about advances, career trajectories, and why he thinks he’d rather have a huge book now than early in his career. Mentioned in this episode: Eric Jay Dolin, The Wreck of the Mentor: A True Story of Death, Despair, and Deliverance in the Age of Sail Samuel Eliot Morison, The Maritime History of Massachusetts, 1783-1860 Erik Larson, Isaac’s Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History James Truslow Adams, The Founding of New England

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114: Catherine Grace Katz Can Just Feel It

Visit draftingthepast.com to sign up for the newsletter and get book reviews, podcast updates, and much more. Note: Bookshop.org links are affiliate links. About this episode: How many history books have kept you up late into the night, turning the page to find out what happens next? That’s exactly what the newest book from this episode’s guest did to Kate, but it was well worth the lost sleep. Catherine Grace Katz joins the Drafting the Past podcast to talk about her newest book, Shadow Before the Flame: The Hindenburg Disaster and the Prelude to War. Catherine is a writer, historian, and lawyer, with degrees in history from Harvard and Cambridge along with a JD from Harvard. Her first book was Daughters of Yalta: The Churchills, Roosevelts, and Harrimans: A Story of Love and War. She joined Kate to talk about what goes into writing such extraordinary true stories, from how she works without an outline to the writing tool she found in her mom’s basement, and the unlikely inspiration for the book in a classic holiday movie. Mentioned in this episode: Catherine’s website Catherine Grace Katz, Daughters of Yalta: The Churchills, Roosevelts, and Harrimans: A Story of Love and War Catherine Grace Katz, Shadow Before the Flame: The Hindenburg Disaster and the Prelude to War William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany William L. Shirer, Berlin Diary Norman MacLean, Young Men and Fire Gioia Diliberto, Firebrands: The Untold Story of Four Women Who Made and Unmade Prohibition Tana French Patrick Radden Keefe, London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth and Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland Phillippe Sands, The Ratline: The Exalted Life and Mysterious Death of a Nazi Fugitive, and the podcast precursor, Intrigue: The Ratline Helena Merriman, Tunnel 29: The True Story of an Extraordinary Escape Beneath the Berline Wall and its podcast precursor, Intrigue: Tunnel 29 The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O’Meara Pitch Club

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113: Tai Edwards and Charlee Huffman Let the Land Tell the Story

Visit draftingthepast.com to sign up for our newsletter and never miss an episode or book review. In this episode, Kate spoke with Tai S. Edwards and Charlee Huffman, writers and editors of a new book, Shokhi: A Kanza Relative, A Monument, and Rematriation. This book is a little different from others that have appeared on the show: it tells the story of how a group of people, include Kaw Nation citizens, historians, artists, activists, and others worked together to bring a grandfather rock, In‘zhúje‘waxóbe, back to the Kanza people with whom they had a centuries-long relationship. The boulder had been appropriated as a memorial to the founders of Lawrence, Kansas, and the land on which it stood bore witness to many intersecting narratives of people and place. The book, is part history, part artistic expression, and part handbook for this kind of restorative work. Tai and Charlee discussed their collaborative process, incorporating disability accommodation into the heart of their work, and how they let the land lead them in telling a history with many voices. Tai S. Edwards is professor of history and director of the Kansas Studies Institute at Johnson County Community College. She is the author of Osage Women and Empire: Gender and Power and co-editor of Lyda Conley and the Fight to Preserve Huron Indian Cemetery, also published by Kansas. c. huffman is a Kaw Nation Citizen with an MFA and an MDiv who sits at the intersection of privilege, dis/ability and Indigeneity; a place where poetry and theology dance. Her writing has appeared in The Ending Hasn’t Happened Yet, a poetry anthology edited by Hannah Soyer. Note: Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. Mentioned in this Episode: Shokhi: A Kanza Relative, a Monument, and Rematriation Poet Marilyn Haeker Michael Grow, US Presidents and Latin American Interventions: Pursuing Regime Change in the Cold War Ursula K. Le Guin, Earthsea series Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed Doorkeeper of the Heart Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants Ilona Andrews, This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me

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112: Jared Davidson Treats History as Passion and Practice

Visit draftingthepast.com to subscribe to the newsletter for book reviews, interviews, essays about history books, and more. Paid subscribers get access to ad-free episodes of the podcast. In this episode, Kate is joined by our first guest from New Zealand, archivist and independent historian Jared Davidson. Though he was not trained as a historian and originally comes from a graphic design background, Jared has written and published five books that focus on overlooked and radical histories of New Zealand, or Aotearoa, as you’ll hear him call it. During the day, he works at the Alexander Turnbull Library, where he is the Research Librarian Manuscripts. His books have won multiple awards in New Zealand and have covered subjects ranging from anarchists to censorship. His most recent book, Blood and Dirt: Prison Labour and the Making of New Zealand, uncovers the ways that incarcerated labor literally shaped the country’s environment and landscape. If you’re a historian who comes to the subject without formal training, you’ll especially love this episode, but there’s a lot here to learn for all of us, including how to weave compelling individual stories into a strong argument, which Jared does brilliantly in this book. Note: Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. Mentioned in this episode: Jared Davidson’s website Jared Davidson, Blood & Dirt: Prison Labour and the Making of New Zealand Jared Davidson, The History of a Riot Jared Davidson, Dead Letters: Censorship and Subversion in New Zealand 1914-1920 Jared Davidson, Sewing Freedom: Philip Josephs, Transnationalism, and Early New Zealand Anarchism Jared Davidson, Remains to Be Seen: Tracing Joe Hill’s Ashes in New Zealand Alexander Turnbull Library, New Zealand Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History Thomas G. Andrews, Killing for Coal: America’s Deadliest Labor War Adam Hochschild, King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa; Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire’s Slaves; To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918 “James Kelman: I’ll die at the desk. So what. Where’s the coffee?” Marcus Rediker books Marcus Rediker, “The Poetics of History from Below”

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Episode 111: Lauren Working Communes With the Objects

Go to draftingthepast.com and subscribe to our newsletter so you never miss an episode! Paid subscribers get access to ad-free episodes and more perks. How does the history of English colonialism in the Renaissance change when you tell that history through objects? In this episode, Kate spoke with Dr. Lauren Working, a historian whose work focuses on England’s colonialism and interactions with Indigenous people in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Lauren is a lecturer in Early Modern Studies at the University of York. Alongside her research, Lauren is committed to sharing historical knowledge with the public. In fact, as you’ll hear in the interview, she was approached by a literary agent thanks to her work with the BBC. As a result, she published her new book, A Golden World: How The Americas Transformed Tudor and Stuart England, with a trade press. In order to help her tell a story of the Atlantic world from both Indigenous American and colonial British perspectives, Lauren turned to objects. The result is a tactile and beautifully written history of a world of encounter and influence. We talked about the rewards and challenges of writing history through objects and how Lauren brought so many people’s experiences to the page, even when they were largely missing from the archive. Note: Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. Mentioned in this episode: Lauren Working, A Golden World: How the Americas Transformed Tudor and Stuart England Lauren Working, The Making of an Imperial Polity The internal illustrations for A Golden World were created by artist Rebecca Lee Kunz (Tree of Life Studio), a citizen of the Cherokee Nation Lauren’s episodes on BBC Radio 3, “Ruffs in Jamestown” and “Boy With a Pearl Earring” Lauren’s guest appearances on BBC Radio 4’s Free Thinking: “Trade and Traffic,” “The Mayflower and Native American History,” “Gifts and Gratitude,” and “The Botanical Past” Christine M. DeLucia, Memory Lands: King Philip’s War and the Place of Violence in the Northeast National Portrait Gallery learning resource: “Illuminating the global in Tudor and early Stuart portraits,” by Lauren Working Sara E. Johnson, Encyclopédie Noire: The Making of Moreau de Saint-Méry’s Intellectual World

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110: Richard Ivan Jobs and Steven Van Wolputte Figure It Out As They Go

In episode 110 of the Drafting the Past podcast, Kate interviews historian Richard Jobs and anthropologist and illustrator Steven Van Wolputte. Rick and Steven teamed up to write, illustrate and create In the Land of the Lacandón: A Graphic History of Adventure and Imperialism. Part graphic history, part historical essay, part poetic commentary and more, the book not only tells the history of one moment in 20th century imperial exploration and anthropology but also takes apart the act of historical research and narration and turns it inside out for the reader. Rick and Steven discussed how they conceived of and developed the project and how they collaborated across countries. They also talked about the possibilities of historical narrative, and why the book would be a great teaching tool. And don’t miss the pretty amazing reading list they slipped in at the end. Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. Mentioned in this episode: Richard Ivan Jobs and Steven Van Wolputte, with Manuel Bolom Pale, In the Land of the Lacandón: A Graphic History of Adventure and Imperialism Richard Ivan Jobs, Backpack Ambassadors: How Youth Travel Integrated Europe Richard Ivan Jobs, Riding the New Wave: Youth and the Rejuvenation of France After the Second World War Manuel Bolom Pale Voyagers Without Trace Matthew Barrett and Robert C. Engen, Through Their Eyes: A Graphic History of Hill 70 and Canada’s First World War Joe Sacco, Journalism Alison Bechdel, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama, The Secret to Superhuman Strength Art Spiegelman, Maus: A Survivor’s Tale Michael Vann and Liz Clarke, The Great Hanoi Rat Hunt: Empire, Disease, and Modernity in French Colonial Vietnam Nick Sousanas, Unflattening Natalie Zemon Davis, The Return of Martin Guerre Carlo Ginzburg, The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller Louisa Passerini, Autobiography of a Generation: Italy, 1968 Bonnie Smith, Confessions of a Concierge: Madame Lucie’s History of Twentieth-Century France Craig Thompson, Ginseng Roots: A Memoir

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109: Megan Marshall Believes We Need Exemplary Lives

Note: Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. When you purchase books through these links, your purchase supports the authors, independent bookstores, and Drafting the Past. Visit draftingthepast.com to subscribe to the newsletter. This fall, Drafting the Past is expanding, and we'll be publishing book reviews, news, interviews, and more, in addition to the podcast you know and love. Megan Marshall estimated that it might take her 3 ½ years to write her first biography. In would up taking 20. Her commitment was worth it, though. In this episode of the Drafting the Past podcast, Kate interviews Megan Marshall about how she approaches the subjects and structures of her books, and what has kept her going—plus, why she believes biography is essential now. Megan is a writer and biographer who got her start writing book reviews. Her first biography was The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism. It was awarded multiple prizes and became a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in biography and memoir. Her second book, Margaret Fuller: A New American Life, won the Pulitzer Prize in Biography, and her third book was Elizabeth Bishop: A Miracle for Breakfast, a biography of the poet, Bishop, interwoven with chapters from Megan’s own life leading up to her study with Bishop. She has also been awarded the BIO award, the highest honor given by the Biographers International Organization. This year, she published a book of essays called After Lives: On Biography and the Mysteries of the Human Heart. It includes pieces on her family’s history, her own encounters with historic events, and some further investigations into research that didn’t make it in to her other books. Mentioned in this episode Megan Marshall, After Lives: On Biography and the Mysteries of the Human Heart Megan Marshall, Elizabeth Bishop: A Miracle for Breakfast Megan Marshall, Margaret Fuller: A New American Life Megan Marshall, The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism Megan Marshall, “How Do You Like Your History? With Imaginative Leaps or Grounded in Fact?” New York Times, March 7, 2025 Biographers International Organization Megan Marshall, “Born in 1810, Margaret Fuller Was Labeled a Child Prodigy. She Later Used Her Intellect to Ask Important Questions About Women’s Role in America,” Smithsonian Magazine, Summer 2026 Citizen Historians for the Smithsonian

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108: Amy Stanley Would Rather Be Writing

When historian of early modern Japan Dr. Amy Stanley came upon a letter written by a woman named Tsuneno while she was prepping a class lesson in primary sources, she knew she had found a great story. The challenge was how to tell it, even through gaps in the archive—not to mention the challenges of writing while raising two small boys The result, Stranger in the Shogun’s City: A Japanese Woman and Her World, is an extraordinary biography that went on to win multiple national awards and demonstrate that compelling trade history can be about something other than war or famous white men. Amy Stanley, professor of history at Northwestern University, joins Kate Carpenter to talk about her research and writing process and give some practical advice for revision, bringing lost places to life, and more. To stay updated on new episodes and more from Drafting the Past (including reviews, craft essays, and author Q & As, sign up for the newsletter at draftingthepast.com). Note: Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. Mentioned in this episode: Amy Stanley, Stranger in the Shogun’s City: A Japanese Woman and Her World Amy Stanley, Selling Women: Prostitution, Markets, and the Household in Early Modern Japan Niigata Prefectural Archive Amy Stanley, “Revisiting the ‘Comfort Girls’ of Report 49,” American Historical Review 130, no. 4 (December 2025), 1459-1483

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Episode 107: Chris Hodson and Brett Rushforth Upend History in 1.2 Voices

In this episode, Dr. Christopher Hodson and Dr. Brett Rushforth join Kate Carpenter to talk about their new book, Beyond the Ocean: France and the Atlantic World from the Crusades to the Age of Revolution. It was a book two decades in the making, and when you read it, you’ll understand why. It’s absolutely packed with research and fascinating stories, and it makes a persuasive argument that, when you look beyond its official accounts, France played a much bigger role in the colonization of the Atlantic world than historians have assumed. Chris is an associated professor of history at Brigham Young University, and Brett is editor in chief of the Huntington Library Quarterly. They bring a dry wit and a spirit of joyful curiosity to their work that comes through in the book and in this interview. You’ll hear about the varied ways they researched their new book, not just in written archives but with visual culture, artifacts preserved across the world, and even at archaeological sites in order to write a history of France’s influence in the Atlantic world that focuses not on the accounts and experiences of officials, but on the daily lives of sailors, indigenous peoples in both North America and West Africa, nuns, smugglers, and much more. Note: Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. Mentioned in this episode: Christopher Hodson and Brett Rushforth, Beyond the Ocean: France and the Atlantic World from the Crusades to the Age of Revolution Christopher Hodson, The Acadian Diaspora: An Eighteenth-Century History Brett Rushforth, Bonds of Alliance: Indigenous and Atlantic Slaveries in New France Laurent DuBois Feathered Tupi-Guarani Cape, held by the Musée de Quai Branly Foldable ivory spork Brett and Chris’s newsletter, Beyond the Ocean Garamond Agency Huntington Library Quarterly

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Episode 106: Dolly Jørgensen Always Has Another Project Up Her Sleeve

Dr. Dolly Jørgensen is professor of history at the University of Stavanger in Norway. As you'll hear in this episode, Dolly is one very busy historian. She is the author of three books, including her newest, Ghosts Behind Glass: Encountering Extinction in Museums. She has also co-edited five books and written a truly impressive number of academic articles. She recently ended a term as the editor of the journal Environmental Humanities, and she co-directs the Greenhouse Center for Environmental Humanities, which is most known for its excellent series of online book talks. As an environmental historian, I have been impressed not only by Dr. Dolly Jørgensen's work for years, but also by her warm and friendly presence at conferences and online. I was delighted when she said yes to coming on the show and talking with me about her writing process. I was eager to hear from Dolly about how she juggles her projects, what draws her to a topic, and how working at a university in Scandinavia changes her approach to scholarship. Sign up for the Drafting the Past newsletter for updates on the show and more. Note: Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. When you purchase books through these links, you support not only authors and indie bookstores but the podcast itself. Mentioned in this episode: Dolly Jørgensen, Ghosts Behind Glass: Encountering Extinction in Museums Dolly Jørgensen, The Medieval Pig Dolly Jørgensen, Recovering Lost Species in the Modern Age: Histories of Longing and Belonging Dolly Jørgensen's website Greenhouse Center for Environmental Humanities Book Talks Series Dolly Jørgensen on Bluesky Finn Arne Jørgensen Bathsheba Demuth, Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait(and check out my Episode 3 interview with Bathsheba Demuth)

Episode 105: Charles O'Malley and Scott Stern Collaborate On A Book and A Life

Sign up for the Drafting the Past newsletter for updates on the show and more. In this episode, Kate welcomes Scott W. Stern and Dr. Charles O'Malley to the show. Scott is a writer and lawyer who is the author of two previous books of narrative nonfiction and has written for many media outlets and scholarly journals. Charlie is a dramaturg and writer who has worked at theaters across the country. Together, they teamed up to write a new book titled Shakespeare's Margaret: The Dramatic Life of a Warrior Queen. In it, they explore Shakespeare's character Margaret, a woman loosely based on a historical figure who is the only Shakespearean character, male or female, whose entire life appears on stage. They introduce readers to her historical model, her creation by Shakespeare, and her evolution across centuries of performances to show how the character of Margaret illuminates the world in which she is created and brought to life. As they put it, her story "shows how Shakespeare's plays have always been living collaborations among actors, directors, writers, critics, and history itself." It seems only fitting that the book itself was a close collaboration. Scott and Charlie are co-writers, but they also began working on the book together shortly after they got married. By the time they were in the final editing stages, their twin sons had been born. We talked about how they navigated intertwined domestic and writing lives, as well as the challenges of bringing different voices and backgrounds together on the page. Note: Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. When you purchase books through these links, you support not only authors and indie bookstores but the podcast itself. Mentioned in this episode: Charles O'Malley and Scott Stern, Shakespeare's Margaret: The Dramatic Life of a Warrior Queen Scott Stern, The Trials of Nina McCall: Sex, Surveillance, and the Decades-Long Government Plan to Imprison 'Promiscuous' Women Scott Stern, There is a Deep Brooding in Arkansas: The Rape Trials That Sustained Jim Crow, and the People Who Fought It, from Thurgood Marshall to Maya Angelou Charles O'Malley, Toward a Just Pedagogy of Performance Scott and Charlie's LitHub piece on writing together: "What Co-Writing a Book on Shakespeare Taught Us About Marriage and Parenthood" The Internet Archive's blog posts about the Controlled Digital Lending Program Sam Quinones, The Perfect Tuba: Forging Fulfillment from the Bass Horn, Band, and Hard Work Daniel Hahn, If This Be Magic: The Unlikely Art of Shakespeare in Translation

Episode 104: Anna O. Law Reads Her Way Into History

In this episode, Kate Carpenter interviews Dr. Anna O. Law, a political science who retrained herself in historical methods to write her new book, Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship. Anna is a professor of political science and Herbert Kurz Chair in Constitutional Rights at CUNY Brooklyn College. In her new books, she takes a close look at which parts and levels of government in the United States have controlled people's ability to move around and across borders throughout the country's history. It's a history that is especially pertinent now, as we await the Supreme Court's forthcoming decision about the Trump administration's attempt to end the right to birthright citizenship protected under the 14th amendment of the constitution. Anna and Kate talked about what it meant to think like a historian as well as a political scientist. She also divulged her decidedly analog research tools, the feedback she asks colleagues to give on her drafts, and her advice for any writer deciding on a press for publishing a book. Sign up for the Drafting the Past newsletter for updates on the show and more. Note: Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. If you purchase books through these links, not only will you be supporting the author, but you will also help to keep Drafting the Past going. Thank you! Mentioned in this episode: Anna O. Law's website Anna Law, Migration and the Origins of American Citizenship Anna Law, The Immigration Battle in American Courts Metal page darts Sarasa gel pens Anna's favorite Clairefontaine notebooks Anna Law on BlueSky Anna's blog post about writing the second book Episode 102: Gautham Rao Megan Kate Nelson, The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier and The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West (and my first and second interviews with her) Lucy Salyer, Laws Harsh As Tigers: Chinese Immigrants and the Shaping of Modern Immigration Law and Under the Starry Flag: How a Band of Irish Americans Joined the Fenian Revolt and Sparked a Crisis Over Citizenship

Episode 103: Charlotte Brooks Is Always Thinking About Research

It's not every day that I find myself so invested in the characters of a history book that I stay up way past my bed time to find out what happens next, but that's exactly what happened when I read the new book by today's guest, Dr. Charlotte Brooks. Charlotte is a professor of history at Baruch College, which is part of the City University of New York, or CUNY, system. She is a scholar of race, immigration, and urban history, and is especially known for her work on Chinese American history. She is the author of four books. Her first three books were more aimed at an academic audience, but for her fourth book she wanted to try something a little different. The book that resulted is The Moys of New York and Shanghai: One Family's Extraordinary Journey Through War and Revolution. It's a group biography that tells the stories of six siblings, born to Chinese immigrant parents, and how they challenged the limitations and racism they faced in the United States, how many of them sought opportunities in China, and the ways they navigated the tumultuous world in which they lived in both countries in the first half of the 20th century. They are fascinating characters, but Charlotte uses them to give us a window into the history of an entire generation of Chinese American families that many Americans know little about. I talked with Charlotte about what finally motivated her to write the book that she had been dreaming about, as well as what it was like to work with the Moy descendants, how her narrative makes the siblings so compelling, and why it was still a tough sell as a trade book. Sign up for the Drafting the Past newsletter for updates on the show and more. Note: Bookshop.org links are affiliate links. When you buy books through these links, Drafting the Past receives a small percentage of the purchase price. Thanks for helping to support the show! Mentioned in this episode: Charlotte Brooks, The Moys of New York and Shanghai: One Family's Extraordinary Journey Through War and Revolution Charlotte Brooks, American Exodus: Second-Generation Chinese Americans in China, 1901-1949 Charlotte Brooks, Between Mao and McCarthy: Chinese American Politics in the Cold War Years Charlotte Brooks, Alien Neighbors, Foreign Friends: Asian Americans, Housing, and the Transformation of Urban California Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) Ellen Wu Mae Ngai Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency Virtual Shanghai Project Historical Photographs of China Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Episode 102: Gautham Rao Completes Each Vacation with an Archive Trip

In this episode, Kate Carpenter is joined by a scholar who can never pass up a good archive, Dr. Gautham Rao. Gautham is a historian of American law and politics and is an associate professor of history at American University in Washington. He's the author of two books: National Duties: Custom Houses and the Making of the American State, and his new book, White Power: Policing American Slavery. White Power is a history of the laws that enslavers used to police enslaved people from 1619 until the Civil War, and how the violent legacies of those laws and practices have reverberated throughout American history and life. In addition to his books and journal articles, Gautham has also written op-eds, contributions to Supreme Court cases, and a Substack newsletter called "The State of the State." I was especially interested to hear how Gautham grappled with organizing and using the evidence he collected from many locations over more than two decades. You'll also learn how he writes and rewrites to make himself clear, and how an offhanded remark from a well-known colleague set him on a new publishing path. If you love the show, leave a review in your favorite podcast app. Sign up for the Drafting the Past newsletter for updates on the show and more. Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. If you purchase books through these links, the show gets a small percentage of the price (at no extra cost to you). Thank you for supporting the podcast and our guest authors! Mentioned in this episode: White Power: Policing American Slavery National Duties: Custom Houses and the Making of the American State Gautham's Substack reMarkable tablet Ibram X. Kendi Kate Masur, Until Justice Be Done: America's First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction Jessica Pishko, The Highest Law in the Land: How the Unchecked Power of Sheriffs Threatens Democracy Omohundro Institute book series in early American history Samantha Seeley, Race, Removal and the Right to Remain: Migration and the Making of the United States Sarah Gronningsater, The Rising Generation: Gradual Abolition, Black Legal Culture, and the Making of National Freedom Emily Conroy-Krutz, Missionary Diplomacy: Religion and Nineteenth-Century American Foreign Relations Rebecca Brenner Graham, Dear Miss Perkins: A Story of Frances Perkins's Efforts to Aid Refugees from Nazi Germany (check out my interview with Rebecca in Episode 60: Rebecca Brenner Graham Gives Us the Publicity Behind-the-Scenes) Dani Segelbaum, Gautham's agent Margot Canaday, The Straight State: Sexuality and Citizenship in Twentieth-Century America and Queer Career: Sexuality and Work in Modern America Mae Ngai, Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America and The Chinese Question: The Gold Rushes, Chinese Migration, and Global Politics Giorgio Agamben, State of Exception Walter Benjamin, Illuminations, which includes his essay "Theses on the Philosophy of History Sally Hadden, Slave Patrols: Law and Violence in Virginia and the Carolinas Michael Willrich, American Anarchy: The Epic Struggle Between Immigrant Radicals and the US Government at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century

Episode 101: Tara Mulder Describes the Conditions of Labor

Today's guest, Dr. Tara Mulder, gets real about the challenges of writing while moving between temporary jobs, juggling a ton of teaching, and struggling to find a tenure track position. But also told me why that struggle brought a surprising amount of freedom and led to a much more creative and entertaining book. These days, Tara is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, although she did not get that position until after her book was nearly published. She's a specialist in medicine, sex, and gender in antiquity, and her book is called A Womb of One's Own: Lost Histories of Childbirth in Ancient Rome. In it, she brings the experiences of pregnancy and childbirth of Roman women brilliantly to life, turning scraps of archival materials into richly detailed narratives. In addition to her teaching, Tara also previously worked as a managing editor of Eidolon, an online classics journal that brought classics scholarship to the public in a playful, easy to read voice. You'll hear more in our conversation about how that experience shaped Tara's writing. We also talked about how her lived experiences, especially as the daughter of a homebirth midwife, helped her read the archive, and how keeping her writing going means trusting in her future self. Heads up: Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. If you buy books from these links, the podcast gets a small percentage—it's an awesome way to support our guests and the show at the same time. Mentioned in this episode: Tara Mulder, A Womb of One's Own: Lost Histories of Childbirth in Ancient Rome Eidolon archives Scrivener Anna Bonnell Friedin, Birthing Romans: Childbearing and Its Risks in Imperial Rome Anna Tatarkiewicz, The 'Cursus Laborum' of Roman Women: Social and Medical Aspects of the Transition from Puberty to Motherhood Saidiya Hartman, "Venus in Two Acts" Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 Sign up for the Drafting the Past newsletter for updates on the show and more.

Episode 100: Jessica Riskin Lets the Story Carry the Argument

Episode 100! I'm thrilled to welcome historian of science Dr. Jessica Riskin. Jessica is the Frances and Charles Field Professor of History at Stanford University. She's the author of three books and has edited two additional collections. She has also written extensively for academic journals and has published some highly entertaining book reviews and essays for the New York Review of Books and the Los Angeles Review of Books. Her newest book, and her first with a trade press, is The Power of Life: The Invention of Biology and the Revolutionary Science of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. It's a biography of French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, whose early theories of evolution have been discredited and ignored. But in this book, Jessica traces his life, restores his thinking, and shows not only that we have Lamarck all wrong, but also what we lose when we turn away from his expansive approach to science. It's an interesting subject, but in Jessica's hands it transforms into a deeply engaging, witty, surprising, and fascinating read. I loved learning more about how her love of novels helps her bring the past to life, how transformative it has been to work with great editors, and how she manages to write a book that is both a delightful read and a persuasive argument. Sign up for the Drafting the Past newsletter for updates on the show and more. Note that bookshop.org links are affiliate links that generate a small commission to support the show if you purchase books using these links. Mentioned in this episode: Jessica Riskin's faculty website Jessica Riskin, The Power of Life: The Invention of Biology and the Revolutionary Science of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck Jessica Riskin, The Restless Clock: A History of the Centuries-Long Argument over What Makes Living Things Tick Jessica Riskin, Science in the Age of Sensibility: The Sentimental Empiricists of the French Enlightenment Riskin at the The New York Review of Books Riskin at Los Angeles Review of Books FriXion Erasable Markers Natalie Zemon Davis, The Return of Martin Guerre Peter Elbow, Writing with Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process Ken Alder, The Measure of All Things: The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error That Transformed the World Carlo Ginzburg, The Cheese and the Worms

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