#346 A Forgotten History of Chinese Life in the United States w/ Beth Lew-Williams
The Road to Now
Chinese immigrants helped establish America’s foothold on the western coast, yet few of us know what life looked like for those Chinese people who came to live in the US. In this episode, Beth Lew-Williams joins us to discuss her new book, , which blends extensive archival research with new technologies to illuminate stories that have long been buried in our history. is Professor of History at Princeton University and a recipient of the If you enjoy this episode make sure to check out our conversations with previous Dan David Prize winners: (#270) and (#269). This episode was edited by...
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#345 How the Globalization Gamble Went Wrong w/ David J. Lynch
The Road to Now
Washington Post Global Economics Correspondent joins Ben & Bob for a discussion about his new book ) (Public Affairs, 2025). David has a unique perspective on globalization; first as a journalist who has spent the last four decades covering the global economy for some of America’s most influential media outlets, and now as an analyst of how the optimism of the 1990s turned to the pessimism of today. If you enjoy this episode, make sure to check our conversation with This episode was edited by Gary Fletcher.
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How the American Dream Became Temporary w/ Louis Hyman
The Road to Now
It’s Labor Day, so we’re sharing one of our favorite conversations on the history of labor in the US- our 2018 conversation with Louis Hyman on his book . We hope you have a great holiday! This episode originally aired as episode 103 on August 18, 2018. This rebroadcast was edited by Ben Sawyer.
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#344 The Last Forty Years of American Politics w/ Joe Lockhart
The Road to Now
served as White House Press Secretary for President Bill Clinton from 1998-2000, and played central roles in Presidential campaigns from Walter Mondale to John Kerry. In this episode, Joe joins us to recap how the political landscape has changed since the 1980s and the paths that Democrats might pursue in their efforts to escape the political wilderness. This episode was edited by Gary Fletcher
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Mourning the Presidents w/ Lindsay Chervinsky
The Road to Now
A Presidency is defined by the decisions that a person makes while serving as Executive, but a Presidential legacy is about much more than that. In Lindsay Chervinsky and Matthew Costello have brought together a collection of chapters that explore the ways that mourning ceremonies, causes of death, and moments of passing impact the way that we remember a President at the time they die, and how new research and a more inclusive understanding of US history have reshaped Presidential legacies in the years that follow. In this episode, Lindsay joins Ben and Bob for a conversation about some of the...
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Tecumseh and William Henry Harrison’s Struggle for a Nation w/ Peter Stark
The Road to Now
The war between the US Army and the Native American confederation during the war of 1812 is a buried story in an often-overlooked event, yet its impact on the history of North America is profound. The leading figures on both sides of the war, Shawnee Chief Tecumseh and US Army General William Henry Harrison, had come of age in the struggles over what is today called the Midwest United States, and both understood that losing the war would mean losing the future they imagined for their people. In this episode, Ben & Bob do a deep dive on the story behind that war with , author of the...
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#343 Affordable Housing in Urban America w/ Tom Hanchett
The Road to Now
The affordable housing shortage in many American cities is making urban life more difficult for all of us. But the problem of housing is not a new one, and history has some valuable lessons for those looking for solutions. In this episode, historian joins us to talk about his new book, and the truths, myths, and ironies of government subsidized housing in the United States. If you enjoy this episode, check out Tom’s previous appearances on our show in and This episode was edited by Ben Sawyer.
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The American Buffalo w/ Dayton Duncan
The Road to Now
In the late 18th century, tens of millions of buffalo lived in North America. By the mid-1880s, they were on the brink of extinction. For the white settlers who sought to “conquer” the American west, and the Native people whose way of life depended on them, the plight of the American Buffalo was more than a story of one species of animal. As Dayton Duncan writes in the prologue of his new book Blood Memory, the buffalo has “emerged as an embodiment of the nation’s contradictory relationship with the natural world: venerated and mercilessly destroyed, a symbol of both a...
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The Wide Awakes: The Forgotten Force that Elected Lincoln and Spurred the Civil War w/ Jon Grinspan
The Road to Now
Jon Grinspan has done something remarkable: in his new book, , he tells a thoroughly researched and brilliantly crafted story that may change your understanding of the origins of the American Civil War. In this episode, Jon joins us for a conversation about the Wide Awakes, the anti-slavery youth movement that played an instrumental role in electing Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and took part in some of the first acts of violence between pro and anti-slavery Americans in 1861. Jon also discusses the ways that the past and present interact in powerful ways, and how politics can evolve, step-by-step,...
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US Diplomacy and the End of the Cold War w/ Jack Matlock
The Road to Now
For half a century, the US-Soviet rivalry pitted the two most powerful nations in human history against one another other in a conflict that had the potential to end civilization. The fact that the Cold War ended without the doomsday scenarios so many had predicted is testament to the power of good diplomacy, and good diplomacy only happens when you have good diplomats. In this episode we speak with , a diplomat whose 35 years in the State Department culminated in his selection by Ronald Reagan to serve as US Ambassador to the Soviet Union in the final years of the Cold War, where he...
info_outlineFixing the American healthcare system has been one of the most difficult and divisive problems in modern US history. The Affordable Care Act has helped more Americans than ever gain insurance, yet the remaining problems have led the Republican-controlled Congress to put “repeal and replace” at the top of their legislative agenda in 2017. Why has health insurance been such a tricky issue in the United States? Why did our insurance model develop differently than in other industrialized countries, and how can understanding this help us overcome the problems we face today?
In this episode of The Road to Now, Dr. Melissa Thomasson helps us answer these questions by taking us through the history of the American health insurance system. We also offer up another installment of Path to the Present (the podcast within a podcast) in which Matt Negrin and Alex Trowbridge provide a concise history of the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). Believe me- this episode is YOUGE!
Melissa Thomasson is Julian Lange Professor of Economics at the University of Miami and an expert on the economic history of the American health care system.
For more on this episode can be found at our website: www.theroadtonow.com