Tag: interview

Vilna Shul: Last Synagogue Standing (episode 257)

The West End and the North Slope of Beacon Hill have gone through extreme transformations over time. At the turn of the 20th century, these neighboring communities welcomed Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, though very few signs of those vibrant communities remain today. As the last of the purpose-built immigrant synagogues still standing in downtown Boston, the Vilna Shul is a unique building with a rich history of immigration, community, and the evolving American identity. Vilna Shul Executive Director Dalit Horn joins us this week to talk about the history and future of this unique synagogue.


Continue reading Vilna Shul: Last Synagogue Standing (episode 257)

Lost on the Freedom Trail: The National Park Service and Urban Renewal in Postwar Boston (episode 251)

In this episode, Seth Bruggeman discusses his recent book Lost on the Freedom Trail: The National Park Service and Urban Renewal in Postwar Boston. In it, he traces the development of the Freedom Trail and our Boston National Historic Park, examining the inevitable tension between driving tourism revenue to Boston and doing good history.  He delves into the politics surrounding our local historic sites during the trauma of urban renewal in Boston and the violence of the busing era that followed.  He also argues that the Freedom Trail and related sites have been used to defend dominant ideas about whiteness at several different points in Boston’s contested history.


Continue reading Lost on the Freedom Trail: The National Park Service and Urban Renewal in Postwar Boston (episode 251)

Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution, with Eric Jay Dolin (episode 249)

Eric Jay Dolin joins us this week to discuss his new book Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution.  We’ll discuss the role of privateers in the American Revolution, with a special focus on the many privateersmen who sailed out of Boston and New England.  Privateers were civilian ships that were outfitted for war by optimistic investors, with volunteer crews who were willing to risk their lives fighting for a share of the profits.  From the mouth of Boston Harbor to the very shores of Britain, these private warships sailed in search of rich English merchant vessels, while risking the lives and freedom of their crews.  While their role is mostly forgotten today, Eric will explain how privateer crews helped turn the tide of Revolution in favor of the Americans, and we’ll discuss how our modern habit of associating privateering with piracy leads to a distaste for the privateersmen who helped win our independence.   Rebels at Sea will be available in bookstores everywhere on May 31, 2022.


Continue reading Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution, with Eric Jay Dolin (episode 249)

Boston’s Long Wharf: A Path to the Sea, with Professor Kelly Kilcrease (episode 245)

Professor Kelly Kilcrease of UNH Manchester joins us on the podcast this week to discuss his new book, Boston’s Long Wharf: A Path to the Sea.   Today, Long Wharf is easily missed along Boston’s waterfront, but that’s because the rest of the city has grown up around what was once considered one of the great wonders of the modern world.  From the beginning of the 18th century until the early 20th century, Long Wharf was the grand front entrance to our city, welcoming visitors, sea captains, immigrants, and even enslaved Africans.  Dr Kilcrease will tell us why the grand pier was built, how the proprietors funded it, and how it has changed over the past 300 years.


Continue reading Boston’s Long Wharf: A Path to the Sea, with Professor Kelly Kilcrease (episode 245)

The First Ladies Forum (episode 243)

This week, the show gets a visit from four veteran historical interpreters who have joined forces on a new collaborative project called The First Ladies Forum.  Together, they portray four of America’s First Ladies, including both interpreters and First Ladies with ties to Boston.  We’ll discuss the lives of Dolley Madison (portrayed by Judith Kalaora), Louisa Catherine Adams (portrayed by Laura Rocklyn), Mary Lincoln (portrayed by Laura Keyes), and Jacqueline Kennedy (portrayed by Leslie Goddard) and how the actors choose to embody them.  We’ll also talk more broadly about what it’s like to be a costumed historical interpreter and the role of historical interpretation in helping people understand the people and events of America’s past.


Continue reading The First Ladies Forum (episode 243)

Urban Archipelago: An Environmental History of the Boston Harbor Islands, with Dr Pavla Šimková (episode 239)

The new book Urban Archipelago: An Environmental History of the Boston Harbor Islands explores how the city of Boston has transformed the islands on its doorstep time and time again, as the city’s needs shifted over the centuries.  From a valuable site for farming, to a dumping ground for all of Boston’s problems, to a wilderness of history and romance, to an urban park, these many transformations reflect a changing city.  Author Dr. Pavla Šimková joins us this week to discuss how Boston initially embraced the islands, later turned its back on the Harbor, and more recently has embraced them both again.  You’ll hear us argue about the 1960s plan to hold a bicentennial expo on the harbor and the role of storyteller Edward Rowe Snow in promoting the Harbor Islands to a new generation, and you’ll hear us agree about the beauty and importance of this urban asset.


Continue reading Urban Archipelago: An Environmental History of the Boston Harbor Islands, with Dr Pavla Šimková (episode 239)

Revolutionary Surgeons: Patriots and Loyalists on the Cutting Edge, with Dr. Per-Olof Hasselgren (episode 237)

Dr. Per-Olof Hasselgren is a practicing surgeon and author of the recent book Revolutionary Surgeons: Patriots and Loyalists on the Cutting Edge, which is a profile of eleven Revolutionary War surgeons.  Dr. Hasselgren joined Jake to discuss the Boston physicians, brothers, and brothers in arms Joseph and John Warren.  Joseph is famous for arranging the lantern signal from Old North and dispatching Paul Revere on his famous ride, as well as for his heroic death at Bunker Hill.  His little brother John followed him into politics and medicine, and went on to found Harvard Medical School. 

Dr. Hasselgren brings a unique perspective to the conversation, examining the medical careers of these eminent physicians through a physician’s eyes.  The episode explores how 18th century physicians learned their craft, how they earned a living, and how they intermingled medicine and politics, as well as how surgery was changing during the Revolution and the groundbreaking surgery pioneered by John Warren and his son John Collins Warren.


Continue reading Revolutionary Surgeons: Patriots and Loyalists on the Cutting Edge, with Dr. Per-Olof Hasselgren (episode 237)

Combat Zone: Murder, Race, and Boston’s Struggle for Justice, with Jan Brogan (episode 236)

In the book Combat Zone, Murder, Race, and Boston’s Struggle for Justice, journalist Jan Brogan turns her impressive research and reporting skills on the case of Andy Puopolo, a 21 year old Harvard football player who was killed in a fight in the Combat Zone in 1976.  The case would pit the most privileged group at the most privileged school in the world against three poor Black men on the margins of society, while in the background Boston tore itself apart on racial lines.

The book plumbs the depths of white, working class Boston’s racial resentments during the busing era, a criminal justice system that stacked the deck against Black defendants, and a police department that was compromised at its core by organized crime.  It highlights the street violence that helped cement Boston’s reputation as the most racist city in the country, as well as the two trials that came to diametrically opposite verdicts in the same city, just a couple of years apart.  It also puts the reader in the mind of the younger brother of the victim, left behind to deal with his feelings of grief and guilt, while wrestling with the possibility of revenge.


Continue reading Combat Zone: Murder, Race, and Boston’s Struggle for Justice, with Jan Brogan (episode 236)

Mutiny on the Rising Sun, with Dr. Jared Ross Hardesty (episode 234)

This week, Jake interviews Dr. Jared Ross Hardesty, author of the new book Mutiny on the Rising Sun: a tragic tale of smuggling, slavery, and chocolate, which uncovers the dark web of interconnections between Old North Church, chocolate, and chattel slavery.  Dr. Hardesty will explain why a reputable sea captain would become a smuggler, trafficking in illegal chocolate and enslaved Africans; the risks an 18th century Bostonian would take to provide himself with a competence, or enough money to allow his family to live independently; and what it meant in that era to be of but not from Boston.  At the heart of the story is a brutal murder and mutiny on the high seas, illustrating the fundamental brutality of life in the 18th century, but the role of the church (specifically Old North Church) in the social and economic lives of Bostonians is also central to understanding the life and death of Captain Newark Jackson.  


Continue reading Mutiny on the Rising Sun, with Dr. Jared Ross Hardesty (episode 234)