90 Second Narratives

Jan 02 2023 292

90 Second Narratives Podcast artwork

90 Second Narratives is a podcast featuring engaging true stories told by trained historians. Each episode includes a short story interwoven with expert analysis of the story’s historical significance. The concise length and storytelling format of the episodes make history accessible, dynamic, and entertaining. The subjects of the stories are diverse—spanning the globe and ranging from the pre-historic to the modern age. While individual stories stand alone, the episodes in each season are linked thematically and combine to offer comparative perspectives that illuminate connections from across the human experience. Every episode also includes recommendations for further reading. 90 Second Narratives provides a novel way to hear historians share the wonders of the past in their own voices.

Subscribe on Podcast Addict

A Season of Stories 10: Seeking Justice

Jan 02 2023 17 mins

This special episode combines all the stories from Season 10…“The Cepalinos’ Global Fight against Inequality” – Dr. Margarita Fajardo, Alice Stone Ilchman Chair in Comparative and International Studies, Sarah Lawrence College“Addressing Slavery in the Museum” – Dr. Ana Lucia Araujo, Professor of History, Howard University“The Perseverance of Menominee Women” –

Creative Community Responses to Climate Change in New England

Jun 06 2022 3 mins

“In the spring of 1816, the weather in New England turned suddenly chilly. A distant volcanic eruption of Mt. Tambora in Indonesia in 1815 had expelled sulfur dioxide particles into the atmosphere in such quantity that they reduced the amount of solar energy that could reach Earth’s surface…”So begins today’s story from Emma C. Moesswilde.For further listening:Climate His

The Cepalinos’ Global Fight against Inequality

Apr 25 2022 3 mins

“In mid-twentieth-century Latin America, an intellectual movement that changed the region, the world, and the global economy emerged. The members of the movement were called cepalinos…”So begins today’s story from Dr. Margarita Fajardo.For further reading:The World That Latin America Created: The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America in the Development Era by

The Perseverance of Menominee Women

Jan 03 2022 4 mins

“On November 20, 1955, David Ames, an anthropologist and research associate with the Wisconsin Legislative Council’s Menominee Indian Study Committee spoke with Phebe Nichols Jewell the wife of Angus Lookaround at their home on the Menominee reservation in Northeast Wisconsin…”So begins today’s story from Dr. Jillian Marie Jacklin.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Harlem

Dec 13 2021 3 mins

“Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of the most significant theologians of the twentieth century. To this day, large audiences are still drawn to his important writings including The Cost of Discipleship, Life Together, and Ethics. But Bonhoeffer is even more widely-known for his remarkable and tragic biography…”So begins today’s story from Dr. Sky Michael Johnston. For further vi

Addressing Slavery in the Museum

Nov 29 2021 4 mins

“In the past three decades black social actors, committed curators, public historians, and academics have pushed western museums to examine slavery and the Atlantic slave trade in their exhibition spaces. But the introduction of slavery in the museum has been very problematic…”So begins today’s story from Dr. Ana Lucia Araujo. For further reading:Museums and Atlantic Slaver

A Season of Stories 9: Friendship

Nov 15 2021 28 mins

This special episode combines all the stories from Season 9…“Becoming a Friend of God in Eighteenth-Century North Africa” – Dr. Zachary Wright, Associate Professor of History and Religious Studies at Northwestern University in Qatar“Posthumous Friendships between Jesuit Brothers” – Dr. Ulrike Strasser, Professor of History at the University of California San Diego“L

Posthumous Friendships between Jesuit Brothers

Nov 07 2021 5 mins

“Today a flight from Prague to Guam covers an aerial distance of over 7,100 miles and takes about 15 hours. The journey may seem far, long, and cumbersome to many travelers. Yet today’s challenges pale when compared to those faced in 1678 by Augustinus Strobach…”So begins today’s story from Dr. Ulrike Strasser.For further reading:Missionary Men in the Early Modern World:

On the Doors of the U.S. Supreme Court, Part II

Nov 02 2021 3 mins

“As enshrined on the door of the U.S. Supreme Court Building in bronze, John Marshall and Joseph Story were friends. But what was it that earned this pair of friends the most prominent place on these monumental seventeen-foot doors? It was this: their association with the 1803 Supreme Court case Marbury v. Madison. That was the case that established the principle of judicial revi

On the Doors of the U.S. Supreme Court, Part I

Oct 25 2021 3 mins

“During a recent visit to Washington D.C. with my family, we visited the United States’ Supreme Court Building. It was a quiet Monday afternoon without a cloud in the sky…”So begins today’s story from Dr. Sky Michael Johnston.For further reading:“The Bronze Doors” Information Sheet