Avi's Conversational Corner

Episode 52 (Stumbling Colossus, 28): Let's Put on a Show, or Gilded Age Vaudeville

April 24th, 2023  |  33 mins 16 secs

Cultural polymath Trav S.D. discusses the rise, fall, and importance of vaudeville as one of America's great forms of entertainment and enterprise.

Episode 52 (Stumbling Colossus, 27): Henry George: Prophet of American Modernity

March 28th, 2023  |  56 mins 45 secs

Lars Doucet discusses the history and practice of one of the great pioneers of governing ideas in the American Gilded Age.

Episode 51 (Stumbling Colossus, 26): The Ever Closing Frontier

March 20th, 2023  |  45 mins 24 secs

Western Historian Prof. David Wrobel discusses the ways in which Americans understood and shaped the American frontier, and how they reacted when they thought it physically "closed."

Episode 50: Why I Love History

March 14th, 2023  |  23 mins 48 secs

A conversation with myself about why I do this.

Episode 49 (Stumbling Colossus, 25): The Last Lincoln Republican?

February 13th, 2023  |  58 mins 44 secs

Dr. Todd Arrington discusses the life and lost potential of James Garfield, the assassinated President who won the 1880 election.

Episode 48: Everett Dirksen's Republicanism

February 6th, 2023  |  37 mins 7 secs

Dirksen Center Director Tiffany White talks about the personality and politics of one of the most pivotal Republican legislators of the 1950s and 1960s.

Episode 47 (Stumbling Colossus, 24): The Gilded Democrat

January 30th, 2023  |  43 mins

Author Troy Senik discusses the enigma of the only Democrat to win the White House in our era, and why he mattered and matters.

Episode 46: Robert Taft - Image and Reality

January 23rd, 2023  |  25 mins 34 secs

Taft biographer James T. Patterson discusses the ins and outs of one of the Republican Party's most effective legislators.

Episode 45 (Stumbling Colossus, 23): Horatio Alger's Gilded Virtue

December 19th, 2022  |  36 mins 30 secs

Prof. Carol Nackenoff discusses the views, ideas, and failings of one of America's most well-known advocates of civic virtue and self-help.

Episode 44: Giving Dewey His Due

December 12th, 2022  |  30 mins 5 secs

Professor Joshua Kennedy explains Thomas Dewey from his point of view, as well as his importance for the Republican Party and his clashes within the party and with the Democrats.

Episode 43 (Stumbling Colossus, 22): The Gilded Midwest

December 5th, 2022  |  30 mins 21 secs

Dr. Jon Lauck discusses the triumphs and struggles of the country's most populous region in the Gilded Age.

Episode 42 (Stumbling Colossus, 21): The Rise of the US Navy

October 13th, 2022  |  42 mins 44 secs

Dr. James Rentfrow explains the growth, challenges, and direction of the US Navy as America became a rising power.

Episode 41 (Stumbling Colossus, 20): The Populist Alternative

August 22nd, 2022  |  37 mins 57 secs

Episode 40 (Stumbling Colossus, 19): Reed's House Rules

August 15th, 2022  |  22 mins 20 secs

Prof. Robert Klotz discusses the impact of Thomas Brackett Reed's majoritarian House rules on American politics.

Episode 39 (Stumbling Colossus, 18): Controlling Urban Chaos

August 8th, 2022  |  29 mins 30 secs

Zoning Expert Nolan Gray discusses the good and bad of life before zoning in America - and whether we should go back.

Episode 38 (Stumbling Colossus, 17): Gilded Germans

August 1st, 2022  |  29 mins 50 secs

Prof. Kampheofner discusses the trials and triumphs of one of America's lesser known major immigrant communities during the Gilded Age.