Avi's Conversational Corner

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.

Episode 37 (Stumbling Colossus, 16): Show Me the Money

July 4th, 2022  |  48 mins 45 secs

Dr. George Selgin discusses how money was issued and provided before, during, and after the Gilded Age.

Episode 36 (Stumbling Colossus, 15): A More Moral Nation

June 7th, 2022  |  27 mins 59 secs

Professor Gaines Foster discusses the motives, challenges, successes, and failures of the Christian moral lobbyists during the Gilded Age.

Episode 35 (Stumbling Colossus, 14): Jobbery vs. Snobbery

May 30th, 2022  |  37 mins 37 secs

Professor Joe Postell discusses the debate between party control and technocratic control of government during the Gilded and Progressive Ages.

Episode 34 (Stumbling Colossus, 13): The Battle of the Classics

April 27th, 2022  |  22 mins 27 secs

Prof. Eric Adler discusses the first great debate on the importance of studying "the best that has been thought and said" - and what we can learn about it for today.

Episode 33 (Stumbling Colossus, 12): Gilded Mutual Aid

April 18th, 2022  |  24 mins 52 secs

Dr. David Beito discusses the ways in which Gilded Age Americans of all classes helped each other out when the government stood aside.

Episode 32 (Stumbling Colossus, 11): TR's Wars

April 11th, 2022  |  28 mins 24 secs

Dr. David Pietrusza is back to discuss Theodore Roosevelt's single minded focus on war - and his paradoxical avoidance of the same at critical moments.

Episode 31 (Stumbling Colossus, 10): US Shipping and the Jones Act

March 28th, 2022  |  29 mins 54 secs

Colin Grabow of the CATO Institute discusses the law, history, and future of American internal shipping, from the Gilded Age to today.

Episode 30 (Stumbling Colossus, 9): Gilded Age Education

March 21st, 2022  |  37 mins 21 secs

Independent historian Kerry Ellard discusses the chaos and order in America's emerging public school system during the Gilded and Progressive Ages.

Episode 29 (Stumbling Colossus, 8): Rome and America

March 14th, 2022  |  58 mins 52 secs

Professor James Patterson discusses the trials and triumphs and divisions within American Catholicism during the Gilded Age.

Episode 28 (Stumbling Colossus, 7): Gilded Age Jews

March 7th, 2022  |  36 mins 5 secs

Professor Jonathan Sarna discusses the profound changes in Jewish life, culture, politics, and demographics during the Gilded Age and beyond.

Episode 27 (Stumbling Collosus, 6): The Gilded Supreme Court

February 28th, 2022  |  32 mins 31 secs

Professor David Bernstein discusses the legal thinking of an often misunderstood Supreme Court ruling, and the "road not taken" in constitutional jurisprudence.