What on earth is an “ice famine”? Well, if you were alive in the nineteenth century and the U.S. was experiencing winter as mild as this one in 2012-2013, the newspapers would be full of stories about a potential “ice famine.” The problem was not a shortage of ice in January and February, but rather … [Read more...]
Archives for March 2016
When Americans Saw Irish Immigrants as Terrorists
[NOTE - this piece accompanies a similar feature in my podcast, In The Past Lane http://inthepastlane.com/podcast-episode-007-irish-terrorists-spies-and-more/] In case you haven’t noticed, there’s lots of talk about immigration and terrorism these days. Specifically, many Americans are worried … [Read more...]
Episode 007 Irish Terrorists, Spies, and More
With St. Patrick's Day (March 17) being celebrated this week, In The Past Lane takes a look at some fascinating Irish American history. 1. We start with a feature piece on why Americans in the late 19th century associated Irish immigrants with terrorism. That's right, long before 9/11, the Irish … [Read more...]
Why Do We Hold Presidential Primaries?
As the citizens of the United States follow this wild and often bewildering presidential primary process, few stop to ask a very important question: why do we have primaries in the first place? In the history of American democracy, political primaries are of relatively recent origin, so when and why … [Read more...]
Episode 006 Why Do We Hold Political Primaries?
This week at In The Past Lane, we take a look at the history behind something that's dominating the news these days: political primaries. 1. First, I present a feature that explores when we invented the political primary and why. 2. This episode also features a History Skinny segment where we … [Read more...]