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In this episode of Talking History, Pat speaks with Sean FitzGibbons, executive director of the History Museum on the Square. The History Museum on the Square focuses on telling the story of Springfield and Greene County. FitzGibbons talks about the history of the museum itself, which is now 50 years old, as well as some of the history surrounding Park Central Square, where the museum is located.  Highlights include the shootout between Wild Bill Hickok and Davis Tutt in 1865; the Ozarks Jubilee, filmed at the Jewell Theatre; how public transit helped shape the city; and the Civil War battles in downtown Springfield. The History Museum on the Square hosts walking tours throughout the year and this October, the museum offers haunted walking tours. Guests will visit several spooky downtown venues, including the Fox Theatre, Tabak Co (formerly an undertaker’s business), and the site of Wild Bill’s famous shootout. For information on tours, call 417-831-1976. Sean FitzGibbons is the executive director of the History Museum on the Square. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin and his Master of Fine Arts degree from Washington University in St. Louis. He is passionate about community outreach, cultural storytelling, and making the humanities accessible to diverse communities.

The Springfield Art Museum was founded almost 100 years ago, and became a part of the city of Springfield in the late 1940s. In that century, the institution has grown form annual exhibitions of traveling art to a modern accredited art museum with a significant collection.  This month on Talking History, Patrick Needham is joined by Sarah Buhr, the Museum’s Curator and author of A History of the Springfield Art Museum to talk about the evolution of the institution, the value of art in public life, and what the study of art can teach us about the historical record.

On this episode of Talking History, Djene speaks with Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi about his new translation of Rodrigo Ximénez de Rada’s thirteenth-century Minor Histories. In the early thirteenth century, the Iberian Peninsula stood at a decisive historical turning point. Muslim political power was declining, Christian kingdoms were expanding, and the city of Toledo remained a meeting place of Christian, Jewish and Islamic cultures. At the center of these transformations stood Rodrigo Ximénez de Rada: archbishop of Toledo, royal adviser, crusader and one of medieval Spain’s most ambitious historians. Rodrigo sought to explain Spain’s past through the histories of the Romans, Goths, Vandals, Huns and Arabs. His History of the Arabs, in particular, offers a remarkable, and frequently contradictory, medieval Christian account of Arab history and Islam. Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi is a British-Iraqi historian based in Syria and Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is the translator of Rodrigo Ximenez de Rada's Minor Histories.

In this episode of Talking History, Djene and Patrick talk to journalist David Griscom about his new book, The Myth of Red Texas. Texas is often seen as one of America’s most conservative states, a place where Republican politics, religion moralism, and rugged individualism, and seem almost baked into its identity. But has this always been the case? Djene and Patrick talk to journalist David Griscom about his new book, The Myth of Red Texas, which seeks to rediscover the history of Texas radicalism. David Griscom is a Texas based journalist and political commentor. He is the host of the podcast Left Reckoning and The Jacobin Show. You can follow his work on Substack. The Myth of Red Texas is published by OR books.

Every four years, Americans witness one of the defining rituals of public life: the inauguration of a president.  In that moment, the president places a hand on the Bible and swears not merely to support the Constitution, but to “preserve, protect, and defend” it. That language is striking, and perhaps more revealing than we often realize. Why does the Constitution single out the president in this way? What does that oath tell us about the office itself? And does it help explain why Americans so often judge presidents by how they respond to crisis?  From George Washington and Abraham Lincoln to 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and Covid, the presidency has often been shaped not simply by law or policy, but by the expectation that the president will preserve order when the nation feels under pressure. Dr. Benjamin Kleinerman is the R.W. Morrison Professor of Political Science at Baylor University and a visiting professor at UT Austin. He has written extensively on executive power, the presidency, and American political thought. He is also here in Springfield to deliver a talk titled “The Enduring Principles of the Declaration.” His forthcoming book, The Crisis Presidency (University of Kansas Press) explores the presidency, constitutional order, and the politics of crisis.

This month Djene and Patrick speak with Stuart Hinds, Curator of Special Collections and Archives at the Miller Nichols Library, about the Gay and Lesbian Archive of Mid-America. When people think about queer history in the United States, they often think first of places like New York or San Francisco. But the history of queer activism, community and struggle was never confined to the coasts. It was also made in places like Kansas City and Springfield, in local organizations, in political campaigns, in community spaces, and in the archives that preserve those lives and stories. Recovering that history helps us see that queer history is not some marginal side note to the American past. It is part of the history of citizenship, rights, community, and social change in the United States.  To learn more about this history, Djene and Patrick speak with Stuart Hinds, Curator of Special Collections and Archives at the Miller Nichols Library, about his work as the Curator of the Gay and Lesbian Archive of Mid-America (GLAMA). Stuart Hinds is Curator of Special Collections and Archives at the Miller Nichols Library at the University of Missouri–Kansas City. He also serves as Curator of the Gay and Lesbian Archive of Mid-America, a collecting initiative he co-founded in 2010 to preserve and make accessible the history of Kansas City’s LGBT communities. Stuart has spoken widely on topics related to queer history and archives, co-taught the first course on U.S. gay and lesbian history at UMKC, and is currently working on a book titled Cowtown Queers: A History of Gay and Lesbian Kansas City.

For generations rumors have swirled of lost civilizations in the Amazon. If you’re of a certain age, perhaps you grew up with Indiana Jones evading stone traps and poison darts in order to thieve away cultural riches from the jungle. Today, archaeologists thousands of miles away are utilizing emerging technological tool kits in order to analyze data in a way that gives them a much clearer understanding of what is going on under the canopy. Using such tools, two Missouri State archeologists have made significant discoveries in the Amazon Basin that could upend our understanding of the pre-contact history of that region. To talk about what they discovered, how they discovered it, and the possible implications, Patrick speaks with Dr. Daniel Pierce and Christopher Bodine, co-founders of the Terra Incognita Research institute, about their Geoglyph Observations through Jungle Imagery in Remote Amazonia – or GOJIRA – project. Daniel and Chris will give the Plenary Session on their Amazon work at the upcoming Missouri Academy of Science Annual Meeting on April 11, 2026 at Missouri State University.  More information about Terra Incognita’s research can be found at www.terraincognitaresearch.org. Daniel’s cool hat can be found at https://terra-incognita-research.printful.me/product/snapback-hat.

On a cold April morning in 1945, nearly five thousand young American airmen climbed into B-17s and B-24s on dusty airfields in southern Italy. A few hours later, they were flying through a sky turned black with flak over Linz, Austria, Hitler’s adopted hometown, the city he dreamed of remaking into the cultural capital of his empire. For the men in those bombers, it was supposed to be one of the last missions of the war, maybe the last. None of them wanted to die with peace so close. But as they flew toward those sprawling rail yards along the Danube, they entered what one gunner later called “a man-made hell”, crippled aircraft tumbling from formation, parachutes blossoming over enemy territory, and, below, Austrian civilians running for shelter as the bombs fell. Some of those airmen ended up as POWs. Some were marched into the gates of Mauthausen. Others fell into Soviet hands and discovered that being “liberated” could also mean being beaten and interrogated as suspected spies. Many survived, but came home with memories they locked away for decades. To talk about this operation, Djene speaks with Mike Croissant, author of a new book on the topic, Bombing Hitler’s Hometown: The Untold Story of the Last Mass Bomber Raid of World War II in Europe, published in 2024 by Citadel Press. Mike Croissant is a retired CIA officer who served for more than 20 years as an analyst and counterterrorism targeting officer in locations ranging from Washington, DC, to the Middle East and Central and South Asia. Upon retirement, he received the CIA’s Career Commendation Medal for meritorious service. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois and graduate degrees from Indiana University and Missouri State University.

Djene and Patrick speak with video essayist Matt Pearson, aka the “Feral Historian,” about his essay “Sci-Fi, Satire, and the Post-WWII Mythos .” The compelling videos made by this “rogue scholar” are about 20th century history viewed through the context of science fiction. Djene and Patrick talk to Mr. Pearson about a recent entry that explores the relationship between popular portrayals of movie bad guys, historical fascist movements, and current political currents. What are the dangers in turning real and complex political systems into two-dimensional caricatures? Have the lessons of these historical regimes become lost to a cartoonish visual shorthand? A Detroit native, Pearson spent several years working as a draftsman before pursuing a degree in history. He then taught high school in the city for a few years before entering a PhD program where his research focused on late WWII and the early Cold War period. He subsequently dropped out, moved out West, and now analyzes the cultural perception of history through the lens of science fiction while wandering the Black Hills. His work can be found on YouTube, viewer discretion advised.

In the autumn of 2022, Iran was rocked by a wave of national, popular unrest, some of the most severe in recent years. The immediate cause of the revolt was the suspicious death of an Iranian Kurdish woman, Mahsa Jîna Amini, whilst in the custody of the Tehran police. Amini’s death proved to be a lightning rod for discontent directed at the Islamist government in Iran, which took power after the 1979 revolution. Significantly, at the forefront of these protests were women, who have long chafed under the strict moral codes imposed by the regime. However, while the Islamic Republic ultimately weathered the storm of public anger, this has left many asking what does this mean for the future of the country?  To discuss the protests and their meaning, we’re joined by journalist and author Fatemeh Jamalpour, co-author of the book For the Sun After Long Nights: The Story of Iran’s Women-Led Uprising. Writing from Tehran during these historic events, Fatemeh risked her safety to bear witness to the voices of women and young people demanding freedom, dignity and change. Fatemeh Jamalpour is a feminist journalist banned from working in Iran by the Ministry of Intelligence. Jamalpour has worked as a freelance reporter for outlets such as The Sunday Times, The Paris Review and the Los Angeles Times, and has also held positions at BBC World News in London and Shargh newspaper in Tehran. She has two master's degrees in journalism and communication from Northwestern University and Allameh Tabatabaei University in Tehran and was a 2024-25 Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan.

In this episode of Talking History, Djene speaks with Dr. Sara McLaughlin Mitchell about conflict and cooperation over water resources. From oil and gas to lithium and rare earth elements, the story of the modern world has often been shaped by competition over natural resources. But in many parts of the world today, it isn’t oil or gold that drives tension, it’s something far more basic: water. From disputes along the Nile and the Tigris–Euphrates rivers to tensions over the Indus and the Mekong, access to water has become one of the defining geopolitical challenges of our time. In the twenty-first century, water is arguably our most critical resource. The questions we face are profound: Will nations be able to manage their shared water resources in a spirit of cooperation? Will scarcity and climate change push societies toward conflict? Or are there innovative ways to mitigate these challenges before they become crises? Dr. Sara McLaughlin Mitchell is a professor of political science at the University of Iowa. She is one of the foremost experts on international conflict and cooperation, particularly when it comes to shared natural resources. Her research explores how geography, institutions, and diplomacy shape the way states interact over borders, rivers, and territorial disputes.

When we think of historians, we often think of educators working within the university system, teaching classes, and conducting research in dusty old archives. However, the field of history and the careers engaged in by trained historians are wider and broader than one might think. This includes the field of public history.  Public history is the practice of doing history outside the traditional classroom or academic setting. It’s about how historical knowledge is created, interpreted, and, most importantly, shared with the general public. But what does this look like in practice? How do historians make historical knowledge accessible to those outside academia? Dr. Jason Herbert holds a Ph.D. in American History from the University of Minnesota and was named a Kentucky Colonel by Governor Andy Beshear in 2022. He taught high school while writing his doctoral dissertation, then served as an ethnographer in Florida, and more recently as a Tribal Liaison for the United States Forest Service in Colorado. He is also the creator and host of the podcast, Reckoning with Jason Herbert. Dr. Julia Troche is an Associate Professor at Missouri State University. She is an Egyptologist, trained at Brown University, and teaches classes on the ancient world.

The Ozarks and the study of its people, history, and culture are not an infrequent topic on this show. This is in part due to this show’s production near the middle of “The Queen City of the Ozarks.” It is also influenced heavily by this show’s place in the Missouri State University community and its sponsorship by the Department of History, which offers one of – if not the – only program devoted to the study of the region. Finally, it is in no small part due to the personal obsessions and interests of show cohost, Patrick Needham. This week on Talking History, Patrick indulges this obsession once again by welcoming back history professor and chronicler of the hills and hollers, Dr. Brooks Blevins to talk about his new podcast The Old Ozarks, dying dialects, and the crafting of compelling narratives in nonfiction. Brooks Blevins Brooks Blevins is the Noel Boyd Professor of Ozarks Studies at Missouri State University. He published his capstone work with the University of Illinois Press—three volumes constituting the definitive history of the Ozarks. He is also the author or editor of ten other books, including Arkansas/Arkansaw: How Bear Hunters, Hillbillies, and Good Ol’ Boys Defined a State. Dr. Blevins is host of The Old Ozarks podcast, a bimonthly show in which he examines the linguistic peculiarities of the Ozarks dialect and untold stories from Ozarks history.

Nieh Hualing (1925-2024) was a Chinese-born writer, poet, and editor whose career bridged multiple cultures and continents. Born in Wuhan, she lived through the upheavals of the Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War before moving to Taiwan, where she established herself as a prominent literary figure.  Her marriage to fellow writer Paul Engle eventually brought her to the United States, where the couple co-founded the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa in 1967, an initiative that brought writers from around the world to the Midwest.  Nieh’s own creative work, including her novel Mulberry and Peach: Two Women of China, blends autobiography with fiction, capturing the dislocation, resilience, and identity struggles of women caught between cultures and histories. She also wrote memoirs such as Three Lives, in which she reflected on her experiences as a refugee student and as a woman navigating turbulent times. Dr. Linshan Jiang is an Assistant Professor of East Asian History and Culture at Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri, where she teaches courses that explore gender, memory, and cultural studies in East Asia. She earned her Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a special emphasis in Translation Studies. Her academic journey also includes an M.A. from Tsinghua University and a B.A. (in English) from Beijing Sport University. Prior to her current appointment, she held positions as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Colby College and as a Postdoctoral Associate at Duke University. Her scholarly interests span modern East Asian history and culture, with particular focus on trauma and memory studies, gender and sexuality, queer studies, and media including podcast studies as well as translation and comparative literature. She is currently developing a book manuscript titled Women Writing War Memories, which examines women writers’ accounts of the Sino‑Japanese and Asia‑Pacific Wars. A second project investigates the performance of queerness in Sinophone queer cultural productions. Dr. Jiang has published extensively on topics ranging from literature and media culture to scholarly translations between Chinese and English.

Long before the United States became a global superpower, it was already casting its gaze far beyond its borders. In the decades before the Civil War, American ships sailed to the farthest corners of the globe, to protect and expand commerce, project political and religious influence, and stake out a place in the European-dominated global order. This was a period when young American sailors and naval officers carried the ambitions of a rising republic into unfamiliar waters and foreign lands, helping to shape US foreign relations in ways that are often overshadowed by the nation’s internal conflicts. What did this early outward engagement look like? How did these expeditions reflect the hopes and anxieties of a growing nation? And what can they tell us about the ways Americans viewed the world? Historian Dr. Michael Verney is the author of A Great and Rising Nation: Naval Exploration and Global Empire in the Early US Republic (University of Chicago Press, July 2022). Dr. Verney teaches at Drury University. His work explores the global history of the early US republic with a focus on maritime expansion, encounters, and empire.