Josh Johnson’s Compendium
Compendium is Josh Johnson’s exploration of the past, but through a new lens. In the tradition of long-form podcasting giants like Dan Carlin and Danielle Bolleli, Josh explores history you may not have learned in school.
Episodes
Many in both the North and the South believe the American Civil War is God's punishment for America's sins. By the end of 1862, the casualty lists had become impossible to ignore, and both sides began to realize that in this war, there would be no happy endings.
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Andrew Rowen set out to write a new story of Columbus' journey to the Americas. He was going to tell both sides of the story. His now three-volume historical fiction brings the native point of view to bear, along with Queen Isabella's.
Josh sits down with Andrew to discuss what actually happened from 1498 to 1502 and how the actions of Spain’s Queen Isabel, the Taíno Indian Chieftain Anacaona, and Columbus shaped events...
I'm joined by author Buddy Levy, who's written books such as Conquistador, River of Darkness, Realm of Ice and Sky, and others. We dive into Cortez & Montezuma, the 40-foot owl at the Bohemian Grove, Mike Leach, and his favorite writing advice.
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Don Hollway is back! This time, we're talking about Olaf Tryggvason and his new book: Hammer of the Gods.
Grab a copy of Don's book here
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Tony Vanderhoef is a Law student at Florida State and has also gained a following on Instagram, making short-form content in the political space. He approaches American politics from a constitutional perspective, and instead of trying to rally a base and divide, he aims to bridge the divide.
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Today I'm joined by Bob Crawford to talk about his new book, America's Founding Son; what he describes as a digestible history of John Quincy Adams. Adams is a fascinating historical character, and Bob and I talk about why he was a unique president, what made him polarizing, and how he "stood in the gap" in his own time.
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The practice of strategy today is a history-adjacent discipline, but it is one that history informs and one that shapes history. John Gaddis is one of the United States' foremost strategy thinkers, and he joins me on the show to talk about Venezuela, the war in Ukraine, how democracies and autocracies differ with regard to strategy, and much more.
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Historian Barry Strauss joins me to talk about his new book, Jews Vs Rome! We also look at some of the greatest commanders in history, what they did well and what they struggled with, as well as why YOU should read history.
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Did Alexander beat Darius because he was a better field commander, or because he was a greater gravitational force? Josh wonders if perhaps his secret weapon was something a bit more mundane?
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What happens when a 90-day war goes longer than 90 days? You get a soupy melange of nerves, avarice, and confusion. Nobody at the time is equipped to deal with it, least of all the men in charge.
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Check out the Distant Guns series Bibliography
The Founding Era is fascinating in many ways; it marks the beginning of our American history and laid the foundation for the democratic republic we know today. But it's a more complicated period than what you learn in school. Infighting and partisan factionalism nearly strangled the American infant in her cradle. I talk with Chris Dougherty about the founding era, about Alexander Hamilton, and the great democratic experiment.
Today on the show, I'm interviewing author and historian Scott Ellsworth. His newest book, Midnight on the Potomac, narrates the final year of the Civil War, the myriad Lincoln assassination attempts of 1864/65, and John Wilkes Booth's association with the confederacy.
Grab a copy of Midnight on the Potomac: https://amzn.to/47G5WYm
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They say America's greatest strength is its ability to compromise. But what happens when compromise fails—when Americans on opposite sides of a moral and political divide find no recourse except violence? In the 1850s and '60s, the debates between northern and southern states migrated from marble halls to virgin fields, where rhetoric gave way to rifles.
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This show attempts to answer some of the questions I had (or address things I didn't know I'd need to know) before starting Compendium.
I'm talking with Matt from Reflecting History (a podcasting OG) about what you're signing up for by starting a history podcast, how to research, how to process audio, and what to expect when you begin.
It's a great conversation, and it's only Part 1. The second half of our conversation is on the Re...
Nixon and Kissinger think they’ve cracked the code. But handing off the war to South Vietnam proves no easier than it was for the three administrations before them, because some things change, but the quagmire doesn’t.
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Murky victory conditions and an obsession with body count turn the jungles of Vietnam into a human meat grinder. While the United States struggles to manage an increasingly brutal war, Hanoi prepares a knockout blow to break the stalemate.
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I have the pleasure of interviewing Myke Cole on this episode of the show! He is a historian and the author of STEEL LOBSTERS, THE BRONZE LIE, THE KILLING GROUND, and others.
We talk about Sir Arthur Haselrige and his Regiment of Horse; a group of knights-carrying-guns that fought in the English Civil Wars. We talk about Pike and Shot tactics, historiography, and the ways in which historians argue with one another.
It was my joy to get to speak with Edwin Moise, a professor of history at Clemson University, and Vietnam War expert. This conversation was the culmination of many conversations had in the background as I was researching Hell in a Small Place III–and this conversation acts as a bit of a companion episode to the HISP shows. Read Professor Moise's work here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Edwin-E.-Moise/author/B001ITVOIY?ref=ap...
Smoke drifts lazily upward from the consumed redoubts at Dienbienphu. A fledgling country rejoices in its newfound freedom…for a time. A line of demarcation is drawn: Communist north. Nationalist south. Larger powers move in to claim their proxies. The United States is left to reckon with a difficult question: can they win a race with a losing horse? They’re about to find out.
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Today, I have the honor of interviewing author and historian Don Hollway. His books include Battle for the Island Kingdom, At the Gates of Rome, and The Last Viking.
It was the Last Viking that was my introduction to Hollway's work, and I was enthralled by the story of Harald Hardada, his larger than life persona and various outsized adventures.
We talk about Hardrada's legacy, dive into anglo-saxon and Viking warfare, and ho...
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