The Clio Dialogues

Historians Sergio M. González and Lloyd D. Barba join Jennifer Robin Terry on The Clio Dialogues to discuss their book, Sanctuary in America: How Activists Defied the Government and Defended Immigrants—And Why It Still Matters. They explore how an ancient tradition of sacred refuge became a modern movement challenging state power. 

In 1982, congregations began opening their doors to Salvadorans and Guatemalans fleeing pol...

One of Hollywood’s most enduring symbols of worker activism came about when actress Sally Field stood alone on a factory table, handwritten "UNION" sign held high above her head.  That table moment really happened. But as labor historian Dr. Aimee Loiselle reveals, the true story behind the 1979 Academy Award film Norma Rae was a multi-racial, collective movement—not a lone white hero's crusade. 

In this episod...

Historian Megan Kate Nelson joins Jennifer Robin Terry to discuss The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier and how the complicated lives of the people who inhabited the American West challenge one of the nation’s most enduring myths.

The popular story of the American West is deceptively simple: white settlers in wagons moving steadily toward the Pacific. The historical reality, however, was a vast netw...

Acclaimed historian Mary Beth Norton joins host Jennifer Robin Terry to discuss her book, I Humbly Beg Your Speedy Answer: Letters on Love & Marriage from the World's First Personal Advice Column, and the surprisingly modern history of relationship advice, courtship, heartbreak, and ghosting.

In 1691, London printer John Dunton launched the Athenian Mercury—a broadsheet originally intended as a 17th-century version of "Goo...

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What does the rise of authoritarianism look like while it is happening in real time? Historian Pamela Toler, author of The Dragon from Chicago: The Untold Story of an American Reporter in Nazi Germany, joins The Clio Dialogues to tell the remarkable story of Sigrid Schultz, the Chicago Tribune’s Berlin bureau chief who reported on the fall of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.

Toler a...

History only looks inevitable because we already know the ending.

As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary, it is easy to look backward and see a straight road to 1776. In Contested Continent, historian Peter C. Mancall shows just how uncertain that road actually was. He joins Jennifer Robin Terry to explore a North America shaped by competing peoples, incompatible ambitions, and consequential choices. The result is a d...

Today, our hair is often a means of self-expression. But what if you had no control over what your hair expressed? And I’m not just talking about a bad hair day! In nineteenth-century America, hair conveyed something very different than what it does today. 

In this episode of The Clio Dialogues, I am joined by my friend and former classmate (Go Bears!), historian Dr. Sarah Gold McBride to discuss the surprising American c...

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Wine with dinner. A beer after work. A whiskey to seal the deal. These rituals feel timeless, but they are far more recent than most Americans realize.

In this episode of The Clio Dialogues, historian Lisa Jacobson explains how the repeal of Prohibition did not automatically restore alcohol's place in American life. Instead, breweries, wineries, distillers, advertisers, cookbook authors, physicians, government officials, ...

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What if one of the world's most influential cultural industries wasn't built by publishers or artists alone?

Today, manga is a global phenomenon. It has inspired blockbuster films, anime, video games, conventions, cosplay, and a multibillion-dollar merchandise industry. But according to historian Andrea Horbinski, manga's remarkable success cannot be understood simply by studying famous creators or bestselling tit...

𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

Why is one of America's most successful anti-hunger programs suddenly at the center of legal and political controversy?

Recent battles over restrictions on purchases through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the nation's largest government food assistance program, have reignited debates over nutrition, personal choice, and the proper role of government. But as Christopher Boss...

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥. The modern business suit may seem timeless and practical, but its history reveals how clothing came to shape our ideas about power, respectability, and political authority.  Drawing on her unique perspective as both a designer and historian, she explains how the Founding Fathers helped revolutionize men's fashion and how the plain dark suit evolved into the global uniform of presidents, exe...

What if almost everything you've heard about the history of American immigration is missing half the story?

Less than 24 hours after the Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship with its decision in Trump v. Barbara, historian Anna O. Law joined The Clio Dialogues to explain why today's debates over birthright citizenship and immigration reach back centuries.

To better understand the controversy over birthright citizenship, Law ta...