American history

This week on Who What When, we’re discussing the great kaleidoscope that is America with games about people and things that we now think of as completely American but actually came from other parts of the world.

A Southern Magnolia tree at the White House that traces its roots back to the era of President Andrew Jackson has been removed due to the risk of structural failure.

This week, we’ll be talking with Bennett Parten, author of Somewhere Toward Freedom: Sherman's March and the Story of America's Largest Emancipation (2025, Simon & Schuster).In Somewhere Toward Freedom, Ben reframes this seminal episode in Civil War history. He not only helps us understand how Sherman’s March impacted the war, and what it meant to the enslaved, but also reveals how it laid the foundation for the fledging efforts of Reconstruction.Sherman’s March has remained controversial to this day. Ben Parten helps us understand not just how the March affected the outcome of the Civil War, but also what it meant to the enslaved—and he reveals how the March laid the foundation for the fledging efforts of Reconstruction.

“M” is for Middleton, Henry (1770-1846). Legislator, governor, congressman, diplomat.

“M” is for Middleton, Henry (1770-1846). Legislator, governor, congressman, diplomat.

This week on Who What When, we're traveling back to the American frontier with games about the history, culture, and folklore of the wild west.

“P” is for Pinckney, Thomas (1750-1828). Governor, diplomat, congressman, soldier.

“P” is for Pinckney, Thomas (1750-1828). Governor, diplomat, congressman, soldier.

This week, we offer you an encore of an episode from our broadcast archive: A fascinating conversation with Dr. Vernon Burton, the Judge Matthew J. Perry Jr. Distinguished Professor of History at Clemson University, and Dr. Peter Eisenstadt, affiliate scholar in the Department of History at Clemson University.Walter will be talking with Peter and Vernon about their book, Lincoln’s Unfinished Work: The New Birth of Freedom from Generation to Generation, a collection of essays from a conference that they directed at Clemson University which discussed many of the dimensions of Lincoln’s “unfinished work” as a springboard to explore the task of political and social reconstruction in the United States from 1865 to the present day.The conference was not solely about Lincoln, or the immediate unfinished work of Reconstruction, or the broader unfinished work of America coming to terms with its tangled history of race; it investigated all three topics – as does our conversation.

“P” is for Pinckney, Maria Henrietta (d. 1836). Writer. Pinckney is notable for writing a defense of nullification entitled The Quintessence of Long Speeches, Arranged as a Political Catechism.