The Way of Improvement Leads Home: American History, Religion, Politics, and Academic life.

 In this episode, we talk to historian Marc Stein, the current president of the Organization of American Historians, about the 200th anniversary of the United States. Stein's new book Bicentennial: A Revolutionary History of the 1970s chronicles the Bicentennial celebrations in Philadelphia and throughout the nation.  In the process, we learn more about American urban history, public history and commemoration, and the way diverse and under-represented communities challenged prevailing narratives of American identity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This year, our host John Fea has been participating in a new podcast venture on the history of American evangelicalism with historians Daniel Hummel and Maggie Capra. We want listeners to The Way of Improvement Podcast to be aware of this new 12-part podcast series, so we added it to our feed. Enjoy!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After an uneventful one-term presidency, John Quincy Adams was elected to the House of Representatives and fought against the institution of slavery. Our guest is Bob Crawford, bass player for the Avett Brothers and author of America's Founding Son: John Quincy Adams, from President to Political Maverick. We talk about Adams's moral convictions, his relationship with abolitionists, and his distrust of democracy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How did the suburbs shape American Catholicism? Today's guest on the podcast is historian Stephen M. Koeth, author of Crabgrass Catholicism: How Suburbanization Transformed Faith and Politics in Postwar America. Koeth argues that postwar suburbanization revolutionized the Catholic parish, the relationship between clergy and laity, conceptions of parochial education, and Catholic participation in US politics, and thereby was a significant factor in the religious disaffiliation that only accelerated in subsequent decades. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Annette Laing, a "proper historian" with a Ph.D. in the field, wants to dispel the myth that history education occurs only in the classroom. She is the chief proprietor of "Non-Boring History,"a Substack devoted to bringing the past to bear on the present in a way accessible to history buffs of all ages. If you are a public historian, you do not want to miss this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices