Mike, Blake, and Marshall discuss the mythology of the Pilgrims who came to America to found Plymouth Colony in 1620 in this excerpt from Episode 302 ("The Colonies") of the United States of Amnesia podcast series "A Christian Nation?" which explores the view held by some Americans that the United…
Did the Pilgrims leave England to flee religious oppression, or to find a place where they could be the oppressors? These and other questions arise as Blake reviews the foundation of each of the 13 colonies and explores the role — if any — of religious belief in establishing each…
Marshall and Mike discuss a major conclusion of our multi-part series about how the United States always has misunderstood China — a much broader conclusion that U.S. difficulties in dealing with the world come down to a U.S. lack of cultural literacy. This portion of that discussion is excerpted from…
Was America founded as a Christian nation? Some say yes, some say no, and the real answer is more complex than you might think. Blake takes the reins as the leader of this series, discussing the role (or in some cases, perhaps, the lack thereof) of Christianity in the establishment…
Mike explains the often-forgotten role France played in U.S. military strategy during the interwar period in this excerpt from Episode 106 ("America First — Part 6 — Conclusion") of the United States of Amnesia podcast series "America First," which explores the history and evolution of the 'America First" movement in…
Marshall, Blake, and Mike wrap up the "Tea, Drugs, and Jesus" series with a review of how the United States misunderstood China in various ways at various times during the history of relations between the two countries between the late 18th century and 1972, as well as what broader themes…
Marshall describes how the movies falsely depicted the Axis powers of World War II as a deep, unified conspiracy against the world and how Americans then falsely assumed that communist countries behaved as a unified bloc in a similar — and also fictional — way in this excerpt from Episode…
The Boxer Rebellion was a violent Chinese uprising against foreigners that is best known for the 55-day siege of the foreign legations in Peking in 1900. Mike describes the origins and early stages of the rebellion in this excerpt from Episode 204 ("The Harmonious") of the United States of Amnesia…
When Chinese "volunteers" intervened in the Korean War in 1950, American relations with the People's Republic of China fell into an icy abyss from which they did not emerge until President Richard Nixon made his momentous decision to transform world politics by visiting Beijing in 1972. In the United States,…
The United States had three major policy options with regard to China as Chinese Communist forces swept to victory over the Nationalists on the Chinese mainland in 1949. Marshall, Mike, and Blake introduce these three options in this excerpt from Episode 209 ("White Paper to Red Scare") of th United…
Marshall, Blake, and Mike engage in a wide-ranging discussion of American policy disputes over what to do about China after World War II. President Truman, Secretaries of State George C. Marshall and Dean Acheson, Madame Chiang and her family, General Claire Chennault, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, the CIA, the domino…
Mike walks us through the complex situation in China in the aftermath of World War II, with armed Japanese operating in the country, Soviet forces occupying Manchuria, and the Nationalist and Communist Chinese resuming their civil war with one another. The decisive phase of the civil war ensues, culminating in…
