America spent most of the 19th century at war with itself. It conquered its western expanse then collapsed into civil war. Once the North beat the South, partisan politics consumed the country for a generation. A string of assassinations, progressive firebrands, and civil service reforms burned people out on domestic politics and a bored and febrile nation began to search for meaning beyond its borders. It noticed the Spanish Empire was awfully close.

In Splendid Liberators, award winning journalist Joe Jackson chronicles the beginning of the American myth of the “good war.” He’s on the show today to talk to us about Teddy Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and a general who lay in state at the Alamo.

Recurring patterns in American history
Roscoe Conkling jumpscare
Remnants of the Spanish-American War in South Carolina
What did liberty mean in the 19th century?
Clara Barton, Leonard Wood and the dual American personality
The first modern concentration camps
The Battleship of Maine
When Congress used to fight, physically
Drones won’t win a war
The US in the Philippines
‘The water cure’
American historians facing reality in the Philippines
Teddy, finally
Laying in state at the Alamo

A Defense of General Funston

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When Americans Became ‘Splendid Liberators’