Discover the Past That Shapes Our Present
The Clio Dialogues is a history podcast dedicated to exploring how the past continues to shape the world we live in today.
Recent Episodes
13
Oct. 13, 2026
Gibraltar: The Rock Between Worlds | Geoffrey Plank, The Last Place in Europe
Historian Geoffrey Plank joins Jennifer Robin Terry to discuss his new book, The Last Place in Europe: A History of Gibraltar, and how one tiny territory became a crossroads of empires, cultures, commerce, and contested borders.
Gibraltar has almost no natural resources, yet empires have fought over this tiny territory for centuries. Its importance lies in its geography, where Europe meets Africa and the Mediterranean opens into the Atlantic. Geoffrey Plank traces this contested crossroads fr
Gibraltar has almost no natural resources, yet empires have fought over this tiny territory for centuries. Its importance lies in its geography, where Europe meets Africa and the Mediterranean opens into the Atlantic. Geoffrey Plank traces this contested crossroads fr
12
Oct. 6, 2026
Sanctuary: How an Ancient Idea Became a Modern Movement | Sergio González & Lloyd Barba | Sanctuary in America
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 political violence, even as the U.S. government denied them asylum. Facing a
11
Sept. 29, 2026
American Made, Hollywood Spin: A Wider Angle on the American Working Class | Aimee Loiselle | Beyond Norma Rae
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 episode of The Clio Dialogues history podcast, host Jennifer Robin Terry speaks with Aimee
10
Sept. 22, 2026
Beyond the Frontier Myth: The Complicated West | Megan Kate Nelson | The Westerners
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 network of competing ambitions, shared spaces, and multi-directional jo
9
Sept. 15, 2026
Coffeehouse Confessions: Love, Sex, and Advice in 1690s London | Mary Beth Norton | I Humbly Beg Your Speedy Answer
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 "Google" or "Wikipedia" for coffeehouse patrons. But before long, readers b
8
Sept. 8, 2026
Democracy Undone: The Story of an American Reporter in Nazi Germany | Pamela Toler
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 and host Jennifer Robin Terry discuss how economic and political in...
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