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Bonus Episode in Partnership with Getting Smart: On this episode of the Getting Smart Podcast Nate McClennen is joined by three incredible students who recently competed in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, an event co-hosted with Society for Science. Check out our podcast episode with Maya Ajmera to hear more about Society for Science. The students are Christine Ye, a student at Eastlake High School Aseel Rawashdeh, a student at Anderson High School, and Elijah Burks, a student at Caddo Parish Magnet High School. Let’s listen in as they discuss their science projects, what project-based learning has done for them as learners, agency, and much more.  About Getting Smart:  This podcast highlights developing trends in K-12 education, postsecondary and lifelong learning. Each week, Getting Smart team members interview students, leading authors, experts and practitioners in research, tech, entrepreneurship and leadership to bring listeners innovative and actionable strategies in education leadership. This podcast is most frequently hosted by Tom Vander Ark, CEO of Getting Smart. Be sure to check out the Getting Smart Newsletter and Twitter Feed to stay on the cutting edge of innovations in learning.

Bonus Episode in Partnership with Changing Course: Host Jonathan Santos Silva speaks with leaders and educators from The Center for Black Educator Development in Philadelphia, PA, about how to create safe spaces that value and invest in young Black leaders. The Center is the first teaching academy in Philadelphia dedicated to investing in the next generation of Black teachers, starting as early as high school. Guided by the lens that excellent education is a political act, Sharif El-Mekki and his team at the Center demonstrate how restoring education to disenfranchised students is the purest form of activism. Changing Course is a podcast from Teach For America's One Day Studio. About Teach For America: Teach For America is a diverse network of leaders who work to confront the injustice of educational inequity through teaching, and at every sector of society. Learn how we are driving impact across the country to achieve our vision that one day, all children in this nation will have an opportunity to attain an excellent education. UnTextbooked is not affiliated with Teach For America.

We’re wrapping up this incredible third season of UnTextbooked by looking back at the great work of our team of young producers. They covered topics and questions that really matter, including the rise of authoritarianism, mass incarceration, unprecedented changes in the Supreme Court, and much more! Each topic highlights how history isn’t just in the past, but also present in all of our lives. In this episode, our host Gabe Hostin and our Youth Program Coordinator CeCe Payne discuss excerpts from episodes we couldn’t stop thinking about this season: Did the American Civil War ever truly end? Is the U.S. government spying on its own citizens? How do Democracies Die? MUSIC: Silas Bohen and Coleman Hamilton PRODUCTION: Pod People - Hannah Pedersen, Danielle Roth, Shaneez Tyndall, and Michael Aquino. Want to be a part of our team for season 4? Apply Here. Episodes featured in this compilation: Episode 312 - Arya Barkesseh (producer) and Dr. Jeremi Suri (guest and author of Civil War By Other Means: America’s Long & Unfinished Fight For Democracy)  Episode 308 - Victor Ye (producer) and Professor Robert Scheer (guest and author of They Know Everything About You: How Data-Collecting Corporations and Snooping Government Agencies are Destroying Democracy) Episode 313 - Jessica Chiriboga (producer) and Professor Daniel Ziblatt (guest and author of How Democracies Die)

In 2020, the Supreme Court was on the verge of transformation. Seismic events like the death of former Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the appointment of conservative justice Amy Coney Barrett, and a polarizing presidential election laid the groundwork for major changes in decision-making seen today.    On this episode of UnTextbooked, producer Karly Shepherd  interviews Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist Linda Greenhouse to discuss the Supreme Court’s increasing politicization and domination by the religious right. With a supermajority of conservative Justices, how should we perceive the Supreme Court today and the effects of it’s political changes on the United States’ democracy?    BOOK: Justice on the Brink: A Requiem for the Supreme Court  GUEST: Linda Greenhouse PRODUCER: Karly Shepherd MUSIC: Silas Bohen and Coleman Hamilton PRODUCTION: Pod People - Hannah Pedersen, Danielle Roth, Shaneez Tyndall, and Michael Aquino. SHOW NOTES: Link to Linda Greenhouse’s work

Is our democracy in danger? In the years after Trump’s presidency, it’s tempting to say “not anymore,” but nowadays threats to democracy are no longer as obvious as a military coup or revolution. Instead, a democracy in danger manifests in much more subtle ways including: the steady decline of longstanding political norms and weakening of essential institutions such as the United States press and its courts system, both of which are already in jeopardy.    On this episode of UnTextbooked, producer Jessica Chiriboga interviews New York Times best-selling author, Professor Daniel Ziblatt to discuss how to spot the signs of a dying democracy and how American democracy might be salvaged.    BOOK: How Democracies Die GUEST: Professor Daniel Ziblatt PRODUCER: Jessica Chiriboga MUSIC: Silas Bohen and Coleman Hamilton PRODUCTION: Pod People - Hannah Pedersen, Danielle Roth, Shaneez Tyndall, and Michael Aquino. SHOW NOTES: Link to Daniel Ziblatt’s work

Although the American Civil War ended many years ago, the fight for “a more perfect union” never quite did. A few months after the union army’s victory, confederate-style, white supremacist resistance emerged even stronger than before.    On this episode of UnTextbooked, producer Arya Barkesseh interviews Dr. Jeremi Suri, who argues that opposition to the union army’s victory started almost immediately after the war ended, preventing Lincoln’s vision of a genuinely united country from actually taking root. Today, these deep wounds of division remain fresh as citizens of the United States continue to wrestle with competing visions of democracy, race, and freedom over 150 years later.    BOOK: Civil War By Other Means: America’s Long & Unfinished Fight For Democracy GUEST: Dr. Jeremi Suri PRODUCER: Arya Barkesseh MUSIC: Silas Bohen and Coleman Hamilton PRODUCTION: Pod People - Hannah Pedersen, Danielle Roth, Shaneez Tyndall, and Michael Aquino. SHOW NOTES: Link to Dr. Jeremi Suri’s work  This is Democracy - podcast

The Cold War was marked by a bitter rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. Although former WWII NATO allies, what emerged was an atmosphere of constant fear for national security and a dangerous nuclear arms race.   On this episode of UnTextbooked, producer Lap Nguyen and Professor Susan Colbourn unpack the power of citizen protest and the crucial factors that eventually brought the contentious war to a peaceful end.   BOOK: Euromissiles: The Nuclear Weapons that Nearly Destroyed NATO GUEST: Professor Susan Colbourn PRODUCER: Lap Nguyen MUSIC: Silas Bohen and Coleman Hamilton PRODUCTION: Pod People - Hannah Pedersen, Danielle Roth, Shaneez Tyndall, and Michael Aquino. SHOW NOTES: Link to Susan Colbourn’s work

In the 1930s, six naval powers roamed the world’s oceans: Great Britain, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, and Japan. Each nation was subject to the Washington Naval Treaty, which granted 60% of the world’s battleships to the Royal and US Navy, 20% to Japan, and 20% to France and Italy. However by 1945, the United States Navy had expanded to a fleet larger than that of all the great powers. What exactly did that mean in the wake of WWII?   On this episode of UnTextbooked, producer Will Bourell interviews Professor Paul Kennedy, who argues that the expansion of the U.S. Navy during WWII cemented them at the top of a new international world order.    BOOK: Victory at Sea: Naval Power and the Transformation of the Global Order in World War II GUEST: Paul Kennedy PRODUCER: Will Bourell MUSIC: Silas Bohen and Coleman Hamilton PRODUCTION: Pod People - Hannah Pedersen, Danielle Roth, Shaneez Tyndall, and Michael Aquino. SHOW NOTES: Link to Paul Kennedy’s work

By 1945, the Soviet Union was a founding member of the United Nations and a  global superpower controlling half of Europe. By 1991, with five thousand nuclear missiles at its disposal and an army four million strong, the USSR was a formidable rival for the United States. But by the end of the year, the union would meet its untimely demise.   Most historians have argued that the fall of the USSR was inevitable, but Vlad Zubok author of Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union sees things differently. In his book, Zubok offers a major reinterpretation of the last years of this seismic event revealing how nationalist separatism and the misguided reforms of former Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev ultimately destroyed the Soviet Union.   On this episode of UnTextbooked, producer Ismail Assafi and  Professor Vlad Zubok revisit those final years of the USSR exploring whether it could’ve been saved, and what precedents its fall set for modern day geopolitical climates.    BOOK: Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union GUEST: Vladislav Zubok PRODUCER: Ismail Assafi MUSIC: Silas Bohen and Coleman Hamilton PRODUCTION: Pod People - Hannah Pedersen, Danielle Roth, Shaneez Tyndall, and Michael Aquino. SHOW NOTES: Link to Vlad Zubok’s work

As human beings, our privacy is one of our most basic needs and most sacred rights. However, in the modern information age, these rights are constantly under attack. How does the American federal government collect our data and what happens when the institutions meant to protect our privacy opts to instead use that information for their gain?    On this episode of UnTextbooked, producer Victor Ye interviews Robert Scheer to discuss how we can best protect ourselves in an era where the U.S. government has abandoned Constitutional privacy protections in favor of 24/7 citizen surveillance.   BOOK: They Know Everything About You: How Data-Collecting Corporations and Snooping Government Agencies are Destroying Democracy GUEST: Robert Scheer PRODUCER: Victor Ye MUSIC: Silas Bohen and Coleman Hamilton PRODUCTION: Pod People - Hannah Pedersen, Danielle Roth, Shaneez Tyndall, and Michael Aquino. SHOW NOTES: Link to Robert Scheer’s work

Technology plays a vital role in our society day-to-day, but what exactly is our role when it comes to managing our tech? How do our internal biases impact the products we create? Can technological advances actually be “neutral” as a product of human imagination? These are all questions to consider as we take a look at how human and computational infrastructures overlap.   On this episode of UnTextbooked, producer Caroline Somers interviews Professor Thomas S. Mullaney to discuss the impact of technology– good and bad–on modern society and our role in responsibly using it. If every advance is linked to a social issue from our past, what might history teach us about our technological future?   BOOK: Your Computer is on Fire GUEST: Thomas S. Mullaney PRODUCER: Caroline Somers MUSIC: Silas Bohen and Coleman Hamilton PRODUCTION: Pod People - Hannah Pedersen, Danielle Roth, Shaneez Tyndall, and Michael Aquino. SHOW NOTES: Link to Thomas S. Mullaney’s work

The gay bar has long since been a locale of sexual expression, community, and most importantly, identity. If the gay bar was what Atherton Lin describes as, “a place where we hoped we could find ourselves,” what does it mean for queer identity when the spaces that once shaped and defined it are steadily vanishing in urban centers world-wide?  In his wistful personal and cultural memoir, Gay Bar: Why We Went Out (named one of the best books of 2021 by the New York Times, NPR, and Vogue),  essayist Jeremy Atherton Lin speaks to the impact of the gay bar on his own identity development and how the gathering space created a generation of chance encounters that shaped his life. On this episode of UnTextbooked, producer Jenny Fan interviews Atherton Lin taking  a closer look at what recent shutdowns of such spaces have meant for those who came of age in them and the new generations now seeking to define their queer identity. BOOK: Gay Bar: Why We Went Out GUEST: Jeremy Atherton Lin PRODUCER: Jenny Fan MUSIC: Silas Bohen and Coleman Hamilton PRODUCTION: Pod People - Hannah Pedersen, Danielle Roth, Shaneez Tyndall, and Michael Aquino. SHOW NOTES: Jeremy Atherton Lin’s playlists and sound essays can be heard on NTS Radio and Mixcloud, or by visiting his website.

More American residents are behind bars than any other nation. While the U.S. Criminal Justice System was established to regulate peace and order, it has since become the catalyst for criminalizing of people of color. Fueled by initiatives like Nixon’s “War on Drugs” campaign, which unfairly targeted communities of color, mass incarceration has steadily been on the rise. Despite the staggering amount of people behind bars, the crime rates haven’t exactly been on the decline, raising the question: do prisons actually keep us safe?   On this episode of UnTextbooked, producer Sydne Clarke interviews Victoria Law whose groundbreaking book investigates the brutal history of mass incarceration in the United States, showing how dismantling mass incarceration starts with unpacking the myths surrounding it.  BOOK: Prisons Make Us Safer: And 20 Other Myths about Mass Incarceration GUEST: Victoria Law PRODUCER: Sydne Clarke MUSIC: Silas Bohen and Coleman Hamilton PRODUCTION: Pod People - Hannah Pedersen, Danielle Roth, Shaneez Tyndall, and Michael Aquino. SHOW NOTES: Link to Victoria Law’s work

The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution has roots in strong firearm regulation and gun safety policy, but over the years, it’s become a mantra for gun rights advocates.   On this episode of UnTextbooked, producer Ellie Carver-Horner interviews Professor Adam Winkler about how over time, the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (the right to bear arms) historically caused a major divide in the United States and the impact of that extreme split today.   BOOK: Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America GUEST: Professor Adam Winkler, J.D. PRODUCER: Ellie Carver-Horner MUSIC: Silas Bohen and Coleman Hamilton PRODUCTION: Pod People - Hannah Pedersen, Danielle Roth, Shaneez Tyndall, and Michael Aquino. SHOW NOTES: Link to Professor Adam Winkler’s work

The first amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees that everyone has the right to practice his or her own religion or no religion at all. A similar guarantee exists in Canada under its Charter of Rights and Freedoms. However, this right to religious freedom hasn’t necessarily been assured for practitioners of traditional African religions throughout history in North America and beyond.   On this episode of UnTextbooked, producer Jordan Pettiford interviews Dr. Danielle Boaz to discuss the impact of religious racism and how it’s been consistently used, from colonial times to modern day, to oppress practitioners of African diaspora religions.    BOOK: Banning Black Gods: Laws and Religions of the African Diaspora GUEST: Dr. Danielle N. Boaz PRODUCER: Jordan Pettiford MUSIC: Silas Bohen and Coleman Hamilton PRODUCTION: Pod People - Hannah Pedersen, Danielle Roth, Shaneez Tyndall, and Michael Aquino. SHOW NOTES: Link to Dr. Boaz’s work

There are more than five hundred federally recognized Indigenous nations in the United States today, nearly three million people, but their stories have largely been omitted from the nation’s history.    On this episode of UnTextbooked, producer Gavin Scott  interviews acclaimed historian and activist, Professor Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and takes a look at U.S. History through the lens of Indigenous Peoples and unpacks what we’ve been missing as a nation without their perspective.   BOOK: An Indigenous People's History of the United States GUEST: Professor Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz PRODUCER: Gavin Scott MUSIC: Silas Bohen and Coleman Hamilton PRODUCTION: Pod People - Hannah Pedersen, Danielle Roth, Shaneez Tyndall, and Michael Aquino. SHOW NOTES: Link to Professor Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s work

Throughout the world, democratic progress has not only halted, but receded over the past few years and the United States has been one of the main perpetrators. On this episode of UnTextbooked, producer Oliver Wang interviews Former Deputy National Security Advisor of the United States (Obama Administration), Ben Rhodes to discover who is to blame for the global fall of democracy and how we might return to a truly democratic identity.   BOOK: After the Fall: The Rise of Authoritarianism in the World We've Made GUEST: Ben Rhodes PRODUCER: Oliver Wang MUSIC: Silas Bohen and Coleman Hamilton PRODUCTION: Pod People - Hannah Pedersen, Danielle Roth, Shaneez Tyndall, and Michael Aquino. SHOW NOTES: Link to Ben Rhodes’ work

Untextbooked is a movement of curious students from around the world -- and we are BACK with new episodes and new questions. What perspectives do we miss in history class? What historical forces shape our lives today? We study up on topics that interest us -- indigenous history, the status of democracy, future of technology -- and then reach out to scholars to have a conversation for the podcast.    Listen every Thursday wherever you listen to podcasts. Hit the follow button on Spotify or the little plus sign on Apple podcasts. That way you never miss an episode.    Hear the stories that we want everyone to know more about so we can understand the world we are living in. These are the histories we want to uncover as we take history out of the textbook. Learn more about the podcast at UnTextbooked.com.

We’ve completed our second season of UnTextbooked! Our team of young producers have done phenomenal work exploring topics and questions that really matter, including episodes about the War on Terror, Native American boarding schools, population control, and much more. In this episode our editor Bethany Denton shares excerpts from four of her favorite Season 2 episodes: Is every presidency doomed to fail? Can the War on Terror ever truly end? Does population control work? Why were Native American kids required to attend boarding schools? Want to be part of our team for season 3? Apply here.  Music: Silas Bohen and Coleman Hamilton Editors: Bethany Denton and Jeff Emtman

The Cold War was a decades-long military conflict that dominated geopolitics in the latter half of the 20th century. And as Americans, we often see it framed as a binary conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union; one that ended around the time the Berlin Wall came down in 1989.  But historian Odd Arne Westad, author of The Global Cold War, thinks that version of the story is incomplete. The US and USSR never engaged in direct combat with one another, so the Cold War was fought indirectly via proxy wars and embargoes, and many Third World countries are still dealing with the effects.  On this episode of UnTextbooked, producer Anya Dua interviews Dr. Westad about the global impacts of the Cold War, more than thirty years after it ended. Book: The Global Cold War Guest: Dr. Odd Arne Westad, Professor of history at Yale University Producer: Anya Dua Music: Silas Bohen and Coleman Hamilton Editors: Bethany Denton and Jeff Emtman