Margaret talks with Garrison Davis about how the Church tried, and largely failed, to stop the wild revelry of the winter solstice.

Margaret talks with Garrison Davis about how the Church tried, and largely failed, to stop the wild revelry of the winter solstice.

As long as there’s been oppression, there’ve been people fighting it. This weekly podcast dives into history to drag up the wildest rebels, the most beautiful revolts, and all the people who long to be—and fight to be—free. It explores complex stories of resistance that offer lessons and inspiration for us today, focusing on the ensemble casts that make up each act of history. That is to say, this podcast focuses on Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff.

As long as there’s been oppression, there’ve been people fighting it. This weekly podcast dives into history to drag up the wildest rebels, the most beautiful revolts, and all the people who long to be—and fight to be—free. It explores complex stories of resistance that offer lessons and inspiration for us today, focusing on the ensemble casts that make up each act of history. That is to say, this podcast focuses on Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff.

Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff

There’s a reason the History Channel has produced hundreds of documentaries about Hitler but only a few about Dwight D. Eisenhower. Bad guys (and gals) are eternally fascinating. Behind the Bastards dives in past the Cliffs Notes of the worst humans in history and exposes the bizarre realities of their lives. Listeners will learn about the young adult novels that helped Hitler form his monstrous ideology, the founder of Blackwater’s insane quest to build his own Air Force, the bizarre lives of the sons and daughters of dictators and Saddam Hussein’s side career as a trashy romance novelist.

Everything you don't know about History's greatest monsters

Behind the Bastards

As long as there&rsquo;s been oppression, there&rsquo;ve been people fighting it. This weekly podcast dives into history to drag up the wildest rebels, the most beautiful revolts, and all the people who long to be&mdash;and fight to be&mdash;free. It explores complex stories of resistance that offer lessons and inspiration for us today, focusing on the ensemble casts that make up each act of history. That is to say, this podcast focuses on Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff.

Part One: Keep the Yuletide Gay: Saturnalia & the Puritan War on Christmas

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/cad5e4f3-a6c3-414f-95ea-af6e003fcedf/transcript

Margaret interviews ancient historian Christopher B. Zeichmann about all the wild stuff happening in the ancient world and confirms her guesses about Spartacus and the Third Servile War

Margaret interviews ancient historian Christopher B. Zeichmann about all the wild stuff happening in the ancient world and confirms her guesses about Spartacus and the Third Servile War

Part One:  Christopher B. Zeichmann on Radical Antiquity

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/b2de8fd8-798d-4b6d-8cf6-b401002ccae8/transcript

Margaret continues her talk with Courtney Kocak about the potentially million-strong alliance of Black farmers who built up a cooperative economics in the post-war American South

Sources:

https://greekcitytimes.com/2025/02/07/the-helots-a-labour-force/
https://www.lucyparsonsproject.com/writings/negro.html
https://www.rd.usda.gov/files/RR194.pdf
https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=TE009
https://worldblackhistory.blogspot.com/2022/11/blog-post_11.html
https://lawyersgunsmon.wpengine.com/2012/12/this-day-in-labor-history-december-11-1886
https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2017/09/day-labor-history-september-25-1891
https://temple.manifoldapp.org/read/the-black-worker-during-the-era-of-the-knights-of-labor-volume-iii/section/cf118f82-0d04-4251-9934-c474e4daef2e
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40030730?read-now=1&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
https://wp.nyu.edu/compliance_enforcement/2025/08/07/doj-secures-first-criminal-conviction-in-wage-fixing-case/
https://ncbaclusa.coop/content/uploads/2023/02/Fall-2022_Winter-2023-Cooperative-Business-Journal_FINAL-v2.pdf
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40030730
https://www.givinggrove.org/blog-reference/black-farmers-in-america
https://snccdigital.org/events/fannie-lou-hamer-founds-freedom-farm-cooperative/
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/November-15/the-march-to-the-sea-begins
https://explorethearchive.com/shermans-march-to-the-sea
https://www.nps.gov/common/uploads/teachers/lessonplans/Document6(SpecialOrder).pdf
https://www.grunge.com/601373/what-you-should-know-about-the-granger-movement-of-the-1860s/
https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/shermans-field-order-no-15/
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40030586?read-now=1&seq=7#page_scan_tab_contents

Margaret continues her talk with Courtney Kocak about the potentially million-strong alliance of Black farmers who built up a cooperative economics in the post-war American South
Sources:
https://greekcitytimes.com/2025/02/07/the-helots-a-labour-force/ https://www.lucyparsonsproject.com/writings/negro.html https://www.rd.usda.gov/files/RR194.pdf https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=TE009 https://worldblackhistory.blogspot.com/2022/11/blog-post_11.html https://lawyersgunsmon.wpengine.com/2012/12/this-day-in-labor-history-december-11-1886 https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2017/09/day-labor-history-september-25-1891 https://temple.manifoldapp.org/read/the-black-worker-during-the-era-of-the-knights-of-labor-volume-iii/section/cf118f82-0d04-4251-9934-c474e4daef2e https://www.jstor.org/stable/40030730?read-now=1&amp;seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents https://wp.nyu.edu/compliance_enforcement/2025/08/07/doj-secures-first-criminal-conviction-in-wage-fixing-case/ https://ncbaclusa.coop/content/uploads/2023/02/Fall-2022_Winter-2023-Cooperative-Business-Journal_FINAL-v2.pdf https://www.jstor.org/stable/40030730 https://www.givinggrove.org/blog-reference/black-farmers-in-america https://snccdigital.org/events/fannie-lou-hamer-founds-freedom-farm-cooperative/ https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/November-15/the-march-to-the-sea-begins https://explorethearchive.com/shermans-march-to-the-sea https://www.nps.gov/common/uploads/teachers/lessonplans/Document6(SpecialOrder).pdf https://www.grunge.com/601373/what-you-should-know-about-the-granger-movement-of-the-1860s/ https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/shermans-field-order-no-15/ https://www.jstor.org/stable/40030586?read-now=1&amp;seq=7#page_scan_tab_contents

Part Two: The Colored Farmers Alliance and Early Black Cooperativism in the US

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/1ed7462d-df59-4eb1-9f30-b3fc003b8639/transcript

Margaret talks to Courtney Kocak about the potentially million-strong alliance of Black farmers who built up a cooperative economics in the post-war American South

Sources

https://greekcitytimes.com/2025/02/07/the-helots-a-labour-force/
https://www.lucyparsonsproject.com/writings/negro.html
https://www.rd.usda.gov/files/RR194.pdf
https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=TE009
https://worldblackhistory.blogspot.com/2022/11/blog-post_11.html
https://lawyersgunsmon.wpengine.com/2012/12/this-day-in-labor-history-december-11-1886
https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2017/09/day-labor-history-september-25-1891
https://temple.manifoldapp.org/read/the-black-worker-during-the-era-of-the-knights-of-labor-volume-iii/section/cf118f82-0d04-4251-9934-c474e4daef2e
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40030730?read-now=1&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
https://wp.nyu.edu/compliance_enforcement/2025/08/07/doj-secures-first-criminal-conviction-in-wage-fixing-case/
https://ncbaclusa.coop/content/uploads/2023/02/Fall-2022_Winter-2023-Cooperative-Business-Journal_FINAL-v2.pdf
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40030730
https://www.givinggrove.org/blog-reference/black-farmers-in-america
https://snccdigital.org/events/fannie-lou-hamer-founds-freedom-farm-cooperative/
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/November-15/the-march-to-the-sea-begins
https://explorethearchive.com/shermans-march-to-the-sea
https://www.nps.gov/common/uploads/teachers/lessonplans/Document6(SpecialOrder).pdf
https://www.grunge.com/601373/what-you-should-know-about-the-granger-movement-of-the-1860s/
https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/shermans-field-order-no-15/
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40030586?read-now=1&seq=7#page_scan_tab_contents

Margaret talks to Courtney Kocak about the potentially million-strong alliance of Black farmers who built up a cooperative economics in the post-war American South
Sources
https://greekcitytimes.com/2025/02/07/the-helots-a-labour-force/ https://www.lucyparsonsproject.com/writings/negro.html https://www.rd.usda.gov/files/RR194.pdf https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=TE009 https://worldblackhistory.blogspot.com/2022/11/blog-post_11.html https://lawyersgunsmon.wpengine.com/2012/12/this-day-in-labor-history-december-11-1886 https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2017/09/day-labor-history-september-25-1891 https://temple.manifoldapp.org/read/the-black-worker-during-the-era-of-the-knights-of-labor-volume-iii/section/cf118f82-0d04-4251-9934-c474e4daef2e https://www.jstor.org/stable/40030730?read-now=1&amp;seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents https://wp.nyu.edu/compliance_enforcement/2025/08/07/doj-secures-first-criminal-conviction-in-wage-fixing-case/ https://ncbaclusa.coop/content/uploads/2023/02/Fall-2022_Winter-2023-Cooperative-Business-Journal_FINAL-v2.pdf https://www.jstor.org/stable/40030730 https://www.givinggrove.org/blog-reference/black-farmers-in-america https://snccdigital.org/events/fannie-lou-hamer-founds-freedom-farm-cooperative/ https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/November-15/the-march-to-the-sea-begins https://explorethearchive.com/shermans-march-to-the-sea https://www.nps.gov/common/uploads/teachers/lessonplans/Document6(SpecialOrder).pdf https://www.grunge.com/601373/what-you-should-know-about-the-granger-movement-of-the-1860s/ https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/shermans-field-order-no-15/ https://www.jstor.org/stable/40030586?read-now=1&amp;seq=7#page_scan_tab_contents

Part One: The Colored Farmers Alliance and Early Black Cooperativism in the US

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/424256bc-e74e-4907-8f2a-b3fa0039a83e/transcript

Part One: Keep the Yuletide Gay: Saturnalia & the Puritan War on Christmas

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