With the holidays upon us, let's take a closer look at the Gilded Age traditions that define Christmas and other end-of-year celebrations. Joining me is Ken Turino and Max van Belgooy the co-authors of Interpreting Christmas and one of the book's contributors, Lenora Henson. Interpreting Christmas at Museums and Historic Sites takes a look at how the nation's cultural centers celebrate the holidays.

Essential Reading:

Ken Turino and Max van Belgooy (eds.), Interpreting Christmas at Museums and Historic Sites (2024).

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The Great War transformed the world order, and it also revolutionized societies and individual experiences. In one of the year's most interesting books about the war's impact, Dr. Evan Sullivan explores the lives of blinded veterans and how their injuries completely changed the way we think about disability. Evan joins the show to discuss his book and the wider implications of disability studies for historical scholarship.

Essential Reading:

Evan Sullivan, Constructing Disability after the Great War: Blind Veterans in the Progressive Era (2024).

Recommended Reading:

Beth Linker, War's Waste: Rehabilitation in World War I America (2011).

Audra Jennings, Out of the Horrors of War: Disability Politics in World War II America (2016).

Catherine J. Kudlick, "Disability History: Why We Need Another 'Other'," American Historical Review 108, no. 3 (June 2003).

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With the industrial revolution came a revolution in the education of Americans. In this episode, Connie Goddard discusses her latest book on the industrial education system that taught Americans how to do trades, skilled labor activities, and generally find work in factories and industrial jobs.

Essential Reading:

Connie Goddard, Learning for Work: How Industrial Education Fostered Democratic Opportunity (2024).

Recommended Reading:

Kelly Ann Kolondy, Normalites: The First Professionally Prepared Teachers in the United States (2014).

Christopher J. Lucas, Teacher Education in America: Reform Agendas for the Twenty-First Century (1997).

Helen Proctor and Kellie Burns, The Curriculum of the Body and the School as Clinic: Histories of Public Health and Schooling (2023).

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