Episode 158: Unraveling Historical Threads with Josh Johnson

In this episode I'm joined by Josh Johnson-host of Compendium: A History Collection, which is a history podcast covering a variety of topics, currently doing a fantastic series on the Vietnam War. He's also known as Joshreadsbooks on social media, where he has a devoted social media following on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, etc. This episode is half of a wide ranging conversation that we had together on the process and theory involved in history podcasting, so listen to this one and then head over to Compendium to get the rest of the conversation.

Here we discuss the origins of Reflecting History and Compendium, some meta thoughts on storytelling, creativity, and how we put podcasts together, questions of authority and expertise in history and history podcasting, how we view the role of history podcaster vs the role of historian, narrative history vs structural and thematic history, historiography, how historical narratives arise and persist, historical relativism, the standard a history podcaster should aspire to, the Vietnam War, how morality should be understood in history generally and specifically in the Vietnam war, the connection between fantasy and history, and some general thoughts on books and the world of fantasy and science fiction online on booktok, instagram, and other platforms.

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Try my podcast series "Nazi Germany and the Battle for the Human Heart"-- What led to the rise of Nazi Germany? The answer may surprise you…Why do 'good' people support evil leaders? What allure does fascism hold that enables it to garner popular support? To what extent are ordinary people responsible for the development of authoritarian evil? This 13 part podcast series explores these massive questions and more through the lens of Nazi Germany and the ordinary people who collaborated or resisted as the Third Reich expanded. You'll not only learn about the horrifying, surprising, and powerful ways in which the Nazis seized and maintained power, but also fundamental lessons about what fascism is-how to spot it and why it spreads. Through exploring the past, I hope to unlock lessons that everyone can apply to the present day. Check it out on my Patreon page at: https://www.patreon.com/reflectinghistory.

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