Been There, Done That

Professor Greg Jackson, podcast host of History That Doesn’t Suck, proves that while today’s political climate may be dark, these aren’t as unprecedented times as we may think. Our nation’s past is full of massive upheaval, disagreement, and anything but the moral high ground. The political gentlemanly conduct of yesteryear is no more than a myth. In Been There, Done That, Greg looks back in time to eight examples from our nation’s history and shows that some of the hottest issues of our day are, in fact, American traditions. He takes us through: The Founding Father’s hyper-partisan print war of the 1790s Baltimore’s deadly partisan riots of 1812 The “corrupt bargain” presidential election of 1824, and its slanderous, libelous, fake-news-filled rematch, the presidential election of 1828 The caning of Senator Charles Sumner in 1856 The nation’s first presidential assassination and impeachment in the wake of the Civil War Louisiana’s civil war in miniature over a disputed election in the 1870s The thoroughly corrupt presidential election of 1876 Fake news at its most believable: the yellow journalism and print war of Joseph Pulitzer and William Randoph Hearst Full of fascinating characters, page-turning narrative storytelling, and Greg’s characteristic humor, Been There, Done That will fill readers with hope for our future by showing us the warts of our past—only by knowing that our country has been here before, and prevailed toward a more just future, can we find the strength to rebound once more.