Send a text In this episode, Lou revisits the story of James and Maehala Doyle of Tennessee, who devoted themselves and their family to supporting slavery and opposing antislavery and abolitionist settlers in the Kansas Territory. In the Pottawatomie incident of May 1856, Doyle and his two oldest sons, William and Drury, were killed by John Brown's men, under the leadership of the old man, because of their role in spreading and supporting proslavery terrorism in the territory, and for posing ...

Send a text In this episode, Lou speaks with Dan Morrison, the founder of the John Brown Project and a documentary filmmaker from Torrington, Connecticut, John Brown’s birthplace. Morrison details his work, including a community arts project that produced a 21st-century remix of the Civil War era song, "John Brown's Body" and his current musical documentary, "Pushing the Rock," which examines systemic racism in America and features interviews with historical figures’ descendants and scholars....

Send a text In this episode, Lou breaks with the regular approach of this podcast to put a John Brown lens on pressing contemporary issues. He specifically addresses three main topics, arguing why John Brown would be an anti-Zionist due to the movement's oppressive colonial practices and its perceived anti-biblical, racialized nature; critiquing the notion that the recently murdered Charlie Kirk was a Christian martyr because of his white nationalist views and opposition to the Black civil ri...

Send a text In this episode, Lou interviews the preeminent cultural historian of the 19th-century USA, David S. Reynolds. This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the publication of Reynolds' landmark biography, John Brown Abolitionist. Reynolds opens by describing his most recent project, the forthcoming Two Ships (Penguin), and then revisits the writing of John Brown Abolitionist, rehearsing some key themes from the book as well as reflecting on his background and methodology as a...

Send a text In this episode, I am inviting you on a peculiar historical tour of the term, "Secret Six." While John Brown students are accustomed to seeing this term used to speak of Brown's key supporters, this episode is about the origin of the term and its significance in the literature about Brown. As you'll discover, while the "tour" of "Secret Six" is full of trivial and interesting cases where the term has been used since the nineteenth century, it was not really applied to Brown'...

Send a text In this episode, Lou discusses two recent online articles to illustrate how John Brown is often appropriated and misused by writers in discussing contemporary issues. The first article discussed is an effort to draw a parallel between John Brown and Luigi Mangione, who allegedly murdered a healthcare executive in cold blood last year. The second article presents John Brown as a Christian Nationalist. In both cases, Lou objects to the misuse of John Brown, showing how inaccur...

Send a text In this episode, Lou discusses the animals--pets, livestock, and others who are part of the John Brown story, from the dogs of Harper's Ferry to a cat who went to Kansas. Just when you thought you'd heard everything about John Brown, huh? Guest music: "Story of a Toy" by Freedom Trail Studio (Youtube) Also available on the John Brown Today YouTube station

Send a text Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born in 1906, and was a German Lutheran pastor, a figure noted in the theological world for his neo-orthodox views, and his most popular book, The Cost of Discipleship. Bonhoeffer is more widely remembered as an anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church which opposed the Nazis. In the 1940s, Bonhoeffer joined the German underground, but was arrested and incarcerated at Tegel Prison, where he remained for over a y...

Send a text After the better of two years, John Brown Today is going back in production. This is just a brief message to greet listeners and to update them a bit, and thank them for maintaining an interest in this podcast. John Brown Today is coming back and I'm looking forward to what lies ahead. So stay tuned. Please note that two episodes will be uploaded for December 2024. Music: "Burden Laid Down" by The Westerlies (YouTube)

Send a text In this episode, Lou does a deep dive evaluation of the legend of John Brown kissing a black baby on the day of his execution, a story that has been enshrined in poetry and paintings. Sharing his research on the topic, Lou considers the evidence and draws some interesting conclusions suggesting that this legend may have more than a core of truth. Check out the video version on my YouTube channel here. Guest music (closing): Aaron Lieberman, "Move Up to the Mountains"...