BackStory

About the podcast

BackStory is the Virginia Humanities series hosted by historians Ed Ayers, Brian Balogh, Nathan Connolly, and Joanne Freeman. Its original program explored public questions through American history. Stories, interviews, and listener conversations provided different ways into a subject. Rather than presenting history only as a chronological course, it connected earlier experiences with issues people were discussing. The archive reflects a collaborative effort to make historical context part of public conversation.