Professor Footnote

Informações:

Synopsis

The Professor Footnote Podcast was created because the world is full of interesting topics that drive interesting conversations. Unfortunately, most conversations are informed by rumors, and half-truths, or by vague recollections of things read or heard long ago. On Professor Footnote, we try to bolster the art of conversation by chasing down the interesting information. Our hope is that the podcast informs you not only about our chosen topics but also the wealth of creative and academic work that exists in the world and makes that world and its conversations more interesting. Our suspicion is that the podcast will make you only slightly better at trivia games.

Episodes

  • S1-06 60 years of Seduction: Fredric Wertham and the Comic Book Code of 1954

    28/03/2014 Duration: 01h02min

    In 1954, the United States Senate held subcommittee hearings on the corrupting influence of comic books on the nation's youth. Testifying against the comic book industry was one Fredric Wertham, M.D. Wertham's testimony was also a promotion of his book, Seduction of the Innocent, an account of Wertham's experience and findings working with juvenile delinquents (who may or may not have been comic book readers). On the 60th anniversary of Wertham's testimony, we take a look back at Wertham's book and the effects of the Senate Hearings on juvenile delinquency, including the rise of the Comic Book Code and the fall and rebirth of the comic book industry.

  • S01-05 The Sulking Hero of the West: Teddy Roosevelt in North Dakota

    16/02/2014 Duration: 01h01min

    There were many reasons young American men went West in the early history of the United States. Maybe Thomas Jefferson sent you. Maybe you went looking for more farm land. Maybe you went looking for an adventure. Of all the reasons to go West, most of them involve a desire to make a name for oneself. But for Theodore Roosevelt in the 1880s, going West was a way to escape his name, his reputation as a wealthy child of privilege, and his very unfortunate private life.