Telling History
Where history’s threads weave through the fabric of our lives there lies an elusive “a-ha” moment of curiosity and wonder. Here, along these seams, history truly comes alive. Southeast Missouri State University professor Joel Rhodes, a social historian of 20th century America with decidedly Gen X sensibilities explores our textured and rich tapestry of shared historical experience. Join Dr. Joel Rhodes “Telling History" on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month during Morning Edition (7:45 a.m.) and All Things Considered (4:44 p.m.)
Latest Episodes
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The 1970s are the “golden age” of Saturday Morning Children’s Television. You see, adults had it all backwards. Their Saturday Night Fever never held a candle to our Saturday Morning Fever. -
Ladies and Gentlemen… the Beatles! And with those words Ed Sullivan – America’s unofficial Minister of Culture – introduced us to four exuberant Englishmen, unleashing a musical and cultural revolution. -
“But why, some say, the moon? John F. Kennedy pondered in September 1962. “We choose to go to the moon in this decade, and do other things,” the President answered in that unmistakable, Irish American brogue, “not because they are easy but because they are hard.” -
Since the end of World War II, the omnipresence of the atomic bomb’s towering purple, orange, and gray mushroom cloud – permeated the nation’s consciousness. How we integrated and synthesized deeply ambivalent, often dichotomous, emotions about the bomb’s extraordinary power shaped early Cold War culture. -
After the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, a veritable war toy boom swept the country, dominating the toy industry among Baby Boom boys. Leading that charge was G.I. Joe, a costumed, plastic soldier marketed by Hasbro as “America’s Moveable Fighting Man.” Yet by decade’s end, the Vietnam War claimed G.I. Joe as just another of America’s casualties. -
The Citizens Band (or CB) is a short distance radio for personal communication – like its cousin the walkie-talkie – that for a few years in the mid-1970s spawned a social phenomenon with its own distinct culture, community, and language.
