Welcome to the inaugural episode of Ending the Myth! In this limited series Munya and Brian are going to be discussing Greg Grandin’s 2019 book, The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America. In this introduction to the show we discuss historian Frederick Jackson Turner and his Frontier Thesis. We cover material from CH 7, the Introduction, and CH 1.
It’s Episode 1 and we are already making a detour from End of the Myth to look at historian Lerone Bennett Jr’s excellent 1970 essay “The Road Not Taken.” We discuss the central role of the slave system to America’s development and the role of contingency in history, of the road not taken.
After taking a brief detour we return to Grandin’s End of the Myth to talk about the treatment of the Native American population in the United States up until the 1830s. We cover Chapter 1&2 of the book for those following along at home.
We discuss the arrival of Andrew Jackson on the political scene and the role of Jacksonian democracy in Westward expansion -- It’s not good, folks. For those following along at home, we are covering chapter 3 of the End of the Myth.
The metaphor of the “safety valve” is a critical concept for Grandin and his book. We explore the various ways in which this metaphor was deployed in the early 19th century before delving into capitalism’s unending “urban crisis.” For those following along at home, we will be covering material from chapter 4 in End of the Myth.
Historian, friend of the show, and fellow Texan, Mary Anne Henderson joins us to talk about Texas. We talk how and why it was settled and revisit the nearly totally forgotten Mexican War. We will be discussing material covered in chapter 5 from The End of the Myth and much, much more!
Each episode is accompanied with sources and readings for further exploration. For those on the bleeding edge, we will release these notes one week ahead of their corresponding episode.
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