Episode 4: Zachary Schrag Asks Who Does What to Whom

03/29/22 • 45 min

For the fourth episode of Drafting the Past, I talked to historian Zachary Schrag. Dr. Schrag is a professor of history at George Mason University. He is the author of three books of history: The Fires of Philadelphia: Citizen-Soldiers, Nativists, and the 1844 Riots Over the Soul of a Nation, (Pegasus, 2021), Ethical Imperialism: Institutional Review Boards and the Social Sciences, 1965-2009 (JHU Press, 2010), and The Great Society Subway: A History of the Washington Metro (JHU Press, 2006). He is also the author of the tremendously helpful Princeton Guide to Historical Research (Princeton, 2021), a book I wish someone had handed me on the first day of graduate school.

Listen to hear more about how Schrag organizes his notes, how he uses a working document, and his (and my!) love for Scrivener.

Listen to hear more about how Schrag organizes his notes, how he uses a working document, and his (and my!) love for Scrivener.

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Episode 3: Bathsheba Demuth Evokes a Place

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Kate talks with environmental historian Bathsheba Demuth about her book, Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait (Norton, 2019), her essays, and how she helps readers to feel, see, and even smell the places she's writing about. Listen to learn how she organizes her many forms of research, the writers she's looking to for inspiration now, and what advice she would give to herself in grad school.

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Episode 5: Mia Bay Embraces Imperfection

In episode 5, Kate Carpenter interviews historian Mia Bay, author of several books and articles on African American history and co-editor of multiple collections. Dr. Bay's most recent book, Traveling Black: A Story of Race and Resistance (Harvard, 2021), has won numerous awards, including the Bancroft Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in American history writing. We talk about Dr. Bay's embrace of imperfect first drafts, the long and winding process for writing Traveling Black, and the value of good feedback and editing.