Episode 61: Judith Giesberg Resists Giving Readers What They Want

03/11/25 • 52 min

In this episode of Drafting the Past, host Kate Carpenter is joined by Dr. Judith Giesberg. Dr. Giesberg is a historian and professor at Villanova University. She is the author of six books focused on the U.S. Civil War and its aftermath. She is also an active digital and public historian, and her newest book is the culmination of these interests. Inspired by an ongoing digital project, Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families draws on advertisements placed by formerly enslaved people after the Civil War—in some cases, long after—attempting to find loved ones who had been stolen away from them when they were sold by enslavers. It’s a fascinating book, at turns heartbreaking and inspiring, and I was delighted to get to ask Judy more about the project and her research process.

Previous Episode

Episode 60: Rebecca Brenner Graham Gives Us the Publicity Behind-the-Scenes

In this episode Kate is joined by writer and historian Dr. Rebecca Brenner Graham. Rebecca is a post-doctoral research associate at Brown University, but before that she taught high school history, an experience that we talk a lot more about in this episode. Her first book, out now, is called Dear Miss Perkins: A Story of Frances Perkins’s Efforts to Aid Refugees from Nazi Germany, and it is not only a compelling history but holds valuable lessons for readers now. I also asked Rebecca to dig into her approach for publicizing a recently released book, and I think her advice will be a big help for other authors.

Next Episode

Episode 62: Lyndal Roper Takes a Journey by Page and Pedal

In this episode of Drafting the Past, host Kate Carpenter is joined by historian Dr. Lyndal Roper. Lyndal is a professor at the University of Oxford and the author of six books on gender, religion, witchcraft, and German history. Her newest book out this year is a history of the sixteenth-century German Peasants’ War titled Summer of Fire and Blood. The book follows the movement, beliefs, hopes, and actions of the peasants in this mass uprising. I loved the opportunity to talk with Lyndal about how she wrote about such a massive and relatively obscure event for a general audience, the way her own movement across the land shaped her work, why she prefers the screen to the handwritten page, and much more.

Drafting the Past - Episode 61: Judith Giesberg Resists Giving Readers What They Want

Transcript

Kate Carpenter00:00:00.989

Welcome back to Drafting the Past, a podcast about the craft of writing history. I'm Kate Carpenter, and in most episodes, I'm joined by a historian to talk about their research and writing craft. In today's show, I spoke with Dr. Judith Giesberg.

Judith Giesberg00:00:13.619

Thank you for having me, Kate. I'm happy to be here.

Kate Carpenter00:00:17.539

Dr. Giesberg is a histori