Marin Escalera

Podcasts are a recently popular way that history is shared with the public. The topics can vary from a wide set of interest and lengths can range from short to long. Overall there is something for everyone in the world of podcasts. The podcast I listened to was from the American Historical Review’s four part miniseries “State of the Field for Busy Teachers” with the specific episode being “Graphic History”. Despite being short the podcast covered the not much talked about topic of graphic novels in history.

            This podcast is produced by Daniel Story who does the introduction of the podcast, transcriptions are done by Mallory Hutchings- Tryon and music is done by Blue Dot Sessions. So the team behind this podcast consists of four people, alongside a guest which changes with each episode. In this episode the guest is historian Walter Greason who discusses on the subject of graphic novels in the realm of history and their importance while also highlighting one of his works. Despite Story setting up the intro of the podcast most of the talking is done by Greason almost as in a one long answer interview. From the start Greason emphasizes that despite that this concept is fairly new it is being received well by educators. Since graphic history takes the academic content and blends it with the creative work of artists which blends two fields that don’t always connect. Greason also states that the importance of these novels is that it gives more accessibility to students who are visual learners who need images to understand the content that is being taught. For the greater part of the podcast he spoke about his hip hop project which was a hit with the New York City public school system. This deviates the listener away from the concept of graphic history as a whole and makes them focus on this particular project alone. While this project is an example of graphic history being a positive thing it does override what could be believed to be a podcast that is going to talk about what graphic history as a whole. The content overall does promote graphic history as something that is good for students and those who are not academic historians.  As for the audience of the podcast itself it seems to be aimed towards academics and educators who can possibly take part in promoting or creating graphic history. Though since the podcast isn’t jargon heavy even those who are historians or educators could listen in and enjoy it. The organization of this podcast moved in a linear way with Greason briefly explaining what graphic history is and when it started then he moves into when it picked up and eventually led to his project which becomes the main subject for the majority of the podcast. The overall flow is consistent though the shift to his project only can make some listeners lose a bit of interest. Another component of this podcast which brought it all together was the use of music which was provided by Blue Dot Sessions.

            This podcast really brought my attention to the idea of graphic history since I never really thought of teaching history like that despite being someone who enjoys graphic novels. So seeing how this episode brought my attention to something that could help me when making lesson plans in the sense of reading material I am curious on what the other episodes may offer. For historians overall it shows how not only answers and stories can be conveyed through podcast but also ideas for teaching since the books provide another way to teach history to kids. The podcast as a whole is an informative episode which highlights a new way to convey history and connect with the public.

Story, Daniel and Greason, Walter. “State of the Field for Busy Teachers: Graphic History.” Produced by Daniel Story. American Historical Review. September 3, 2025. Podcast, MP3 audio, 11:55. https://www.historians.org/podcast/state-of-the-field-for-busy-teachers-graphic-history/