Today's guest is a fellow podcaster - Ian Sanders, who is the creator and host of the popular Cold War Conversations Podcast. A London native now living in Manchester, Ian divides time between the Manchester Museum, podcast projects for the Royal Army Museum and the Imperial War Museum, and his Cold War Conversations Podcast. With a lifelong interest in military history and the Cold War, Ian has turned what began as a small hobby into a New York Times-recommended podcast with over 6 million downloads! And the stories he can tell, and does tell - he's interviewed everyone from former spies to leading Cold War historians, so check out Cold War Conversations! Ian is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a founding member of the Cold War Network and the Imperial War Museum War Conflict Subject Specialist Network. He's a busy guy, and we're glad he took time to chat with us. We'll talk growing up during the Cold War, 4-minute warning sirens, The Smiths, Cold War movies, the Isdal Woman, how to start a podcast, and much more! Enjoy!

Shoutout to Foster's Chip Shop in Manchester!

Rec.: 02/05/2026

Our guest today is Oklahoma State University Professor of History John M. Kinder. John is the Director of the American Studies Program at OK State and has published widely on veterans and disabilities, and, more recently, on zoos in wartime. His books include Paying With Their Bodies: American War and the Problem of the Disabled Veteran (University of Chicago Press), Service Denied: Marginalized Veterans in Modern American History (University of Massachusetts Press - co-edited with Friend-of-the-Pod Jason Higgins), and most recently World War Zoos: Humans and Other Animals in the Deadliest Conflict of the Modern Age (University of Chicago Press) - a fascinating account of what happened to zoos in wartime cities during the Second World War. He also has another co-edited volume (with Friend-of-the-Pod Jennifer Murray) coming out soon from the University of Nebraska Press titled They Are Dead, And Yet They Live: Civil War Memories in a Polarized America. Like all of our guests, John's got an interesting story - another "I was going to go to law school" turned historian experience; he was literally at Georgetown Law about to start classes when he saw the light!

Join us for a delightful chat - we'll talk Ellis "Old Folks" Kinder, The Smiths, Life Cereal, heart attacks, researching in zoo archives, vegan Soul food, and the animal escaped from the zoo you'd least like to encounter! Enjoy!

Rec.: 02/03/2026

We've got another good one for you - Today's guest is National Museums Scotland's military curator, Calum Robertson. Calum has one of the best jobs in the military history world there in Edinburgh. Born and raised near storied St. Andrews, Calum couldn't help but get interested in history at a young age. Calum studied history and archaeology at the University of Edinburgh, earned his PhD in Archaeological Heritage and Museums at Cambridge, and then fell into a full-time position at National Museums Scotland, filling in for a staff member on leave. His remit includes the National War Museum of Scotland at Edinburgh Castle, and you can imagine the artifacts he's seen that few others will ever see.

We really enjoyed our chat with Calum - we'll talk bagpipes, the Melrose Pig, Robert Burns, Irn Bru, Dundee Pistols, Brighde Chaimbeul, and, oh yeah, working at the National Museum of Scotland. Enjoy!

Thanks to CruFro on SampleFocus.com for the pipes MP3!

Rec.: 01/29/2026

Our guest today is a historian of Civil War memory and Southern foodways, notably for our purposes BBQ and, wait for it, BACON! Mark A. Johnson is an assistant professor of history at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. A native of Milwaukee but from everywhere (his father's business moved the family all over the country), Mark earned his BA from Purdue University, an MA from the University of Maryland, and his PhD from the University of Alabama, where, you guessed it, he partook of Friend-of-the-Pod John Beeler's Pork-o-Rama! Mark is the author of An Irresistible History of Alabama Barbecue (History Press)and Rough Tactics: Black Performance in Political Spectacles, 1877-1932 (University of Mississippi Press), and the forthcoming American Bacon: The Cultural History of a Food Phenomenon (University of Georgia Press). Mark teaches courses on Southern history and Foodways, as well as a popular course on Civil War Memory, in which students do projects using a Confederate cemetery next to campus.

Join us for a fun chat with Mark Johnson - we'll talk moving around the country as a kid, Civil War soldiers and the "high water mark" of bacon, selling treadmills at Sears, taking courses with Ira Berlin, and being "high on the hog." Enjoy!

Shout out to Little Coyote in Chattanooga!

Rec.: 12/15/2025

Our guest today is Guy Nasuti, whose road to his current position with the US Naval History and Heritage Command has been a long and winding one. Now a historian at the Navy Yard, Guy's naval career included serving as a photographer's mate on the amphibious assault ship USS Nassau during Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. But it all began in Livonia, Michigan, growing up in a family steeped in military service. Following his time in the Navy, Guy worked for the magazine group that publishes, among others, Vietnam and Aviation History as a photo editor, but was laid off during the 2008 recession. He struggled to find steady work, but serendipity intervened in the form of the US Army Heritage and Education Center (AHEC) at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, where a research trip for his MA project later paid employment dividends. His story is one of not giving up (and learning to navigate USAJOBS!) - we'll talk about finding purpose in military service, the ups and downs of searching for steady employment, as well as writing history for the Navy, but also White Stripes, Patsy Cline, and getting back to the gym in 2026. Enjoy!

Rec. 12/09/2025

Our guest today is one of the nicest guys in the military history community (which is filled with wonderful people!) - Derek Mallett. Late of the US Army Command and General Staff College school at Ft. Belvoir, Derek taught in professional military education for several years after a stint with the Defence POW/MIA Accounting Agency in Hawaii and teaching everything from high school (albeit very briefly!) to community college, as well as a summer at Texas A&M's engineering school branch in Qatar! Derek earned his BA from Culver-Stockton College, spent a semester in law school at Mizzou, then took MAs in History and Education from Truman State University, before earning his PhD in history at Texas A&M University (yep, another one of those!). He is author of Hitler’s Generals in America: Nazi POWs and Allied Military Intelligence (Kentucky) and the forthcoming Benedict Arnolds in Skirts: Race, Gender, and American National Security during the Second World War, which he co-authored with Stephanie Hinnershitz for the University of Press of Kansas. Derek is also the editor of Monumental Conflicts: Twentieth Century Wars and the Evolution of Public Memory (Routledge). Like Johnny Cash, Derek has "been everywhere, man." He's come a long way from humble roots in LaGrange, Missouri (and he pronounces "Missouri" correctly).

Join us for a delightful chat with Derek Mallett - we'll talk small towns, canned cranberry sauce, Van Halen, cruising the French countryside for WW2 plane crash sites, German POWs playing softball in Hannibal, Missouri, 1966 Thunderbirds, and much more!

Shoutout to C&J Barbeque Market in College Station, Texas!

Rec.: 11/20/2025

Another good one, recorded on Halloween even! Today's guest is the upbeat and energetic Le'Trice Donaldson of Auburn University. Le'Trice is a scholar of the Black soldier experience and founder of the Society for Black Military Studies. With a BA and MA from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and a PhD from the University of Memphis, Le'Trice did the year-to-year sojourn of many new academics before landing at Auburn University. Her first book, Duty Beyond the Battlefield: African American Soldiers Fight for Racial Uplift, Citizenship, and Manhood, 1870-1920, was published by Southern Illinois University Press, and she's working on a biography of Eurene Bullard, the first African American fighter pilot. She's got a new series with the University of Virginia Press called The Black Soldier in War and Society. She found a love for history as a young student as an archive nerd and hasn't looked back.

Join us for a fun chat - we'll talk moving beyond parental expectations, working in archives, starting a professional scholarly organization and journal from scratch, working at K-Mart, Superman, Whitney Houston, and more - enjoy!

Shoutout to Lemon Grass Thai in Columbus, Georgia!

Rec.: 10/31/2025

Today's guest is Chicago-native cum St. Louis Cardinals fan Mark Grotelueschen. Mark is Professor of Military and Strategic Studies at the US Air Force Academy, where he's taught for several years both in uniform and now as a civilian in the Department of Military and Strategic Studies. A USAFA graduate and now retired Air Force officer with 27 years of service, Mark earned his MA from the University of Calgary and his PhD from Texas A&M (yep, another one of those!). Despite his Air Force background, Mark's scholarship centers on the US Army in the First World War, including his well-received book The AEF Way of War: The American Army and Combat in World War I (Cambridge) and a new project on the September 1918 Battle of Saint-Mihiel. You'll enjoy our chat - we talk growing up in a large family, discovering the Air Force had a "school," being stationed in Alaska, being mentored by Dennis Showalter and Brian Linn, even Journey tribute bands. Enjoy!

Shoutout to Steamboat BBQ in Wheaton, Illinois!

Rec.: 10/23/2025