Americans are divided over most things and the past is no different. We disagree about whether to celebrate or question the past. We’re at odds over whether history indoctrinates or educates and whether young minds are harmed or helped by exposure to the complexity of the past. Historian John Garrison Marks argues that the real problem is that Americans dislike ambiguity. There is no better example of this dilemma than George Washington. Responsible for the creation of a new American political order based on the ideals of democracy, liberty, and equality, Washington was to his dying day a slave holder. He was a supporter of gradual emancipation and freed his own slaves in his last will and testament but he never took a public stand against slavery during his lifetime. How we remember George Washington reveals much about how we understand ourselves and what it means to be American. A conversation with John Garrison Marks about his book, Thy Will Be Done: George Washington’s Legacy of Slavery and the Struggle Over American Memory, in this episode of the Realms of Memory podcast.

Americans have been struggling with the memory of George Washington since his death. Should we celebrate his role in the creation of the nation or lament that he actively participated in and profited from the business of slave owning? Should we underscore that he freed his own slaves in his last will and testament or highlight that he never took a public position against slavery during his lifetime? Depending on the political context, historian John Garrison Marks argues that Americans have preferred to cherry-pick from Washington’s past to support their agenda in the present. Only through a fuller understanding of Washington and his legacy of slavery can we arrive at a meaningful, shared past. A conversation with John Garrison Marks about his book, Thy Will Be Done: George Washington’s Legacy of Slavery and the Struggle Over American Memory, next on the April 7th episode of the Realms of Memory podcast.

99% of Poland’s pre-war Jewish population, the largest in Europe, perished during the Holocaust. Polish native and Canadian historian Jan Grabowski argues this death toll is inconceivable without the collusion of the general Polish population. Yet for decades Polish authorities have denied all responsibility. Instead, they have used the considerable resources of the state to posit that Poles suffered equally or even more than the nation’s Jewish community. In what Grabowski labels as Holocaust distortion, the memory of the past has been fundamentally divorced from reality, even at the most prominent Holocaust memorial sites. A conversation with University of Ottawa historian Jan Grabowski about his book, Whitewash: Poland and the Jews, in this episode of Realms of Memory.

Deeply flawed accounts of the Holocaust persist throughout Central and Eastern Europe. University of Ottawa historian Jan Grabowski argues that nowhere are the distortions of the Holocaust more glaring than in Poland. The almost complete eradication of the Jewish population in Poland, the second largest in the world, was simply not possible without the active and willing participation of Polish gentiles. Yet the Polish state continues to use its considerable resources to present Poles as either saviors of the Jews or the war’s greatest victims. A conversation with Jan Grabowski about his book, Whitewash: Poland and the Jews, and the story of Holocaust distortion in Poland. Next on the March 3rd episode of the Realms of Memory podcast.

Fifty years after Francisco Franco’s death Spain remains deeply divided over the past. For over twenty years British native and renowned history tour guide Nick Lloyd has made his living explaining the complexity of this past through his Spanish Civil War tours in Barcelona. Author of Forgotten Place: Barcelona and the Spanish Civil War and most recently, Travels Through the Spanish Civil War, Nick’s has developed a deep understanding of this multifaceted conflict and the ways it lives on in the present. I had the opportunity to take his tour in June 2025 and to interview him in August 2025 about the challenges of explaining this past and his perspective why it remains unresolved in the present.

Ninety years after the start of the Spanish Civil War the past is not past, it’s not even over. Nick Lloyd, who moved from Britain to Barcelona over three decades ago, explains that the left and right in Spain remain profoundly divided over the memory of the Civil War and these divisions have only deepened in recent years. Described by renowned television and travel personality Rick Steves as the “crescendo” of his visit to Barcelona, Nick has made his living over the past twenty-five years enthralling thousands, including myself, with his Spanish Civil War tours of Barcelona. In the February 3rd episode of Realms of Memory I will be sharing my conversation with Nick about his book, Forgotten Places: Barcelona and the Spanish Civil War and his experience telling the story of the Civil War past in Barcelona.

In the age of climate change and global pandemics how do we remember the victims? University of Madison, Wisconsin historian Richard C. Keller examines this question through his study of the 2003 heat wave in Paris. This was the worst natural disaster in French history claiming some 15,000 lives. In his book, Fatal Isolation: The Devastating Paris Heat Wave of 2003, Keller explains the myriad ways in which victims were forgotten and the disaster was misremembered. From the science of counting the dead to historically rooted animosity toward marginalized, elderly women, Keller unpacks the causes and consequences of the skewed memory of the 2003 heave wave.

In his study of the 2003 heat wave in Paris, historian Richard C. Keller reveals the myriad ways we forget the victims of natural disasters. We relegate marginalized and vulnerable populations to the most precarious housing then blame them for the inevitable outcome of their own life choices. We formulate categories of susceptible, at-risk populations whose subsequent deaths become unsurprising, anticipated, and less memorable. From the architecture of modern cities to the science of deciphering mass death counts, the reasons we forget the victims of natural disasters are increasingly relevant in our current age where calamity can strike any of us at any time. A conversation with Dr. Richard C. Keller about his book, Fatal Isolation: The Devastating Paris Heat Wave of 2003, next on the January 6th episode of the Realms of Memory podcast