Category Archives: Government

S9E12 Podcast: Declaring Independence: Why 1776 Matters

As part of GHS’s ongoing commemoration of the US250, Stan’s guest this week is author and historian Edward J. Larson, discussing his new book, Declaring Independence: Why 1776 Matters (WW Norton, 2026). At the beginning of 1776, virtually no one in the American colonies advocated for independence: Americans based their grievances against Parliament on their rights as British subjects. By the mid-point of 1776, the United States was an independent republic. How did it happen, why did they choose a republic and not another king, and what does it mean for us now, 250 years later?

S9E11 Podcast: The US 250

Stan’s guest this week is GHS President and CEO Dr. Todd Groce, talking about the 250th anniversary of the United States, upcoming this year on July 4, 2026. What does this anniversary mean for our country and its people, especially given the divisive times in which we live? We’ll discuss the ongoing legacy of the Revolution and what GHS is doing to commemorate this important anniversary.

S8E16 Podcast: The Most Powerful Court in the World: A History of the Supreme Court

Will abortion be legal? Should people of the same sex be allowed to marry? Stan’s guest is UCLA law professor Stuart Banner, discussing his latest and very timely book, The Most Powerful Court in the World: A History of the Supreme Court of the United States, published in November by Oxford University Press.

S8E11 Podcast: Woodrow Wilson: The Light Withdrawn

This week Stan talks to Christopher Cox, Senior Scholar in Residence at the University of California, Irvine, about his new book, Woodrow Wilson: The Light Withdrawn, published in 2024 by Simon & Schuster. Cox’s focus is on Wilson’s role in the movements for women’s suffrage and racial equality, and his open hostility to both. This is a riveting, beautifully written reassessment of the heroes who fought so hard for decades to pass the Susan B. Anthony Amendment more than a century ago—and Wilson’s legacy in our own day.

S8E9 Podcast: The Fascinating But Forgotten Founder

Stan’s guest is historian Jane Calvert, author of Penman of the Founding: A Biography of John Dickinson, published in October by Oxford University Press. Dickinson was at the forefront of the Revolutionary movement but refused to sign the Declaration of Independence and has been largely forgotten. Calvert argues in her new book that without John Dickinson there wouldn’t be a United States of America. How and why did this happen, and who was this fascinating but forgotten founder?