I write the scripts for The History of the Twentieth Century podcast months ahead of time. This week, I’m working on an episode about dreadnoughts and the naval arms races of the early 20th century. Best known is the Anglo-German arms race, but the Americans and the Japanese were also eyeing each other uneasily. And then there was the surprising South American naval arms race between Chile, Argentina, and Brazil. Tentative title is “Dreadnought!” With a “!”

I’ve also been doing some reading on the Ottoman Empire. The podcast needs a backgrounder on the Ottomans.

As promised, this Sunday’s episode will be about the early days of the unexpected Roosevelt administration. The title will be “Such a Bully Pulpit.” I plan to put some Scott Joplin into the episode, and am working on getting that to sound right.