Finley Peter Dunne’s fictional pub proprietor, Mr. Dooley, expounds on on the international court, and suggests that what we really need is “An International Police Force.”
024: How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?
In the United States of 1903-4, Theodore Roosevelt responds to British and German moves against Venezuela, renews his commitment to preserving America’s natural beauty, and gears up for the Presidential election. W.E.B. DuBois publishes The Souls of Black Folk, and an American citizen is kidnapped in Morocco.
Transcript.
Transcript provided by listener Josh.
Playlist:
Fanfare
Opening Theme
“America the Beautiful”
Composed in 1882 by Samuel A. Ward. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Army Band Brass Quintet. Public domain recording. Source.
“Jacob’s Ladder”
Traditional. Arranged by Mark Painter.
Closing Theme
Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are
© and ℗ 2015, 2016 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.
023: Making Italians
“We have made Italy. What remains is to make Italians.” Italy struggles with unifying its different peoples into one nation.
Transcript.
Transcript provided by listener Josh.
Playlist:
Fanfare
Opening Theme
“Funiculì, Funiculà”
Composed in 1880 by Luigi Denza. Public domain.
“Santa Lucia”
Traditional. Public domain.
Sung by Tino Rossi. Public domain recording. Source.
Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are
© and ℗ 2016 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.
Mid-week Update
Next Sunday’s episode will be more Italian history—reunification (1870) through the Italo-Ethiopian war of 1897—with an emphasis on what’s going on in southern Italy, since the previous episode was largely from a northern perspective. I’m also putting the finishing touches on my version of “Funiculì, Funiculà,” which was composed in 1880 and will be a part of the episode.
This week I am also working on a script for a future episode on the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. So far, we’ve released two episodes on TR, with one more coming shortly. This script I’m working on this week may be the last episode on the Roosevelt presidency, but it may get long enough that I’ll have to split it into two parts. That would make five episodes on a seven and a half year presidency. It was never my plan to give each US president this much attention, but TR demands attention, as much so today as he was when he was President.
We’re coming up on the Russo-Japanese War pretty soon. I expect that will take seven (!) episodes to cover properly. And, of course, the Great War of 1914 is looming off in the distance.
022: La Forza del Destino
Luciano Pavarotti sings “La donna è mobile” from Verdi’s Rigoletto.
The story of how a united Italy was born in the nineteenth century.
Transcript.
Transcript provided by listener Josh.
Playlist:
Fanfare
Overture to La Forza del Destino (“The Force of Destiny”)
Composed in 1862 by Giuseppe Verdi. Public domain.
Performed by the University of Chicago orchestra and used pursuant to a Creative Commons license. Details
“La donna è mobile” (“The Lady Is Fickle”) from Rigoletto
Composed in 1851 by Giuseppe Verdi. Public domain.
Performed by Enrico Caruso. Public domain recording. Source.
Overture to Nabucco (“Nebuchadnezzar”)
Composed in 1841 by Giuseppe Verdi. Public domain.
Performed by the DuPage orchestra and used pursuant to a Creative Commons license. Details
Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are
© and ℗ 2016 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.
021: A Man, A Plan, A Canal—Panama!
We return to the United States this week to examine more of the issues confronting Theodore Roosevelt’s administration: Are American soldiers committing war crimes in the Philippines? The signing of a treaty with Nicaragua Colombia Panama to build a canal across Central America. A coal strike that threatens to leave Americans in the cold during the 1902 mid-term election. And the burning question of whether Theodore Roosevelt is really all that great a hunter.
Transcript.
Transcript provided by listener Josh.
Playlist:
Fanfare
Opening Theme
Symphony No. 9 in E minor (“From the New World”)
Composed in 1893 by Antonín Dvořák. Public domain.
Public domain recording. Source.
Coro di zingari (“Anvil Chorus”) from Il trovatore
Composed in 1853 by Giuseppe Verdi. Public domain.
Public domain recording. Source.
“The Teddy Bears’ Picnic”
Composed in 1907 by John Walter Bratton. Public domain.
Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are
© and ℗ 2016 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.
Reminder
Just a reminder that this week is a bye week for the History of the Twentieth Century. We’ll be back next Sunday with a new episode that takes a further look at the Roosevelt Administration in the USA.
020: Heart of Darkness II
King Leopold’s claim to the Congo is recognized by the Western nations, and he sets to work to extract as much money from the Congo as possible, with no regard for the lives or welfare of the people living there, until he is exposed by Roger Casement, the British consul in the Congo.
Transcript.
Transcript provided by listener Josh.
Playlist:
Fanfare
Opening Theme
Trois Odes Funèbres (Three Funeral Odes)
Composed in 1866 by Franz Liszt. Public domain.
Performed by Mauro Tortorelli, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons license. Details.
Closing Theme
Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are
© and ℗ 2016 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.
019: Heart of Darkness I
King Leopold II of Belgium, unsatisfied with reigning over “a small nation of small people,” decides what he really needs is a colonial empire to call his very own.
Transcript.
Transcript provided by listener Josh.
Playlist:
Fanfare
Opening Theme
Trois Odes Funèbres (Three Funeral Odes)
Composed in 1866 by Franz Liszt. Public domain.
Performed by Mauro Tortorelli, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons license. Details.
Closing Theme
Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are
© and ℗ 2016 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.