American Hysteria

Back in the 1990s, it seemed like angels were everywhere in popular culture: in movies, TV shows, songs, and home decor. Our guest today is Christine Laskowski, a video journalist and host of the podcast T&J: A Roman Empire Love Story. For this episode, she will teach me about the history of angels going back to the Old Testament and their transformations through the centuries since. Then we will look at the craze of the 90s to figure out why they were so popular during that decade and why they touched so many of us, whether we were believers or not.

Listen to Christine's podcast T&J on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts

Listen to the original T&J Podcast Soundtrack on iTunes, Spotify, Tidal

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Or subscribe to American Hysteria on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Get some of our new merch at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠americanhysteria.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, all profits go to The Sameer Project, a Palestinian-led mutual aid group who are on the ground in Gaza delivering food and supplies to displaced families.

Leave us a message on the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Urban Legends Hotline⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Producer and Editor: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Miranda Zickler⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Associate Producer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Riley Swedelius-Smith⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Additional editing by ⁠⁠⁠Kaylee Jasperson⁠⁠⁠

Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just like every year, more and more stories are coming out about how wild, unpredictable, and dangerous fireworks can be, and yet our capacity for explosive hubris continues to prevail. For part two of our semiquincentennial series on the history of Fireworks in America, Sarah Marshall of You’re Wrong About joins me again so I can tell her a handful of stories from the Jackassian 20th century: firecracker golf tournaments, exploding scoreboards, and rockstar cherry bomb destruction. We’ll see how, just as fireworks can mean so many things to so many people, they can also mean different things about American history, American values, and the American struggles of the present day.

⁠⁠Become a Patron⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content

Or subscribe to American Hysteria on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Get some of our new merch at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠americanhysteria.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, all profits go to The Sameer Project, a Palestinian-led mutual aid group who are on the ground in Gaza delivering food and supplies to displaced families.

Leave us a message on the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Urban Legends Hotline⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Producer and Editor: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Miranda Zickler⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Associate Producer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Riley Swedelius-Smith⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Additional editing by ⁠⁠Kaylee Jasperson⁠⁠

Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Love them or hate them, there are few things that feel as quintessentially American as fireworks, the favorite way to celebrate during every unhinged national birthday party. For part one of this two-part semiquincentennial series on their history in America, I demonstrate to Sarah Marshall of You’re Wrong About the ridiculousness of modern consumer fireworks, and then we look at the rumored use of these explosives that came over from England during colonization, our early raucous national traditions, the theatrical “pyrodramas” of the 1800s, and the dramatic Victorian pushback against what they called the "noise devil," leading to the widespread bans we know today.

⁠⁠Become a Patron⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content

Or subscribe to American Hysteria on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Get some of our new merch at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠americanhysteria.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, all profits go to The Sameer Project, a Palestinian-led mutual aid group who are on the ground in Gaza delivering food and supplies to displaced families.

Leave us a message on the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Urban Legends Hotline⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Producer and Editor: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Miranda Zickler⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Associate Producer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Riley Swedelius-Smith⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Additional editing by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Kaylee Jasperson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As we endure surreal celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the United States, we hear the same Disneyfied history being told over and over again. Rebecca Nagle is a citizen of Cherokee Nation and the host of the podcast This Land as well as a new investigative series called First America, a show that unveils how the treatment of Indigenous nations and the Native resistance that followed shaped US democracy in profound and surprising ways. For this episode, Rebecca tells us about the history of white colonizers "Playing Indian," from the costumes of the Boston Tea Party, to the Victorian-era summer camps, the symbolic 19th century political cartoons, the names and logos of sports mascots, and even a new mascot of a recent insurrection. We talk about what the history of both indigenous peoples themselves as well as colonizers' idea of Indigenous peoples has to do with American identity, freedom, and envy, and how we can look to the past not just to find the roots of the present, but also to learn about potential paths to resistance.

Listen to Rebecca's new podcast First America:

Apple / Spotify / Website

Check out more of Rebecca's work here

⁠⁠Become a Patron⁠⁠⁠⁠ to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content

Or subscribe to American Hysteria on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠

Get some of our new merch at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠americanhysteria.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, all profits this month go to The Sameer Project, a Palestinian-led mutual aid group.

Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠americanhysteria.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Producer and Editor: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Miranda Zickler⁠⁠⁠⁠

Associate Producer: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Riley Swedelius-Smith⁠⁠⁠⁠

Additional editing by ⁠Kaylee Jasperson⁠

Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever noticed that many of the most iconic evil-doers in movies seem, well, pretty gay? Think Scar from the Lion King, Jafar from Aladdin, Ursula from The Little Mermaid, Miss Trunchbull from Matilda, Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs. We have often regarded this as a problem to fix, a literal villainization that has hurt the queer community's public image. For this Pride episode, however, entertainment journalist and co-host of the podcast This Ends at Prom, BJ Colangelo, explains to us that there may be a more interesting way to look at it.

Listen to ⁠This Ends at Prom⁠ wherever you get your podcasts

Check out BJ's website for more of her work

Follow @BJColangelo on TikTok and Instagram

⁠⁠Become a Patron⁠⁠⁠ to support our show and get early ad-free episodes and bonus content

Or subscribe to American Hysteria on ⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts

Get some of our new merch at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠americanhysteria.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, all profits this month go to The Sameer Project, a Palestinian-led mutual aid group.

Leave us a message on our Urban Legends Hotline at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠americanhysteria.com⁠⁠⁠

Producer and Editor: ⁠⁠⁠Miranda Zickler⁠⁠⁠

Associate Producer: ⁠⁠⁠Riley Swedelius-Smith⁠⁠⁠

Additional editing by Kaylee Jasperson

Hosted by Chelsey Weber-Smith
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices