COVER STORY
1848
Kurt Andersen and historian Simon Schama talk about the explosive year of 1848 and the birth of modern culture.

The Music of 1848
When newcomers arrived in America they brought their music with them. Refugees from the Irish famine, which started in 1845, carried over some of the songs that we think of today as American standards, but when the tunes hit American soil, they changed. Fiddle player Paul Woodiel [wood-eel], Chris Layer, a fife and flute player, and vocalist Brendan O’Shea perform Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye and Turkey in the Straw. Kurt and Simon Schama also talk about how minstrel shows propagated ugly stereotypes of African-Americans, while beginning the long process of blending black and white music in America.
Go to the lyrics of "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye"
Go to a website with music and lyrics on “Turkey in the Straw”
Go to a website about the fife player Christopher Layer
Go to a website about the fiddler Paul Woodiel
Go to vocalist Brendan O’Shea’s website

A Glance at New York
Studio 360 excerpts a play that floored audiences in 1848. Benjamin Baker, a young volunteer fireman and theater gadabout, wrote A Glance at New York to capture the tone and swagger of this teeming city. The play depicted Mose the Fireman -- a rowdy, irreverent Bowery boy character. The Axis Theater company revived A Glance at New York last year and Studio 360 asked them to perform a scene for us which shows a tender side of Mose. Produced by Jocelyn Gonzales.
Go to the Axis Theater Company page on A Glance at New York
Go to an article on the history of Mose the Fireman

John Astin on Poe
If you’ve read the Raven or the Telltale Heart, you’re familiar with Edgar Allen Poe and the gorgeous dark gothic shadows of his poetry and fiction. But you probably don’t know the work he considered his greatest achievement: an essay he called “Eureka.” It was nothing less than a long-form meditation on the mysteries of the Universe. It turned out that a lot of Poe's intuition about science proved uncannily correct. The actor John Astin (best-known as Gomez Addams on the old Addams Family TV show) reveals his love of Poe and “Eureka.” Produced by Jonathan Mitchell.
Go to John Astin's Edgar Allen Poe website
Go to Edgar Allen Poe's "Eureka" essay

Sensation Novel
In the middle of the 19th century, cheap wild & sexy commercial fiction became a form all its own -- and boomed. These books were called “sensation novels.” George Lippard published several sensation novels including one in 1848 called the Bel of Prairie Eden. In this excerpt set in Texas in the years just before the Mexican war, which lasted from 1846 to 1848, the house of a rich Texan is invaded by his Scottish overseer who’s in league with the Mexican army. Excerpt read by Mallory Kasdan.
Find out more about sensation author George Lippard
Go to a website with more on American Sensation novels

SPECIAL GUEST
Simon Schama
Simon Schama is University Professor at Columbia University. He is a writer/presenter of documentaries for BBC Television and his books include Landscape and Memory, The Citizens, and the History of Britain.
Go to Simon Schama’s website at Columbia University

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Full Spectrum Warrior
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