Download a0e3288f-945d-4ce8-a762-7c900b88a020.mp3 Welcome back to Drafting the Past, a podcast about the craft of writing history. For this one, I’m joined by historian of science Dr. Alex Wellerstein. I’ve been a fan of Alex since at least his first book, Restricted Data: The
Download 49c18c58-23d6-4e5d-a3e0-ee683e2973f0.mp3 Welcome back to Drafting the Past. I’m thrilled to be joined in this episode by historian Dr. Edward Watts. Ed is a professor of history at the University of California San Diego. He is the author of seven books, including Mortal Republic:
Download 38ab2106-0b90-4e71-bc6b-6bbdfac96ddb.mp3 This episode’s guest and I share a last name (no relation, though), but that’s not the only thing we have in common. We both grew up in the Pacific Northwest, where our history education left out most of the violence by
In this episode, Kate is joined by Karin Wulf, the director and librarian of the John Carter Brown Library, to discuss her new book, Lineage, and her research and writing process.
A roundup of new history books published for the week of November 18, 2025.
Listen to an interview with Jessica Lepler about her book Canal Dreamers, her writing process, the founding of a second book writers workshop at SHEAR, and more.
[Update April 2026: Hey there! We have a brand new email specifically for podcast pitches. Reach me at pitches (at) draftingthepast (dot) com.] I love hearing from potential authors who want to be interviewed by me (and I'm still a little surprised and flattered that anyone does!). Like
Every week, intriguing new history books are published–far more than we have space to feature on Drafting the Past! To help you keep up with some of the latest releases in historical non-fiction, below are some of the books coming out this week that caught my eye. If
Download 07e56be2-483d-456b-b7cb-5a06e0382f70.mp3 I’ve talked to many historians who have interviewed sources in order to write their histories over more than 70 episodes of Drafting the Past, but I don’t think any has spent quite as much time getting to know their subject in
Every week, intriguing new history books are published--far more than we have space to feature on Drafting the Past! To help you keep up with some of the latest releases in historical non-fiction, below are some of the books coming out this week that caught my eye. If