Armchair Historians

Armchair Historians

What's your favorite history? Each interview on this podcast begins with this one question. Our guests are people who like history and get really excited about a particular time, place or person from our distant or not so distant past. The jumping off point is the place where our they became curious then entered the rabbit hole into discovery through scholarly research, pop culture, documentaries, other podcasts...We look at history through the filter of other peoples eyes.https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=965986

Episodes

October 19, 2025 56 mins

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This week’s Rewind episode brings back one of our most memorable conversations—perfect for anyone who’s ever felt that jolt of wonder holding a fragment of the past. Anne Marie sits down with noted mudlark Jason Sandy—member of the Society of Thames Mudlarks, trustee of the Thames Museum Trust, and co-author of Thames Mudlarking: Searching for London’s Lost Treasures—to explore the River Thames as the longest open-air...

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In this special Halloween edition minisode, host Anne Marie Cannon continues her conversation with documentary filmmaker Eric Walter, diving into the making of his award-winning film My Amityville Horror.

In the documentary, Daniel Lutz recounts his own chilling version of the infamous Amityville haunting that terrified his family in 1975—an experience that would inspire a best-selling novel and a long-running series o...

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Every town has its ghosts. For the quiet Colorado mining town of Silver Plume, those ghosts are real people who vanished without a trace.

In this two-part Halloween special of Armchair Historians, host Anne Marie Cannon talks with award-winning filmmaker Eric Walter, whose documentaries explore the unsettling corners of human experience. Walter’s film Dark Side of the Mountain investigates the mysterious disappearance ...

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This is part one of an interview Anne Marie did in 2020. Sadly, shortly after the interview, Jeff Lipkes passed away. This episode is dedicated to him.

Jeff Lipkes was born and raised in Los Angeles and educated at U.C. Berkeley and Princeton, completing his Ph.D. in History in 1995. His dissertation was awarded the Joseph Dorfman Prize by the History of Economics Society.

Rehearsals: The German Army...

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November 8, 2024 20 mins

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It's been a while, fellow Armchair Historians! Welcome back to the show!! This episode is the first in a series. This supplementary podcast to the in-production documentary Last Train Leaving Belgium is the first episode, which introduces the story of Therese, an eight-year-old Belgian child facing the soon-to-be occupation of her country by foreign invaders.

Over the next few weeks, we will rebroadcast...

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November 21, 2023 43 mins

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Hello, fellow Armchair Historians. We're back and ready to bring more amazing histories. In this episode, Anne Marie talks to bestselling author Scott Eyman. Scot is a prolific writer whose muse is the enduring careers of iconic film industry legends. Scott talks about his latest book, Charlie Chaplin Vs. America: When Art, Sex, And Politics Collide.

Scott Eyman website: https://scotteyman.com

...

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PART 2

listen to PART1 here:

Ahoy, mateys! Anne Marie here! In this episode, we share part 2 of Anne Marie's interview with Marcus Rediker and David Lester about their graphic novel, Under the Banner of King Death. Yup, that’s right, we’re going to talk about Pirates. If you listened to our most recent mini episode, you met David and Marcus in our Let’s get Quizzical segment.

Not only do we talk ...

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In this mini episode, Anne Marie revisits Black Tudors, by Miranda Kaufmann. Anne Marie purchased the book whilst visiting Mary Rose Museum back in 2017 to research the African presence in Tudor England. One of the central figures, perhaps the most well known black Tudor, John Blanke appears in the historical record as well as Tudor art.

Miranda Kaufmann, website: http://www.mirandakaufmann.com

Blac...

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Ahoy, mateys! Anne Marie here! In this episode, we share part 1 of Anne Marie's interview with Marcus Rediker and David Lester about their graphic novel, Under the Banner of King Death. Yup, that’s right, we’re going to talk about Pirates. If you listened to our most recent mini episode, you met David and Marcus in our Let’s get Quizzical segment.

Not only do we talk about egalitarian style government on the pirat...

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When 34-year-old Charlie Clarke was feeling down about losing his beloved dog to cancer, he decided to go metal detecting to take his mind off of his loss. Sometimes good things happen at the worst of times, and that's just what happened to Charlie when he uncovered a never before seen early sixteenth-century artifact.

David Lester and Marcus Rediker, authors of Under the Banner of King Death, take on th...

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Part 2 of Anne Marie's interview with Anna Borzello about her years foraging along the foreshore for remnants of the lives of everyday people, breadcrumbs that lead to snapshots of the past, bringing into sharper focus the commonplace, for the times, routines of ordinary people. Anna is a crafty historian, able to spin an engaging narrative around each artifact she finds.

In this episode, Anne Marie talk...

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Minisode: February 4, This Day in History

Listen to this episode to discover what happened on this day in history. Clues are in the title!

The People History: https://www.thepeoplehistory.com

History: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/on-this-day

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In this episode, Anne Marie talks to  Anna Borzello. Previously, she worked as the BBC correspondent for Focus in Africa in Uganda from 1995 to 2001. These days you can find Anna on the River Thames foreshore foraging for historical artifacts which tell the story of London’s expansive history.

Anna admittedly plans her life around the river’s tides. Before she commits to doctor’s appointments, lunch dates, fi...

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Not too long ago, Anne Marie had the opportunity to talk to Emily Strasser. Emily has written a book about a little-known community built in secret by the United States government in rural western Knoxville, Tennessee. Oak Ridge was one of three secret cities constructed by the Manhattan Project. 

Emily Strasser is a writer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She received her MFA in nonfiction from the University of Minne...

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January 19, 2023 26 mins

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Not too long ago, Anne Marie had the opportunity to talk to Emily Strasser. Emily has written a book about a little-known community built in secret by the United States government in rural western Knoxville, Tennessee. Oak Ridge was one of three secret cities constructed by the Manhattan Project. 

If you listened to last week’s episode about Anna Rosenberg, there is a tie-in here. Anna Rosenberg negotiated a hush-hush ...

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In this first episode of 2023, Anne Marie interviews Christopher C. Gorham, high school history teacher and author of The Confidante: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Helped Win WWII and Shape Modern America. This relatively unknown history is about a woman who yielded a great deal of political power throughout much of the 20th century, and whose legacy is little known. Who was Anna Rosenberg, and why don't we k...

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January 3, 2023 5 mins

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Anne Marie stops by to wish you a happy New Year and gets a little deep and philosophical about her love of history. #happynewyear

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Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/belgiumrabbitproductions

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Follow us on Social Media:
Instagram: @armchairhistorians
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/armchairhi...

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In this fourth episode of our October History and Haunting Series, Anne Marie talks to Denver Ghost Hunters' (DGH) team members Stephanie and Elise about their favorite histories and how their ghost-hunting endeavors connect to them.

They share digital recordings of disembodied voices (or EVPs) of spirits from beyond and line up the history with the haunting. 

With the nineteenth-century Unite...

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In this third episode of our October History and Haunting Series, Anne Marie talks to Denver Ghost Hunters' (DGH) team members Stephanie and Elise about their favorite histories and how their ghost-hunting endeavors connect to them. 

With the nineteenth-century United States Western expansion, many a restless soul came to the then Kansas Territory (Colorado) with only their dream and a prayer in hopes o...

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Anne Marie continues her discussion with the co-authors of A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America's Ghosts. 

This non-fiction book is coauthored by actress, playwright, ghost tour guide and award-winning bestselling author Leanna Renee Hieber and Boroughs of the Dead founder Andrea Janes. 

“Sorrowful widows, vengeful jezebels, innocent maidens, wronged lovers, even the occasional axe-murderes...

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