Vanilla Ice, the Queen, and 8,000 Alphabet Noodles: The 411 on the Bicentennial

Vanilla Ice, the Queen, and 8,000 Alphabet Noodles: The 411 on the Bicentennial

America is turning 250 this year, and to make sense of the chaos of America 250 (Vanilla Ice on the National Mall, a Confederate flag at the Great American State Fair) I had to go back to the last time we tried this. The Bicentennial, 1976. LBJ started with an earnest planning commission. Nixon gutted it and replaced them with his buddies. Sound familiar? The country was exhausted by Watergate, Vietnam, and inflation, so we reached for nostalgia instead. Little House on the Prairie, anyone? On this episode, I take you on what The Bachelor would call "a journey" through the highs, lows, and huhs? of the bicentennial. On tap: why America is so obsessed with celebrating itself and what that's looked like in the past, the mission and merch of the bicentennial, the protests, and, inexplicably, the queen.  ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

The Field Guide to Nepo Babies with Fran Hoepfner

This episode, I chat with Fran Hoepfner — critic, Vulture writer, and author of The Field Guide to Nepo Babies — to trace nepotism from the medieval Catholic Church all the way to Bronny James and Kai Trump. They get into who's doing it right (Ben Platt's Rachel Zegler solidarity era, Romy Mars booking a helicopter and owning it on TikTok), who's doing it wrong (Jack Schlossberg, reheating his family's nachos), and whether Jesus Christ is technically a nepo baby. Spoiler: it depends on your theology (but it’s also making me want to rewatch Jesus Christ Superstar). Become a Patreon member → https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney [https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney]  TIMESTAMPS * (00:00) Cold open / Fran's cat Bandit joins the show * (03:10) The meritocracy myth and why nepo babies make us angry * (08:08) Ben Platt's PR redemption arc * (12:29) How nepotism started in the Catholic Church (hi, Borgias) * (15:10) Was Jesus a nepo baby? * (20:00) Emeril Lagasse IV and the "no seriously he earned it" profile * (28:21) Bronny James and the tragedy of an impossible legacy * (32:06) Chet Hanks: performance art or just vibes? * (35:24) Jack Schlossberg, least favorite nepo baby, explained * (43:38) Fran's favorites: Laura Dern, Jason Schwartzmann, the Gummers * (48:18) Kai Trump's "just a regular girly" era and Tiffany Trump's strange tragedy * (53:23) The takeaway: don't apologize, don't be boring, and if you have money, do something good TRANSCRIPT Full episode transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11ghO5c8muWn77GzbPfNGP84l06ixrr8RNt4URRQDdn8/edit?usp=sharing [https://docs.google.com/document/d/11ghO5c8muWn77GzbPfNGP84l06ixrr8RNt4URRQDdn8/edit?usp=sharing]  Connect with Mary: * Website: www.marymmahoney.com [http://www.marymmahoney.com] * Instagram: @mimimahoney [https://www.instagram.com/mimimahoney/?hl=en] * Email: MaryMargaret.Mahoney@gmail.com [MaryMargaret.Mahoney@gmail.com] Connect with Fran: * Read Fran’s Book! [https://bookshop.org/a/102042/9781523530465] The Field Guide to Nepo Babies (https://bookshop.org/a/102042/9781523530465 [https://bookshop.org/a/102042/9781523530465] )  * Subscribe to Fran Magazine: https://franmagazine.substack.com/ [https://franmagazine.substack.com/]  * Website: https://www.franhoepfner.fyi/ [https://www.franhoepfner.fyi/]  * Instagram: @franhoepfner [https://www.instagram.com/franhoepfner/?hl=en#]   Love the show? Please leave a rating and review! It helps other listeners find Landline. Sponsor Message:  Landline is sponsored by Libro.Fm [http://libro.fm]. Listen to your favorite books and support your local bookstores! (Link: https://tidd.ly/40tPrKb [https://tidd.ly/40tPrKb] )  ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Anne of Green Gables: The One and Only (A Love Letter to the Miniseries starring Megan Follows)

Is your life a perfect graveyard of buried hopes? Have I got the episode for you! This month, I sit down with fellow historian and lifelong Anne devotee Samantha to talk about the thing that started it all: Kevin Sullivan's 1985 miniseries adaptation of Anne of Green Gables, starring Megan Follows. They get into what it meant to find Anne as a girl, why it still hits different as an adult, the queerness you can absolutely read into it if you're paying attention, the absolutely wild copyright drama that shaped the whole Kevin Sullivan universe, and what Lucy Maud Montgomery's own life might tell us about why she wrote the story she did. Plus: trivia, a trip to PEI, a lunch with Lucy Maud Montgomery's actual granddaughter (and what it's like to attend a conference with her descendants), and a very firm stance on Part Three. Long episode. Worth every minute. Become a Patreon member → https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney [https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

"Does She Sing?" Sarah, Plain and Tall and the History of “Wives Wanted” with Sara Petersen

We need to talk about Sarah, Plain and Tall. Yes, the children's book. Yes, it will make you cry. I'm joined by the brilliant Sara Petersen — writer of the In Pursuit of Clean Countertops newsletter and author of Momfluenced — to revisit Patricia MacLachlan's 1985 masterpiece, and I promise we are not being dramatic when we say it holds up. It more than holds up. It destroys you. We get into the very real and very wild 19th-century practice of advertising for a wife (one man received 794 letters, 13 daguerreotypes, and one thimble — just leaving that there), why Sarah Wheaton is a genuinely subversive heroine who would absolutely not survive the Ballerina Farm comment section, and what tradwife culture fundamentally misunderstands about what life on the prairie actually looked like for women. Spoiler: it was not sourdough and calico aesthetics. It was getting on the roof. We also talk grief and longing, Frontier House (the PBS show that radicalized a generation of history nerds), the Hemingway comparisons this book actually deserves, and why a scene involving three colored pencils might be the most emotionally efficient ending in American literature. Stay tuned for a future 411 episode connecting all of this to the longer history of Wives Wanted culture — and yes, 90 Day Fiancé. Become a Patreon member → https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney [https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney]  TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – Introduction: Why Sarah, Plain and Tall made us cry  05:30 – The real history of Wives Wanted ads (794 letters, 24 shirt buttons, one thimble)  13:00 – What this book is actually about: grief, longing, and Caleb's unanswerable question  22:00 – The yellow bonnet arrives: why Sarah puts everyone at ease immediately  27:00 – Tradwives vs. homesteaders: what trad wife culture gets completely wrong about the past  36:00 – Frontier House, Doctor Quinn, and our shared disease of prairie nostalgia  44:00 – The colored pencils ending, and why Patricia McLachlan is a genius TRANSCRIPT Full episode transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1543EYkJM9RvhFTP3nh0Dy_mxzQOPO5DhxlLoINm0fUk/edit?usp=sharing [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1543EYkJM9RvhFTP3nh0Dy_mxzQOPO5DhxlLoINm0fUk/edit?usp=sharing]  Connect with Mary: * Website: www.marymmahoney.com [http://www.marymmahoney.com] * Instagram: @mimimahoney [https://www.instagram.com/mimimahoney/?hl=en] * Email: MaryMargaret.Mahoney@gmail.com [MaryMargaret.Mahoney@gmail.com] Connect with Sara: * Website: https://sara-petersen.com/ [https://sara-petersen.com/]  * Twitter/X: @slouisepetersen * Instagram: @slouisepetersen  * Book: Momfluenced: Inside the Maddening, Picture-Perfect World of Mommy Influencer Culture [https://bookshop.org/a/102042/9780807093382] * Newsletter: In Pursuit of Clean Countertops [https://www.patreon.com/cw/SaraPetersen] * Podcast: Clean Countertops [https://pod.link/1872096797] Love the show? Please leave a rating and review! It helps other listeners find Landline. Sponsor Message:  Landline is sponsored by Libro.Fm [http://libro.fm]. Listen to your favorite books and support your local bookstores! (Link: https://tidd.ly/40tPrKb [https://tidd.ly/40tPrKb] )  ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

The Untold Story of the Women Who Served Henry VIII's Six Wives with Nicola Clark

Why are we still so drawn to the Tudor era? Is it Henry VIII? His wives? The soap opera-level intrigue? I called up historian Nicola Clark, author of The Waiting Game, to talk about the women who were always in the background of this history, the ladies in waiting who served Henry VIII's six wives. These women were information brokers, diplomatic agents, reluctant witnesses, and fierce loyalists, often all at once. We get into orange-hidden messages, impossible loyalty oaths, the question of whether Anne of Cleves actually "won," and why we simply cannot stop talking about this era. Spoiler: Henry VIII is not actually that interesting. The women around him absolutely are. If you think you know the Tudor story, think again. Become a Patreon member → https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney [https://www.patreon.com/cw/MaryMahoney]  TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – Catherine of Aragon could hold a grudge (a preview) 02:32 – How long does it take to write a book like this? 07:18 – So what actually is a lady in waiting? 11:23 – Maria de Salinas and the Spanish archives nobody knew about 18:37 – Messages hidden in oranges (yes, really) 23:22 – Jane Parker: villain, victim, or just surviving? 33:10 – Katherine Howard and the impossible tightrope 52:09 – Why are we so obsessed with the Tudors? 56:53 – The "girl bossification" of women in history TRANSCRIPT Full episode transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MDd1xK5PoUuZf_pkv3a2VXQDM9l3kHtDeIDVAcG4Rd0/edit?usp=sharing [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MDd1xK5PoUuZf_pkv3a2VXQDM9l3kHtDeIDVAcG4Rd0/edit?usp=sharing]  Connect with Mary: * Website: www.marymmahoney.com [http://www.marymmahoney.com] * Instagram: @mimimahoney [https://www.instagram.com/mimimahoney/?hl=en] * Email: MaryMargaret.Mahoney@gmail.com [MaryMargaret.Mahoney@gmail.com] Connect with Nicola Clark: * Website: https://www.chi.ac.uk/people/nicola-clark/ [https://www.chi.ac.uk/people/nicola-clark/]  * Instagram: @nicolaclark86 [https://www.instagram.com/nicolaclark86/#] * The Waiting Game: The Untold Story of the Women Who Served the Tudor Queens: A History: https://bookshop.org/a/102042/9781639368099 [https://bookshop.org/a/102042/9781639368099]  Love the show? Please leave a rating and review! It helps other listeners find Landline. Sponsor Message:  Landline is sponsored by Libro.Fm [http://libro.fm]. Listen to your favorite books and support your local bookstores! (Link: https://tidd.ly/40tPrKb [https://tidd.ly/40tPrKb] )  ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.