In this episode, host Kate Carpenter is joined by Dr. Daniel Neep to talk about his new book, Syria: A Modern History.

Daniel is a non-resident fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University and is currently senior editor at the Arab Center Washington DC, a think tank focused on the relationship between the Arab world and the US. Previously, he has worked as a faculty member, researcher, and leader at universities, NGOs, and research centers as he seeks to bridge academic work and institution building. He is the author of a previous book on Syria, as well as many articles and analyses in a wide variety of venues. His new book tells the history of Syria from the 1800s through the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, focusing on how the Syrian people themselves have understood and advocated for their country's politics, economic relationships and social structures.

Kate and Daniel talked about how his many years steeped in research about the Arab world and Syria went into this book, and how he thought about its structure and purpose. We also talked about some of the quirks of publishing a book in both the US and the UK, including how this one book has two slightly different titles, and about what it's like to be writing and revising a book when the ending is changing in real time.

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Mentioned in this episode:

• Daniel Neep's website
• Daniel Neep, Syria: A Modern History (US version)
• Daniel Neep, A Modern History of Syria (UK version)
• Daniel Neep, Occupying Syria Under the French Mandate
• Arab Center Washington D.C.
• Timothy Mitchell, Colonizing Egypt
• Timothy Mitchell, Rule of Experts: Egypt, Techno-Politics, Modernity
• Michael Mann, The Sources of Social Power, Vol. 1

In this episode, Kate is joined by Dr. John Garrison Marks, whose new book is Thy Will Be Done: George Washington's Legacy of Slavery and the Fight for American Memory. This is a fantastic book that takes a careful, and often surprising look, at how generations of Americans have remembered and forgotten George Washington's relationship to slavery and used that memory to bolster their own arguments.

John Garrison Marks is the vice president of research and engagement at the American Association for State and Local History, so he is steeped in the role of public history across the country. He is the author of a previous book, Black Freedom in the Age of Slavery, and co-editor of an anthology. John has written essays and op-eds for outlets including TIME and Smithsonian Magazine. Recently, his expertise on the memory of Washington's relationship to slavery became particularly relevant when the National Park Service removed an exhibit about the history of slavery at the President's House in Philadelphia, and John was ready to jump into the fray and offer vital historical context. I asked John about the relationship between his work with public historians and how he thinks about writing history, as well as how he manages to write while having a busy day job and a young family.

Note: Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. If you purchase books through these links, Drafting the Past gets a small percentage at no additional cost to you. Thanks for supporting our guests and the podcast!

Mentioned in this episode:

• John Garrison Marks, Thy Will Be Done: George Washington's Legacy of Slavery and the Fight for American Memory
• John Garrison Marks, Black Freedom in the Age of Slavery: Race, Status, and Identity in the Urban Americas
• John's website
• American Association for State and Local History (AASLH)
• John Garrison Marks, "We've Never Agreed About George Washington and Slavery," TIME
• Write Now with Scrivener Episode 60: John Garrison Marks, Historian
• Mary V. Thompson, The Only Unavoidable Subject of Regret: George Washington, Slavery, and the Enslaved Community at Mount Vernon
• Bill Hader's excellent writing advice
• John Vaillant, Fire Weather: On the Front Lines of a Burning World
• David Grann, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
• Megan Greenwell, Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream Amanda Mull, "Do You Want a Boring Floor Lamp or an Ugly Floor Lamp?,"The Atlantic

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In this episode, Kate welcomes back episode 1 guest Dr. Megan Kate Nelson as the very first return guest on Drafting the Past! Megan is a historian and the author of five books, and a Pulitzer Prize finalist. In our first conversation, we talked about Megan's writing process, favorite writing advice, and more. But in this episode, we're going deeper! While we talk about Megan's new book, The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier, she's sharing a look behind the scenes at the timeline of a trade press book, how she balances promoting one book and researching the next one, and even some of the behind-the-scenes drama. Plus, she let me take a look at the book's original proposal, and share FIVE failed proposals before she landed on a winner for her next book. This episode is a rare glimpse into the nitty gritty of publishing as a trade press historian, and you're going to get a ton out of it. Plus, stick around to the end—we have a little (okay, BIG) announcement to share!

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Note: Links to bookshop.org are affiliate links. When you buy books through these links, you not only support the authors, you also help to keep Drafting the Past going. Thank you!

Mentioned in this episode:

• Megan Kate Nelson, The Westerners: Mythmaking and Belonging on the American Frontier

• Megan Kate Nelson, Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America

• Megan Kate Nelson, The Three Cornered-War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West

• Megan Kate Nelson, Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War

• Megan Kate Nelson, Trembling Earth: A Cultural History of the Okefenokee Swamp

• Drafting the Past Episode 1: Megan Kate Nelson Experiments with Structure

• Isabel Wilkerson, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration