jake, Author at HUB History

Blooper: Math is hard

How do you know that the hosts of a history podcast were humanities majors, not hard science? Listen to us try to subtract 1942 from 1993.

Blooper: Jake’s chair

What does it sound like when a podcast host’s chair almost overturns during a recording session? You’re about to find out.

Episode 39: Tragedy at Cocoanut Grove

The 1942 fire at Boston’s Cocoanut Grove nightclub killed a staggering 492 people, making it the deadliest fire in Boston history and one of the deadliest fires in US history. For Boston, it is the deadliest modern disaster of any type. Only the smallpox epidemics of the early 1700s and the 1918 Spanish flu rival it for loss of life.

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Episode 38: The Reign of Charles “King” Solomon

This week’s show is about Charles “King” Solomon, also known as Boston Charlie, whose criminal enterprise placed him at the head of organized crime in Boston throughout the prohibition era. He reached influence at the national level, set policies in play that led to tragedy at the Cocoanut Grove, and in death, left a wake that may have led to the rise of Whitey Bulger.

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Just say “Massachusetts”

Here’s a fun blooper from Jake. While I was hosting solo last week, I ran up against the Boston history podcaster’s Achilles heel… a complete inability to say the word “Massachusetts.” I stumble almost every time, and it’s a word that comes up a lot. Here, I try several times to say “Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination,” with sad results.

Episode 37: This Week in Boston History

Your humble hosts are out having summertime fun this week. Don’t worry, though… Jake is flying solo this week, and bringing you this week’s historical anniversaries. We’ll be back next week with a real episode.

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Episode 36 Boston in the Golden Age of Piracy, Part 2

In this episode, we continue our tale of Boston in the Golden Age of Piracy, picking up at the end of the War of The Spanish Succession. We’ll learn about some of the most fearsome and notorious pirates in history, as well as one of the most ineffective. We’ll see how one of these pirates gave a founding father his start in public life, which US president’s great grandfather bought a former pirate as a slave, and what other president’s great grandfather decapitated a pirate with an axe.

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Who let a cow in here?

It’s been a while since I shared a blooper, so here’s a fun one. That cow that interrupts my discussion of a Revolutionary War skirmish? My dog, groaning with boredom in the background. You’d be shocked how often I have to edit similar vocalizations out of the podcast.

Episode 35: The Boston Symphony Orchestra in World War I

With a partial “Muslim Ban” in place, it’s important to remember that vilifying “enemy aliens” is one of the darkest chapters of our nation’s history. A hundred years ago, Americans were all too willing to imprison or even deport their neighbors of German descent. Here in Boston, the preeminent director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra was affected, along with almost a third of the orchestra’s musicians.

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Episode 34: Boston in the Golden Age of Piracy, part 1

Shiver me timbers! This is the first in a two-part series about Boston’s role in the Golden Age of Piracy, from 1650 to 1726. A few pirates set sail from our city, some preyed on the shipping coming in and out of our port, and even more met their ends on the gallows in Boston. We’ll hear stories of daring raids and buried treasures, of mutiny, jailbreak, and double crossing.

Continue reading Episode 34: Boston in the Golden Age of Piracy, part 1