Declaration of Independence

Our guest is Jared Yates Sexton, whose writing has included books and articles on politics, culture, and social justice, as well as works of fiction; he's an associate professor of creative writing at Georgia Southern University. He joins us to discuss his new book, which argues that the idea of "American exceptionalism" is not only false -- but it's been false since the country was founded.

(Note: This interview first aired back in February.) Very early in her career, the well-regarded American colonial historian Mary Beth Norton came to believe that the critical year in American independence was not 1776, but rather, 1774. Yet her academic focus on women's colonial history sidelined her interest in fleshing out this theory.

(Note: This interview originally aired in 2014.) Our guest on this edition of StudioTulsa is Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph Ellis, who has written several well-regarded books on the events and persons concerning the founding of the United States. His fascinating book called "Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence" -- which he discusses with us today -- details two seminal events in the summer of 1776, both of them quite central to our nation's founding.

(Note: This show originally aired in October of last year.) On this installment of ST, an interesting chat with Laura Auricchio, a specialist in eighteenth-century French history and art who's received fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation, the Whiting Foundation, and Columbia University -- and who's also Dean of the School of Undergraduate Studies at The New School in NYC. Auricchio speaks about her new book, "The Marquis: Lafayette Reconsidered," which was called "a sharp and moving biography" in a starred review in Kirkus.

On this installment of ST, a fascinating chat about historic preservation -- how it works, how it's changed over the years, and how we learn so much from it -- with Fenella France, who's the Chief of the Preservation Research and Testing Division at the Library of Congress. She's also worked for the Smithsonian Institution and the National Park Service, and from 2001 to 2007, she was the project and scientific manager for Art Preservation Services in New York.

Our guest on this edition of StudioTulsa is Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph Ellis, who's written eight previous books on the events and persons concerning the founding of the United States. His most recent book, "Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence," details two seminal events in the summer of 1776 that are central to our nation's founding. Of course, the actions of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia (resulting in the signing of the Declaration of Independence) is one.