Historians often interpret the Civil War in terms of important battles, and number of lives lost. But what about food? Today, we explore a history of the war through the lens of a cookbook. Then, a man who decided to do what nobody has done in more than a century ... cross the Oregon Trail in a covered wagon. And finally, we take a look at Overtraining Syndrome, a debilitating disease that can cause strange pain, loss of appetite, and even the symptoms of leukemia.
Listen to the full show.
The Civil War ... and Food
Helen Zoe Veit is the editor of Food In The Civil War Era: The South, and she joined us to talk about what food can reveal about the people and cultures it feeds.
You can find a link to a delicious mock apple pie recipehere!
Pony Express
Eric Mennel gives us a history of the Pony Express ... which, as it turns out, wasn't incredibly successful, and only lasted for a year and a half. You can listen to the story again at PRX.org.
Crossing The Oregon Trail
Journalist and author Rinker Buck did what no one else had done in more than a century: cross the Oregon Trail in a covered wagon. He talked with us about his new book, The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey, part history, part travelogue, and part family memoir.
Overtraining Syndrome
Meaghen Brown is an Associate Editor at Outside Magazine, where she wrote aboutOvertraining Syndrome: a debilitating disease that is incredibly hard to diagnose.