Hi, this is Newt, do the virus I'm recording from home.

So you may notice a difference in audio quality.

On this episode of Newt's World, Dr. Tracy McKenzie is an accomplished historian, author,

and professor of history. After 22 years as a professor at the University of Washington,

he moved to Wheaton College, Illinois, where he holds the Arthur Holmes Chair of Faith and Learning.

Though it maintains an extensive background in post-Sovil War history, while at Wheaton College,

Tracy's turn to his focus towards the way American evangelicals remember their national origin.

One of many works he authored, the first Thanksgiving, with the real story tells us about loving

God and the learning history. This book provides an accurate account of the first Thanksgiving

and gives insight into misconceptions about the origins of this classic American holiday,

and how it really ought to be remembered. So I'm really pleased to welcome my guest, Dr. Tracy McKenzie.

Thank you very much for joining us. I just have to ask you, given all of your background in history,

what motivated you to write this book? Great question. I'm sort of going through an evolution

as a teacher and a scholar as this author in the case, and I wanted to be able to speak more to

individuals outside of the walls of the academy. I'm a Christian myself, and also I wanted to be able

to speak to Christian readers about how they remember the past. And I particularly was drawn to

the topic of Thanksgiving because I think, you know, the way that we remember this event,

says so much about how our memory to pass intersects with our sense of who we are, both our national

heritage and our faith heritage. And I thought Thanksgiving was a great way to probe into that.

I knew that you once wrote an article for the New York Times, sort of taking apart some of the

common misconceptions Americans have about the programs. From your perspective,

were you surprised by some of the things you learned as you delved into the first Thanksgiving?

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