Finding the Man Within the Myth with Alexis Coe

Here's Where It Gets Interesting

Sharon McMahon

Government, History, Storytelling, Education

4.9 • 15.1K Ratings

🗓️ 28 December 2022

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On today’s episode of Here’s Where It Gets Interesting, Sharon speaks with presidential historian Alexis Coe, who talks about her goal as a historian to tell the whole story. We have a tendency to regard many of our U.S. Presidents as heroes, illuminating the ways in which they shaped our nation for the good, that we often gloss over their missteps. Historians piece together facts and details to fill in the gaps of the bigger picture, but how often are our interpretations colored by our own lived experiences and perceptions? Listen in to learn some fun–and maybe not so fun–facts about our first president, George Washington.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey friends, welcome. As always delighted that you're joining me today. I think you're
0:09.2	going to find this conversation with historian Alexis Coe. Very interesting. She is the first
0:16.0	woman to write a biography of George Washington. And she has a unique viewpoint and she has
0:24.0	some things to say that might surprise you. So let's start it. I'm sharing with them. And
0:31.3	here's where it gets interesting. I am really excited to be chatting today with Alexis Coe. This
0:38.0	is actually a meeting that I have been meaning to have for a very long time ever since your book was
0:45.4	first released. You never forget your first. Thanks for being here. Thank you for having me. I
0:53.1	really said we were talking for we got started today without presidential biographies. They're
0:58.2	interesting. Presidents are inherently interesting people. But they tend to be written but a certain
1:05.2	type of author, right? Like they tend to be written by men. They tend to be written by white men.
1:11.2	They tend to be written by men of certain age and education level. And not there's anything wrong
1:17.2	with that perspective. But I really enjoyed hearing a fresh and different type on a presidential
1:24.3	biography. Why did you pick George Washington? Thank you. Well, I think you hit on a really important
1:30.7	point. And since so many history lovers listen to your podcasts, they do want to make a really
1:35.6	important point, which is that much was made about me being the first woman to write a biography
1:42.2	on Washington in four decades. And then the first woman historian, and I don't even know how long,
1:48.4	it's at least a hundred years, there is no presidential historian of color, the dedicated
1:54.6	presidential historian. And so the thing about presidents and studying them is I can't do it all,
2:02.9	but I can get an idea of the conversation that's going on. Because if you think about
2:10.2	history, you think about American history, let's say Lucifer Zillion studies or French history,
2:15.5	you know, and then within presidential history, each president has its own little college
2:20.4	industry. And in order to get to president, I might not spend a lot of time with, I usually read
	...

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