Who are the most relevant and inspiring heroes from American history? On this year-end episode of Now & Then, “Historians Have Their Heroes,” Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman discuss their definitions of American heroism and the figures–from Ida B. Wells, to Sitting Bull, to Pete Seeger–who they most admire. What attributes do these political and cultural leaders share? What is the point of having heroes? And how can we honor those who most deserve recognition?  This week, Heather and Joanne’s “Backstage” segment, which is usually reserved for CAFE Insider members, is available for free to all listeners of Now & Then! Head to cafe.com/backstage and sign up to receive an email with the link to the episode. If you already get emails from CAFE, you needn’t sign up; you can expect one in your inbox.  For more historical analysis of current events, sign up for the free weekly CAFE Brief newsletter, featuring Time Machine, a weekly article that dives into an historical event inspired by each episode of Now & Then: cafe.com/brief For references & supplemental materials, head to: cafe.com/now-and-then/historians-have-their-heroes The executive producer is Tamara Sepper. The editorial producer is David Kurlander. The audio producer is Matthew Billy. The Now & Then theme music was composed by Nat Weiner. The Cafe team is Adam Waller, David Tatasciore, Sam Ozer-Staton, Noa Azulai, and Jake Kaplan. Now & Then is presented by CAFE and the Vox Media Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices