We may experience life in the eternal present, but history rides along with us. And the history inside our classrooms this semester at American River College was suddenly and without warning upended by the history under our feet: our primary classroom building, Davies Hall, was shuttered upon being declared a seismic risk. As mismanagement and managerial hubris combine to drive us deeper into an unthinkable administrative boondoggle, we once again pause to take ground readings, and assess the risks of collapse in the histories so often told. Concerned for the well-being of our students, we have declared several of these stories to be seismically unfit. From Davies Hall to the Haitian Revolution, and the great universe of storytelling beyond, join us for another rambunctious episode of History Against the Grain.

Want to hear the episode?

Click to hear Catastrophic Damage and Progressive Collapse

Sources Referenced and Items of Interest

Laurent Dubois, Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution

Adam Frank and Marcello Gleiser, “The Story of Our Universe May Be Starting to Unravel”

Carlo Rovelli, “The Secret to Unlocking one of the Universe’s Mysteries”