Kurt Andersen and his guest, historian Simon Schama look at this extraordinary moment of cultural, political, and technological change. While political revolutions tore through Europe, American plays provoked riots and “Sensation novels” brought lurid prose to the masses. We hear the actor John Astin channel Edgar Allen Poe. And a fiddler and fife player demonstrate how the musical traditions of Europe and Africa collided to make a brand new sound.
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