Category: Yesterday

Posted on

Byzantium And The Crusades - The Second Crusade Episode 2 “The Road to Defeat”

In this episode, we look at the passage of the Second Crusade through the Byzantine Empire and on into Anatolia which was a major war zone between the Byzantines and the Turks. Hopes were high for the Second Crusade, led by the two greatest Kings of Europe, Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany. But a cruel fate awaited them.

Please take a look at my website nickholmesauthor.com where you can download a free copy of The Byzantine World War, my book that describes the origins of the First Crusade.

Posted on

The Right to Drink - Why Your Craft Cocktail Should Cost $4

Why is your craft beer and favorite cocktail so dang expensive? What does this have to do with America’s only mother-daughter distilling duo? Join host Jarrett Dieterle, author of Give Me Liberty & Give Me A Drink (Artisan Books), as he exposes the long-running battle between booze producers and government and explains why your drink costs more than it should.

Foley courtesy of freesfx.co.uk.

Posted on

Curious City - What A Murder In My Family Reveals About Chicago’s Chinese Gangs

The inaugural citywide Curious City Scavenger Hunt: Chicago Eats Edition is coming to an end, so we’re capping off the past month of unlocking clues by revisiting a family mystery. In this episode from 2018, reporter Monica Eng digs into her family’s past to answer a listener’s question about the history of Chinese gangs in Chicago — and make sure to stick around for an update at the end of the story.

Posted on

Byzantium And The Crusades - The Second Crusade Episode 1 “The Gathering of the Kings”

In this episode, after the fall of Edessa to Zengi in 1144, the Kingdom of Jerusalem appeals to Pope Eugenius III for help. The great preacher, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux gives an electrifying sermon in France, calling for a new Crusade to save the Franks in the East. The West is again set alight with crusading fervour, just as it had been with the First Crusade in 1095, and two huge armies, led by the Kings of France and Germany, march East.

Please take a look at my website nickholmesauthor.com where you can download a free copy of The Byzantine World War, my book that describes the origins of the First Crusade.

Posted on

Curious City - Why Did So Many Chicago Bars Disappear?

While our recent episodes have been taking you to different neighborhoods throughout the city, this week we’re visiting a Chicago neighborhood institution: the tavern. Recently, there have been a lot of debates surrounding whether to keep bars open during the COVID-19 pandemic and how to do so safely. And some of Chicago’s bars have struggled to stay in business. But even before the pandemic, bars have been disappearing.

Posted on

Byzantium And The Crusades - The Kingdom of Jerusalem Episode 6 “The Fall of Edessa”

In this episode, we hear how King Fulk of Jerusalem died leaving the Kingdom of Jerusalem to his widow, Queen Melisende, and how the Crusaders' most feared enemy, Imad al-Din Zengi used this as an opportunity to launch an attack on the County of Edessa. The result would change the crusading world forever.

Please take a look at my website nickholmesauthor.com where you can download a free copy of The Byzantine World War, my book that describes the origins of the First Crusade.

Posted on

The Right to Drink - The Right to Drink Trailer – Coming September 15!

“The Right to Drink” is a new podcast about drinking and everything that gets in the way. Prohibition may have been 100 years ago, but some of the craziest laws on the books still get in the way of Americans enjoying the right to produce, consume, and sell the booziest beverages. 

Host, expert and author Jarrett Dieterle (Give Me Liberty & Give Me a Drink, Artisan Books) will introduce you to brewers, distillers, and bartenders who will help answer questions like: Why does your cocktail cost so much? Why do brewers get in trouble for putting curse words on beer bottles? And why do so many states ban happy hour? 

This podcast is brought to you by the R Street Institute and DrinksReform.org.

Foley courtesy of freesfx.co.uk.

Posted on

Byzantium And The Crusades - The Kingdom of Jerusalem Episode 5 “The Return of Byzantium”

This podcast series tells how the Crusades were inextricably linked with the Byzantine Empire. In this episode, we hear how Byzantium, in the 1130s and 1140s, tried to re-establish its control over Antioch, the second city of the Empire, lost to the Turks in 1084, and captured by the First Crusade in 1098. Antioch was now a Crusader state - the Principality of Antioch - and the Crusaders would not yield to Byzantine demands to return it to the Empire as had been originally promised by the First Crusaders. Another step would be taken on the path towards war between Byzantium and the Crusaders.

Please take a look at my website nickholmesauthor.com where you can download a free copy of The Byzantine World War, my book that describes the origins of the First Crusade.

Posted on

Curious City - Chicago’s Historic Japanese Neighborhood — And Why It Disappeared

While the Curious City Scavenger Hunt: Chicago Eats Edition continues to take you all across the city, we’re pulling stories from our archive that dive into the history of Chicago’s neighborhoods. This week, a story from 2017 takes us to Lake View, which once had a thriving Japanese community — but it fell victim to a push for assimilation. As one Japanese-American puts it: “You had to basically be unseen.”