{"podcast":{"title":"A Journey into Human History","slug":"a-journey-into-human-history-6372765","podcast_index_feed_id":6372765,"rss_url":"https://www.spreaker.com/show/5860966/episodes/feed","website_url":"https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/a-journey-into-human-history--5860966","image_url":"https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/41ce366b1fc1a5dc0942ad28c9fccaa7.jpg","author":"Creative Common Sense","episode_count":224,"summary":"Welcome to a journey into human history. This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story. You may be asking yourself what is history? Is it simply a record of things people have done? Is it what writer Maya Angelou suggested—a way to meet the pain of the past and overcome it? Or is it, as Winston Churchill said, a chronicle by the victors, an interpretation by those who write it? History is all this and more. Above all else, it is a path to knowing why we are the way we are—all our greatness, all our faults—and therefore a means for us to understand ourselves and change for the better. But history serves this function only if it is a true reflection of the past. It cannot be a way to mask the darker parts of human nature, nor a way to justify acts of previous generations. It is the historian’s task to paint as clear a picture as sources will allow. Will history ever be a perfect telling of the human tale? No. There are voices we may never hear. Yet each new history book written and each new source uncovered reveal an ever more precise record of events around the world. You are about to take a journey into human history. The content contained in this podcast was produced by…","last_synced_at":"2026-09-21T16:18:22.926405+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-journey-into-human-history-6372765"},"episode":{"title":"The Spanish American War and Overseas Empire","slug":"the-spanish-american-war-and-overseas-empire","published_at":"2026-09-11T11:20:02+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-journey-into-human-history-6372765/the-spanish-american-war-and-overseas-empire","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-journey-into-human-history-6372765","url":"https://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-spanish-american-war-and-overseas-empire--74657275","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/74657275/1787595097535_voicemaker_in_speech.mp3","summary":"In the wake of the Civil War, American economic growth combined with the efforts of Evangelist missionaries to push for greater international influence and overseas presence. By confronting Spain over its imperial rule in Cuba, the United States took control of valuable territories in Central America and the Pacific. For the United States, the first step toward becoming an empire was a decisive military one. By engaging with Spain, the United States was able to gain valuable territories in Latin America and Asia, as well as send a message to other global powers. The untested U.S. Navy proved superior to the Spanish fleet, and the military strategists who planned the war in the broader context of empire caught the Spanish by surprise. The annexation of the former Spanish colonies of Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, combined with the acquisition of Hawaii, Samoa, and Wake Island, positioned the United States as the predominant world power in the South Pacific and the Caribbean. While some prominent figures in the United States vehemently disagreed with the idea of American empire building, their concerns were overruled by an American public—and a government—that understood American power overseas as a form of prestige, prosperity, and progress. All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/us-history/pages/22-2-the-spanish-american-war-and-overseas-empire Welcome to A Journey into Human History. This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story. The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. Access for free at https://openstax.org/details/books/us-history Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production. No part of this po…","meta_description":"In the wake of the Civil War, American economic growth combined with the efforts of Evangelist missionaries to push for greater international influence an…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":932,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/a-journey-into-human-history-6372765/episodes/the-spanish-american-war-and-overseas-empire/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-journey-into-human-history-6372765/the-spanish-american-war-and-overseas-empire.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}