Audibly Speaking on Substack: History “Hack” for January 2

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The Representatives who Weren’t:

The little matter of the Oath

More than half of the Republicans in the so-called House of Representatives have just pledged to violate their oaths to uphold the Constitution. They have just declared that they would be the commanders, and not the representatives, of the people who just elected or re-elected them, as the case may be. They did this in announcing that they would vote to stop or reverse an election that has already been decided in the manner required by the Constitution. (Click on the player to listen to the audio narration of this episode.)

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A Sample of my audio narration of “A Tale of Two Cities,” by Charles Dickens

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This chapter of “A Tale of Two Cities,” is called “The Gorgon’s Head,” and is one of the more difficult chapters in the novel to narrate, at least in my opinion.  It has more than its share of the long, meandering and prolix sentences for which Dickens was famous. Even when read with the eyes, it takes time to make sense of them. On top of that it has extensive dialogue intertwined with lines from the omniscient narrator.  One saving grace is that the characters are typically “over the top” in their demeanor, either simon pure (Charles Darnay) or deeply evil (the Marquis de Evremonde), allowing for an “over the top” narrative style.  One does not need to be an Olivier or a Meryl Streep to read these lines correctly!

In about six months the entire novel will be available, free of course, on the open source audiobook site, Librivox. org.  I hope that you enjoy this sample.

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“A Scandal in Bohemia” by Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes

Narrated by Dr. Rick Reiman

In this classic short story in the Sherlock Holmes series, Holmes, with the help of Dr. Watson, matches wits with a woman, Irene Adler. Spoiler alert: The woman wins. It is one of the few Sherlock Holmes stories in which Holmes fails. And he never forgets it!

The players:

Sherlock Holmes: Dr. Rick Reiman

Dr. Watson: Dr. Rick Reiman

The King of Bohemia: Dr. Rick Reiman

Irene Adler: Dr. Rick Reiman 

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The Story Continues (Chapter 2, “The Mail,” from “A Tale of Two Cities,” by Charles Dickens)

course, Tale of Two Cities

Read for you by the host of Audiblyspeaking, Dr. Richard Reiman

Your professor, Dr. Reiman, continues his narration of this classic novel, with “The Mail,” chapter two.  In this chapter we meet some of the characters in the novel.  I hope you enjoy this addition to the Breakaway Cafe in the course.

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The Period

Tale of Two Cities, Uncategorized

The Breakaway Cafe is the name for a place to chill in this course. In this time of Covid sometimes we all need to take a break. Breakaway Cafe is such a place. Historians are people who tell (true) stories. But in Breakaway Cafe, I tell short stories that are often fiction, narrated by yours truly just because yours truly wants to tell them.

You DO NOT have to pay any attention to Breakaway Cafe posts, because they have nothing to do with the course and none of them “are on the exam.” Also, you don’t have to chill, and that’s what Breakaway Cafe is all about. Humans love stories, though, and I would just like to contribute to that because audio narration, as well as telling stories that are fiction is a hobby of mine, in another life of mine.


In this first episode I narrate the first chapter of Charles Dickens’s “A Tale of Two Cities,” a chapter called “The Period.” This novel about people caught up in the maelstrom of the French Revolution was not published as a complete novel originally but was serialized like a magazine, with chapters coming out, one at a time over many months. They were like episodes in a mini-series that could not be binged. So in listening to this episode, you are listening to the novel as Dickens originally intended and as its first readers received it.


Dickens was also an actor, and his first love was theater. So, when there is dialogue (not in the first chapter), I am going to be playing the parts as he intended, with many different voices. Eventually I will add more chapters (as I record them, because I am just beginning to do so, for a public domain web site called Librivox.org). By the way, this is a non-commercial site for which nobody makes any money. It is a site just to make the world a better place, gratis.

I am no Simon Callow, the dean of writers and narrators of the works of Dickens. But, then again I don’t charge for my performances. They are just designed to provide moments of respite and chill in this Breakaway Cafe.

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The Constitution in Context

Constitution Day 2020

The following podcast is a feature of “Constitution Day 2020” at South Georgia State College. As a result of the pandemic, the different elements of the event are presented in a manner consistent with safety and social distancing. The South Georgia College website (http://www.sgsc.edu) contains a webpage with more information on the displays for Constitution Day that appear physically on both the Douglas and Waycross campuses.

This podcast is a presentation of Dr. Rick Reiman, Professor of History. The title, “The Constitution in Context” refers to the fact that the Constitution is a living document that rises or falls on its success in meeting challenges completely unanticipated by its framers. One of the most challenging times for the Constitution was the period of the 1790s, the first decade of our national life under the Constitution. The podcast looks at how two political parties emerged, neither considering the other legitimate, and clashing in their respective interpretations of the meaning of the Constitution. The fact that the framers included not a single word about parties in the Constitution and regarded them as a baneful influence further ratcheted up the tension and danger of this party conflict to the survival of the Republic. The nation passed the test–then. But the Constitution will forever remain challenged, tested by the changing conflicts of each generation of Americans.

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Dancing Around the Rubric Questions: Analyzing Darcy Frey’s “The Last Shot”

DVRS 1101, DVRS 1101 Podcast Episodes

Make sure that you follow the rubric questions exactly in writing your Reflection post on Darcy Frey’s “The Last Shot.” This assignment will have you using GALILEO on your SGSC web site to help answer one of the rubric questions. See the grading rubric in the Advance Organizer for this Reflection assignment for more information about this assignment.

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Dancing Around the Rubric Questions: Analyzing Peggy McIntosh’s “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”

DVRS 1101

Here I discuss student reactions in the past to Peggy McIntosh’s 1989 article on “White Privilege.” Some students have said that this article is out of date and does not really apply to today.  Or is that reaction just a dodge to avoid recognizing the reality of white privilege?  Such avoidance may actually “prove” McIntosh’s case.  Make sure you supply her definition of white privilege in your Reflection post, as you answer all of the rubric questions for this assignment.

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Crazy About Covid: Anti-Science America and the Rising Covid Death Rate

Covid-19 crisis
In this, episode 2 of my reflections on the Covid Crisis in 2020, we look at how ignorance of common sense and a suicidal disdain for science is once again making this once great nation a byword for the the world.  It is May 4, 2020, and here is how things stand on America in the time of coronavirus from the view of one social scientist.

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The Power of Inference: An Audio Recording at 12:30 pm CST in Dealey Plaza, 11/22/1963?

John F. Kennedy, Kennedy Assassination, Memory

In this podcast we look at how primary sources, in this case an audio recording purporting to be from Dealey plaza during the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, can raise questions tentatively resolved through inference.  In this case, the inference proved correct, confirmed by additional research.

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A Special Podcast: Please be alert to the danger that opening of state economies prior to June 1 may cause Covid cases to Spiral

Covid-19 crisis

In this podcast I discuss my concerns that Southern Governors are leading the way to a disasterous, premature opening of swaths of their economies.  Medical experts have warned against this and it appears to be based not on the facts critical to public health but to economic considerations alone. Am I an epidemiologist? No, but I am an historian. These Southern Governors are neither. They are ignoring the lessons of the pandemic of 1918-1920. I urge listeners to continue to shelter in place and practice genuine social distancing, because many of your fellow citizens will not do so to the detriment of the public health of everyone.

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