No Time For Fear is a monthly New Deal history podcast where we examine how the United States' ambitious response to the Great Depression in the 1930s can provide a blueprint for improving Americans' lives almost a century later.
For episode transcripts, resources, and ways to support the podcast, please visit https://notimeforfear.net/
TVA planners sought to unify the engineering innovations of dam construction with progressive ideas of public access and romantic notions of outdoor scenery. On this episode, we talk with Avigail Sachs, author of the book The Garden in the Machine: Planning and Democracy in the Tennessee Valley Authority. In this episode we talk about how the New Deal influenced the architecture and planning professions, the role of the public in TVA planning, and the relationship between the built environment and ideals of pastoral landscapes. NO TIME FOR FEAR is created and hosted by Eira Tansey of Memory Rising, an archival consulting company. For more information, episode transcripts, and ways to support the podcast, please visit the NO TIME FOR FEAR (http://notimeforfear.net/) website.
28 Jan 2026
POWER: TVA's White Collar Radicals
Young idealistic progressives were the backbone of TVA's entry-level white collar workforce. In this episode, we talk with historian and archivist Aaron Purcell, author of author of the book White Collar Radicals: TVA's Knoxville Fifteen, the New Deal, and the McCarthy Era. We discuss the larger political context of 1930s progressive and leftwing politics, the idealism of young Tennessee Valley Authority white collar employees, and how Cold War anti-Communist hysteria reached all the way back to the New Deal. NO TIME FOR FEAR is created and hosted by Eira Tansey of Memory Rising, an archival consulting company. For more information, episode transcripts, and ways to support the podcast, please visit the NO TIME FOR FEAR website.
6 Aug 2025
POWER: The Power of Quilts
Historian Janneken Smucker discusses the influence of rural electrification on quilting, TVA quilts, and the New Deal's spirit of experimentation in an interview with Eira Tansey.
26 Jun 2025
POWER: Tennessee Valley Geography
Eira Tansey interviews Micah Rutenberg about the Tennessee Valley Authority's influence on energy infrastructure and community through design, maps, and appliances, revealing its impact on the region.
26 Mar 2025
POWER: The Human Toll of Infrastructure
To build the TVA infrastructure that would bring electricity to millions of homes in the Tennessee Valley, many other families lost their homes in the process. In this episode we look at how thousands of families were displaced due to the construction of TVA's dams and reservoirs. NO TIME FOR FEAR is created and hosted by Eira Tansey of Memory Rising, an archival consulting company. For more information, episode transcripts, and ways to support the podcast, please visit https://notimeforfear.net/.
26 Feb 2025
POWER: David Lilienthal: the Midwesterner who electrified the South
David Lilienthal, one of the first directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority, was instrumental in its electrification projects. His unwavering principles and pragmatic approach helped the TVA navigate through controversy and accomplish a stunning amount of work. In this episode, we explore Lilienthal's dedication to public service and what his vision can teach us today. NO TIME FOR FEAR is created and hosted by Eira Tansey of Memory Rising, an archival consulting company. For more information, episode transcripts, and ways to support the podcast, please visit https://notimeforfear.net/
29 Jan 2025
POWER: Political Power for Electric Power
This episode of NO TIME FOR FEAR kicks off our first season exploring POWER, the New Deal's electrification projects. In this episode, we look at the rural and urban electrification gap in 1930s America, the challenges of rural electrification, and the impact of major projects like the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Rural Electrification Act, and the Bonneville Project Act. NO TIME FOR FEAR is created and hosted by Eira Tansey of Memory Rising, an archival consulting company. For more information about the podcast, episode transcripts, and ways to support the podcast, please visit https://notimeforfear.net/ (https://notimeforfear.net/).
22 Jan 2025
The New Deal shows us what is possible
When Franklin Delano Roosevelt ran for President in 1932, he declared “I pledge myself to a New Deal for the American people.” Within the first 100 days of taking office, FDR and Congress passed a flurry of legislation and programs intended to stabilize the economy, provide jobs to the unemployed, and address environmental devastation. In this introductory episode to NO TIME FOR FEAR, a podcast about the history of the New Deal, we explore why the New Deal is hiding in plain sight, why it's still a matter of such debate, and how it shows us what is possible nearly a century later.
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Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
9 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
6 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 22 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
24
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
51
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