Nostalgia Trap

About Nostalgia Trap

Deep dive conversations on American history, politics, and pop culture, hosted by history professor and writer David Parsons.

Publisher

David Parsons

Category

history · news

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

14 Apr 2014

Latest episode

17 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

1 of 565 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   17 Oct 2026

   Buyer's Remorse w/ Justin Rogers-Cooper (PREVIEW)

   There is a reckoning for Trump on the horizon, but does it even matter? Justin joins me to survey the global wreckage as the midterms approach. From Ukraine to Saudi Arabia, from Gaza to our own backyards, there is a new logic of brutality creeping over the planet. You can't stop what's coming. This is a preview clip from a subscribers-only episode. Click here to sign up for a FREE 7 day trial and check out our whole archive of conversations on politics, history, and culture.

2. 

   9 Oct 2026

   A Right to Housing? w/ Samuel Stein

   Do you still have hope? And does a left project even need "hope"? Samuel Stein joins us this week to discuss his latest book A Right to Housing?, a refreshingly honest look at the possibilities for change within the grim landscape of American housing policy. Subscribe to our Patreon to access a whole universe of conversations on politics, history, and culture...often completely hope-free!! (https://www.patreon.com/nostalgiatrap)

3. 

   2 Oct 2026

   You're Like Me w/ Justin Rogers-Cooper (PREVIEW)

   This week Justin joins me to speculate on the inevitable "October Surprise" of the coming U.S. midterm elections: Terror attack? Alien invasion? Sharknado? The landscape of possibilities seems endless. Our conversation veers into a wider discussion of MAGA's fracture and the psychosexual politics of homoeroticized schadenfreude, the pleasure of punishment, and social media lynch mobs. Click here to listen to the whole episode

Inside a recent episode

Nostalgia Trap - Episode 211: From Head Shops to Whole Foods w/ Josh Davis

Published 27 Aug 2020 · Transcript excerpt

[…] But there are so many different types of stores and types of businesses that you write about in your book. But in terms of head shops, I mean, I get my conventional wisdom would say that it may be emerged out of San Francisco. Is that true? And how did head shops kind of take off? I mean, I imagine it's happening in the mid 60s somewhere in there. Yes. And I mean, the story couldn't have worked out better for me in terms of using head shops as a way to talk about the history of the counterculture because the first documented head shop was in San Francisco in the hey, it opened in January 66 and it ended up closing in late 67. […]

Who has been a guest on Nostalgia Trap

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Justin Rogers-Cooper
• Judd Legum
• Monte Montgomery

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

174,908

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Podcast Authority Score: 66 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

97

Social presence

0

YouTube

86

Engagement

0

Contact Nostalgia Trap

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Questions about Nostalgia Trap