Flipping Tables

Patreon users get episodes always ad free at patreon.com/montemaderWhat does real, REAL resistance look like?Tad Stoermer is a public historian, teacher, and author of the forthcoming book A Resistance History of the United States releasing June of 2026.His work dismantles the mythologies that pass for American history. He removes the curated nostalgia, moral evasions, and institutional silences that have long protected abusive power. That continue to protect that abusive power.From his website: "A Resistance History of the United States is a record of repeated fights against abusive authority, carried out by people who refused the lies used to justify it. Those battles have taken different forms: the women and men in Salem who would not confess to witchcraft, the Black Loyalists who seized their own freedom during the Revolution, and the Anti-Federalists who forced a Bill of Rights to limit nationalist power. It’s a tradition carried forward by people like Ona Judge and Henry David Thoreau, by the clandestine networks of the Underground Railroad, and by the violent resolve of John Brown and the Secret Six—resistance so disruptive it helped push the nation into civil war, and so ambitious it took the focus and will of the Radical Republicans to begin building a new republic from the ruins. A Resistance History of the United States uncovers these moments not as steps toward inevitable progress, but as a set of hard-earned lessons—a usable playbook for confronting the abuse of power in our own time.ad is one of the most widely followed public historians in the world here today to help us face what is to come. He is a currently a Visiting Scholar at the University of Southern Denmark’s Center for American Studies and a Lecturer in Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He previously taught public history at Harvard, served as a public historian at Colonial Williamsburg, and was advisor for history content at C-SPAN.

Happy almost New Years Eve!!! Here on Flipping Tables we are going to end each year with an inspirational story. So here's one of my heroes.Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor, theologian, and anti-Nazi dissident whose life continues to challenge how faith responds to power, violence, and injustice. Raised in an intellectually rigorous, non-religious household, Bonhoeffer came to believe that Christianity was not merely a system of beliefs, but a call to costly, lived obedience—especially when moral clarity comes at personal risk.As Adolf Hitler rose to power, Bonhoeffer warned early that the church faced a defining test. When Christianity was fused with nationalism and racial ideology, he argued, the church had ceased to be the church. He became a key figure in the Confessing Church, opposing the Nazification of German Christianity and rejecting loyalty oaths to the Führer. His theological writings during this period—including reflections on “cheap grace” versus “costly grace”—confronted complacent faith that avoids sacrifice.Eventually drawn into resistance circles connected to the German military intelligence service, Bonhoeffer wrestled deeply with ethical responsibility in a world where evil left no clean choices. Arrested in 1943, he continued writing from prison, leaving behind letters and reflections that would later shape modern Christian ethics and political theology. Executed by the Nazis in April 1945, just weeks before the war’s end, Bonhoeffer’s life stands as a haunting reminder: faith that refuses to act in the face of injustice is no faith at all.Sources:Bethge, Eberhard. Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Biography. Fortress Press.Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Act and Being. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Vol. 2. Fortress Press.Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Letters and Papers from Prison. Fortress Press.Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Sanctorum Communio. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Vol. 1. Fortress Press.Bundesarchiv (German Federal Archives).Bundesarchiv (German Federal Archives) – Bonhoeffer family records.Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (Federal Agency for Civic Education), Germany.Cambridge University Press. The Cambridge Companion to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. John W. de Gruchy, ed.Chickering, Roger. Imperial Germany and the Great War. Cambridge University Press.Christian History Institute. “Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Timeline & Biography.”Clark, Christopher. The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914. Harper.Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (DBWE), English Edition, Vols. 1–3. Fortress Press.Evans, Richard J. The Coming of the Third Reich. Penguin.Evans, Richard J. The Third Reich at War. Penguin.Fischer, Fritz. Germany’s Aims in the First World War. W. W. Norton.Fulbrook, Mary. A History of Germany 1918–2014. Wiley-Blackwell.German Reichstag Records, 1918–1923.Green, Clifford J. Bonhoeffer: A Theology of Sociality. Eerdmans.Herwig, Holger H. The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary. Arnold.Hobsbawm, Eric. The Age of Empire: 1875–1914. Vintage.Judt, Tony. Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945. Penguin.Keegan, John. The First World War. Vintage.Keynes, John Maynard. The Economic Consequences of the Peace. Harcourt.MacMillan, Margaret. Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World. Random House.Marks, Sally. The Illusion of Peace: International Relations in Europe 1918–1933. Palgrave.Marsh, Charles. Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Knopf.Metaxas, Eric. Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. Thomas Nelson.National Archives (UK). World War I diplomatic records.Overy, Richard. The Dictators. W. W. Norton.PBS. Bonhoeffer Timeline.Peukert, Detlev. The Weimar Republic. Hill and Wang.Stevenson, David. Cataclysm: The First World War as Political Tragedy. Basic Books.Strachan, Hew. The First World War. Oxford University Press.Treaty of Versailles (1919), full text.Union Theological Seminary Archives – Bonhoeffer Papers.

2025 has been a year of difficult conversations. It's been a year of angst, anger, and frustrating conversations. How do we continue to talk about the hard things, especially when we don't know how to get through to the other person?You've seen Anna Connelly online with her cheeky conversations with her "conservative cousin" talking about history, immigration, politics, government. She uses these disarming conversations to help prep people to hear an opposing perspective and to arm people to have these conversations themselves. (If you're home now and trying to figure out how to talk to family, maybe open your phone and watch a few). Anna shows us how to continue to show up with humanity, humor and humility. And she's brilliant at it. These conversations are needed now more than ever and all of us have the power to have them.

This episode is brought to you by ground news. Subscribe for 40% off their vantage plan at groundnews.com/monteFather Nathan Monk is a social justice advocate, author, and former Orthodox priest. He is the author of multiple non fiction books and novels including Russian Sleeper Cell and his 2015 hit Chasing the Mouse: A Memoir about Childhood Homelessness. ​Having experienced homelessness with his family during his teenage years, Nathan went on to become a priest in the orthodox church with a heart to serve the poor, the hungry and the outcast. Today we discuss his childhood, his call to ministry, why he eventually left and how he works and serves now. He's now a comedian, a member of the LGBTQ community and an activist still advocating for "the least of these".

This episode is brought to you by Ground News. Subscribe at groundnews.com/tables for 40% off their vantage plan.In this episode, we trace the extraordinary life of Malcolm X (1925–1965), born Malcolm Little in Omaha and shaped by racial terror, systemic oppression, and personal trauma. We explore his early years marked by the activism of his parents, the violent death of his father, and the institutional pressures that drove his mother into a mental hospital—forces that propelled him into a youth of hustling, street crime, and eventual imprisonment.From there, we follow Malcolm’s dramatic transformation behind bars through his encounter with the teachings of the Nation of Islam, his rise as its most electrifying minister, and his break from the movement after disillusionment with its leadership. The episode covers his pilgrimage to Mecca, where he embraced Sunni Islam and broadened his philosophy on race and solidarity. We conclude with his increasing global activism, his deepening threat to U.S. authorities and the NOI, and the circumstances leading to his assassination in 1965.This biographical journey highlights Malcolm X’s evolving worldview, his impact on the civil rights movement, and his enduring influence on Black liberation, human rights, and political thought in America.“I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I'm a human being, first and foremost, and as such I'm for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.”― Malcolm XSourcesMalcolm X & Alex Haley, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965)FBI Files on Malcolm X, declassified documents (FBI Records: The Vault)Papers of Elijah Muhammad, speeches and writings (Nation of Islam archival materials)Malcolm X Speeches: “Message to the Grassroots,” “The Ballot or the Bullet,” “Prospects for Freedom,” “Oxford Union Debate” (1964–1965)Manning Marable, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention (2011)Louis A. DeCaro Jr., On the Side of My People: A Religious Life of Malcolm X (1997)Michael Eric Dyson, Making Malcolm: The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X (1995)James Cone, Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare (1991)Peter Goldman, The Death and Life of Malcolm X (2nd ed., 1979/2011)Bruce Perry, Malcolm: The Life of a Man Who Changed Black America (1991)George Breitman, The Last Year of Malcolm X: The Evolution of a Revolutionary (1967)Herbert Berg, Elijah Muhammad and Islam (2009)Zachary K. Williams, Racial Realism and Malcolm X (Journal of Black Studies)The Journal of African American History – articles on NOI, civil rights, and Malcolm’s political developmentThe Muslim World – studies on Malcolm X’s Islamic theology and Hajj transformationThe Journal of Social History – analyses of Black nationalism and mid-century urban conditionsBlack Scholar – essays on Malcolm X’s ideological evolutionSouls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society – research on Black radicalism and Malcolm’s global politicsTaylor Branch, Parting the Waters (1988) — for civil rights movement contextPeniel Joseph, Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour (2006)Karl Evanzz, The Judas Factor: The Plot to Kill Malcolm X (1992)Karl Evanzz, The Messenger: The Rise and Fall of Elijah Muhammad (1999)Clayborne Carson, Malcolm X: The FBI File (1991)C. Eric Lincoln, The Black Muslims in America (1961; updated editions)Claude Andrew Clegg III, An Original Man: The Life and Times of Elijah Muhammad (1997)Sohail Daulatzai, Black Star, Crescent Moon: The Muslim International and Black Freedom Beyond America (2012)Gadiel R. Del Orbe, “Malcolm X’s Global Human Rights Activism”Abdur-Rahman Muhammad, podcast and archival work featured in Who Killed Malcolm X? (2019)Les Payne & Tamara Payne, The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X (2020)NYC District Attorney’s Office, 2021 exoneration documents of Aziz and IslamCOINTELPRO Records, U.S. Government declassified materials