Benjamin Sawyer is a historian whose research examines the history of economic systems with a geographic focus on Russia and the United States. He is particularly interested in the ways that capitalism and communism take on social meanings that transcend core economic principles. He is currently working on a book manuscript that examines the ways that Americans in the early to mid 20^th century came to invest Soviet space with many of the same values as those attributed to the American West. 

Ben is also the host of The Road to Now, a history and politics show that airs weekly on SiriusXM POTUS Channel 124 and is available on all major podcast players, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, & Stitcher. Ben created the show with fellow host and friend Bob Crawford of the band The Avett Brothers in 2016, and together they have interviewed some incredible guests, including Annette Gordon-Reed, Heather Cox Richardson, and Ken Burns, the latter of which selected The Road to Now as his top podcast moment of 2021. You can find out more about the podcast at www.theroadtonow.com.   Dr. Sawyer is committed to public outreach, and has appeared in multiple media sources including The Washington Post, Forbes, Roll Call, Sirius/XM Politics, and Out of The Blue.

Dr. Sawyer is also an experienced public speaker who has represented the university to prospective students as Faculty Welcome Speaker at MTSU's Preview Day recruitment event on four occasions and to alumni at the 2019 Alumni Summer College. He is proudly featured in MTSU's 2019 "True Blue Pledge," which is featured at many university events and on television. Outside the university, Dr. Sawyer has spoken to a wide variety of audiences, and was an invited speaker at the National Conference of State Legislatures' Legislative Summit in 2019, 2021, & 2022, where he spoke to an audience of lawmakers from all 50 states and around the globe on the power of story.

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Academic

“Carl Marks vs. The Soviet Union: Prerevolutionary Russian Bonds and the Pursuit of Repayment after   World War II,” East European Seminar, Vanderbilt University, February 28, 2020.

"Carl Marks vs. The Soviet Union: Pre-Revolutionary Russian Debt on American Markets after World War II," Spring Conference on Global and Economic History, Georgia State University, April 13, 2019. 

"Bonded to the Bolsheviks: Prerevolutionary Russian Bonds in American Markets in the Soviet-era," 50th Annual Convention of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, Boston, MA, December 9, 2018.

“Going Back to Build a Future: Russian Reemigrants in the Era of the New Economic Policy,” 48th Annual Convention of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, Washington, DC, November 2016.  

“Bonded to the Bolsheviks: Tsarist Debt in American Markets after the Bolshevik Revolution,” Spring Conference in World History and Economics, Appalachian State University, April 12, 2014.  

“The Unexpected American: Soviet Migration and the ‘Russian American’ in NEP-era Soviet Society,” 45th Annual Convention of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, Boston, MA, November 24, 2013.  

“Rule of None: Soviet State Policy and the Rise and Fall of NEP-era Institutions in the 1920s,” Spring Conference in World History and Economics, Appalachian State University, April 20, 2013.  

“American Immigration and the Making of Nep-era Soviet Immigration Policy," The Carolina Seminar, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, February 21, 2013.  

“Soviet State Institutions and the Management of Immigration from North America in the NEP-era,” 44th Annual Convention of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES), New Orleans, LA, November 2012.  

“Soviet State Institutions and the Pursuit of Foreign Technology in the Era of NEP, 1921-1928,” The Great Experiment Conference, Princeton University, February 10-11, 2012.  

“American Agricultural Immigration to the Soviet Union in the 1920s,” (w/ Seth Bernstein), American Center, Moscow, November 23, 2010.

“An American Company? Singer Manufacturing Company and American Capitalism in the Russian Imagination during World War I” History of Capitalism in the United States Graduate Student Conference, Harvard University, November 6-8, 2008.

Podcasting and Story

Speaker, "The Power of Storey," National Conference of State Legislatures’ 2022 Annual Summit, Denver, CO, August 2, 2022

Panelist, “What’s Next With Your Research?,” Loyola University-Chicago, April 25, 2022.

Speaker, “The Power of Story,” National Conference of State Legislatures’ 2021 Annual Summit, Tampa, FL, November 4, 2021

“Storytelling and Narrative,” Bringing History to the People 2.0, Department of History, Vanderbilt University, March 24, 2021

“Podcasting and Story,” 19th Century True Crime and Crime Fiction (FREN 3891), Vanderbilt University, Feb. 24, 2020

Panel Chair/Co-organizer, “Teaching with Digital Humanities: Primary Sources, Methods of Analysis, and Real-World Applications,” 51st Annual ASEEES Convention, San Francisco, Nov. 24 2019.  

Speaker, “The Power of Story,” National Conference of State Legislatures’ 2019 Annual Summit, Nashville, TN, August 2019.

"Creating a Podcast," Bringing Scholarship to The People, A Graduate Workshop on Public Engagement, Vanderbilt University, March 15, 2019.

MTSU

“A Historians View of Comedy (and Vice Versa): Using Humor and Stories to Teach History,”  MTSU Alumni Summer College, Murfreesboro, TN, June 2019.

“How to Start a Podcast,” MTSU Public History Graduate Student Maymester, Murfreesboro, TN, May 2019. 

Faculty Welcome Speaker, MTSU Preview Day, March 19, June 4 & Nov. 5, 2016; Sept. 22, 2018.

“Institutionalizing the Revolution: Soviet Economics from the Russian Revolution to Stalin,” MTSU Economics Club Speaker Series, April 26, 2017.  

“Sewing Machines, Sowing Doubt: Observations on the Art of Transforming American Capitalists into German Spies” MTSU Scholars Week Presentation, March 30, 2016.  

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Faculty Student Mentoring Award, MTSU College of Liberal Arts, 2022.

Influential Educator Award, Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society, MTSU, 2016 & 2021.

J. Harmon Home Team Teacher of the Month, March 2020.

MTSU Faculty Member of the Year, MTSU Fraternity and Sorority Life, 2019.

John T. Bragg Sr. Distinguished Service Award, MTSU Student Government Association, 2016.   

Distinguished Member, National Society of Collegiate Scholars, 2015 (Awarded annually to three outstanding professors at MTSU as identified by the members of NSCS honors society).

Fulbright Institute of International Education (IIE) Research Grant, 2011-2012.

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Producer/Host, The Road to Now, May 2016-Present

Media Appearances/Interviews: The Washington Post, Forbes, Roll Call, NBC Today Show, Sirius XM POTUS Politics, Lovett or Leave It, RadioFree Nashville, My History Can Beat Up Your Politics, History That Doesn't Suck with Greg Jackson.

Selected Media Appearances/Coverage:

• Ben Sawyer, “Russia is Threatening a Move the Will Haunt its Economy for Decades,” Made by History, The Washington Post, March 25, 2022.
• Lesley Kennedy, "The Key to Finding Common Ground? Share your Stories." The National Conference of State Legislatures Blog, November 12, 2021.
  
• "The Gilded Age’s Singer Sewing Machines & Dangerous Bananas w/ Dr. Ben Sawyer," History That Doesn't Suck podcast #99, October 11, 2021
  
• The Way I See It, Focus Features, 2020.
• Lesley Kennedy, "Want to Tell a Great Story?: Learn to Listen." The National Conference of State Legislatures Blog, August 7, 2019.
• Kobe Hermann, "Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Benjamin Sawyer, History" MTSU News, Student Voice, January 31, 2019"MTSU Out of the Blue," MTSU News, December 2018
• "Treason Finale" Lovett or Leave It (Crooked Media), July 20, 2018. "Don't Wake Fascist Grandpa" Lovett or Leave It (Crooked Media), Recorded Live at the Ryman Auditorium, June 22, 2018.
• "Elvis Presley and America," My History Can Beat Up Your Politics, August 15, 2017.
• Gina Fann, "MTSU historian, acclaimed musician launch ‘The Road to Now’ podcast’s 2nd season," MTSU Sidelines, July 10, 2017. 
• Warren Rojas, "Talk This Way: Avett Brother Bassist, Adademic Explore Politics, History in New Podcast, Roll Call, May 28, 2016. 
• Kenneth Rapoza, "Stalin's Bedtime Nightmare, Forbes, January 25, 2014. 

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