"[He] washed his hands with the brains."
This is the story of a 22-year-old George Washington as commander of a 400-man army fighting the French. We'll also hear about his childhood, the deaths, backcountry experience, and finagling, that bring George--who's untrained, inexperienced, too young, and completely Outgunned--to this moment. He fails. Miserably. B ... Show More
Jun 30
182: A Prologue to World War II: US Army Interwar Preparation
This is the story of interwar preparation–not that the United States realized it was preparing for World War II, new technologies, innovation, and a constant pushing of the limits in the 1930s did indeed help Uncle Sam prepare for the fight to come. To get us into an interwar min ... Show More
49m 50s
Jun 16
181: American Aviation: The Growth of the Industry Through the Eyes of Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh, and Howard Hughes
“If he is lost it will be the most universally regretted single loss we ever had. But that kid ain’t going to fail.” This is the story of the high-fliers in early twentieth-century American aviation. Wright brothers Orville and Wilbur stunned the nation and the world with their p ... Show More
1h 8m
Jun 2
180: “A Race to the Sky”: The Rise of New York City’s Chrysler, Manhattan Company, and Empire State Buildings
“If this is to be a skyscraper… why not make it scrape the sky.” This is the story of the race for the tallest building in New York City—in the world. Erstwhile partners-turned-bitter rivals, architects William Van Alen and Craig Severance are both looking to build the tallest sk ... Show More
1h 5m
Jul 2023
350: The Triumph of George Washington (Part 4)
With the French and Spanish siding with George Washington’s revolutionaries, the game is up for the British, and it seems time for them to cut their losses. Following the surrender of General Cornwallis at Yorktown, the war is effectively over, but what are the short and long ter ... Show More
1 h
Jul 2023
347: The American Revolution (Part 1)
“America, late the strength, now the foe to Britain, dismembered, torn, I fear forever lost to England, whence she sprung.”The American Revolution came about due to growing tensions between the American colonies and Great Britain, primarily over issues of taxation and representat ... Show More
1 h
Jul 2023
349: The Birth of the United States (Part 3)
“O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth!” The U.S. Congress votes for independence on the 2nd of July 1776, and George Washington reads the Declaration of Independence to his troops a few days later, after which they pull do ... Show More
51m 8s
Aug 2024
Peter Hart, "The Gallipoli Evacuation" (Living History, 2020)
One of the most well-told episodes of the First World War, the 1915 Gallipoli expedition, also has its own long-ignored aspects - specifically, the story of how the Allied force successfully evacuated in the middle of winter under the guns of the Turkish defenders. Our guest for ... Show More
1h 6m
Jul 2008
Christopher Capozzola, “Uncle Sam Wants You: World War I and the Making of The Modern American Citizen” (Oxford UP, 2008)
I confess I sometimes wonder where we got in the habit of proclaiming, usually with some sort of righteous indignation, that we have the “right” to this or that as citizens. I know that the political theorists of the eighteenth century wrote a lot about “rights,” and that “rights ... Show More
1h 7m
Jan 2021
239. The Wings of Pegasus, by George Chatterton - Episode 1
Brigadier George Chatterton's memoirs, read by Al Murray, tell the extraordinary story of his time as a soldier for the British Army who then went on to become the Commander of the Glider Pilot Regiment during the Second World War. A Goalhanger Films production Produced by Joey M ... Show More
29m 2s
Nov 2022
54 History of Everything: The Last Stand of The Tin Can Sailors
The nonfiction book The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour is the first full narrative account of the Battle off Samar, which the book's author, James D. Hornfischer, calls the greatest upset in the history of na ... Show More
1h 13m
Jul 2016
Mitchell Yockelson, “Forty-Seven Days: How Pershing’s Warriors Came of Age to Defeat the German Army in WWI” (NAL Caliber, 2016)
In Forty-Seven Days: How Pershing’s Warriors Came of Age to Defeat the German Army in World War I (NAL Caliber, 2016), National Archives historian and forensic archivist Mitchell Yockelson reappraises the American Expeditionary Force’s performance under the command of General Joh ... Show More
58m 22s
Jul 2018
Revolution | The Empire Builder | 2
In 1776, the British Under Secretary of State for the American Colonies was giddy. The Americans needed to be punished like children for their bad behavior. “Roman severity,” he called it, and then when he crushed the rebellion, the American children could come crawling back to t ... Show More
38m 45s