May 22, 1856. Charles Sumner isn’t worried about making friends in the Senate. His rhetoric is inflammatory, almost intentionally. He’s an ardent abolitionist in a time when people are still enslaved throughout the South.
In his most recent speech, Sumner attacked his colleagues directly, especially pro-slavery Senator Andrew Butler. Butler’s cousin, Presto ... Show More
Sep 22
When Nintendo (and Mario) Rescued Video Games
September 27, 1986. You’re a kid in the mid-80s. You get home from school, flip on the TV, and see something strange: a commercial where a giant egg hatches behind a family’s console, revealing a toy robot. His name is R.O.B. — the Robotic Operating Buddy — but he's just an acces ... Show More
30m 15s
Nov 2023
Joshua Chamberlain: From Stuttering Child to Civil War Hero to Polyglot Governor of Maine
Before 1862, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain had rarely left his home state of Maine, where he was a trained minister and mild-mannered professor at Bowdoin College. His colleagues were shocked when he volunteered for the Union army, but he was undeterred and later became known as on ... Show More
27 m
Aug 10
590. The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln: Death at the Theatre (Part 1)
After passing the 13th amendment, in the closing weeks of the brutal American Civil War, what did president Abraham Lincoln - recently re-elected - do next to inflame his detractors? Crippled with guilt for the death and destruction of the war, was he indeed a unionist tyrant? Wh ... Show More
1h 2m
Feb 2025
Sojourner Truth: American abolitionist, suffragist, preacher
Greg Jenner is joined in 19th-Century America by Dr Michell Chresfield and comedian Desiree Burch to learn all about abolitionist and suffragist Sojourner Truth. Born into slavery in a Dutch-speaking area of New England, Sojourner Truth fought to free herself and then others, bec ... Show More
57m 49s
Aug 6
The Sailor Who Escaped Slavery
Enslaved on a plantation in South Carolina, Robert Blake had little chance for freedom. Then came a surprise battle, a bold choice, and a new mission in life: serving in the U.S. Navy. Robert’s heroism would make him the first Black sailor to receive the Medal of Honor. But what ... Show More
34m 19s
Dec 2022
North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell ~ Full Audiobook
North and South by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell audiobook.Set in Victorian England, North and South is the story of Margaret Hale, a young woman whose life is turned upside down when her family relocates to northern England. As an outsider from the agricultural south, Margaret is i ... Show More
19h 1m
Jul 2024
Alan Taylor on Revolutionary Ironies and the Continental Civil War
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Alan Taylor is Tyler’s pick for one of the greatest living historians. His many books cover the early American Republic, American westward expansion, the War of 1812, Virginian slavery, Thomas Jefferson, the revolutionary settlements in Maine, and m ... Show More
57m 6s