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
Jun 30
The Colosseum Becomes a Wonder | A Conversation with Barry Strauss & Alison Futrell
July 7, 2007. In a dramatic ceremony featuring pop stars, fireworks, and smoke cannons, the Colosseum is named one of the seven new wonders of the world. It’s an appropriately over-the-top blowout for an arena which, centuries before, was home to its own lavish events. How did sp ... Show More
37m 23s
Jun 23
The Forgotten Mentor Who Inspired Louis Armstrong
June 28, 1928. Louis Armstrong is in the studio recording what he hopes will be another hit. His career is on the rise, but he’s not a household name yet. But he’s about to lay down a track – “West End Blues” – that won’t just change his career, but the entire genre of jazz. But ... Show More
39m 6s
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
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
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
Nov 2024
Herbert Hoover gave us Woody Guthrie (with David Cunningham)
Welcome to the final episode of What Just Happened, a Recall This Book experiment. In it you will hear three friends of RTB reacting to the 2024 election and discussing the coming four years. David Cunningham, chair of Sociology at Washington University in St Louis, is author of ... Show More
24m 27s
May 16
EN BREF - Guerre de Sécession : les destins de Thomas Jackson & John Sedgwick
Mes chers camarades, bien le bonjour ! Bienvenue dans la série des morts insolites de l’histoire ! En principe la Guerre de Sécession américaine, c’est pas Joe l’rigolo : en 4 ans de conflits, il y a eu 800 000 morts. Et pourtant, il y a deux officiers, j’ai pas pu m’empêcher de ... Show More
3m 51s
Nov 2024
511. America in '68: George Wallace, The First Donald Trump (Part 4)
“Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!” George Wallace, Governor of Alabama, was one of the most successful third-party presidential candidates in American history. In 1968, he ran a populist campaign pitching himself against the Civil Rights movement. He pu ... Show More
1h 8m