logo
episode-header-image
Jun 2025
50m 41s

The UNTOLD Emotional Struggles of Histor...

Daily Stoic | Wondery
About this episode

Brilliance without emotional control is often a recipe for destruction. In this episode, Ryan sits down with Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Ron Chernow, whose acclaimed biographies on Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, John D. Rockefeller, and most recently, Mark Twain have reshaped our understanding of American greatness. Ron and Ryan talk about how these men’s deepest personal struggles and their ability to manage emotion became the defining factor in their lives and legacies.


Ron Chernow is the prizewinning author of seven previous books and the recipient of the 2015 National Humanities Medal. His first book, The House of Morgan, won the National Book Award, Washington: A Life won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography, and Alexander Hamilton—the inspiration for the Broadway musical—won the George Washington Book Prize. He has twice been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and is one of only three living biographers to have won the Gold Medal for Biography of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Ron’s latest book is on the fascinating and complex life of American writer Mark Twain


Follow Ron on Instagram: @RonChernow


📚 Grab signed copies of Ron Chernow’s books about Mark Twain, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, and John D. Rockefeller, at The Painted Porch | https://www.thepaintedporch.com/


🎙️ Follow The Daily Stoic Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoicpodcast


🎥 Watch top moments from The Daily Stoic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dailystoicpodcast


✉️ Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail


🏛 Get Stoic inspired books, medallions, and prints to remember these lessons at the Daily Stoic Store: https://store.dailystoic.com/


📱 Follow us:  Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook


See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Up next
Today
You Can’t Afford To Be This | How 300 Spartans Saved Western Civilization
When we react emotionally, we rarely make things better. When we get angry? We always make things worse—for ourselves and others.📖 Preorder the final book in Ryan Holiday's The Stoic Virtues Series: "Wisdom Takes Work": https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/wisdom-takes-work🪙 Carr ... Show More
14m 53s
Yesterday
Older But Never Wiser | Ask Daily Stoic
There is no wisdom without experience. But experience does not necessarily translate into wisdom, does it?📖 Preorder the final book in Ryan Holiday's The Stoic Virtues Series: "Wisdom Takes Work": https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/wisdom-takes-work👉 Support the podcast and go ... Show More
10m 45s
Yesterday
BONUS | If You’re Feeling Anxious Right Now, Listen To This
Feeling anxious lately? In this bonus episode, Ryan and author Chris Guillebeau break down what your anxiety is really trying to tell you, why fighting it makes it worse, and how to finally feel calm without forcing it.🪙 We are the creators of our anxiety. Which means we can als ... Show More
10m 59s
Recommended Episodes
Dec 2023
Dorothea Lange portraits, William Blake
Episode No. 632 of The Modern Art Notes Podcast features curators Philip Brookman and Julian Brooks. Brookman is the curator of "Dorothea Lange: Seeing People," at the National Gallery of Art, Washington. The exhibition presents Lange's decades-long portraiture practice in over 1 ... Show More
1h 7m
Oct 2017
120. Nancy Koehn (Historian) – Holdin' on for a Hero
What do Rachel Carson, Frederick Douglass, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ernest Shackleton, and Abraham Lincoln have in common, aside from being historical figures you’ve probably heard of? That’s the question my guest today tries to answer in her new book Forged in Crisis: The Power of C ... Show More
49m 33s
Aug 21
Joe Hudson — The Art of Accomplishment (EP.280)
What happens when a self-described "not very good" venture capitalist discovers he has an extraordinary gift for coaching the world's most successful CEOs? Joe Hudson joins Infinite Loops to share his unconventional journey from Alaska fishing boats to Hollywood directing to Sili ... Show More
1h 33m
Jul 31
How the Horse Changed the World: Interview with Author David Chaffetz
David Chaffetz, author of the recent and truly outstanding book Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: The Horse and the Rise of Empires, joins Tides to talk about the long and intertwined history of horses and people in Central Asia and beyond. The trade in horses, not silks and spices, ... Show More
40m 8s
Sep 7
George Orwell
Best known for his books Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell earned a reputation as chronicler and prophet of modern society. Plagued by illness, he exposed poverty and injustice, satirised the powerful, and took up arms against fascism. Today, his name has become ... Show More
56m 3s
Sep 15
The First Lady Who Tamed the Bull Moose
September 14, 1901. Midnight in the Adirondacks. A pounding knock at the door jolts Theodore and Edith Roosevelt awake. William McKinley is dead. Hours later, Theodore will be sworn in as the youngest president in U.S. history. But Edith barely flinches—her diary that day notes h ... Show More
41m 7s
Apr 2025
BONUS MONDAYS: The Spiritual Council Channeled: This Changes Everything with Christy Whitman
Christy Whitman has been a Transformational Leader, Celebrity Coach and Law of Attraction expert for the last twenty years, as well as the two time New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Having It All and Taming Your Alpha Bitch. She is also the author of the internation ... Show More
1h 13m
Sep 22
Michael Bublé: How He Overcomes Self-Doubt Daily & The Ugly Truth About Fame
Michael Bublé drops his mask in this raw conversation, revealing how becoming a father at the peak of his career completely rewrote his definition of success. The Grammy-winning artist who's sold 75 million records admits he's "failing miserably" at being present while simultaneo ... Show More
1h 12m
Sep 13
Episode #236 ... Meditations - Marcus Aurelius
Today we talk about the collection of journals known as Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. We mark the differences between Stoicism, modern Stoic ethics, and the journals of Marcus Aurelius. We talk about the divine logos, indifferents, and how metaphysical assumptions ladder up int ... Show More
36m 57s
Oct 2024
Ernest Lawrence Thayer's "Casey at the Bat"
Though its author remained otherwise undistinguished, today's poem–with all its ecstasy, agony, and irony–has become almost as essential to the American experience as baseball itself. Happy reading!Ernest Lawrence Thayer was born on August 14, 1863, in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He ... Show More
7m 15s