Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
The Amish: Origins and Society
18 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Simple living, plain dress and pacifism. This is not a lifestyle typical of the United States. So ho...
Tea, Tax & Revolution: Boston Tea Party Aftermath
14 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Why did the Boston Tea Party happen? Why Boston? And how did the events of December 1773 fit in to t...
The Boston Tea Party Explained
11 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On December 16th 1773, Bostonian colonists took a stand against the British Crown in the Boston Tea ...
President John Tyler: The 'Accidental' President
06 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
He may have been the tenth President, but John Tyler - 'His Accidency' - was a pioneer in many ways....
The Rise & Fall of Political Parties
04 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The two party division of the US political system is as evident as ever as we warm up to the 2024 el...
Operation Downfall: What if the Allies Invaded Japan?
30 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How would the Allied forces have forced the surrender of Japan had they not dropped the bombs on Hir...
President William Henry Harrison: 32 Days in Office
27 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The ninth President of the United States holds two unique records. William Henry Harrison delivered ...
Napoleon in America
23 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Napoleon Bonaparte. From military leader to revolutionary to Emperor of the French, his conquests an...
JFK Assassination: A Witness Remembers
20 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On November 22nd 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot dead. The ensuing years have been filled w...
JFK: The Most Popular President?
16 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Who was JFK? How popular was he in his lifetime? And how did his untimely death impact the world's m...
The Gettysburg Address
13 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What makes the Gettysburg Address one of the most famous speeches in history? Did Lincoln reall...
President Martin Van Buren
09 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The 'Little Magician', the 'Sly Fox' or - to our expert guest - a 6.5/10 president. We're onto Presi...
Vikings in America
05 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What is a Viking? Did they really make it to the United States? And if so, how far did they get?Don ...
Killers of the Flower Moon: Native Americans & the FBI
02 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
During the first half of the 20th century, dozens of murders plagued the oil-rich Osage Nation. The ...
New Orleans Voodoo
30 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you've ever watched a Voodoo scene in a horror movie, you might be forgiven for envisioning zombi...
President Andrew Jackson
26 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The seventh person to hold the position of President is arguably one of the most divisive.A strong-w...
The Real Wild West
23 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, John Wayne. We've seen them roping and wrangling and defeating their...
Medieval North America: Gods of Thunder
19 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
From 800 to 1300 CE, a great religious movement swept Mesoamerica, the Southwest, and the Mississipp...
Battle of the Alamo
16 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A 13 day siege. 90 minutes of fighting. An almost 200 year legacy and the most popular tourist site ...
President John Quincy Adams
12 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
John Quincy Adams didn't just share a name with his father. He also followed in his footsteps to tak...
What if the South Won the Civil War?
09 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What if the Civil War had ended differently, with the South seceding from the Union? Would slavery h...
Origins of the Vietnam War
05 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 1969, at the height of US presence, there were over half a million Americans in Vietnam.But why w...
The American Buffalo with Ken Burns
02 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
'It's one of those threads you pull on and immediately you're connected to the whole fabric of Ameri...
President James Monroe
28 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Serving from 1817 to 1825, James Monroe's presidency was only the fifth presidency of the United Sta...
Battle of Little Bighorn
24 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Not one of the US forces led by General George Custer into the attack on 25 June 1876 survived. But ...
Sabotage & Secret Weapons: The WW2 Dirty Tricks Department
21 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What is a bat bomb? Why would you cover a fox in radioactive paint? And who are the masterminds behi...
Three Mile Island: Nuclear Accident in Pennsylvania
18 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It's the worst accident in US commercial nuclear power history. In March 1979, the Unit 2 reactor at...
President James Madison
14 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
His life is one of firsts for the United States. Having contributed to the Federalist Papers, the Co...
9/11: Toxic Gas, PTSD & Rebuilding
11 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
New York was a city of 8 million people in 2001. A city that would be changed forever by the events ...
The Mexican-American War
07 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 1848, after almost two years of fighting, the US annexation of former Mexican territory was signe...
Oppenheimer: What If America Never Dropped the Atomic Bomb?
04 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The new Oppenheimer movie has everyone asking questions about the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1...
President Thomas Jefferson
31 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, so how did it work out...
The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake
28 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
45 seconds. An estimated 7.9 on today's Richter scale. The deadliest earthquake in US history.In thi...
Prehistoric North America
24 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What could the prehistoric artists of North America have in common with the graffiti artists of toda...
Pocahontas: The True Story
21 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Despite her's being a household name, how much do we really know about Pocahontas? Where did she com...
President John Adams
17 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sequels are always hit and miss. So what must it have been like to be the second President of the Un...
The Texas Chicken Ranch: Famous Brothel to Broadway
14 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When it closed in 1973, the Texas Chicken Ranch was the oldest continually operating brothel in the ...
The Pueblo Revolt
10 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On August 10 1680, the Pueblo people began the most successful uprising against colonial power in No...
The Magna Carta in America
07 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What does a document written in 1215 in England have to do with the United States? The Magna Carta h...
President George Washington
03 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
He was the victorious Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary W...
Robert E Lee: Life & Legacy
31 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
He is undoubtedly the most famous member of the Confederate forces. But it wasn't always set to be t...
Birth of the US Government: The Constitutional Convention
27 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Beginning with the enduring words, 'We the People of the United States', the US Constitution is the ...
Barbie: German Sex Doll to American Icon
24 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
She's an icon, a polymath, a fashionista, and she's absolutely everywhere right now.Where did Barbie...
Mormons & The Founding of Salt Lake City
20 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Church of the Latter Day Saints is one shrouded in mystery, whispers of polygamy and is often sy...
A History of American Childhood
17 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
School, play and much less work: the idealised childhood is a very separate part of life. But how di...
Nixon in Moscow: The Kitchen Debate
13 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev. Leading figures of the United States and the Soviet Union respe...
LSD in New York: Research, Recreation and Radicalism
10 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Why should we associate LSD and its psychedelic effects with New York as much as we associate it wit...
The Crossfire of Gettysburg
06 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gettysburg is synonymous with the bloodiest battle in the history of the United States. But before i...
The Battle of Gettysburg
03 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The first three days of July 1863 saw the bloodiest single battle of the American Civil War. This cl...
Stonewall
29 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What made June 28 1969 a landmark occasion for LGBTQ+ rights?How was Stonewall different from the up...
Amelia Earhart
26 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On July 2 1937, Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, took off on what was supposed to be t...
The CIA & MI6: The Real Special Relationship?
22 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Behind the handshakes of leading politicians, beyond the trade deals and beneath mutually beneficial...
The Long Death of Slavery
19 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We celebrate abolition - in the United States during the Civil War and on Juneteenth, in Haiti af...
Louisiana's Ancient Mystery: Poverty Point
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There are no other historic sites like this one on the planet. The concentric semi circles and mound...
The Lavender Scare: Being Gay in Washington DC
12 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Why were gay federal employees seen as a national security threat during the 20th century? How might...
The Wright Brothers
08 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Approximately 100 thousand flights take off and land each and every day. A months long journey on a ...
White Women Slave Owners
05 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Of all of the people enslaved in the southern United States over time, 40% of them were owned by wom...
California Gold Rush
01 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
From the rings on our fingers, to coins in our pockets and, for a select few, the medals hanging aro...
Lincoln & God: Scepticism to Spiritualism
29 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
He's the best president that the United States has ever had ... at least according to one 2021 C-spa...
The Birth of the American Flag
25 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
13 equal horizontal stripes in red and white, with a navy blue square in the top left bearing 50 sma...
America Prepares for War: FDR & WW2
22 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Was the USA already a superpower when it joined the Second World War? How did it turn from an isolat...
Serial Killer Family on the Frontier
18 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Between 1871 and 1872, Labette County, Kansas became a source of mystery. Several people have gone m...
LBJ's Legacy
15 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Vietnam War or the Great Society? Which event looms larger in the history of the United States?&...
The Rise of Buffalo Bill
11 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
He was the most famous man in the world at the turn of the 20th century, bringing the American front...
Roanoke: The Lost English Colony
08 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When it was founded in 1585, Roanoke was intended to be the first permanent English outpost in Ameri...
The King & FDR: The Birth of the Special Relationship
04 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 1939, on the invitation of Franklin D. Roosevelt, King George VI became the first reigning Britis...
Battle of Amiens
01 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In August 1918, the battle of Amiens brought the German army's 'black day' and the beginning of the ...
Cahokia: The Medieval Mississippian City
27 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Nearly a thousand years ago, America's first city appeared in the Mississippi flood plain. Don finds...
How Horses Conquered America (Twice)
24 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Horses have been a bulwark of American culture and society for centuries. Think of cowboys in the Mi...
Becoming Benjamin Franklin
20 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Benjamin Franklin is considered by many to be one of the first to live the American Dream. He came f...
America's Top Secrets: Manhattan Project to Drone Warfare
17 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Much of American history has been redacted. Since the World War 2, the number of secrets the US gove...
The Moon Landing
13 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
July 20th, 1969. Neil Armstrong descends from Lunar Module Eagle to the Moon's surface. A momen...
The Road to Civil Rights
10 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Under segregation, African Americans' lives were severely limited. Restricted entry to public places...
Hudson River: America's First Art Movement
06 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
English-born artist Thomas Cole emigrated to the United States in 1818. Six years later he began wha...
Espionage & Enslavement in the Revolution
03 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Claire Bellerjeau tells Don the the story of Liss, an enslaved Black woman in 18th century New York,...
French Spies in the American Revolution
30 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The story of the American Revolution is one of the best known in American history. But it could have...
The White House Chief of Staff
27 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
While the President of the United States is often seen as the most powerful person in the world, the...
A History of America in 5 Foods
23 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You are what you eat - and so is America. Various foods have played their part in the country’s hi...
Iroquois Confederacy
20 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
At its height the Iroquois Confederacy (or Haudenosaunee) - a union of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga,...
Empire State Building
16 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When it was completed in 1931, the Empire State Building became the tallest building in the world. W...
The Erie Canal
13 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Completed in 1825, the Erie Canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to ...
First Ladies of the United States
09 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Don talks to former White House reporter Kate Andersen Brower about how the role of First Lady has c...
New Amsterdam
06 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Before New York was New York, it was New Amsterdam. Dutch colonists arrived on the East Coast in the...
George III - The Last King of America
02 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
George III is forever known as the king who lost the 13 American colonies. In the US he is thought o...
The Race That Sold The Car To America
27 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On a cold winter morning in February 1908, six cars lined up in Times Square, attempting to be the f...
America and the Haiti Revolution
23 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The revolution in Haiti freed the country from French control and created the first Black republic a...
Samuel Adams
20 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Samuel Adams was a political force of nature. Stac...
Harriet Tubman
16 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Harriet Tubman is perhaps the most famous African American woman in the world, but she’s usually r...
A History of New York in 3 Hotels
13 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Waldorf-Astoria, the Plaza and the Algonquin all tell their own stories of New York City. Don ta...
The Battle of Valcour Island
09 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The first naval engagement of the American War of Independence took place on Lake Champlain, which s...
Jamestown
06 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In late April 1607, three ships carrying a hundred men and boys arrived in Chesapeake Bay, having se...
The First American in Space
02 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In Spring 1961, the Space Race between the US and Soviet Union was well underway. Russian cosmonaut ...
Yellowstone
30 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For thousands of years, nomadic Native American peoples crossed the Yellowstone River basin, in awe ...
The Fall of J. Edgar Hoover
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
From 1956 to 1971, J. Edgar Hoover ran COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program). A series of covert ...
The Rise of J. Edgar Hoover
23 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
J. Edgar Hoover was the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 48 years. He grew the FB...
Ellis Island
19 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
From the 1880s to the 1920s the United States experienced a huge wave of immigration. People fleeing...
Dr Martin Luther King Jr
16 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Martin Luther King Jr was one of the figureheads of the civil rights movement in America. On 28th...
Charles Dickens in America
12 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most famous writers ever to have lived, Charles Dickens travelled twice to the US, in 184...
Inside Benjamin Franklin's House
09 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Join Don as he visits Benjamin Franklin's home of nearly 16 years: 36 Craven Street, London. Now a m...
Lessons from the Civil War
05 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gone with the Wind, released in 1939, is the highest-grossing film of all time. Based on Margaret Mi...