History Author Show

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James N. Gibson – A War Without Rifles: The 1792 Militia Act and the War of 1812 Mar 06, 2017

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March 6, 2017 - This week, our time machine travels back to the earliest days of the United States, to what's sometimes called the Second War of independence: The War of 1812. For the first time in this fight against Great Britain, Congress used the Constitution's power to declare war, and for the last time, the men doing the fighting supplied their own weapons -- an idea that seems incredible today, where the term "militia" itself is given very different connotations than national defense. Our guest is James N. Gibson, and his book is, A War without Rifles: The 1792 Militia Act and the War of 1812. Mr. Gibson was born into the U.S. space program through his father, and is himself an Aerospace Engineer. His resume features time with such giants in the field as Boeing and McDonnell Douglas, as well as work on the International Space Station and Space Shuttle programs. His previous books include Nuclear Weapons of the United States: An Illustrated History, and The Navaho Missile Project: The Story of the "Know-How" Missile of American Rocketry. You can learn about these and his other works at JNGibson.com, or follow him on Twitter @JNGibson55. And for more on the War of 1812, catch our interview with John McCavitt and Christopher T. George, co-authors of, The Man Who Captured Washington: Major General Robert Ross and the War of 1812.

Bijan C. Bayne – Martha’s Vineyard Basketball Feb 27, 2017

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Featured in The New York Sun - DeSantis and Trump Go to War Over ‘Woke’ - Dean Karayanis February 27, 2017 - This week, our time machine turns Schwinn Sting-Ray bicycle. We're pedaling our way to the end of Black History Month, with a last stop on the basketball courts just off the coast of Massachusetts. Cultural critic and sportswriter Bijan C. Bayne is here to share his latest book: Martha's Vineyard Basketball: How a Resort League Defied Notions of Race and Class. The island off Cape Cod may not conjure up the sound of a basketball thunking on asphalt, much less the Civil Rights Movement, but Bijan describes the history happening right under the Converse of players from many backgrounds and colors, perched on all rungs of the social ladder, including names as diverse as Charles Lindbergh, James Taylor, Jaleel White, and Barack Obama. You can find our guest on Twitter at @BijanCBayne or check out his blog by clicking this link. And if you enjoy the topic of basketball history, be sure to check out Bijan's first book: Elgin Baylor - The Man Who Changed Basketball.

Louis Picone – Where the Presidents Were Born: The History & Preservation of the Presidential Birthplaces Feb 20, 2017

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February 20, 2017 - This week, we mark Presidents Day by putting some serious years and miles on the old DeLorean, starting with a visit to the Tidewater region of Virginia in the mid 1700's, and ending over 200 years later across the ocean in Hawaii. In between, we'll make a bunch of stops in Ohio, a handful in New York, and others scattered across the nation. Our guide on this journey is Louis Picone, author of Where the Presidents Were Born: The History & Preservation of the Presidential Birthplaces. From George Washington to Barack Obama, the book shares insights and history of the homes, highways and hospitals of the first 43 men who've served as our commander-in-chief. Louis and I are both from the Garden State of New Jersey, we decided to meet up at one of the hidden presidential jewels of the Jersey Shore. It's the Church of the Presidents in Long Branch where seven commanders-in-chief worshiped, more than anywhere outside the nation's capital. In a future episode, we'll visit the chapel (now home to the Long Branch Historical Museum Association) to hear more about Presidents Grant, Hayes, Arthur, Harrison, McKinley, Wilson and Garfield -- who passed away right across the street from an assassin's bullet. We'll also do a follow-up with Louis on his second book The President is Dead! The Extraordinary Stories of the Presidential Deaths, Final Days, Burials, and Beyond. If love walking in the baby steps of our presidents, check out LouisPicone.com, toss a like to Facebook.com/LouisLPicone, and follow this week's historian @LouisPicone on Twitter.

Noah Andre Trudeau – Lincoln’s Greatest Journey Feb 13, 2017

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February 13, 2016 - This week's episode falls on the day we observe Lincoln's birthday, so our time machine travels back to the final days of the American Civil War, as Abraham Lincoln turns his weary eyes forward to ending the rebellion and pushing for his vision of a new, reunited United States. The Great Emancipator does so by leaving the White House for his longest break since the war began, and spending them with General Ulysses S Grant's command at City Point -- known today as Hopewell -- 130 miles south of the nation's capital. Our guide on this trip is Noah Andre Trudeau who brings us, Lincoln’s Greatest Journey: Sixteen Days that Changed a Presidency, March 24 – April 8, 1865. Mr. Trudeau is the author of several books on the Civil war. His first, Bloody Roads South, which won the Civil War Round Table of New York's prestigious Fletcher Pratt Award, and his fourth, Like Men of War -- a combat history of black troops in the Civil War -- earned the Grady McWhiney Research Foundation's Jerry Coffey Memorial Book Prize. You can browse all his works at Lincoln1865.com.

Terry Kerber – Major Taylor: The Inspiring Story of a Black Cyclist and the Men Who Helped Him Achieve Worldwide Fame Feb 06, 2017

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February 6, 2017 - This week, in honor of Black History Month, our time machine travels back in time to meet a forgotten American hero in the fight for equality -- a hero, with a bicycle. You may never have heard of Marshall "Major" Taylor, but this son of an Indiana Civil War veteran was the most popular athlete in America and heralded throughout the world, back at the height of the Jim Crow era in the early 20th Century. A devout Christian who never touched alcohol (well, okay, once) and turned down massive sums of money because he refused to race on the Sabbath, Major Taylor inspired Americans of all colors, and laid the groundwork not just for superstar athletes on all fields of play. But more than that, he helped pedal the American republic, towards that more perfect union. Our guest is Terry Kerber, who along with his brother Conrad co-authored, Major Taylor: The Inspiring Story of a Black Cyclist and the Men Who Helped Him Achieve Worldwide Fame. Check out the Major Taylor Association for more on this inspirational wheelman.

Charles Leerhsen – Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty (The Updated, Hall of Fame Episode) Jan 30, 2017

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January 30, 2017 - This week, we mark the anniversary of the first Baseball Hall of Fame class on January 29, 1936. In that year, Ty Cobb earned 222 ballots, just four votes short of a unanimous decision, so the date gave us a chance to revisit one of our earliest interviews, and a book we cited often as a journalistic high water mark for history. Joining us again to chat about the unfairly maligned Georgia Peach, is Charles Leerhsen, author of Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty. Mr. Leerhsen scratched the myth of Cobb as a belligerent, dimwitted racist and dirty player, and found he'd been maligned by a hack sportswriter named Al Stump, who smeared a man who was in fact an intellectual, lover of children, and supporter of baseball's integration. So how have baseball fans embraced the true story in the year and a half since the book's publication? How has Charles Leerhsen fared after literally rewriting history to restore perhaps the greatest player ever to pick up a bat? We'll dig into those questions, and then share the original chat for those of you who missed it. You can find our guest @CharlesLeerhsen on Twitter and at Leerhsen.com, or like the book at Facebook.com/TyCobbBook.

Robert T. Hilliard – A Season on the Allegheny Jan 23, 2017

Show notes

January 23, 2017 - This week, our time machine turns on the four-wheel drive, as we hike into Allegheny National Forest, hunting for history. Established in 1923, the forest covers over half a million acres of the northwestern Pennsylvania foothills, and offers us the chance to experience the same sights, sounds and wildlife, as our forebears stretching back to the dawn of civilization. Joining us with his walking stick is author Robert Hilliard, author of, A Season on the Allegheny. Rob has written on sports, history, and the outdoors for over two decades. He's formerly a contributing editor with Ohio Valley Outdoors magazine, and contributed to the history anthology, Rivers of Destiny. You can pick up his trail by following him on Twitter @RobHilliard_66, or toss him a like at Facebook.com/ASeasonOnTheAllegheny. You can also read his piece on The Pennsylvania Tuxedo, by Woolrich, "The Original Outdoor Clothing Company." You can also check out the history behind Johnny Cash's song, "As Long as the Grass Shall Go," off his Bitter Tears Album, and how President John F. Kennedy broke a treaty with the Seneca, which dated back to George Washington, to build the Kinzua Dam.

Patricia Posner – The Pharmacist of Auschwitz: The Untold Story Jan 16, 2017

Show notes

January 16, 2017 - This week, our time machine travels back to one of the past's darkest corners, to meet Victor Capesius. Before the war, he was a friendly neighborhood druggist in Romania. But as World War Two progressed, this ethnic German rose from anonymity, to infamy, standing at the side of Dr. Josef Mengele, The Angel of Death. Patricia Posner brings us the true tale of this Nazi SS officer in, The Pharmacist of Auschwitz: The Untold Story. Together with her husband, Gerald Posner, our guest has authored 12 nonfiction books including Mengele: The Complete Story, Hitler's Children, and most recently, God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power. (Enjoy our interview on that title here.) We also make reference to our chat with Andrew Nagorski about his book, The Nazi Hunters. You can find our guest online at TrishaPosner.com. Her personal Twitter account is @TrishaPosner, and the one for the book is @AuschwitzPharm1.

Margaret Creighton – The Electrifying Fall of Rainbow City: Spectacle and Assassination at the 1901 World’s Fair Jan 09, 2017

Show notes

January 9, 2017 - This week, our time machine whisks us back the Pan-American Exposition, a Gilded Age world's fair powered by the newly harnessed power of electricity. "The Pan" covered 350 acres near Niagara Falls, and heralded the wonders of the 20th Century. But it also featured lingering stereotypes of a pre-flight world, and the tragic assassination of President William McKinley -- America's most beloved chief executive since Abraham Lincoln. Our guide to Buffalo in 1901, is Margaret Creighton, professor of history at Maine's Bates College and author of The Electrifying Fall of Rainbow City: Spectacle and Assassination at the 1901 World's Fair. You may have enjoyed her previous book, The Colors of Courage: Gettysburg's Forgotten History -- Immigrants, Women, and African Americans in the Civil War's Defining Battle, which was up for the Lincoln Prize. You can find her online at MargaretCreighton.com or on Twitter at MCreight88. And to explore the exposition from here in the 21st Century, visit PanAm1901.org.

Hugh Howard – Architecture’s Odd Couple: Frank Lloyd Wright and Philip Johnson Jan 02, 2017

Show notes

January 2, 2017 - Hello, Happy New Year! This week, our time machine turns tower crane, as best-selling author and historian Hugh Howard introduces us to two men whose vision for building shaped the 20th Century. His book is, Architecture's Odd Couple: Frank Lloyd Wright and Philip Johnson. Conducting the interview is Thriller author and practicing architect Tom Grace, who previously interviewed Gerald Posner, author of God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican. Mr. Howard's numerous books include Mr. and Mrs. Madison's War: America's First Couple and the War of 1812; The Painter's Chair: George Washington and the Making of American Art; Thomas Jefferson: Architect; and the classic Houses of the Founding Fathers. You can find him online at HughHoward.com, and follow him on Twitter @HowardHistorian.

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