Our American Stories

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Latest Episodes:

The Storm That Swallowed 12 Modern Ships Aug 20, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, in November 1913, Great Lakes captains were racing to make their final runs before winter shut down the shipping season. Coal, iron ore, and grain still had to move, and the promise of bonuses gave crews another reason to push their luck. Then the weather turned.
For days, hurricane-force winds, blinding snow, ice, and waves reaching 35 feet battered ships across the Great Lakes. Some captains made desperate runs for shore. Others disappeared without a trace. By the time the storm passed, 12 ships had gone down with all hands and more than 250 sailors were dead. Ric Mixter of Lake Fury shares the story of the Great Lakes Storm of 1913.

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The Story of Black Sam Bellamy, the Richest Pirate in History Aug 20, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, few figures loomed larger on the seas than Black Sam Bellamy. He was young, charismatic, and ruthless enough to seize more ships and gold than nearly any pirate in history. His black flag struck fear into sailors from the Caribbean to the coast of New England. But his success was short-lived. In 1717, the richest pirate of his age went down in a wreck that left legends in its wake.
Our regular contributor, Ashley Hlebinsky, shares the tale and the truth behind one of piracy’s most infamous names.

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Inside the Mind of a Brain Surgeon Aug 19, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, as a teenager walking to school in Manhattan, Theodore Schwartz stopped to help a stranger whose car was trapped in the snow. The feeling he got from helping someone who could offer him nothing in return stayed with him. He decided he wanted to spend his life doing exactly that.
He eventually became one of America's leading neurosurgeons, operating on thousands of brain tumors and making decisions where a fraction of an inch can separate a cure from catastrophe. Dr. Theodore Schwartz, author of Gray Matters: A Biography of Brain Surgery, takes us inside the operating room to explain what it's really like to operate on the human brain.

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How 100 Women Turned $1,000 Checks Into a Worldwide Giving Movement Aug 19, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, Wendy Steele kept meeting women who wanted to help their communities but believed they didn't have enough time, money, or experience to make a difference. Then the Cincinnati banker had an idea: What if 100 women each gave $1,000, pooled the money, and together chose a local nonprofit to receive one transformational $100,000 grant?
123 women took a chance on her idea. Their first grant helped rebuild a struggling dental clinic in one of Cincinnati's poorest neighborhoods, and the results went far beyond anything Steele expected. Soon, women across the country were calling to ask how they could do the same thing. Wendy Steele shares the story of how Impact100 grew from a spiral notebook into a worldwide movement that has given tens of millions of dollars back to local communities.

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Airplane vs. Airship: The 1926 Race to the North Pole Aug 19, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, by 1926, explorers had spent decades risking their lives trying to conquer the world's most hostile places. Now, two of the greatest were racing toward the North Pole in radically different machines. American naval aviator Richard Byrd bet on the speed of a Fokker trimotor airplane. Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen put his faith in the Norge, a massive hydrogen-filled airship.
Who would win? Our regular contributor The History Guy shares the story of the dangerous 1926 race that tested two explorers, two technologies, and the future of flight.

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Honor and Loyalty: The Story of Japanese American Soldiers in WWII Aug 19, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, they were Americans by birth but treated as outsiders when the war began. After Pearl Harbor, many Japanese Americans were sent to camps under suspicion of aiding the enemy. Yet from those same camps came volunteers who joined the U.S. Army, determined to prove their loyalty.
Known as the Nisei, these second-generation Japanese Americans fought in Europe's bloodiest battles and helped redefine what it meant to be American. Major General James Mukoyama, the first Asian American to command a U.S. Army division, shares the story of these remarkable men in his memoir Faith, Family & Flag: Memoirs of an Unlikely American Samurai Crusader.

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What a Cemetery Taught Me About Being an American Aug 18, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, as a boy, Bob McClellan walked through Golden Gate National Cemetery on his way into town. Years later, he returned as a father, bringing his own children to place flags beside the graves on Memorial Day and visit the resting place of their grandfather, a Marine who fought at Guadalcanal.
But their walks through the cemetery became about much more than remembering one man. From an 18-year-old Marine killed in Vietnam to Medal of Honor recipients, the Black sailors lost in the Port Chicago disaster, and Japanese Americans who fought for a country that had imprisoned their families, Bob found stories everywhere. Here's Bob himself to share a few of them.

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William Boeing: The Timber Millionaire Who Gave America Wings Aug 18, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1909, William Boeing watched an airplane fly for the first time and became fascinated by a machine many Americans still regarded as little more than an expensive toy. The wealthy timberman learned to fly, built his own seaplane, and became convinced that aviation was going to change the world. When World War I ended and the young aircraft industry nearly collapsed, Boeing put hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money into keeping his company alive.
This is the story of the man who saw the future in the airplane and built his name into one of the giants of American aviation.

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The Knights of the Golden Circle: America's Would-Be Slave Empire Builders? Aug 18, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, before the Civil War, thousands of Southern men joined a secret society complete with castles, passwords, elaborate oaths, medieval costumes, and dreams of conquest. They called themselves the Knights of the Golden Circle, and beneath all the pageantry was a serious ambition: expand slavery by building a vast new empire across Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Mark Kawar, author of America but Bigger, and David C. Keehn, author ofKnights of the Golden Circle: Secret Empire, Southern Secession, Civil War, share the strange story of the organization that ultimately discovered that dreaming of an empire was much easier than building one.

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How Kenny Rogers Found His Voice at 40 Aug 18, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, Kenny Rogers grew up poor in a Houston housing project, one of eight children in a family that had little money but plenty of music, faith, and humor. He wanted something more and relentlessly chased a career in music, even when that ambition came at a cost in his personal life.
By the time Rogers turned to country music, he was nearly 40 and had already bounced through jazz, folk, rock, and pop. Nashville told him he was too old, too pop, and looked all wrong for country. Rogers proved them wrong. With songs like “Lucille,” “Lady,” and “The Gambler,” he crossed musical boundaries and became one of the most recognizable entertainers in America. Our own Greg Hengler, along with the late Kenny Rogers himself, shares the life story of a man who bridged pop and country to create a sound all his own.

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