Our American Stories

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From Steel Town to Tinsel Town: The Life of Composer Henry Mancini Oct 09, 2026

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, before the Pink Panther ever tiptoed across a screen, Henry Mancini was a steelworker’s son from Pennsylvania with a trumpet and a dream. Music took him from Army bands during World War II to the backlots of Hollywood, where he helped shape the sound of American film. Through works like Peter Gunn and “Moon River,” Mancini turned simple themes into lasting emotions.
His late wife, Ginny Mancini, shares the story of their life together.

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How One Italian Immigrant and a Fruit Cart Built a Tennessee Whiskey Icon Oct 09, 2026

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, Dominico Canale arrived in America from Italy in 1859 and eventually settled in Memphis, Tennessee. He began with a fruit cart and built it into a thriving business, one that eventually included a whiskey bearing his name. Then Prohibition shut that part of the family business down, and Old Dominick disappeared from Memphis. The Canales kept the name and the stories, but for generations, the whiskey itself seemed destined to remain part of the past.
More than a century later, an unopened bottle of Old Dominick turned up and helped convince the family that the story wasn't finished. Master distiller Alex Castle shares how the Canales brought the brand home to Memphis, built a new distillery, and began making whiskey in the city again.

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How Edgar Allan Poe Gave Us Horror, Mystery, and Science Fiction Oct 08, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, Edgar Allan Poe is best known for his dark tales and haunting poems, yet his imagination stretched far beyond the macabre. Behind the tragedies that shaped his life was a writer who helped define Gothic literature, pioneered detective fiction, and even ventured into early science fiction.
Chris Semtner, curator at the Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia, reveals the wit, creativity, and depth of one of America’s most enduring literary voices.

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Jack Marucci Made a Bat for His Son. Then Major Leaguers Wanted One Oct 08, 2026

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, Jack Marucci didn't set out to create a sporting goods company; he was simply trying to find a wooden baseball bat for his son. When he couldn't find one small enough, he opened up his shed and made one from scratch. Then another kid wanted one. Then another. Before long, the bats that had started as a project for his son were finding their way into the hands of Major League players and gaining a reputation as some of the best in the game.
Marucci shares how that backyard hobby grew into Marucci Sports and how the company earned its place in professional baseball one bat at a time.

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Mike Leven: The Bigger the Bureaucracy, the Smaller the Customer Oct 08, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, Mike Leven learned one of his most important business lessons in the hotel franchise world: treat the franchisee like a customer, and give that owner every reason to succeed. Done well, he argues, franchising combines the resources of a larger brand with the energy and accountability of individual entrepreneurs.
Sharing the story through recalling his time with Days Inn and Holiday Inn, Leven explains why growing organizations so often lose touch with the people they serve and why, in business and beyond, the bigger the bureaucracy becomes, the easier it is to forget who the customer really is.

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How Air Conditioning, Barcodes, and Elevators Changed the World Oct 08, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, a century ago, much of the American South was brutally uncomfortable in summer, skyscrapers could only rise so far, and keeping track of thousands of products in a store was a slow, manual job. Then a handful of inventions quietly changed how people lived and worked. Air conditioning helped transform entire regions of the country. A safer elevator made the modern skyscraper practical. And a pattern of black lines printed on a package changed the way nearly everything we buy is tracked and sold.
Economist and bestselling author Tim Harford, author of Fifty Things That Made the Modern Economy, shares the surprising stories behind air conditioning, the elevator brake, and the barcode, three inventions so ordinary today that it is easy to forget just how much of the modern world was built around them.

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What Buck O'Neil Did After Missing the Hall of Fame by One Vote Oct 07, 2026

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, in February 2006, Buck O'Neil and Bob Kendrick were packed and ready to fly to Florida for what they believed would be a Hall of Fame celebration. Instead, O'Neil fell one vote short. Kendrick was devastated. Hundreds of supporters gathered at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum were angry. Buck responded differently.
Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, remembers how O'Neil celebrated the 17 Negro Leaguers who had been elected, comforted everyone grieving on his behalf, and then went to Cooperstown to honor them. Fifteen years later, Buck O'Neil was finally elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

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Hollywood Goes to War: George O'Brien, Star of Three Wars Oct 07, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, George O'Brien became one of Hollywood's biggest leading men after starring in John Ford's 1924 silent epic The Iron Horse. But long before Hollywood made him famous, O'Brien had already served in the Navy during World War I, and when Pearl Harbor brought America into World War II, the 41-year-old husband and father volunteered to serve again.
As part of our ongoing Hollywood Goes to War series, Roger McGrath, author of Gunfighters, Highwaymen, and Vigilantes: Violence on the Frontier, shares the astonishing story of how O'Brien went from silent-film star to Navy beachmaster, serving under fire at Attu, Saipan, and Leyte before returning once more to uniform during the Korean War.

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Beating the Soviets: Mike Eruzione on the 1980 Olympic Upset Oct 07, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, it was the Cold War on ice, and no one expected Team USA to win. But in 1980, a ragtag group of college kids stunned the world when they beat the seemingly unbeatable Soviet Union at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics.
Our own Greg Hengler and Mike Eruzione himself, captain of the U.S. men’s hockey team and the man who scored the game-winning goal, share the inside story of one of the greatest upsets in sports history.

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How Three Escaped Slaves Changed America Forever Oct 07, 2026

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On this episode of Our American Stories, in May 1861, three enslaved men, Frank Baker, Shepherd Mallory, and James Townsend, escaped from Confederate labor at Sewell's Point, Virginia, and crossed to Union-held Fort Monroe. When their enslaver demanded their return, General Benjamin Butler faced a problem. Sending them back would mean returning three men to work on Confederate defenses aimed at his own fort.
Our regular contributor Jon Elfner and historian Kate Masur, author of Until Justice Be Done, share the story of how Butler's decision to hold the men as "contraband of war" helped open Union lines to hundreds, then thousands, of freedom seekers and pushed Congress, Abraham Lincoln, and the Union Army toward a new policy on slavery: ending it entirely.

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