Our American Stories

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 bo...

On this episode of Our American Stories, before he was a billionaire businessman and America’s Cup champion, Bill Koch was a student-athlete at MIT learning lessons that would shape his leadership. Told he wasn’t smart or skilled enough, he worked relentlessly and discovered the power of teamwork, accountability, and focus. Koch shares how a coach, one play, and a group of “nerds...

On this episode of Our American Stories, at the beginning of 1941, Britain stood virtually alone against Hitler while the United States remained bitterly divided over whether to enter the war. But across the Atlantic and Pacific, events were rapidly pulling America closer to the fight. The late historian Stephen Ambrose shares the story of a fateful year and America’s precarious diplomatic b...

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the 1850s, William Walker had an extraordinary idea: Why not conquer a country of his own? The Tennessee-born doctor, lawyer, and journalist gathered a small army of Americans, invaded Mexico, and declared himself ruler of a new republic. When that collapsed, he tried again. This time, he set his sights on Nicaragua. Mark Kawar, author of  America,...

On this episode of Our American Stories, before Colorado was even a state, a young German immigrant named Adolph Coors arrived in Golden with years of hard-earned experience and a dream of building his own brewery. He had come to America with no money or papers, worked his way west, and in 1873 invested everything he had into a small brewery beside the waters of Clear Creek. His great-grandson Pet...

On this episode of Our American Stories, there was a time when billions of American chestnut trees stretched across the eastern United States. In Appalachia, their nuts fed families and wildlife, their harvests provided income, and their rot-resistant wood was used for everything from fences and homes to cradles and coffins. Then, in the early 1900s, a deadly blight arrived from Asia and nearly wi...

On this episode of Our American Stories, when the First Continental Congress gathered in Philadelphia, the delegates arrived anxious about what Britain might do next and unsure of what they themselves should do. Before they argued or planned, they asked for prayer. The passage read that morning landed with surprising force and settled the room in a way no debate could have. Here to tell the story...

On this episode of Our American Stories, John Cazale never became a movie star. He never received an Academy Award nomination, and his film career lasted only six years. Yet Al Pacino considered him an acting idol, Meryl Streep fell in love with him, and every one of the five films he appeared in was nominated for Best Picture. Jonjo Powers, author of  A Small Perfection: John Cazale and the...

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1967, Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler approached the songwriting team of Carole King and Gerry Goffin with an idea. He needed a hit for Aretha Franklin and even had a title in mind: "A Natural Woman." After putting their children to bed, King and Goffin went to work. By the next day, they had written a song specifically for a singer they had never...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Laura Margolis arrived in Shanghai to help Jewish refugees who had fled persecution in Europe. Then Pearl Harbor changed everything. With the city under Japanese occupation and some 20,000 Jewish refugees now trapped there, Margolis found herself classified as an enemy alien while desperately trying to secure the food and money needed to keep them alive. Fo...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Clarence Birdseye was always looking for his next adventure. He hunted coyotes in the American West, collected dangerous ticks in the Rocky Mountains, and eventually took his young family into the frozen wilderness of Labrador. There, Birdseye noticed how Inuit people could freeze freshly caught fish almost instantly in the bitter cold. Years later, that me...

On this episode of Our American Stories, Ralph Cox had spent years dreaming of representing the United States at the Olympics. In 1980, he came within days of doing it. Then coach Herb Brooks called him into a room and delivered the news: Cox would be the final player cut from the U.S. Olympic hockey team. Weeks later, his former teammates pulled off the “Miracle on Ice.” Our own Greg...

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the late 1800s, stray dogs began hopping aboard America's trains and riding wherever the rails took them. Their adventures soon made the newspapers, and some became celebrities known across the country. Paul Koudounaris, author of  Go West, Young Dog , shares the story of America's railroad dogs and the legendary Railroad Jack. To a generation of Am...

On this episode of Our American Stories, as a teenager growing up on a farm in rural Idaho, Philo Farnsworth had an idea that seemed almost impossible: transmit moving pictures through the air. Before long, he had built the first fully electronic television system and found himself in a battle with RCA, one of the most powerful companies in America. The History Guy and Evan Schwartz, author of&nbs...

On this episode of Our American Stories, more than 13,000 Native Americans took part in the Revolutionary War, most fighting alongside the British. Daniel Nimham chose a different path. The last sachem of the Wappinger people of New York's Hudson Valley, Nimham joined the American cause, received a commission as a captain in the Continental Army, and served alongside George Washington at Valley Fo...

On this episode of Our American Stories, from the days of Hulk Hogan to modern WWE, wrestlers travel constantly, train relentlessly, and perform feats that demand strength, timing, and endurance. The spectacle may be designed for drama, but the toll on the body is no joke. Sportswriter Riley Evans of  Grandstand Central   shares the real story and physical cost of professional wrestling....

On this episode of Our American Stories, in February 1861, Abraham Lincoln was making a 13-day journey from Springfield, Illinois, to Washington, D.C., when warnings emerged of a plot to assassinate the president-elect as he passed through Baltimore, Maryland. With the country already coming apart and Lincoln’s inauguration only days away, detective Allan Pinkerton raced to uncover the threa...

On this episode of Our American Stories, to Southerners, John Brown was a dangerous villain. To many Northerners, he was a fanatic. But Brown believed he was an instrument of God, called to wage war against the evil of slavery. David S. Reynolds, author of   John Brown, Abolitionist , shares the story of how a deeply religious boy from Connecticut became one of the most feared and controversi...

On this episode of Our American Stories, James Madison may not have been America's greatest president, but his understanding of the Constitution helped shape the nation long before he entered the White House. A Virginia legislator, author of the Federalist Papers, architect of the Constitution, political partner of Thomas Jefferson, and eventual fourth president of the United States, Madison devot...

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1960, McDonald's franchise owner Lou Groen had a problem. His Cincinnati, Ohio, restaurant sat in a neighborhood that was 87 percent Catholic, and on Fridays, when many Catholics abstained from eating meat, his hamburger sales collapsed. With his struggling restaurant and his family's livelihood on the line, Groen came up with an idea: sell fish. Simon W...

On this episode of Our American Stories, from the American Revolution to the Civil War, the biblical prophet Elijah has played an important role in the American story, inspiring generations in their fights for liberty and justice. Rabbi Dr. Stuart Halpern, co-author of  The Jewish Roots of American Liberty , shares how Elijah’s rebuke of the tyrannical King Ahab inspired Americans durin...

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1975, advertising copywriter Gary Dahl was sitting in a California bar listening to friends complain about the hassle of caring for their pets when he joked that a rock would make the perfect companion. It would never need to be fed, walked, groomed, or taken to the vet. Our frequent contributor Jesse Edwards shares the tale of the Pet Rock and how cleve...

On this episode of Our American Stories, before "Smokin' Ed" Currie created the Carolina Reaper and Pepper X, two of the hottest peppers the world has ever known, his life was being consumed by drugs and alcohol. After hitting rock bottom, an experience during a Michigan blizzard led him to a rehabilitation hospital and began a journey through recovery, faith, family, and an obsession with peppers...

On this episode of Our American Stories, when President Donald Trump floated the idea of buying Greenland in 2019, many Americans thought the proposal came out of nowhere. In reality, the United States had been eyeing the Arctic island for more than 150 years. We especially wanted it after Denmark fell into Nazi hands. Mark Kawar, author of  America, but Bigger: Near-Annexations from Greenlan...

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Erica Brewer of Eagle, Wisconsin, spoke out in defense of a neighbor she believed was being treated unfairly by local officials, she never expected the town's attention to turn toward her own family. Soon, inspectors were showing up at their property, citing everything from tall grass and flower boxes to their small roadside farm stand, while fines and...