Based on a True Story

Today we'll hear from Dr. Larson, the historical consultant on the 2019 movie Harriet about the life of Harriet Tubman. Learn more about the true story Get Dr. Larson's book Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman: Portrait of an American Hero: https://links.boatspodcast.com/187book Find more of Dr. Larson's work: https://links.boatspodcast.com/187guest Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comm...

Patrick Wyman is a historian, host of the Tides of History podcast and author of The Verge . He joins us today to dive into the historical accuracy of Ridley Scott's 1992 movie  1492 . Learn more about Marty's work Get Patrick's book, The Verge: https://links.boatspodcast.com/186book Listen to Patrick's podcast, Tides of History: https://links.boatspodcast.com/186guest Did you enjoy this episode?...

The 2011 biopic from Clint Eastwood offers a look into the life of J. Edgar Hoover. Today we'll be talking to author and former FBI agent Paul Letersky, who was Hoover's assistant in the FBI. Learn more about the true story Get Paul's book  The Director: My Years Assisting J. Edgar Hoover: https://links.boatspodcast.com/185book Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment:  https://galas.fm/episode...

We're wrapping our series on Band of Brothers today as we look as the last three episodes of the HBO miniseries. Episodes we're covering today: 8. The Last Patrol 9. Why We Fight 10. Points Learn more about Marty's work D-Day: A Photographic History of the Normandy Invasion: https://links.boatspodcast.com/184ddayphoto Down to Earth: The 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment in Normandy: https://links....

Today we're continuing our look at the historical accuracy of Band of Brothers as we cover episodes six and seven while Easy Company is in Bastogne. We'll wrap up the series in our next episode of Based on a True Story. Episodes we're covering today: 6. Bastogne 7. The Breaking Point Learn more about Marty's work D-Day: A Photographic History of the Normandy Invasion: https://links.boatspodcast.co...

June 6th, 2021 is the 77th anniversary of D-Day. This year also marks the 20th anniversary of the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers . So, today we'll kick off a 3-part miniseries of our own where we cover  Band of Brothers  with World War II historian and author Marty Morgan. Episodes we're covering today: 1. Currahee 2. Day of Days 3. Carentan 4. Replacements 5. Crossroads Learn more about Marty's...

Today we'll learn about the historical accuracy of 2003's Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Helping us separate fact from fiction is Gordon Laco, who was the Lead Technical Advisor and Historical Consultant for the movie. Learn more about Gordon's work: https://links.boatspodcast.com/181guest Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment:  https://galas.fm/episode/dddda3a6-a986-4dc7-b...

In 2003's The Last Samurai we learn the story of Captain Nathan Algren, an American soldier who travels to Japan to train the early Imperial Japanese Army to fight off a rebellion against the Emperor. How much of it actually happened? That's what we'll look at in this episode. Dr. Brian Dirck joins us again to separate fact from fiction in the film. Dr. Dirck is a Professor of History at Anderson...

In Christianity, Good Friday commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Today we're going to learn about the depiction of that event on screen as we saw in 2004's  The Passion of The Christ . To help us learn more, we'll be joined by the Professor of New Testament and Archaeology at Covenant Theological Seminary, Dr. David Chapman. Learn more about the true story with David's books The Trial an...

On this episode of Based on a True Story, we'll learn from the research consultant on The Highwaymen about the historical accuracy of the film. John Neal Phillips is a historian and author of Running With Bonnie and Clyde: The Fast Yen Years of Ralph Fults and editor of Blanche Barrow's memoir, My Life with Bonnie and Clyde. Learn more about the true story with John's books Running with Bonnie and...

We're going back to 1977 and Ridley Scott's feature film directorial debut,  The Duellists.  The movie tells the tale of two soldiers in Napoleon's army who duel with each other for over a decade. Historian and professor at Louisiana State University, Alexander Mikaberidze, returns to help us separate fact from fiction in the movie. Learn more about the true story with Alexander's books The Napole...

Released in 2020, Greyhound was written by Tom Hanks, who also starred in the lead role. The movie was based on a novel by C.S. Forester called The Good Shepherd . Today, we'll be joined by the Naval Consultant on the film, Gordon Laco, to discuss its historical accuracy. Learn more about Gordon's work Find Gordon on the web: https://links.boatspodcast.com/176guest Did you enjoy this episode? Leav...

2010's The Conspirator tells the story of Mary Surratt and her alleged involvement in Lincoln's assassination. Dr. Brian Dirck joins us again to separate fact from fiction in the film. Dr. Dirck is a Professor of History at Anderson University and author of multiple books on President Lincoln, including Lincoln and the Constitution , The Black Heavens: Abraham Lincoln and Death and Lincoln the Law...

Today we'll learn about the classic 1970 film Waterloo and its depiction of Napoleon's final defeat. Joining us to discuss the historical accuracy of  Waterloo is historian and professor at Louisiana State University, Alexander Mikaberidze. Alexander has also written numerous books on the Napoleonic era, including his latest which is called The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History . Learn more about...

In the movie Donnie Brasco we see the story of an FBI agent who goes into deep cover infiltrating the New York mafia families. The truth is Donnie Brasco was the under-cover name for Joe Pistone. He joins us today along with actor and Joe's co-host on the Deep Cover Podcast, Leo Rossi. Learn more about the true story Follow Joe and Leo's podcast Deep Cover Podcast: https://links.boatspodcast.com/1...

How much of 2014's The Alamo really happened? To help us separate fact from fiction in the movie, we’ll be chatting with professor, historian and author Stephen L. Hardin. Stephen was also a historical consultant on the movie we’ll be chatting about today, so we’ll get some extra insight into the production of the film as well. Learn more about the true story with Stephen's books Lust for Glory: A...

Wake Island was attacked on the same day as Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 (December 8th on Wake Island across the International Date Line). A few months later, on August 11th, 1942, Paramount Pictures released the war propaganda film Wake Island . To help us separate fact from fiction in the movie, we’ll be chatting with Professor Gregory J. W. Urwin from Temple University. Gregory is a milit...

How historically accurate was 2012's Lincoln? To help us separate fact from fiction in the movie, we’ll be chatting with Dr. Brian Dirck, who is a Professor of History at Anderson University and author of multiple books on President Lincoln, including Lincoln and the Constitution , The Black Heavens: Abraham Lincoln and Death and Lincoln the Lawyer . Learn more about the true story Pick up Brian's...

1989's Glory is currently the most requested movie to cover. Gregory J. W. Urwin is an author, military historian, and Professor at Temple University. He'll join us today to separate fact from fiction in Glory . Learn more about the true story A Brave Black Regiment by Louis F. Emilio with an introduction by Gregory J. W. Urwin: https://links.boatspodcast.com/169emilio Black Flag Over Dixie: Racia...

Back on episode #152 of Based on a True Story, we covered season 1 of the History Channel's Project Blue Book. Today, Rob Kristoffersen comes back on the podcast to talk about the events we saw in season 2. Learn more about the true story Follow Rob's podcast Our Strange Skies: https://links.boatspodcast.com/168guest Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment:  https://galas.fm/episode/2e5305dd-0...

Dr. Clayborne Carson is the Martin Luther King, Jr., Centennial Professor of History at Stanford University and the founding director of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute at Stanford. He joins us today to compare history with the 2014 movie  Selma.  Learn more about the true story Listen to Dr. Carson's podcast: https://links.boatspodcast.com/167podcast Read the Autobio...

Chris Wimmer is the host and producer of the extremely popular Legends of the Old West and Infamous America podcasts. He joins us today to compare history with the 2007 movie The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Learn more about the true story Follow Chris's podcast Legends of the Old West: https://links.boatspodcast.com/166guest Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: ...

Eric Marcus is a journalist, founder and host of the Making Gay History Podcast. He joins us today to compare history with the 2015 Roland Emmerich movie Stonewall. Learn more about the true story Follow the Stonewall season of Eric's Making Gay History Podcast: https://links.boatspodcast.com/165guest Stonewall Fact Sheet: https://stonewall50consortium.org/stonewallfactsheet.pdf Stonewall First An...

The 2002 John Woo movie 'Windtalkers' tells the story of a Navajo code talker during World War II. Is the film historically accurate? Judith Avila is the author of Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir By One of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of WWII Learn more about the true story Get Judith and Chester Nez's book Code Talker: https://links.boatspodcast.com/164guest Did you enjoy this episode?...

Author Furman Daniel joins us today to separate fact from fiction in the classic World War II film Patton. Learn more about the true story Get Furman's book Patton: Battling with History: https://links.boatspodcast.com/163guest Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment:  https://galas.fm/episode/7998af84-06c8-46f7-b810-b37083961029 Find the transcript and full show notes:  https://links.boatspod...