History Author Show

May 27, 2016 -  It’s History in Five Friday, presented by Simon & Schuster -- check them out at Facebook.com/HistoryInFive. While it’s no secret that Abraham Lincoln didn’t have an idyllic childhood, today’s guest -- journalist and political aide Sidney Blumenthal -- noticed something in particular about young Lincoln’s experience that might have impacted the way he perceived and spoke about slave...

May 25, 2016 - It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. We might take for granted our civil liberties. Those of us living in the modern age might think that the political freedoms that we enjoy are the norm, but history buffs know that this was not always the case. When...

May 23, 2016 – Lynn Sherr’s book is titled: Sally Ride: America’s First Woman in Space. It includes unique insights from her friendship with the astronaut, tennis player, astrophysicist, children’s book author, and genuine American legend, as well as exclusives from Dr. Ride’s family, partner, and countless friends and colleagues. You can enjoy more from our guest @LynnSherr on Twitter, or Faceboo...

May 23, 2016 - Lynn Sherr's book is titled: Sally Ride: America's First Woman in Space. It includes unique insights from her friendship with the astronaut, tennis player, astrophysicist, children's book author, and genuine American legend, as well as exclusives from Dr. Ride's family, partner, and countless friends and colleagues. You can enjoy more from our guest @LynnSherr on Twitter, or Faceboo...

May 18, 2016 - It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. Aristotle, Plato, the Greek drachma in 600 BC -- and spending sprees from Persia to Cathrage to Italy. How did the ancient world mint coins? What value did they put on their currency, and how did they confront the c...

May 16, 2016 - Our time machine drops us off in December 1892, during the planning for Chicago's Columbian Exposition -- a forerunner of the 20th Century world's fairs -- with the perfect story for the boardwalks and carnivals of Summer 2016. At the ticket booth is Betsy Harvey Kraft, and she's sharing The Fantastic Ferris Wheel: The Story of Inventor George Ferris. You may have seen her several o...

It’s History in Five Friday, presented by Simon & Schuster. Our guest is Douglas C. Waller, sharing some insight on several CIA Directors who had previously worked for William “Wild Bill” Donovan’s spy agency, Office of Strategic Services. Waller’s books related to this subject are Disciples: The World War II Missions of the CIA Directors Who Fought For Wild Bill Donovan and the New York Times bes...

May 11, 2016 - It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. Lions, tigers, and bears- these are a few of the animals you might use to describe the devotion this one classical mother felt for her children. Clytemnestra is a controversial figure in the classical landscape. Was...

May 9, 2016 - In this episode, our time machine door opens into the wardrobe of our First Ladies, that Narnia of fashion that trends back to the very first days of our republic, when the role of the president's wife had -- like the role of the president himself -- yet to be defined. Our valet is Feather Schwartz Foster, a presidential historian who focuses on our First Ladies from Martha Washingto...

May 6, 2016 - It’s History in Five Friday, presented by Simon & Schuster. Our guest is Edward Brooke-Hitching, and his book is the quirky Fox Tossing, Octopus Wrestling and Other Forgotten Sports. From Flagpole Sitting (can't imagine why it ever fell out of fashion) to Hot Cockles, time-travel through the most curious, dangerous and downright bizarre sports and pastimes that mankind has ever devis...

May 4, 2016 - It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. Today we are looking at ancient athletics. They were a cultural staple, but athletics might also have been responsible for handing down a comprehensive timeline of the classical world to us here in the modern age. Yo...

May 2, 2016 - In this episode, our time machine touches down during the months after Pearl Harbor, as Hitler's U-boats bring the Second World War to the Gulf of Mexico. On board the doomed steam merchant ship Heredia, we'll bear witness to disaster with the Downs family, through the eyes of eight-year-old Sonny. We'll also meet the commanders of two U-Boats, dispatched by Germany's Admiral Dönitz,...

April 29, 2016 - This weekend, the Greek and Eastern Orthodox Churches take us back in time to the early days of the church, when Christ’s resurrection was celebrated after Passover in order to be historically sequential. After all, the Last Supper was a Passover Seder -- which some of you might have celebrated a few days ago. This special episode is presented by Luke Historians, and features exce...

April 27, 2016 - It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. Today we are looking at a true giant from the classical age. He is a man who so popularized a method of inquiry, that it bears his very name. He is a man we are all indebted to; we are all students of this great a...

April 25, 2016 - In this episode, we'll step through the Guardian of Forever and meet two founding fathers who were best friends, then bitter enemies, and finally friends again: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the second and third presidents of the United States, and the first and second vice presidents. Our guide on this journey is Daniel L. Mallock, and his book is Agony and Eloquence: John Ada...

April 22, 2016 - Today popular historian and frequent TV news guest, Doris Kearns Goodwin discusses how Theodore Roosevelt overcame serious ailments as a child to become one of our nation's most active, vigorous presidents. The insight comes in her latest book, titled, The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism. She previously touched on the extende...

April 20, 2016 - It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. You have probably heard the name “Homer” (the classical Greek, not Simpson). He is a man that we are culturally and literarily so indebted to that his epics The Iliad and The Odyssey are often considered the first...

April 18, 2016 - Today, we're traveling back in time by rappelling down the steep face of New Jersey's Palisades Cliffs, and down to the Alpine Boat Basin, just north of the George Washington Bridge. Our destination is the historic The Kearney House, formerly called the Cornwallis Headquarters, based on the local legend that the British general stopped here for a night during the American Revoluti...

April 15, 2016 - It’s History in Five Friday, presented by Simon & Schuster. Our guest is Fergus Bordewich , and his book is, The First Congress: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government. It’s the monumental story of the most productive Congress in US history, in 1789–1791, which we first explored with Fergus in our recent interview, which you...

April 13, 2016 - It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. Cicero is remembered for posterity as a great orator and an influential philosopher. However, he was also a cunning politician and perhaps the staunchest defender of the Roman Republic. Today we look at Cicero’s t...

April 11, 2016 - Today, our time machine will wend its way through the tight mountain passes of Southern France, and across the blue seas of the Mediterranean to the principality of Monaco. Yes, Monaco. The name itself conjures up images of glamour and gambling, of royalty and race cars. But how did it get that way? It's about half the size of Central Park, the second-tiniest nation in the world....

April 8, 2016 - It's History in Five Friday, presented by Simon & Schuster --- kicking off your modern weekend, with people from the past. Since tomorrow is the 151st anniversary of Robert E. Lee's surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, it's fitting that today's history author, former White House speech writer Jonathan Horn, introduces us to a family connection in Lee's life that...

April 6, 2016 - It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. Enter the labyrinth! But beware the Minotaur. Today we relive the epic legend of Theseus, one of the classical age’s most celebrated heroes. Your guide through the classical landscape is Van Bryan, Associate Editor...

April 4, 2016 - Today, our time machine is whisking us back to the very earliest days of America's republic. Our guest is Fergus Bordewich , and his book is, The First Congress: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government. It's the untold story of the most productive Congress in US history, in 1789–1791. Mr. Fergus Bordewich is the author of six p...

April 1, 2016 - Today on History in Five Friday, presented by Simon & Schuster, we’re going to hear from Bob Drury and Tom Clavin, co-authors who bring us: The Heart of Everything That Is -- The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend. Red Cloud was the only American Indian in history to defeat the United States Army. At the peak of Red Cloud’s reign, the Sioux held dominion over one-fifth o...