History Happy Hour

This Week on History Happy Hour : The legendary ‘Red Devils’, British Airborne troops, were created at Winston Churchill’s instigation in June 1940. They started with just 500 men and grew into three 10,000-strong airborne divisions. British military historian Saul David returns this encore episode of History Happy Hour to talk about book Sky Warriors: British Airborne Forces in...

This Week on History Happy Hour : The story of British scientists who developed cutting-edge underwater science that helped make D-Day possible. Chris and Rick welcome Rachel Lance, author of Chamber Divers . A long-classified tale of eccentric researchers who conducted life threatening experiments on themselves to pioneer the safe use of miniature submarines and breathing apparatuses used to reco...

This Week on History Happy Hour : One thousand years ago, Native American cities in North America rivaled urban centers around the world in size and scope. But has the surprising history of Native Americans has been obscured by historians ’ intent on minimizing the role of their still thriving societies? Chris and Rick talk about one thousand years of Native American history with Kathleen Du...

This Week on History Happy Hour : Between 1199 and 1399, English politics was high drama. These two centuries witnessed savage political blood-letting – including civil war, deposition, the murder of kings and the ruthless execution of rebel lords. Chris and Rick discuss did into this tumultuous period with Dr. Caroline Burt and Richard Partington, authors of Arise, England: Six Kings and th...

This Week on History Happy Hour : A close-up look at how WWII looked to combat nurse Lt. Mary Elizabeth Balster, who spent months caring for the sick and wounded just behind the front lines of General Patton’s Third Army. In this encore episode, Chris and Rick welcome NCR Davis, Lt. Balster’s daughter, and author of For the Boys: The War Story of a Combat Nurse in Patton’s Third...

This Week on History Happy Hour : An encore episode with author and historian Joe Balkoski, our first ever five-time guest. He returns to pick up the story of the 29th Division. And of course we honored him with a special ceremony honoring Joe’s five-time guest status. Chris and Rick talk with him about the 4th volume of his five-volume series on the 29th: Our Tortured Souls: The 29th Infant...

This Week on History Happy Hour : He never became as celebrated as his fellow commanders George Patton and Omar Bradley, but General William Simpson, commander of the 9th U.S. Army in WWII, built a superb combat record. General Dwight Eisenhower called him brilliant, adding: "If Simpson ever made a mistake as an Army Commander, it never came to my attention." To explore his WWII command record, Ch...

This Week on History Happy Hour : Author Eric Jay Dolin returns for his second HHH to talk about his book Left For Dead: Shipwreck, Treachery, and Survival at the Edge of the World. The true story of five castaways abandoned on the Falkland Islands during the War of 1812―a tale of treachery, shipwreck, isolation, and the desperate struggle for survival. Dolan discusses the surprising twists and...

This Week on History Happy Hour : After its shocking defeat to the Nazis in 1940, how did France respond? In his book Resistance and Liberation: France at War, 1942-1945 , historian Douglas Porch traces how Charles de Gaulle sought to forge a French army and prevent civil war. Chris and Rick talk to Douglas about the experiences of ordinary French men and women caught up in war and defeat, the cho...

This Week on History Happy Hour : Civil War historian Scott Hartwig has been researching the Battle of Antietam for decades. Now he has written a definitive hour-by-hour tactical history of the battle, I Dread the Thought of the Place: The Battle of Antietam and the End of the Maryland Campaign. The memory of the Battle of Antietam was so haunting that when, nine months later, Major Rufus Dawes le...

This Week on History Happy Hour : Frederika Mandlebaum was a nice Jewish mother living in New York in the 1870s.  She was also America’s first great organized crime boss. She planned robberies throughout the country - handpicking a cadre of the finest bank robbers, housebreakers and shoplifters to turn street crime into big business. Chris and Rick explore the story of this entrepreneur...

This Week on History Happy Hour : Between 1941 and 1945, more than eight hundred shiploads of supplies were delivered to the Soviet Union protected by Allied naval forces. But more than 100 ships were lost in this duty. Each convoy was a battle against the elements, and the Germans - with both sides relying heavily on signals intelligence to intercept and break each other’s codes. The result...

This Week on History Happy Hour : Eighty years ago, The Allies liberated Paris. It was the biggest party of the century, as experienced by the likes of Ernest Hemingway, J. D. Salinger, Pablo Picasso, and Robert Capa. But there was nothing preordained about this happy ending. Had things transpired differently, Paris might have gone down as a ghastly monument to Nazi nihilism. We welcome back HHH a...

This Week on History Happy Hour : From 1925 to January 1941, Sigrid Schultz was The Chicago Tribune ’s Berlin bureau chief. She witnessed Hitler’s rise to power and was one of the first reporters—male or female—to warn American readers of the growing dangers of Nazism. We explore her extraordinary time there with Pamela Toler, author of the new book "The Dragon From Chicago...

This Week on History Happy Hour : With the Democrats convening later his month in Chicago, HHH turns to the city’s first political convention in 1860, where a team of outsiders plotted their way to a history-changing nomination for an underdog named Abraham Lincoln. Chris and Rick welcome Edward Achorn, author of The Lincoln Miracle: Inside the Republican Convention that Changed History. Fro...

This Week on History Happy Hour : How did one small island in the western Pacific make a huge contribution to the final phase of America’s war with Japan? The island is Tinian, and our guest is fellow Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours historian Don Farrell, author of the new book, Seabees and Superforts at War: Tinian’s Critical Role in the Ultimate Defeat of Japan. From the invasion th...

This Week on History Happy Hour : Today most people remember little more about John Hancock than his signature, but 250 years ago this Boston businessman was a powerful and popular patriot leader who, on multiple occasions, played a vital role in the fight for Independence. In this encore episode, Chris and Rick dive back into the Revolution (or is it the War of Independence?) and talking to Brook...

This Week on History Happy Hour : During WWII, the legendary First Division, “The Big Red One,” fought in North Africa, Sicily, landed on Omaha Beach and drove across Europe and into Germany. It served 443 days in combat, with more than 20,000 casualties. Chris and Rick will explore the rich history of the division with Gregory Fontenot, author of the new book, No Sacrifice Too Great:...

This Week on History Happy Hour : Author Helen Fry returns to HHH for third time to talk about her book Women in Intelligence: The Hidden History of Two World Wars. It tells the groundbreaking history of women in British intelligence, revealing their pivotal role across the first half of the twentieth century. Across both world wars, far from being a small part of covert operations, women ran spy...

This Week on History Happy Hour : In 1776, Captain James Cook, already lionized as the greatest explorer in British history, set off on his third major voyage to the Pacific. The incredible journey that followed took Cook from Australia to Alaska, and involved the first substantial European contact with the Hawaiian Islands…as well as the confrontation that led to his death. Chris and Rick...

This Week on History Happy Hour : Franklin Rutland was a British World War I hero at the Battle of Jutland, becoming internationally known as “Rutland of Jutland.” He became a fixture of high society in Golden Age Hollywood – and a spy for the Japanese as they built their naval power in the Pacific. Then he became a double agent – could he have prevented Pearl Harbor? Chris...

This Week on History Happy Hour : In the mid 19th Century, as America careened toward Civil War, Senator Charles Sumner was the conscience of the North. He denounced slavery’s evils to all who would listen and demanded that it be wiped out of existence. More than any other person of his era, he blazed the trail on the country’s long, uneven, and ongoing journey toward realizing its ful...

This Week on History Happy Hour : Everyone knows about the Doolittle Raid, in which 16 B25s took off from an aircraft carrier to bomb Japan early in the war.  But few know the story of Plane 8, which never attacked Tokyo, but headed across Japan to the Soviet Union. Was it on some sort of secret mission that has never been revealed? Chris and Rick look for answers with Dan Hampton, author of...

This Week on History Happy Hour : 350,000 American women served in uniform during World War II. They found themselves in every service branch, in every combat theater. They were directly involved in some of the most important moments of the war, from the D-Day landings to the peace negotiations in Paris. Chris and Rick explore their contribution with Lena Andrews, author of the bestseller Valiant...

This Week on History Happy Hour : In this encore episode, Chris and Rick are on the road in Normandy! Along with historians Matt Broggie, Erik Flint, and Hugh MacDonald-Buchanan, they are leading a trip on the Normandy Breakout – the seven weeks of fighting that result in victory in Normandy and pave the way for a push to Paris and beyond. This week, excerpts from talks on the ground by all...