History That Doesn't Suck

“What is the chief end of man? A: To get rich.” This is the story of the Gilded Age and its first three presidents: Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, and Chester A. Arthur. Mark Twain calls this era a “Gilded Age”–that is, a time of great greed covered with a thin veneer hiding the nation’s decadence. Is it? We’ll assess and define this oft-forgotten time. In doing so, we’ll meet three oft-f...

This is the end of the West! Meet two new researchers, Ryan Griffith and Zach Weaver, as they join Greg to discuss the latest inner workings of HTDS, the Transcontinental Railroad, Buffalo Bill, and industrialization. As they wrap up, Greg then discusses the Golden Spike Ceremony with National Park Service Lead Ranger Lucas Hugie. They do so on-site, just a stone's throw from where the Transcontin...

“I wish to impress upon your minds that what you are about to witness is not a performance in the common sense of the term.” This is the story of the Wild West’s end and the close of the frontier. The West is settled. The buffalo are gone. The US government is seeking to assimilate Native Americans. In this environment, a religious movement promising a restoration of traditional indigenous life, c...

“This is my last opportunity to make a big haul. Alaska is the last West.” This is the story of the US purchase of Alaska and the famous Klondike Gold Rush. Russia needs funds and sees its territory of Russian-America as a liability. That has US Secretary of State William Henry Seward seeing opportunities, such as fisheries and access to Asian markets. It’s an ideal match of interests for two majo...

“The fight’s commenced. Go to fighting or get away!” This is the story of more gunslinging and heists. Pearl Hart needs to see her mother; is a stagecoach robbery the answer? The Earps Brothers and Doc Holiday are on the opposite of a political and economic feud with the “Cow Boys” in the mining town of Tombstone, Arizona Territory; are they disarming the “Cow Boys” in accordance with a city ordin...

“I am going to hell anyhow.” This is the story of the rise of Western outlaws and gunslingers. From transportation of goods and people, to mining and even the cattle industry, a Second Industrial Revolution has overtaken the United States. Economic and political disruption are everywhere … but the law isn’t. And that’s the perfect cocktail for a golden age of outlaws.  Sam Bass is robbing the Unio...

“Did they not build the Chinese Wall, the biggest piece of masonry in the world?” The Central Pacific Railroad is struggling to find long-term construction workers. Many of them quickly leave the CP’s employ to pursue gold and silver in the mines of California or Nevada. But Big Four Associate Charlie Crocker has an idea: why not try hiring Chinese immigrants? The idea is semi-controversial in the...

“How dare you try to hog all the continent?” This is the story of the Union Pacific Railroad. The US Government has legislated that a private company be organized with government oversight to build a railroad from Nebraska to Nevada. It will meet the Central Pacific and form a transcontinental rail across the whole United States. Unfortunately, few are interested in investing in this risky endeavo...

“Every great enterprise has been ridiculed in the outset.” This is the story of the rise of the railroad. Travel on land is slow. Arduous. Inhibited by rough terrain like mountains, rivers, and bogs. That reality makes Americans view the continent’s interior as an inaccessible “Great Desert,” only to be visited by daring pioneers passing through en route to Oregon Country or California. But techno...

“Gentlemen, what is the cause of this violence?” This is the story of HTDS's 2020. Most people wouldn’t call last year a good one. Doesn’t mean we didn’t have some fun mini-episodes and cold opens here on HTDS. Join Greg for a look at some favorites from both of those camps. ____ Connect with us on HTDSpodcast.com and go deep into episode bibliographies and book recommendations join discussions in...

“The older I get the more I’m convinced that it’s the purpose of politicians and journalists to say the world is very simple, whereas it’s the purpose of historians to say, ‘No! It’s very complicated.” — David Cannadine (British historian at Princeton) It’s epilogue time. Join Greg and Cielle as they talk in broad strokes about one of the darkest periods of American history: Reconstruction and the...

“Church bristled and pooh-poohed at the subject when I suggested that he write a reply to Virginia O’Hanlon.” This is the story of America’s most famous editorial. Virginia O’Hanlon is an inquisitive eight-year-old. She’s debated with her friends and studied out the matter, but she still can’t decide: is there a Santa Claus? At her father’s suggestion, she writes to New York’s great arbiter of tru...

“Does this court think an Indian is a competent witness?” This is the story of the start of Indigenous civil rights. Since the arrival of Lewis and Clark, the Nez Perce have lived peacefully beside US citizens. The Pacific Northwest Indigenous group is proud of the fact that not one of them has ever killed a white person. But things are changing. New settlers are flocking, and the US government wa...

“There’s a good fight coming over the hill. That’s where the big fight is going to be. We’ll not miss that one.” This is the story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn (or the Greasy Grass).  In 1868, representatives of the US government meet leaders from a few indigenous nations at Fort Laramie to sign a treaty. The agreement creates the boundaries for a Great Sioux Reservation and “unceded” Sioux...

“To be hanged by the neck until he is dead.” This is the story of the US-Dakota War. The most eastern of the three major Sioux peoples, the Dakota are indigenous to Minnesota. They’ve lived beside trappers, fur traders, and the like, for quite a while (salut, les Canadiens-français). But now, more white settlers are showing up and setting up farms, and American officials are buying lands in exchan...

“Hang Kellogg! We’ll fight!” This is the story of the end of Reconstruction. Voter fraud and intimidation has made Louisiana’s 1872 Gubernatorial election a mess. So, when a Federal judge and Republican President Ulysses S. Grant uphold the Republican candidate, the stage is set for more partisan and racial violence in the Bayou State. The outcome is Reconstruction’s worst episode of violence and...

“Boys, let us get up a club or society of some description.” This is the story of Reconstruction peaking and its opponents organizing to fight back. With Radical Republicans at the helm of Reconstruction, the former Confederate states are forced to make new state constitutions that include black men in the process. The outcome is nothing short of revolutionary. Black men not only come away with th...

 "The office has come to me unsought; I commence its duties untrammeled. I bring to it a conscious desire and determination to fill it to the best of my ability to the satisfaction of the people. " This is the story of scandal. Ulysses S. Grant has just been elected as the youngest US President to date. He has great hopes to usher in a new era of civil and political rights for African Americans an...

“ You are placed in a position where you have the power to save or destroy us; to bless or blast us--I mean our whole race.” This is the story of the first US Presidency to end in impeachment. This is the story of Andrew Johnson. The post-Civil War government of the United States faces difficult decisions. Should it be lenient to former Confederate states? Or should it take a hard hand? Should the...

“Sic semper tyrannis!” This is the story of deception. Conspiracy. Assassination. The handsome, 26-year-old successful actor John Wilkes Booth has sympathized with the Confederacy since the war began. So when Abraham Lincoln wins reelection as President of the United States amid several crucial late-1864 victories, John becomes enraged. He decides to kidnap President Lincoln. But as John’s attempt...

"Adieu best of wives and best of women." We’re interrupting our usual chronological walk through US history today to bring you a remastered, new sound design take on Episode 22, “An Affair of Honor: Alexander Hamilton & Aaron Burr.” In these last few months, cellist Buffi Jacobs and violinist Austin Burket, both of whom usually perform with the Hamilton musical’s “Philip” Tour, contributed the...

After nearly a full year of covering only four years of US history, we are done with the Civil War. It’s time for an epilogue! Greg and Cielle talk big picture and bring in some intriguing stories that just didn’t quite make the cut for regular episodes (including the Civil War origins of Coca-Cola, and the tale of Confederates who immigrate to Brazil, where slavery is still legal).  Ready to deco...

“I feel that it is … my duty to shift from myself the responsibility of any further effusion of blood, by asking you to surrender … the army of Northern Virginia. Very respectfully, U. S. Grant.” This is the story of one army surrendering to another. Of foes becoming brothers once more. This is the Surrender at Appomattox.  ____ Connect with us on HTDSpodcast.com and go deep into episode bibliogra...

“I can make the march, and make Georgia howl!” This is the story of the March to the Sea and the 13th Amendment. William Tecumseh “Cump” Sherman describes war as two things: “cruel” and “hell.” Acting under this philosophy, he takes 60,000 of his toughest, most battle-hardened men, and marches from Atlanta to the Peach State’s coast in a show of force meant to break the Confederacy of its will to...

“Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!” This is the story of the Civil War in late 1864. Battles of significance are happening all across the country, and many of them are quite odd or unique: Pennsylvania miners are secretly digging under Confederates to blow them up from below; Admiral David Farragut is fighting in the torpedo-filled waters of Alabama’s Gulf Coast; Bushwacker “Bloody Bill” Ander...