History Author Show

June 27, 2016 - Today, we jump through the Guardian of Forever and into New York City during the American Revolution -- just in time for Independence Day 2016. Once there, we meet twelve-year-old Gabriel Cooper, an orphaned patriot who sets out to join the Continental Army.

Our guest is Chris Stevenson, and his book is The Drum of Destiny, historical fiction for readers 9-12 years of age. You can find a teacher's guide at ChrisStevensonAuthor.com, and also on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Chris also hosts a blog that focuses on the Revolution and Colonial period.  You can also get the Teaching Guide at Chris's website.

June 24, 2016 – It’s History in Five Friday, presented by Simon & Schuster — check them out at Facebook.com/HistoryInFive.

Today’s guest — journalist and political aide Sidney Blumenthal — casts a look back at the marriage of the Great Emancipator, and the woman who stood at his side. Through sickness, breakdowns, the Civil War, and loss, how did this couple endure?

Blumenthal is the author of the book, A Self-Made Man: The Political Life of Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1849.

Simon & Schuster’s History in Five Friday.

It’s the perfect way to kick off your modern weekend…with people, from the past.

June 22, 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.

Let me ask you something. Are you happy? Do you feel happy? Is there a difference? Today we discuss some classical wisdom that gives us a rather unusual take on human happiness. You see, at least according to the Athenian Solon, nobody is happy until they die!

Your guide through the classical landscape is Van Bryan, Associate Editor of Classical Wisdom Weekly. You can catch Classical Wisdom Wednesday every week before your first cup of coffee, right here on the History Author Show.

June 17, 2016 - It’s History in Five Friday, presented by Simon & Schuster.

Today, author Clint Hill shares his eyewitness accounts and recollections during his time on the Secret Service detail of our commanders-in-chief. The book is titled, Five Presidents My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford. Mr. Hill previously joined us to discuss his time as the Secret Service agent assigned to protect Mrs. Kennedy on the day JFK was shot. He's the man seen leaping onto the back of the car after the fatal shots rang out in Dealey Plaza.

He tells that story in his previous book, Five Days in November, a follow-up on his previous recollections in the #1 New York Times best-seller, Mrs. Kennedy and Me. You can follow today's guest on Twitter @ClintHill_SS or check out ClintHillSecretService.com.

History in Five Friday.

It’s the perfect way to kick off your modern weekend… with people from the past.

June 15, 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.

What’s Greek for realpolitik? The best answer might be “Thucydides”. The man who has been given the title “Father of Political Realism” saw the greatest war of the classical age as a foregone conclusion, and endless cycle of violence and destruction.

Your guide through the classical landscape is Van Bryan, Associate Editor of Classical Wisdom Weekly. You can catch Classical Wisdom Wednesday every week before your first cup of coffee, right here on the History Author Show.

June 20, 2016 - Our Monday, June 20th interview is with award-winning author Neal Bascomb. We're airing our conversation a few days early because his book -- The Winter Fortress: The Epic Mission to Sabotage Hitler's Atomic Bomb -- is a perfect gift for Father's Day.

If you think the book might be right for Dad, History Author Show listeners can enjoy a free sample chapter of The Winter Fortress right here. Meet the Norwegian patriots -- from schoolteachers to plumbers -- who dared defy the Nazis, and endured starvation and harsh winter conditions, to deny Hitler the power to rain nuclear fire on London, New York, and other Allied cities.

Our thanks to author Jay Atkinson for pointing The Winter Fortress our way. You can listen to our interview with Jay on his book, Massacre on the Merrimack: Hannah Duston’s Captivity and Revenge in Colonial America.

You can follow today's guest on Twitter @NealBascomb, like him at Facebook.com/NealRBascomb, and pay him a visit at NealBascomb.com. So put on your winter camouflage suits, wax up your skis, let's head back to Nazi-occupied Norway and assault, The Winter Fortress...

June 13, 2016 - Today, we're spinning back in time to the days when America tore itself apart: The Civil War. But we'll be talking about a different sort of union, exploring the bond between the men who led the northern armies, and the women by their sides in Lincoln's Generals' Wives: Four Women Who Influenced the Civil War -- for Better and for Worse.

With 70,000 books on the war produced since its end, it's incredible that Candice Shy Hooper is the first author to map the wartime travels of Julia Grant, Nelly McClellan, Jessie Fremont, and Ellen Sherman.

But to borrow the chapter title from today's book: "The woman who is known only through a man is known wrong." Candice is just the person to give us the full picture of these engaging figures, and how they interacted with their powerful husbands and Abraham Lincoln as president. You can learn more at CandiceShyHooper.com.

June 10, 2016 - It’s History in Five Friday, presented by Simon & Schuster. Check them out at Facebook.com/HistoryInFive.

Today, award-winning journalist and author Andrew Nagorski casts a fresh look back at the great evil of Nazi Germany, in his critically acclaimed Hitlerland, and now on shelves: The Nazi Hunters. How do we deal with the legacy of everyday Germans, who turned to monstrous acts? What do we owe to the World War Two generation and Holocaust survivors as they pass away? And what were the conflicts in vision among those who hunted Nazi war criminals themselves as they conducted their searches?

You can follow today’s author on Twitter @AndrewNagorski or visit him at AndrewNagorski.com.

History in Five Friday.

It’s the perfect way to kick off your modern weekend… with people from the past.

June 8, 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.

It’s the trial of the century, perhaps the millennium! Socrates is on trial for his life. His accusers would seem him dead, but the father of Western philosophy won’t go down without a fight.

Your guide through the classical landscape is Van Bryan, Associate Editor of Classical Wisdom Weekly. You can catch Classical Wisdom Wednesday every week before your first cup of coffee, right here on the History Author Show.

June 6, 2016 - Today, our time machine heads back to our show's past, serving up a special, all-new paperback interview with a familiar voice. Back in August of 2015, we kicked off the show with the words, "Three mules, two brothers, and a Jack Russell terrier named Olive Oyl." Our guest was Rinker Buck, and his book -- The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey -- recounted the trek he made with his brother Nick in a covered wagon, two thousand miles from Missouri to the great American Northwest.

In the months since hitting shelves, The Oregon Trail has wended its way up the New York Times best-seller list to #1, and Amazon.com named it the best non-fiction book of 2015. When completing the first mule-powered crossing of this legendary pioneer trail in over a century, Rinker met a lot of people -- and he met them, in a new light, after they'd had a chance to see the enthusiastic response to how he shared their story.

With the paperback edition of The Oregon Trail appearing in bookstores June 7, 2016, we thought, why not bring Rinker back to hear about his experiences on the tour following publication. After all, he only set out to write a book. But his pen sparked a national phenomenon, which you can share by visiting Facebook.com/RinkerBuck.

Other books discussed on this episode include: Flight of Passage, by Rinker Buck. The Road from Coorain, by Jill Ker Conway. A River Runs Through It and Other Stories, by Norman Maclean. Young Men and Fire, by Norman Maclean. Angela's Ashes, by Frank McCourt. America Revised, by Francis FitzGerald. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, by James W. Loewen. Also, we mentioned William L. Shirer's five books on Nazi Germany.