This week on History Happy Hour: Author James Ellman takes a critical look at George Patton, calling him one-dimensional and flawed in his new book Patton Reconsidered: General George S. Patton Jr. as a Wartime Commander.

We’ll get into it with him to find out what he thinks Patton’s problems were.

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James Ellman is an investor, historian and author of several books including “McArthur Reconsidered” and “Seeds of Victory.” He lives near San Francisco with his wife and sons.

This week on History Happy Hour: Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle were thrown together by challenges of war. They did not always get along, but nevertheless found a way to work together – personifying resistance to Adolph Hitler during WWII and for years beyond. But that is only a small part of a complex story. Both men influenced their countries, and the world around them, long after the war was won.

Chris and Rick talk with Richard Vinen, author of the new joint biography The Last Titans: How Churchill and de Gaulle Saved Their Nations and Transformed the World.

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Richard Vinen is a professor of history at Kings College London. He was previously a fellow of Trinity College Cambridge and, an archive by-fellow at Churchill College Cambridge. He has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, The London Review of Books, The Boston Globe, and others. He has appeared frequently on radio and television. He has published widely on British, French, and European history and his book “National Service: Conscription in Britain, 1945–1963” won the Wolfson prize for history in 2015.

This week on History Happy Hour: Roger Casement was a British diplomat knighted by the crown – who turned into a rebel. His advocacy for Irish independence led him renounce his titles and make a deal with the Germans in the days leading up to the 1916 Easter Uprising. And that led him to become a target of the British government.  

Chris and Rick talk with Rory Carroll, author of A Rebel and a Traitor, about Casement’s life and his sensational treason trial.  

Rory Carroll is the Ireland correspondent for The Guardian newspaper.  He has reported from the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq, Latin America and Los Angeles. His previous books are “Killing Thatcher “(US title: “There Will Be Fire”) and “Comandante: Hugo Chavez's Venezuela.” He lives in Dublin.

This week on History Happy Hour: In 1540, an expedition of 2000 explorers headed north from the ruins of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan into the unknown. Led by Francisco Coronado, their journey took them across a great swath of the US from California to Kansas, while sparking violent cultural clashes and battles with Native American Pueblo populations.

We’ll talk about the impact of their epic journey with Peter Stark, author of The Lost Cities of El Norte.

Peter Stark is a historian and adventure writer. A 1976 graduate of Dartmouth College, he is the author of the New York Times bestseller Astoria, along with The Last Empty Spaces, Last Breath, and At the Mercy of the River. He is a correspondent for Outside magazine, has written for Smithsonian and The New Yorker, and is a National Magazine Award nominee. He lives in Montana with his wife and children.

This week on History Happy Hour:  Henry Starr was a bank-robber, one of the most successful in history. Until he was caught. When he got out, he became a movie star, playing himself. Until he went back to bank-robbing.

Chris and Rick dig into his fascinating life-story with Mark Archuleta, author of The Reel Thrilling Events of Bank Robber Henry Starr: From Gentleman Bandit to Movie Star and Back Again.

Mark Archuleta is an Emmy-winning screenwriter, journalist, and performer. A fifth-generation Coloradoan of Spanish Basque descent, he grew up steeped in the history of the American West and the colorful characters who inhabited it. Archuleta loves exploring how historical fact is refracted through the prism of film and television. He lives in Green Valley, California.

This week on History Happy Hour:  We welcome back historian John McManus to talk about the third volume of his Pacific War series, To the End of the Earth. From the liberation of the Philippines to the Battle of Okinawa and finally to the end of the war, John chronicles the struggles and triumphs of the US Army in the Pacific.  We’ll talk about the march to ultimate victory, from the worm’s eye view of soldiers fighting in the mud to the battles between the generals mapping out the campaign.

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John McManus is a military historian, author, and professor of military history at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. He also served as a visiting professor at the U.S. naval Academy McManus has published thirteen books critically acclaimed on numerous American military history topics. This is his fourth appearance on History Happy Hour.

This week on History Happy Hour: President Truman’s choice to drop the atomic bomb is the most debated decision in the 20th Century. But what if he, himself, did not fully understand the decisions being made until after the atomic bomb was used.

Chris and Rick will talk to historian Alex Wellerstein about his highly regarded new book The Most Awful Responsibility: Truman and the Secret Struggle for Control of the Atomic Age.

Alex Wellerstein is an Associate Professor of Science and Technology at the Stevens Institute of Technology. He is also a visiting researcher at the Nuclear Knowledges program, Center for International Studies, Sciences Po, Paris. He is the author of Restricted Data: The History of Nuclear Secrecy in the United States, and he has written for The New Yorker, Atlantic, Harper’s Magazine, and many other venues. He is perhaps best known as the creator of the NUKEMAP, the world’s most popular online nuclear weapons effects simulator. He is also the author of the Doomsday Machines blog, and has taught at Harvard, MIT, and Georgetown University.

This week on History Happy Hour: Life in Berlin during World War II. What was it like for the four million people who lived there as things became increasingly desperate?

Our guest is author Ian Buruma, author of Stay Alive: Berlin, 1939-1945. We’ll talk about the experiences of everyday citizens, soldiers, Jews, and slave laborers like his father. How did they deal with the onslaught that swept over them as the war went on?

Ian Buruma was born in the Netherlands. He is a professor at Bard College and lives in New York City. He has also lived and worked in Tokyo, Hong Kong, and London. He has written numerous books and is a regular contributor to Harper’s and The New Yorker.

This week on History Happy Hour: This week on History Happy Hour:  Follow the money. That’s one way to discover the real story of America and its founding. Nothing gives a clearer insight into this history than the life of early America's dominant merchant trader, first bank president, and first central banker, Thomas Willing.

Richard Vague is a businessman, banker, and commentator on economics. He is the former Secretary of Banking and Securities for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. His previous books include The Case for a Debt Jubilee, The Paradox of Debt and An Illustrated Business History of the United States.

This week on History Happy Hour: We celebrate America’s 250th birthday to talk about the founders’ drinking! A perfect take for HHH!

Historian Brook Barbier returns to the show to talk with us live about the role that alcohol played in spurring building, and winning the American Revolution and how it shaped the nascent United States. Plus – cocktail recipes! (We’ll try some out.) Her new book is called Cocked and Boozy - An Intoxicating History of the American Revolution.

Brooke Barbier is a public historian who received her PhD in American history from Boston College, specifically researching Boston’s social and cultural life during and after the American Revolution. She has appeared on HHH, and spoke to attendees of the Lexington 250 tour. Two of Brooke’s favorite things are history and beer, so in 2013 she founded Ye Olde Tavern Tours, which offers tours of Boston’s historic sites and taverns (beer is included!). She is the author of several books about revolutionary Boston.