History That Doesn't Suck

From Airship, the studio behind American Scandal, American History Tellers, and History Daily, comes a new true crime history podcast that takes you inside the minds of some of our most notorious felons and outlaws, exploring the dark side to the American dream.

In this new show, host Jeremy Schwartz will introduce you to the picture-perfect brothers who teamed up to kill their parents; the thief who stole babies and ruined countless lives; the crypto king who siphoned off billions in the name of saving the world—and plenty more. From assassins and gangsters, to killers and con artists, whatever the case, whoever the criminal, you don’t know the full story—until now.

Enjoy this look into Al Capone. They have a 4-part series on Scarface himself, so if you want to go more in-depth on this iconic gangster, head over to American Criminal to get more!

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or to get early, ad-free access to the entire season first, plus hundreds of other ad-free history podcast episodes, subscribe at Into History.

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“Only Capone kills like that.”

This is the story of the rise and fall of Al Capone, and the last gasps of Prohibition. 

No other gangster compares to Scarface. He’s remained prominent in the American consciousness for 100 years due to his overt violence and lavish lifestyle, funded by *ahem* unsavory business practices. He brazenly orders murders like the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, but he also doesn’t hesitate to get his own hands dirty when it comes to traitors. Capone seems to have jumped onto the mob scene ready-made, cutting his teeth on hustling New York shoeshine boys as a teenager. The consummate crime lord rises to the top of Chicago’s seething criminal underworld at just 26 years old, and boy, does he excel. He’s raking in millions from an unholy combination of alcohol sales, brothels, gambling halls, etc. 

The well-dressed mafioso looks invincible, but Chicago’s “untouchables” (clean cops) are doing their best to bring Capone down. However, even though he’s taken to court, he’s got most of the Chicago police force in his pocket and witnesses keep disappearing—is it such a stretch to think that he’ll walk? And can the courts make the charges stick to this bootlegger when there’s talk of repealing Prohibition? 

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“Don’t ask me nothin’! You hear me? Don’t ask! And don’t bring anybody in here for me to identify. I won’t identify them even if I know they did it!”

This is the story of the nation’s up-and-coming criminal underground. 

By 1920, with few exceptions, producing, buying, and selling alcohol is outlawed, but that doesn’t stop enterprising Americans. Many feel perfectly comfortable flouting the law and continuing to drink at their leisure, albeit with the added thrill that comes with evading halfhearted lawmen. Some cops are even in on it!

But even as law enforcement steps up their game with undercover agent extraordinaire, Izzy Einstein, criminals get organized and start doing serious business—serious as in murderous. Home-brewers like Maude Vogan can be found in rural America, but in the big cities, Prohibition provides a marketplace for organized crime to flourish. There is money to be had, if one can ignore that the likelihood of getting killed just shot up dramatically. Notorious gangsters George Remus, Legs Diamond, and Lucky Luciano run this underworld, double-crossing each other, planning takeovers, and making millions off of booze-loving Americans. But can law and order triumph over these mafiosos? For now, fuhgeddaboudit.

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“You’re Bill McCoy.” “Never heard of him.”

This is the story of a crazy decade-plus when America outlawed booze…but the liquor kept flowing. 

The Prohibition era marks a partial return to the Golden Age of Piracy, with bootleggers frequenting old haunts in the Caribbean, including Nassau, capital of The Bahamas. These sailors are also buying, selling, and drinking copious amounts of—you guessed it—rum. But how does all this booze get from the Bahamas to speakeasies in New York? 

William “Bill” McCoy is a legendary rumrunner, one of the best. He’ll be our captain as we explore Nassau’s offerings, buy from the Bootleg Queen of The Bahamas, Gertrude “Cleo” Lythgoe and set out on a 1923 voyage up “Rum Row” to New York, carefully avoiding the actual pirates and the US Coast Guard. Once we square away a buyer, we’ll take our haul to shore with Maisie Manders and enjoy a few well-earned drinks in Manhattan. All aboard! 

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Episode Description:

“Farewell, you good-for-nothing, God-forsaken, iniquitous, bleary-eyed, bloated-faced old imp of perdition, farewell!”

This is the story of the path to prohibition.

Early America drinks a lot – I mean, A LOT. Alcohol doesn’t give you dysentery, it’s used as a medicine, and in the first decades of the Republic, whiskey is cheaper than coffee or tea. But some are starting to think that maybe Uncle Sam needs an intervention. First, it's the American Temperance Society, then the Washingtonians, and by the late-nineteenth-century, it’s the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. These ladies are particularly keen to see the nation lay off the bottle, particularly as drunk men are laying their paychecks on saloon bars and fists on their wives and children. But no one is perhaps more invested or influential than the Anti-Saloon League’s Wayne B. Wheeler. 

From Founding Father Luther Martin’s likely drunken appearance before the Supreme Court, to Carrie Nation busting up saloons with a hatchet, and Wayne Wheeler proving himself a master lobbyist and king-making in Congress, this is the “how” and “why” behind the US Constitution’s 18th Amendment. 

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“I believe I can swing it.”

This is the story of the Coolidge Administration.

Calvin Coolidge isn’t the most talkative guy–he’s painfully shy, to be frank–but “Silent Cal” does care deeply about public service. Over the years, the thrifty, hard-working New Englander moves up the ranks, from municipal offices to state offices, until, as Massachusetts Governor, he’s asked to join Warren G. Harding’s run for the White House. When the scandalous, playboy President meets an untimely end, family man Cal suddenly finds himself President of the United States.

Cal slashes government spending and taxes while pursuing peace abroad. He also sees terrible heartache with the loss of loved ones. Meanwhile, the nation is debating if evolution should be taught in schools, the Mississippi floods, and the sculpting of Mount Rushmore begins. Cal might not be a hands-on president, but much is happening during his time in office that will reverberate into the years ahead. 

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“If you knew of a great scandal in our administration, would you for the good of the country and the party expose it publicly or would you bury it?” 

This is the story of a brilliant man’s presidency and the greatest presidential scandal to precede Watergate. This is the story of Warren G. Harding and the Teapot Dome Scandal.

Growing up in Ohio, Warren–or little “Winnie,” as his mom calls him–shows his brilliance from day one. The smart, charismatic, and handsome boy grows up to become a newspaperman and falls in love with politics while reporting. He soon becomes a rising star, holding Ohio then national offices. Taking the reins of government after World War I, the Republican hopes to return the post-war, economically downtrodden, and fearful nation to “normalcy.”

But can he return the nation to “normalcy” while his friends in the “Ohio Gang” are making shady deals? And what does Warren know of these deals? Is he naive? Or is the several-times adulterous president, who copes with the stress of office through drink and gambling, in on it? That’s the question we’ll ask ourselves as we follow his less-than-a-full-term presidency.

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The Prof. sits down with fellow Prof. Ben Sawyer of the Road to Now Podcast and Middle Tennessee State University to chat through the last volume episodes. Russia, the Red Scare, the second Klan, and more, while Ben gets Greg to share behind-the-scenes details on the writing process. Enjoy!

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“I want to say make no settlement until they sign up that every bloody murderer of a guard has got to go.”

This is the story of the largest uprising in the United States since the Civil War.

As unions spread across the Progressive-Era United States, West Virginia mine owners manage to keep them out. They have some good reasons (tough margins) and some less savory ones … like their preference for an oppressive “mine guard system” in “company towns” that effectively removes civil government and private ownership, and reduces the American citizens working in their mines to serfdom. Mother Jones inspires the miners to push back. 

Over the course of a decade, that pushback turns bloody – especially in Mingo County. But the worst of it comes just after the Great War, as the miner’s hero, Police Chief Sid “Two Gun” Hatfield, is murdered in cold blood at McDowell County Courthouse. Now, all bets are off. 10,000 miners grab their guns, ready to get revenge and free incarcerated miners. But they’ll have to go through Sheriff Don Chafin’s forces first. The two sides clash at Blair Mountain as the US Army arrives with regiments and aviation squadrons.

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“Every official except one elected yesterday at the first municipal election of this borough had been endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan.”

This is the story of the Second Ku Klux Klan.

It’s been nearly half a century since the Third Enforcement Act killed off the Klan in 1871. But amid Jim Crow segregation in 1915, the lynching of a Jewish Georgian Leo Frank, coupled with a new film, The Birth of a Nation, inspires William Simmons to resurrect the Klan. 

This new Klan has a longer list of enemies. While still opposed to Black Americans fully integrating into American society, this KKK also targets Jews and Catholics. It’s also more politically connected than the first Klan. While Klansmen will participate in violence–including the near annihilation of the Black quarter of Tulsa, Oklahoma–most Kluxers are more focused on politics. As membership swells into the millions, the Klan’s endorsed candidates will win seats in Congress, state houses, and city councils across the nation. Yet, the Klan will come crashing down almost as quickly as it rose in the 1920s. We’ll find out why.

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