History with Mark Bielski

Ron Drez discusses his latest book, Predicting Pearl Harbor: Billy Mitchell and the Path to War. Gen. Billy Mitchell recognized the signs and foresaw the eventual showdown between the two nations―eighteen years before the tragedy of Pearl Harbor. Yet his predictions were dismissed out of hand.

A look at some significant events that took place in April from the Civil War and WWII. April is the cruelest month" according to T.S. Eliot, but was he also thinking historically? A look at some significant April events from the Civil War and WWII: Fort Sumter, Shiloh, Norway, Murmansk and Iraq.

Author Sally M. Walker joins Mark to discuss the tragic disaster of the explosion and sinking of the Sultana in 1865. It was America's greatest maritime disaster that occurred on the Mississippi River at the end of the Civil War—but so few people know about it. Her book , Sinking the Sultana tells the intriguing story.

Professor Gerry Prokopowicz wraps up the Lincoln discussion with some points about the assassination in April 1865. Mark gives background and the basic story of the Sultana tragedy, America's greatest maritime disaster that occurred that same month.

Mark discusses the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln with historian Gerry Prokopowicz.

After the historic breakout in Normandy and their rapid advance through northern France, the Third Army faced an unexpected obstacle at Fort Driant on the Maginot Line. A seasoned garrison of Wehrmacht troops put up a staunch resistance. Historian Kevin Hymel returns to discuss the action there.

Historian Chris Anderson joins Mark to discuss leadership in the Second World War at various levels. As an expert on Easy Company, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne, he highlights Major Dick Winters of Band of Brothers renown.

General Mansfield Lovell assumes military command of New Orleans and begins to shore up the defenses. He affirms that the threat will come upriver from the Gulf of Mexico, despite Richmond's insistence that he transfer men and boats north. Construction begins on two super CSA gunboats, the Louisiana and Mississippi—said to surpass anything the Union had.

Susannah J. Ural, professor of history at the University of Southern Mississippi and co-director of the University's Dale Center for the Study of War and Society discusses her recent book, Hood's Texas Brigade: The Soldiers and Families of the Confederacy'ts Most Celebrated Unit. Published by Louisiana State University Press.