Ever since Alexander Graham Bell brought his first model telephone to Manhattan 145 years ago, the telephone has helped us make plans, share urgent news, and has even allowed people to move away from each other – but still feel close.

#394 New York Calling: A History of the Telephone

The tides of American history lead through the streets of New York City — from the huddled masses on Ellis Island to the sleazy theaters of 1970s Times Square. The elevated railroad to the Underground Railroad. Hamilton to Hammerstein! Greg and Tom explore more than 400 years of action-packed stories, featuring both classic and forgotten figures who have shaped the world.

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

Documentary

Few areas of the United States have as endured as long as Flushing, Queens, a neighborhood with almost over 375 years of history and an evolving cultural landscape that includes Quakers, trees, Hollywood films, world fairs, and new Asian immigration.

#430 The Story of Flushing: Queens History, Old and New

Tom visits the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side to walk through the reconstructed two-room apartment of an African-American couple who lived in 1870 on Laurens Street in today’s Soho neighborhood.

#429 The Moores: A Black Family in 1860s New York

The Age of Innocence is Edith Wharton’s most famous novel, an enduring classic of Old New York that has been rediscovered by a new generation. What is it about this story of Newland Archer, May Welland and Countess Olenska that readers respond to today?

The Age of Innocence: Inside Edith Wharton's Classic Novel

Tom and Greg are joined by Kevin Baker, author of The New York Game: Baseball and the Rise of a New City, to discuss the early history of the sport and its unique connections to New York City.

#428 The New York Game: Baseball in the Early Years

The Chrysler Building remains one of America's most beautiful skyscrapers and a grand evocation of Jazz Age New York. But this architectural tribute to the automobile is also the greatest reminder of a furious construction surge that transformed the city in the 1920s.

#394 New York Calling: A History of the Telephone

Download our free app to listen on your phone