Our American Stories

On this episode of Our American Stories, during the Great Depression, Joy Neal Kidney's family didn't eat strange food for fun. They ate what they could find. Sometimes that meant possum. Other times, it meant even less. But in the middle of the hardship, they found ways to stay connected, to laugh when they could, and to keep going.

Joy reflects on the meals that got them through and what they taught her. Joy is a regular contributor to Our American Stories and the author of Leora's Dexter Stories: The Scarcity Years of the Great Depression.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, Abraham Lincoln's presidency began long before he took the oath of office. During a 13-day journey from Springfield, Illinois, to Washington, D.C., he faced secession, death threats, and a nation already coming apart.

Ted Widmer, author of Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington, shares the gripping story of the journey that tested America's president-elect before he ever entered the White House.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, most Americans know the story of Irish immigrants arriving during the Great Famine. Far fewer know about an earlier chapter, when thousands of Irish men, women, and children were forcibly removed from their homeland and sent across the Atlantic under English rule. Their story stretches from Viking raids to Cromwell's conquest and the earliest English colonies in the New World.

Colin D. Heaton, military veteran and co-host of the Forgotten History YouTube channel, shares this often-overlooked chapter of Irish history and explains why it remains one of the most misunderstood stories of the colonial era.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, why did America's founders and most important men keep turning to King David? From the Revolution to Abraham Lincoln's efforts to reunite the nation after the Civil War, the biblical king and his family helped generations of Americans understand courage, rebellion, leadership, and reconciliation.

For our ongoing series, Rabbi Stuart Halpern, co-author of The Jewish Roots of American Liberty, shares the story of the surprising influence of King David on the American experiment.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, in the summer of 1833, Lexington, Kentucky, was brought to its knees by a cholera outbreak. Entire families were lost in a matter of days, and fear spread faster than the disease itself. When the dead outnumbered the living willing to bury them, one man stepped forward.

His name was Solomon. Most people in town dismissed him as a drunk gravedigger. But in the middle of the crisis, he dug without stopping, gave the dead their dignity, and kept the city from collapsing under the weight of its own fear. Kentucky journalist Sam Terry tells the story of King Solomon, the unlikely hero whose redemption came in the middle of one of the deadliest epidemics in American history.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, George Valdes fled Cuba with his family in 1966 believing the American Dream would give his life meaning. By age 21, he was helping run one of the largest cocaine operations in North America, earning millions of dollars each month, yet he had never felt more empty.

George Valdes, author of Coming Clean: The True Story of a Cocaine Drug Lord and His Unexpected Encounter with God, shares the remarkable story of how prison, his family, and an unexpected search for truth transformed his life.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, addiction kept Ryan Stewart at a distance from nearly everyone around him. For years, he tried to manage it alone, convinced that asking for help meant losing control. But when things began to fall apart, the people around him stayed. Friends, counselors, and even strangers showed up in ways he never expected. Recovery came slowly, marked by setbacks and quiet progress, but each step forward was built on trust and a willingness to let others walk with him.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, in February 1861, Assistant Surgeon Bernard John Dowling Irwin volunteered to lead just 11 soldiers on a dangerous mission to rescue troops surrounded by Apache warriors in what became known as the Bascom Affair.

The History Guy shares how Irwin earned the first Medal of Honor by date of action and how one misunderstood confrontation helped spark the Apache Wars, a conflict that would shape the American Southwest for decades.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, in 2009, Scott Stewart found himself spiritually, emotionally, and financially broken. Sixteen years later, a 2.4-mile open-water swim off Cape May, New Jersey, became the moment everything came into focus.

Scott shares how one extraordinary day in the ocean transformed years of quiet spiritual growth into a life-changing awakening. We'd like to thank our regular contributor, Leslie Leyland Fields, whose book Write Your Story, Change Your Life features Scott's story.

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On this episode of Our American Stories, Barry Meguiar, CEO of Meguiar's, set out to buy a 1901 automobile simply because it matched the founding year of his family's company. What he discovered after the auction surprised even one of the world's foremost car collectors.

Barry shares the remarkable story of the rare Duryea brother's automobile he believes is the only car ever made to honor God, and how its history has given him an unexpected way to share his faith.

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