Why is it called the Jeep? Depends on who you ask. Who first designed and developed this workhorse of the US military? Again, not a simple question to answer. 

Decades after thousands of these historic and vital vehicles were shipped all over the world to transport American soldiers and cargo, its true origins were still shrouded in obscurity. Those shrouds have been lifted by author Paul Bruno, whose comprehensive and illuminating book, The Original Jeeps, should be considered the definitive history of the extraordinary process which led to the creation of the Jeep.  

The bitter and destructive struggle in the Levant has a lengthy, complex and  grievous history. No doubt the region has experienced its share of territorial bloodshed from ancient times. However, much of the conflict and hostility which has plagued it over the last century or so can be traced to the pacts made between European powers during and after the First World War. In that war, the Arab world fought together with British forces to overthrow the oppressive Ottoman Empire in exchange for the right to self-governance of its territory. Instead, Britain and other European countries divided the region into their own territories of influence.  

A British archeologist turned intelligence officer, T.E. Lawrence, led and fought alongside those Arab fighters and became known as a hero.  In 2006, while the 9/11 terrorist attacks were still fresh in the global memory, two adventurers, Wells Jones, and his teammate, Miles Spencer, decided to retrace Lawrence's desert route.  Their mission: to gain some sort of perspective into the past and into the cultural conflicts that still haunt this region. 

In this second episode with Wells, he discusses that journey and the resulting historical novel - A Line in the Sand: Adventures in Understanding with Magnus and Finn - with journalist Ernest Granson.

Many of our images of the First World War emanated from the trenches at the European front lines. But the war was not limited to those deplorable conditions. In the Mideast, another conflict seethed as the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire along with the  Allied Powers of the British Empire, France, Russia, Italy and others fought to impose their spheres of influence. It was in this boiling cauldron, that a young Welsh archaeologist by the name of Thomas Edward Lawrence found himself. Lawrence was already intimately familiar with Arab customs and the language having participated in various archeological digs in the region. After enlisting in the British Army, he was catapulted into midst of the conflict as an intelligence officer and soon, leading a regiment of rebel Arab tribal fighters  who engaged in guerilla warfare against the Turkish soldiers of the Ottoman Empire. 

For former US Navy paratrooper and adventurer, Wells Jones, the story and journey of TE Lawrence through the Arabian desert was compelling enough for him to mount a similar route along with fellow adventurer, Miles Spence in 2005. Join Wells in conversation with Ernest Granson in this first of back-to-back podcasts examining Lawrence's life, Well's bold desert trek and the turbulence of the Mid East.

World War II soldiers had to endure the grind of pushing through rough terrain in extreme cold and heat and to witness comrades dying in front of their eyes, sometimes for years.  To help alleviate those hardships, even temporarily, soldiers stationed at military bases were treated to entertainment of all kinds, but those stage shows were not practical at the front lines. To reach those soldiers, entertainers such as Mickey Rooney were sent out with two others by jeep, sometimes performing only a short distance from the fighting. Author Robert O'Connor's historical novel, "Jeep Show - A Trouper at the Battle of the Bulge" follows the journey of one of those entertainers, Private Jim Tanzer, as he enlists and is shipped to Europe to take part in Jeep Shows in Belgium. But there are no guarantees in war and Pvt. Tanzer is soon plunged into full combat at the Battle of the Bulge. Join journalist Ernest Granson in conversation with Robert O'Connor to explain why Robert found this aspect of the war so compelling.

A few years before his death, Wyatt Earp wrote to a friend, saying, "Notoriety has been the bane of my life. I detest it." As perhaps the most famous lawman in the United States, Earp and his brothers are well known for the infamous gunfight at the OK Corral, but those few minutes of gunfire are really only a slice of the Earps' struggle to tame the lawlessness in the town of Tombstone and other parts of the Western territories in the late 1800s. It didn't help that Wyatt and his brothers were not exactly model citizens themselves. But that region was rampant with crime and corruption says well-known historian John Boessenecker and author of Ride the Devil's Herd: Wyatt Earp's Epic Battle Against the West's Biggest Outlaw Gang. Listen in as John describes the tumultuous, wide open Western frontier to journalist Ernest Granson on this episode of Outrageous History!

The year is 1940. The German army occupies Norway and begins construction of superhighways, a polar railroad and a glistening new German city in northern Norway. The Nazi party encourages German soldiers and Norwegian women to produce babies - all to create Hitler's vision of a super race of German/Norwegian Vikings. These master plans to rule the expected German empire were largely unknown until architecture professor and historian, Despina Stratigakos unearthed them from numerous public and private archives. Join Ernest Granson as Professor Stratigakos discusses her book - Hitler and the North: How Nazi Architects and Planners in Occupied Norway Envisioned a Nordic Empire.

The Ridley Scott- directed film "Napoleon" is a big film. Big battle scenes.  Moscow going up in flames. Napoleon facing down his detractors. The over-the-top coronation of the emperor. But according to the noted Oxford Napoleonic historian, Michael Broers, the film's emphasis on Napoleon's relationship with Josephine is as important as those other "big" elements. Broers, who acted as film consultant for Scott, says the director was correct to focus on the relationship because it was the most important part of Napoleon's personal life. Listen in as Michael Broers discusses reaction to the film and Napoleon's fateful decisions to invade Russia.

Frank Lloyd Wright, Antoni Gaudi, Adolf Loos, Louis Sullivan; why were their lives such a mess?

Maybe it's the Jekyll and Hyde conundrum. 

In this episode of Surfing the Time Capsule, we'll take a look at this puzzling condition that seems to bedevil some architects.

Is the Leonardo da Vinci painting entitled "Salvator Mundi" worth almost half a billion dollars? For Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, that's chump change. Join journalist Ernest Granson as he examines the motivation behind the astronomical values of the world's most expensive paintings.

Was Richard Nixon really a snivelling crook? Was Ayn Rand really a condescending, selfish snob? In this initial episode of Surfing the Time Capsule from Outrageous History, journalist Ernest Granson suggests that the two notorious personalities shared a common attribute - greed. You would think their colleagues and followers would consider that to be an undesirable trait, but turns out, colleagues and followers share the same belief.