Golda Meir was not born into power. She was born into pogroms. On May 3, 1898, in Kiev, within the crumbling Russian Empire, a little Jewish girl named Golda Mabovitch entered the world with history already pressing against her door. Her earliest memory, as she would later recount, was watching her father hammer boards across the entrance of their home to keep out the mob. Violence was not abstract. It was the soundtrack of her childhood.

On this episode of *Dave Does History*, we follow Stonewall Jackson into the shadows of Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863—the day the thunder rolled through the Wilderness. With audacity that bordered on reckless, Jackson launched one of the most daring flank attacks in American military history, shattering the Union right and changing the tide of the battle. But triumph came at a cost. In the confusion and darkness, Confederate bullets found their own legend. Join us as we relive the drama, decisions, and destiny of Day 2 at Chancellorsville, streaming now on iHeart Radio, Spotify, and iTunes.

The morning of May 1, 1863, broke over the tangled thickets of Virginia’s Wilderness with the kind of deceptive peace that war often wraps itself in. The sun rose, the birds sang, and thousands of men stirred in the dew-drenched underbrush, tightening their belts, adjusting gear, preparing for something that none of them could yet name. At a brick inn called Chancellorsville—really more of a crossroads mansion than a village—Major General Joseph Hooker of the Union Army sat poised on the edge of greatness. At least, that was what he believed.

In the dim light of the eastern horizon, on what tradition holds as April 24, 1183 BCE, the city of Troy, proud and impregnable for a decade, finally succumbed to the cleverest of tricks and the fiercest of wrath. Flames licked the sky. Statues crumbled. The gods, once patrons of heroes and city alike, now watched in silence as the once-glorious citadel groaned under the weight of Greek vengeance. This is not a tale of gentle endings, but one of blood, deception, and divine manipulation. If you believe the poets, and today, we shall, then the fall of Troy was less a collapse and more a cursed symphony played out beneath the stars.

On this episode of *Dave Does History*, we explore the boldest land deal in American history—the Louisiana Purchase. Signed on April 30, 1803, this momentous decision doubled the size of the young republic, redrew the map, and set the United States on a course for continental dominance. But it was more than a bargain—it was a gamble filled with political controversy, diplomatic drama, and far-reaching consequences for Native peoples. Join Dave as he unpacks the personalities, politics, and promises behind the deal that made America—and how a midnight letter in Paris changed everything.

When we talk about the American Revolution, it is easy to get lost in a tangle of causes: taxes, representation, gun rights, even modern revisionist theories. But what if the real cause was something simpler — and far deeper? What if the Revolution was born of an idea so profound that it shaped not only 1776, but still echoes through our lives today?

James Monroe’s name today stirs little beyond a few dusty mentions in schoolbooks, a Doctrine vaguely remembered, and a presidency draped in the soft mist of the so-called Era of Good Feelings. Yet behind that fading silhouette stands a man forged in blood, battered by war, and tempered by a hard love for a fragile, hungry young nation. Monroe was the last of the Founders to hold the highest office — the last to remember what liberty had cost, and the last to bear its burden without flinching. In an age drifting ever further from gratitude and duty, Monroe’s life reminds us, sometimes uncomfortably, that real greatness is often found not in noise, but in steady hands and battered hearts. He was the Republic’s quiet hammer, building while others bickered, and warning a restless world: this land is not yours to take. His story deserves better than silence. It deserves to be told.

In the spring of 1805, on a dusty strip of Libyan coastline, a small band of Americans, mercenaries, and one exiled prince marched into the pages of history. Their objective was a fortified town called Derna, perched between the Mediterranean Sea and the desert, ruled by a Bashaw named Yusuf Karamanli. What happened there gave the United States its first military victory on foreign soil and immortalized the phrase “to the shores of Tripoli” in the Marine Corps Hymn.

This week on What The Frock?, Rabbi Dave and Friar Rod take a no-holds-barred swing at the madness of the week! From the myth of the Pope Hammer to Trump’s controversial blue suit, from Washington State’s political implosion to a college sperm race you just cannot un-hear, the guys call it like it is — with humor, skepticism, and a healthy dose of rock ’n’ roll spirit. Plus: Deion Sanders, Shadour’s draft disaster, and Rabbi Dave’s ongoing war with his kidneys. Tune in and join the chaos — available now on iHeart Radio, Spotify, and iTunes!

There are names in American naval history that echo like cannon fire across the centuries. John Paul Jones. David Farragut. Chester Nimitz. But before them all, before the Navy had steel hulls and nuclear reactors, before the Stars and Stripes flew over a single commissioned warship, there was Esek Hopkins. For a brief and storm-tossed moment, he was the man in charge of the very first American fleet. He was bold, controversial, irascible, and imperfect. And yet, without him, the United States Navy might never have gotten off the ground—or, more precisely, off the docks.