Western Civ

Now, all at once, the war seems to turn. Operation Bagration sees Soviet troops storming through Poland and into East Prussia. The Allies advance through France and turn back Germany at the Battle of the Bulge. The taking of Saipan allows America to bomb Tokyo for the first time. All around, walls were closing in on the Axis powers. 

Western Civ 2.0 Free Trial

While Operation Overlord and D-Day get all the press in 1944, there were other battles being fought in the Pacific Theater, by the Soviet Union in the east, and, of course, in Italy. Today we cover all that to bring us up to June 1944 in all our theaters of war.

Western Civ 2.0

Operation Overlord was not one day. It took months to prepare for D-Day and, even then, D-Day fits within the context of the continuing, larger war, which was still very much going on. But D-Day remains a crucial hinge point in the war. Today, we explore its story. 

Western Civ 2.0 Free Trial

Today I sit down with author and historian, Joel Nelson, to discuss his book Kennedy's Only Hero: How JFK's Obsession with Winston Churchill Defined His Presidency. It is rare to get a biographical piece that features the two most common biographies I get. But it happened! This masterful piece examines how Churchill changed JFK in multiple ways - several of which we break down in the interview. The book is a great read for lovers of JFK, Churchill, western history, and everyone in between. 

Buy the book HERE. 

Western Civ 2.0 

1943 saw World War Two finally flip. In 1942 the Allies stopped the Axis advance. By the end of 1943, the Axis powers were in full retreat. Sadly, the bloodiest year was yet to come. 

Western Civ 2.0

The year 1942 is normally seen as the turning point of World War Two. In some ways it is. The Axis powers hit their highest peak of expansion but are turned back at Almein, Guadalcanal, and Stalingrad. Yet, to the people fighting and back at home, the future looked far from certain. 

Western Civ 2.0

With the attack on Pearl Harbor, the world is now well and truly at war in a way that dwarfed anything in World War One. Today, we back up a bit and cover the German invasion of the USSR in earnest and then move forward to the Battle of Midway. 

Western Civ 2.0 Free Trial 

Today I sit down with author and historian Leah Garrett and discuss her latest book: The Flight Nurses' War: The American Women Who Saved Thousands of Lives at Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

The Pacific Theater was the setting for some of World War II’s bloodiest battles, and yet much of its history remains untold. As the war in Europe was winding down, fierce Japanese resistance and mounting casualties slowed the US advance toward Japan. The terrible death toll of doctors, medics, and corpsmen forced the United States Navy to deploy combat nurses to contested airfields, where they triaged desperately wounded men and evacuated them to safety.

In The Flight Nurses’ War, award-winning historian Leah Garrett traces the lives of a team of nurses from their small-town origins to the devastation of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. They risked their lives on rickety, unpressurized aircraft and braved constant enemy assaults. As the battles intensified, Army nurses were also deployed to hospital ships and the infantry front- line, where they endured disease, snipers, and Kamikazes. Successfully evacuating thousands of wounded men from danger, the combat nurses freed up troops to secure both islands and help win the war.

Uncovering an extraordinary story of Second World War heroism, The Flight Nurses’ War powerfully brings to life the remarkable women who risked everything to save lives and assure America’s success in the Pacific campaign.

Buy The Book

Support The Podcast

Today I sit down with former Cook County Prosecutor Gregg Owen to discuss their book, Convergence. 

This story seems impossible. But every word is true.

Convergence is the account of a vicious double homicide in 1970s Chicago and a trial that almost didn't happen.

This is a different kind of true crime book.It isn't a mystery, because the killer was arrested right away. It's not a police story, although Convergence is there at every step of their investigation. It's not a defense lawyer's story.

This is a story from the other side of the courtroom.

Convergence is the story of Gio Messina and Delphine Moore's murders and the trial that followed, but this time told from the perspective of the prosecution. You are there to witness how a case is built, how it's brought to court, and how it unfolds when the trial starts. You see what happens when power and money try and keep the trial from starting at all. You follow the prosecution from the courtrooms of Chicago to rural Tennessee looking for new evidence to replace the evidence that's vanished.

You're introduced to the choreography of the courtroom: listening in on the careful strategizing, understanding the thought behind what a jury hears, and getting a close view of what's involved in how it's presented. Most importantly, you're introduced to Mike Goggin and Gregg Owen, the two prosecutors who fought to have the case heard. Goggin and Owen had set a record for convictions that still stands. They refused to let the Messina and Moore murders break it.

Convergence is a historical snapshot of a time when Chicago was changing, and a timeless picture of how justice is sought and found.

Buy The Book

It is not hyperbole to say that the Japanese decision to bomb Pearl Harbor changed western history. Today we will cover the attack, why Japan did it, and look at the momentous decision Hitler made in the days that followed. 

Western Civ 2.0 Free Trial