History Author Show
351 episodes - English - Latest episode: 2 months ago - ★★★★★ - 89 ratingsWe’ve all been transported into the past by a special book, place or person. On the History Author Show, host Dean Karayanis and a team of correspondents bring you the people who build the time machines.
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Episodes
Good Friday! It’s Eastern Orthodox Easter
April 29, 2016 04:01 - 11 minutes - 10.5 MBApril 29, 2016 - This weekend, the Greek and Eastern Orthodox Churches take us back in time to the early days of the church, when Christ’s resurrection was celebrated after Passover in order to be historically sequential. After all, the Last Supper was a Passover Seder -- which some of you might have celebrated a few days ago. This special episode is presented by Luke Historians, and features excerpts from Dan Arsenault’s lectures on "Messiah Factor" and "Is Jesus the Messiah?" Additional i...
CWW: Socrates – Life of a Gadfly
April 27, 2016 04:01 - 7 minutes - 7.01 MBApril 27, 2016 - It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. Today we are looking at a true giant from the classical age. He is a man who so popularized a method of inquiry, that it bears his very name. He is a man we are all indebted to; we are all students of this great and unusual man-Socrates. Your guide through the classical landscape is Van Bryan, Associate Edi...
Daniel L. Mallock – Agony and Eloquence
April 25, 2016 04:01 - 58 minutes - 53.3 MBApril 25, 2016 - In this episode, we'll step through the Guardian of Forever and meet two founding fathers who were best friends, then bitter enemies, and finally friends again: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the second and third presidents of the United States, and the first and second vice presidents. Our guide on this journey is Daniel L. Mallock, and his book is Agony and Eloquence: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and a World of Revolution. Daniel L. Mallock grew up within walking distan...
H5F: Doris Kearns Goodwin – Theodore Roosevelt’s “Wild” Fitness Regime
April 22, 2016 04:01 - 3 minutes - 3.04 MBApril 22, 2016 - Today popular historian and frequent TV news guest, Doris Kearns Goodwin discusses how Theodore Roosevelt overcame serious ailments as a child to become one of our nation's most active, vigorous presidents. The insight comes in her latest book, titled, The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism. She previously touched on the extended Roosevelt family twenty years ago, writing No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: Th...
CWW: Who Was The Real Homer?
April 20, 2016 04:01 - 5 minutes - 5.03 MBApril 20, 2016 - It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. You have probably heard the name “Homer” (the classical Greek, not Simpson). He is a man that we are culturally and literarily so indebted to that his epics The Iliad and The Odyssey are often considered the first true masterpieces of the Western world. But there are so many questions about this mysterious ...
Eric Nelsen – The Kearney House
April 18, 2016 04:01 - 41 minutes - 37.6 MBApril 18, 2016 - Today, we're traveling back in time by rappelling down the steep face of New Jersey's Palisades Cliffs, and down to the Alpine Boat Basin, just north of the George Washington Bridge. Our destination is the historic The Kearney House, formerly called the Cornwallis Headquarters, based on the local legend that the British general stopped here for a night during the American Revolution. The Kearney House dates back to the mid-1700s, and in the centuries since has been a home, a...
H5F: Fergus Bordewich – The First Congress
April 15, 2016 04:01 - 4 minutes - 3.8 MBApril 15, 2016 - It’s History in Five Friday, presented by Simon & Schuster. Our guest is Fergus Bordewich , and his book is, The First Congress: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government. It’s the monumental story of the most productive Congress in US history, in 1789–1791, which we first explored with Fergus in our recent interview, which you can still find at HistoryAuthor.com, iTunes, iHeartRadio, or wherever you're listening. Mr. Ferg...
CWW: Cicero – Defender of the Republic
April 13, 2016 04:01 - 7 minutes - 6.94 MBApril 13, 2016 - It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. Cicero is remembered for posterity as a great orator and an influential philosopher. However, he was also a cunning politician and perhaps the staunchest defender of the Roman Republic. Today we look at Cicero’s time as Roman Consul, the highest elected office of the Roman world. Your guide through the clas...
Mark Braude – Making Monte Carlo
April 11, 2016 04:01 - 41 minutes - 37.9 MBApril 11, 2016 - Today, our time machine will wend its way through the tight mountain passes of Southern France, and across the blue seas of the Mediterranean to the principality of Monaco. Yes, Monaco. The name itself conjures up images of glamour and gambling, of royalty and race cars. But how did it get that way? It's about half the size of Central Park, the second-tiniest nation in the world. Yet it's played a big role as a destination of gambling and vice for the world's rich and famous....
H5F: Jonathan Horn – The Man Who Would Not Be Washington
April 08, 2016 04:01 - 5 minutes - 4.91 MBApril 8, 2016 - It's History in Five Friday, presented by Simon & Schuster --- kicking off your modern weekend, with people from the past. Since tomorrow is the 151st anniversary of Robert E. Lee's surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, it's fitting that today's history author, former White House speech writer Jonathan Horn, introduces us to a family connection in Lee's life that might be overlooked: President George Washington. Horn's book is titled The Man Who Would Not Be...
CWW: Theseus and the Minotaur
April 06, 2016 04:01 - 6 minutes - 5.79 MBApril 6, 2016 - It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. Enter the labyrinth! But beware the Minotaur. Today we relive the epic legend of Theseus, one of the classical age’s most celebrated heroes. Your guide through the classical landscape is Van Bryan, Associate Editor of Classical Wisdom Weekly. You can catch Classical Wisdom Wednesday every week before your fi...
Fergus Bordewich – The First Congress
April 04, 2016 04:01 - 48 minutes - 44.8 MBApril 4, 2016 - Today, our time machine is whisking us back to the very earliest days of America's republic. Our guest is Fergus Bordewich , and his book is, The First Congress: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government. It's the untold story of the most productive Congress in US history, in 1789–1791. Mr. Fergus Bordewich is the author of six previous books including, America's Great Debate -- Henry Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, and The Compr...
H5F: Bob Drury, Tom Clavin – The Heart of Everything That Is
April 01, 2016 04:01 - 6 minutes - 5.58 MBApril 1, 2016 - Today on History in Five Friday, presented by Simon & Schuster, we’re going to hear from Bob Drury and Tom Clavin, co-authors who bring us: The Heart of Everything That Is -- The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend. Red Cloud was the only American Indian in history to defeat the United States Army. At the peak of Red Cloud’s reign, the Sioux held dominion over one-fifth of what are now the lower 48 states. Men's Health Contributing Editor and Military Correspondent ...
CWW: Aristotle’s Duel with Destiny
March 30, 2016 04:01 - 6 minutes - 6.3 MBMarch 30, 2016 - It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. Do we have any say in our lives? Or are we all just going along with fate? This has been bothering philosophers for millennia, and nobody explained the conundrum better than our old friend Aristotle. Your guide through the classical landscape is Van Bryan, Associate Editor of Classical Wisdom Weekly. You ca...
Jay Atkinson – Massacre on the Merrimack
March 28, 2016 04:01 - 1 hour - 55.2 MBMarch 28, 2016 - Step through the Guardian of Forever and back in time to colonial North America, in the heat of King William's War. Our guide on this journey is Jay Atkinson, called "the bard of New England toughness" by Men’s Health magazine for his approach to writing and his topics. He shares the story of another tough New Englander in his new book, Massacre on the Merrimack: Hannah Duston's Captivity and Revenge in Colonial America. Early on March 15, 1697, a band of Abenaki warriors in...
H5F: James Shapiro – 5 Things About Shakespeare
March 25, 2016 04:20 - 5 minutes - 4.88 MBMarch 25, 2016 – It’s History in Five Friday, presented by Simon & Schuster — kicking off your modern weekend, with people from the past. Today, we offer bring you some new discoveries on one of history's greatest authors: William Shakespeare. Yes, that Shakespeare. As incredible as it may seem, we're still learning about the man who brought us Hamlet, Macbeth, The Tempest and so many other immortal plays. The man in the driver's seat of our time machine is James Shapiro, Professor of Engli...
CWW: Ostracism in the Ancient World
March 23, 2016 04:01 - 6 minutes - 6.38 MBMarch 23, 2016 - It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. While most modern politicians are guaranteed gainful employment after they’ve been ousted from office, politicians in the ancient world were not so lucky. A statesman who got on the wrong side of the voting citizens could find himself out of a home for ten long years. This was the unique practice of ostracis...
Don Glickstein – After Yorktown
March 21, 2016 04:01 - 53 minutes - 49 MBMarch 21, 2016 - Today, we time-travel back to the times after the times that tried men's souls. The date is October 19, 1781, and a combined French and rebel force defeats the Redcoats at the Battle of Yorktown, Virginia. But contrary to two centuries of grade school and academic histories, the war for independence didn't end with the surrender of General Cornwallis's sword. The fighting dragged on for men like George Washington, Horatio Nelson, Lafayette, and Hyder Ali. This was a world wa...
H5F: Walter Isaacson, the Invention of Video Games
March 18, 2016 04:01 - 4 minutes - 3.88 MBMarch 18, 2016 - Today on History in Five Friday, presented by Simon & Schuster, we’re going to hear from writer/journalist Walter Isaacson. He's president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, and author of The Innovators: How a Group of Inventors, Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution. He also brought us the acclaimed biography: Steve Jobs. You can like his Facebook page, or follow him @WalterIsaacson on Twitter. This week, the focus is on how the very earliest video games i...
CWW: Spartan Women
March 16, 2016 04:01 - 7 minutes - 6.91 MBMarch 16, 2016 - It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. Let’s talk about Sparta. While that ancient civilization might be remembered for their fearsome soldiers, it was the Spartan women who kept things running while the men were away at war. These fearsome ladies might actually have been the backbone to the entire operation. Your guide through the classical lan...
John McCavitt, Christopher T. George – The Man Who Captured Washington
March 14, 2016 04:01 - 55 minutes - 50.7 MBMarch 14, 2016 - Today, our time machine touches down on one of America's darkest days: The capture of Washington, DC, and the burning of the White House, Capitol Building and a other public buildings. The man who lit the match? British Major General Robert Ross. A horseman, prankster, loving husband and daring commander who served under Wellington, Ross has fallen into obscurity over the two centuries since the War of 1812. But with the bicentennial, two authors have resurrected the tale of...
H5F: Jan Jarboe Russell – The Train to Crystal City
March 11, 2016 05:01 - 5 minutes - 4.61 MBMarch 11, 2016 - Today’s history author, Jan Jarboe Russell, revisits the dark period of World War Two when President Franklin Roosevelt signed the infamous Executive order 9066. You may recall that we interviewed Kermit Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt's great-great-grandson and a distant cousin to Franklin, about his novel Allegiance, covering the fight over these deportations at the Supreme Court. From 1942 to 1948, trains delivered thousands of civilians from the United States and Latin Ame...
CWW: Seven Against Thebes
March 09, 2016 05:01 - 6 minutes - 5.53 MBMarch 9, 2016 - It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. Today we are talking about the unlucky number seven. You read that right. When it comes to the ancient play Seven Against Thebes, the number seven is anything but lucky. Imagine seven warriors standing guard at seven different city gates. In the distance, a foreign army approaches. Cue the fireworks… Your gu...
Stephen Coss – The Fever of 1721
March 07, 2016 05:01 - 55 minutes - 50.8 MBMarch 7, 2016 - Today, we're climbing into the Wayback Machine and setting the dial for the early 1700's, when temperatures ran high in politics, the press, and from a smallpox epidemic burning through Boston. Leading us on this journey is Stephen Coss: author, ad guy, and "close personal friend of Ben Franklin." Everything, Stephen says, that Franklin really needed to know, he learned in 1721 (and he's only half joking). Stephen's debut book is The Fever of 1721: The Epidemic that Revolutio...
H5F: Nicholas Griffin – Ping Pong Diplomacy
March 04, 2016 05:01 - 6 minutes - 6.27 MBMarch 4, 2016 - Nicholas Griffin shares the story of how a little white ball impacted the way we live on this big, blue marble. His book is titled, Ping-Pong Diplomacy: The Secret History Behind the Game That Changed the World. Just how did the United States and communist China go from the icy pictures of Cold War adversaries, to Nixon's visit and a relationship that shocked the USSR? Well, believe it or not, table tennis helped communist China achieve a new relationship with America, and set...
CWW: The Very Cynical Diogenes of Sinope
March 02, 2016 05:01 - 7 minutes - 6.89 MBMarch 2, 2016 - It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. This week, we discuss Diogenes of Sinope. He is often considered one of the more eccentric, or at the very least untraditional, of the ancient Greek philosophers. He is credited as being one of the founders of cynicism and practiced these ideals through the eccentricities that filled his life. Your guide th...
Paddy Hayes – Queen of Spies
February 29, 2016 05:01 - 35 minutes - 32.4 MBFebruary 29, 2016 - Our time machine for this trip is tricked out like James Bond's Aston Martin, and we're speeding back to the height of the Cold War. Our driver on this journey is Paddy Hayes, who was kind enough to call into the show from Dublin, Ireland. His book is Queen of Spies: Daphne Park, Britain's Cold War Spy Master. Until this book, no biography has been written about Daphne Park's incredible contributions to the crown at a time when the intelligence services were still very cl...
H5F: Matthew Hart – Gold: The Race for the World’s Most Seductive Metal
February 26, 2016 05:01 - 6 minutes - 5.82 MBFebruary 26, 2016 - Today’s history author, Matthew Hart, brings us...gold. No, he's not making us rich. It's the title of his latest book: Gold: the Race for the World's Most Seductive Metal. It follows in the footsteps of his previous book: Diamond - The History of a Cold-Blooded Love Affair. History in Five Friday. It's the perfect way to kick off your modern weekend...with people from the past.
CWW: Pyramus and Thisbe
February 24, 2016 05:01 - 5 minutes - 4.65 MBFebruary 24, 2016 - It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. When it comes to tragic love stories, there are none that compare to the tale of Pyramus and Thisbe. Well… that’s not entirely true. In fact, this ancient legend might have been the inspiration for one of the world’s most celebrated tales of love and loss. Your guide through the classical landscape is Va...
Paul Kahan – The Bank War
February 22, 2016 05:01 - 49 minutes - 45.6 MBFebruary 22, 2016 - This week, we sling-shot around the sun at high warp, sending us tumbling back in time to the Summer of 1832 -- and America, at war. It's not a conflict over land or of arms, but over the fiscal system of the young republic. Our guide on this journey is Paul Kahan, and his book is The Bank War: Andrew Jackson, Nicholas Biddle, and the Fight for American Finance. The fight against the Second Bank of the United States may have been the most frustrating fight of President Ja...
H5F: Michael Shelden – Young Titan: The Making of Winston Churchill
February 19, 2016 05:01 - 6 minutes - 6.27 MBFebruary 19, 2016 - Today’s history author, Michael Shelden, is the author of Young Titan: The Making of Winston Churchill. You may recall hearing praise for Young Titan in our interview with Simon Read, author of Winston Churchill Reporting: Adventures of a Young War Correspondent. The Greatest Briton's early life is often overlooked, with people understandably focusing on the image of him as a heroic figure, standing on the White Cliffs of Dover, shaking his fist in defiance at Hitler acros...
CWW: The Glory of the Gladiator
February 17, 2016 05:01 - 7 minutes - 7.04 MBFebruary 17, 2016 - It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. Today we are looking at gladiators, and while you might be familiar with TV shows like “Spartacus” or movies like “Gladiator”, you might be interested to know that Hollywood does not tell the whole story. Your guide through the classical landscape is Van Bryan, Associate Editor of Classical Wisdom Weekly...
Sheila Myers – Imaginary Brightness
February 15, 2016 05:01 - 39 minutes - 36.6 MBFebruary 15, 2016 - Today's destination is America in the 1870s, and our guest is Sheila Myers, author of the novel Ephemeral Summer, and associate professor at Cayuga Community College. Her latest novel is Imaginary Brightness: a Durant Family Saga. At the dawn of what Mark Twain would later dub the Gilded Age, the economy suffered a panic -- what we'd call a depression -- brought on, in part, by over-speculation in railroads. Dr. Thomas C. Durant, head of the Union Pacific Railroad, was on...
H5F: John Taliaferro – All the Great Prizes
February 12, 2016 05:01 - 7 minutes - 6.68 MBFebruary 12, 2016 - Today’s author, John Taliaferro, pans the camera lens of history just to the side of two great American presidents to focus on a man who worked for both. The book is All the Great Prizes: The Life of John Hay, from Lincoln to Roosevelt. John Hay may not be a name that jumps out at people today, but he had a front-row seat with Abraham Lincoln in the early 1860s, and Theodore Roosevelt in the early 1900s. History in Five Friday. It's the perfect way to kick off your moder...
CWW: Love in the Classical World
February 10, 2016 05:01 - 7 minutes - 6.71 MBFebruary 10, 2016 - It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. How many ways can you say “I love you”? There are only so many ways. But did you know that in the classical world there were more than thirty ways to express your love for another? Today we are going to look at just a few. Your guide through the classical landscape is Van Bryan, Associate Editor of Class...
T.H. Breen – George Washington’s Journey
February 08, 2016 05:01 - 39 minutes - 35.9 MBFebruary 8, 2016 - Today, we're riding in Great White Coach with the father of our country. Our teamster is author Timothy Hall Breen, and his book is George Washington's Journey: The President Forges a New Nation. Aware of the fragile and fractured nature of the new republic after independence, Washington resolves -- in a day without maps or roads worthy of the name -- to take the federal government to the people. Staying in simple inns rather than fine houses, and suffering through terribl...
H5F: David Maraniss – Vince Lombardi
February 05, 2016 05:13 - 4 minutes - 4.33 MBFebruary 5, 2016 - On this Friday before Super Bowl 50, we're going to focus on the name etched into the victory trophy: Lombardi. Best-selling author and historian David Maraniss shares five key facts about the NFL's greatest coach from his biography, When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi. If you'd like to hear more about the history of football this Super Bowl week, catch our interview with John J. Miller, author of The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football. It's the ...
CWW: Hades and the Kingdom of the Dead
February 03, 2016 05:01 - 7 minutes - 6.95 MBFebruary 3, 2016 - It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. Those of you who are familiar with ancient Greek mythology can probably name some of the Olympian deities. You might know Zeus, god of the heaven, or Poseidon, god of the seas. However, you might not know about the eldest Olympian. He was the dark and gloomy Hades, god of the underworld. Today we are going...
John J. Miller – The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football
February 01, 2016 05:01 - 5 MBFebruary 1, 2016 - An advocate of the strenuous life, President Theodore Roosevelt saw sports as essential to developing physical fitness and character. So when 18 players died playing football in 1905, and people called to ban the game, TR leaped into action to reform the pigskin pastime. The game in those days resembled rugby much more than the game the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers will play in Super Bowl 50. Joining us to discuss how we got from a time no forward pass, neutral zon...
H5F: Richard Rhodes – The Spanish Civil War
January 29, 2016 05:01 - 6 minutes - 6.27 MBJanuary 29, 2016 - Today’s history author, Richard Rhodes, has edited or authored several history books including The Making of the Atomic Bomb, winner of a Pulitzer Prize in non-fiction. His most recent book is Hell and Good Company: The Spanish Civil War and the World it Made. The fighting took place from 1936 to 1939, and so is often lost in the catastrophe of World War Two. But the Spanish Civil War featured many of the same players, and some names from literature that may surprise you. I...
Gordon E. Tolton – Healy’s West
January 25, 2016 05:01 - 56 minutes - 51.5 MBJanuary 25, 2016 - In this episode, we'll be boarding a Pullman car attached to one of the great trains connecting the North American east and west coasts, all the way up into the Alaskan and Yukon territories -- and very nearly across the Bering Strait to Siberia. Our conductor on this journey is Gordon E. Tolton, author of Healy's West: The Life and Times of John J. Healy. Gordon is a Western Canadian historic interpreter and author of the previous books, The Cowboy Cavalry, and Prairie Wa...
H5F: Andrew D. Kaufman – Give War and Peace a Chance
January 22, 2016 06:00 - 6 minutes - 6.31 MBJanuary 22, 2016 – Today’s history author, Andrew D. Kaufman, author of Give War and Peace a Chance: Tolstoyan Wisdom for Troubled Times. He's going to share how, incredibly, one of the greatest works of fiction in history... almost didn't happen. Fortunately, Leo Tolstoy married the right woman, and she helped him in ways nobody else could have. You can also follow today's guest on Twitter @AndrewDKaufman. History in Five Friday. It’s the perfect way to kick off your modern weekend… with p...
CWW: Lysistrata – Make Love or War
January 20, 2016 05:01 - 6 minutes - 6.37 MBJanuary 20, 2016 - It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. Today you should consider yourself warned. We are going to be discussing some adult topics. To be specific, we are going to be looking at some adult humor that sprung from the mind of one of the ancient worlds most notorious comic playwright, Aristophanes. Your guide through the classical landscape is Van...
Kim MacQuarrie – Life and Death in the Andes
January 18, 2016 05:01 - 37 minutes - 34.7 MBJanuary 18, 2016 - This week, we're flying our time machine across the Equator and into South America's turbulent past, where we'll meet some colorful characters, present at key moments of its history. They include Pablo Escobar, Butch Cassidy, Sundance, Charles Darwin, and a 14-year-old girl, Juanita, who the Incas sacrificed atop a twenty-thousand foot volcano. Our tour guide to the Andes is author and filmmaker Kim MacQuarrie, who has won four Emmys for his documentaries. His latest book ...
H5F: Ulysses S. Grant
January 15, 2016 05:01 - 4 minutes - 3.86 MBJanuary 15, 2016 - Today’s history author, Jean Edward Smith, author of Grant, discusses the life and legacy of Ulysses S. Grant, from great disappointments and outright failures, to Civil War battlefields and, ultimately, the White House. The book bears a single word, the name of a modest man who became a legend. Grant. Frederick Douglas called him "the last of the radicals" and he wrote memoirs so beautiful that critics have called them some of the most beautiful works in the English langu...
CWW: Plato and the Disaster of Democracy
January 13, 2016 05:01 - 7 minutes - 7.16 MBJanuary 13, 2015 - It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. Today we are visiting with Plato and we are going to discuss political philosophy. This might be a bit of a controversial idea, but Plato believed that democratic government had only one logical outcome-tyranny. How does this happen? Listen in to find out. Your guide through the classical landscape is Van...
Laini Giles – The Forgotten Flapper
January 11, 2016 05:01 - 31 minutes - 28.6 MBJanuary 11, 2016 - In this episode, we're going to Charleston our way back to the Manhattan of our theme song, New York Ain't New York Anymore. Yes, it's the Jazz Age of speakeasies and Prohibition -- and our tour guide is none other than the Theater Districts most famous resident ghost, sighted from time to time in the New Amsterdam Theater. Our guest, author Laini Giles, has written our ticket to one of Hollywood Land's very first scandal in The Forgotten Flapper: A Novel of Olive Thomas. ...
H5F: How FDR Defied Polio
January 08, 2016 05:01 - 6 minutes - 5.61 MBJanuary 8, 2016 - Today, James Tobin -- winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in biography -- shares one of the greatest stories of defiance and overcoming infirmity in: The Man He Became: How FDR Defied Polio to Win the Presidency. When polio robbed Franklin Delano Roosevelt of his legs at age 39, the conventional wisdom agreed that his political career was over. Certainly nobody thought he'd rise to the office of his distant cousin, Eleanor's uncle Theodore Roosevelt. But Roosev...
CWW: Aristotle and the Art of Friendship
January 06, 2016 05:01 - 7 minutes - 6.86 MBJanuary 6, 2016 - It’s Classical Wisdom Wednesday, presented by Classical Wisdom Weekly — bringing ancient wisdom to modern minds, every Wednesday morning before your first cup of coffee. Let me ask you something. How many friends do you have? Are they REALLY your friends? Is it possible that your friends are using you for utility or pleasure. If you’ve never thought of these things, then don’t worry. Aristotle certainly did. Your guide through the classical landscape is Van Bryan, Associat...
Eric Weiner – Geography of Genius
January 04, 2016 05:01 - 5 MBJanuary 4, 2016 - In this episode, we're racing the time machine through a bunch of stops around the world and throughout history. Our ticket is The Geography of Genius: A Search for the World's Most Creative Places from Ancient Athens to Silicon Valley. We'll be guided along the way by Eric Weiner, author of the New York Times bestseller The Geography of Bliss, as well as the critically acclaimed Man Seeks God. And along the way, we'll answer the question that's on the minds of every Loony ...