History That Doesn't Suck
HTDS is a bi-weekly podcast, delivering a legit, seriously researched, hard-hitting survey of American history through entertaining stories. To keep up with History That Doesn’t Suck news, check us out htdspodcast.com or follow on Facebook and Instagram: @Historythatdoesntsuck. Become a premium member to support our work, receive ad-free episodes and bonus episodes. Take a special VIP cruise with Prof. Jackson May 18-22, 2026 Pre-order Prof. Jackson's new book Been There Done That: How Our History Shows What We Can Overcome
Episodes
January 19, 2026 • 64 mins
“We had been promised relief but none was coming, and all of us in Bataan shared a sense of betrayal.”
This is the story of the United State’s earliest—and most disastrous—days of war in the Pacific.
Almost immediately following Pearl Harbor, America and the Axis powers exchange rapid-fire war declarations. While embattled Britain breathes a sign of relief to have the US officially in the war, the Japanese Empire’s sun is rising...
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January 5, 2026 • 59 mins
With the December 1941 surprise attack on the US naval base Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, our story has officially come to the United States’ entry into the Second World War. Professor Jackson told that story in episode 194, and in 193 we covered the long buildup to the war with Japan; yet, the attack on Pearl Harbor is one of those moments of history where the depths of inquiry and knowledge to be gained is almost endless. There is stil...
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December 22, 2025 • 37 mins
“This year very few Hanukkah candles were lit.” / “This is a strange Christmas Eve.”
This is the story of 1941’s wartime holiday season.
It’s difficult to conjure up a more miserable picture than the Warsaw Ghetto, but Jewish residents are doing their best to stay close to their faith in spite of the dismal circumstances. In a sermon that draws parallels between this hungry, fearful group and the Maccabees of old, Rabbi Kalonymu...
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December 7, 2025 • 63 mins
“Man your battle stations! This is no sh*t!”
This is the story of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
It’s 7:55 on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941. 183 Japanese aircraft descend on the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Sailors awaken to a nightmare as “Battleship Row” becomes a graveyard, hundreds of US planes are destroyed without ever leaving the ground, and the cries of thousands of dying, wounded, and terri...
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November 24, 2025 • 63 mins
“To be perfectly frank, the ways you and I look at the Chinese are fundamentally different. You seem to think of them as human, but I see them as pigs.”
This is the origin story of the Empire of the Rising Sun.
After an uninvited visit from one Commodore Matthew Perry and his four black ships, Japan opens its doors to the wider world, ending seven centuries of isolation. Picking up the best and the worst from the West, a new rul...
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November 10, 2025 • 57 mins
Professor Greg Jackson sits down with legendary documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and his co-producer Sarah Botstein to discuss their newest film series, The American Revolution plus a conversation about their 2007 WWII series, The War.
Ken and Sarah’s latest endeavor about the American War for Independence has been in production for nearly a decade, and the release comes on the cusp of America’s 250th anniversary. According to Ke...
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November 3, 2025 • 7 mins
Today Professor Jackson tells the story of Eleanor Roosevelt’s “Over Our Coffee Cups” weekly radio show. Starting in the fall of 1941, the First Lady took to the airwaves with this cafe-style program to provide information and comfort as the nation began mobilizing for war.
This short story is an example of the extras you can get as an HTDS premium member. HTDS will always be widely available, supported by ads. However, our membe...
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October 20, 2025 • 41 mins
“No more defenses. Our army is wiped out—artillery, air force, everything wiped out.”
This is the story of the invasion of New Jersey.
“The War of the Worlds” is a 1938 radio adaptation of an 1897 science fiction novel by H.G. Wells that details an alien invasion of Earth, a seminal work that popularized the term “Martian” and the theme of “first contact” in sci-fi. 23-year-old Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre team were taske...
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Professor Jackson takes a step back to review themes from episodes 187 through 189 (War in Europe and America’s Response), specifically the slow turn from isolationism to aid via Lend-Lease, and eventually to preparing for war.
Prof. Jackson’s guests are Professor Lindsey Cormack, an associate professor of political science at Stevens Institute of Technology, and historian Lynne Olson, author of several books on WW2 including Cit...
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October 6, 2025 • 66 mins
"At long last, Mr. President.”—Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill
This is the story of the second year of WWII and the United States’ response.
As the war enters its second full year, things are looking dire for Britain: Germany has forced France into submission, the Blitz is in full swing, and the cash-strapped nation is running out of money to pay for US aid. Lend-Lease, or H.R. 1776, is the proposed solution; it’ll allow Fr...
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September 29, 2025 • 11 mins
Professor Greg Jackson shares a personal message about our politically divided times and announces more tour dates for his live show: The Unlikely Union.
This show is not recorded for the podcast. Go to HTDSpodcast.com/live-shows for more information and dates.
Prof. Jackson’s national tour has already been to half of the 50 states, so-called red and blue states, big cities and small towns. What he’s encountered is everyday pe...
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188: World War II in Europe & The American Response (1939–40): Isolationism vs. Arsenal of Democracy
September 22, 2025 • 68 mins
“I have said not once but many times that I have seen war and that I hate war. … I hope the United States will keep out of this war. I believe that it will.”
This is the story of the first year of WWII in the European theater and the United States’ response.
Since the days of President George Washington, the United States has largely held to George Washington’s and Thomas Jefferson’s counsel to avoid “interweaving our destin...
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September 8, 2025 • 68 mins
“A great war can hardly be avoided any longer.”
This is the story of Nazi Germany’s aggressive territorial expansion and the start of WWII.
The Treaty of Versailles has long been a thorn in Adolf Hitler’s side. Its troublesome limits on troops and technology pose challenges for a man bent on taking lebensraum and building a Grossdeuschland by any means necessary. So he starts quietly building planes and submarines. Then he star...
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August 25, 2025 • 66 mins
“Comrade Stalin, now that he is general secretary, has concentrated immense power in his hands, and I am not sure whether he will always be capable of exercising this power with sufficient caution.”
This is the story of Joseph Stalin’s path to becoming the dictator of the USSR.
Ioseb (Joseph) Jughashvili, or little “Soso,” is a good student. A choir boy, in fact. But that changes as the Orthodox Georgian increasingly puts his fa...
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August 11, 2025 • 68 mins
“Being a Jew is not a crime, I am not a dog.”
This is the story of the start of the Holocaust.
Serving as the scapegoat for everything from a disappearing child to the Black Plague, European Jews are used to “anti-Jewry.” But as the nation state rises in the modern world, it brings the so-called “Jewish Question” to the fore: can one be a faithful Jew and modern citizen? As modern antisemitism rises and European Jews face pogrom...
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August 7, 2025 • 9 mins
Professor Greg Jackson is touring the country with a live version of the podcast telling the story of The Unlikely Union of American states. Starting Sep 19, 2025 through July 4, 2026, you can hear the Professor history-tell in person, with video and live musicians.
It’s not recorded for the podcast so get your tickets now at HTDSpodcast.com/live-shows
In 100 minutes Professor Jackson will take audiences on a remarkable 100-yea...
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July 28, 2025 • 67 mins
“There will be no more mercy now; anyone who stands in our way will be butchered.”
This is the story of Adolf Hitler and the collapse of the Weimar Republic.
A dropout. A failed applicant to Vienna’s prestigious Academy of Fine Arts. A decorated but low-ranking soldier who attempts to overthrow the state and is convicted of treason. But only a decade or so later, he’s the nation’s leader. Not just the Chancellor, not even a ...
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July 14, 2025 • 70 mins
“Italy, Gentlemen, wants peace, wants quiet, wants work, wants calm; we will give it with love, if that be possible, or with strength, if that be necessary.”
This is the story of Italy’s Benito Mussolini’s creation of fascism and rise to power in interwar Italy.
Benito starts life the way his father intended—as a socialist—and the often moving, young schoolteacher quickly emerges as a leading voice in the movement as he’s entrust...
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June 30, 2025 • 45 mins
This is the story of interwar preparation–not that the United States realized it was preparing for World War II, new technologies, innovation, and a constant pushing of the limits in the 1930s did indeed help Uncle Sam prepare for the fight to come.
To get us into an interwar mindset of praying for peace while preparing for war, Professor Jackson tells us the tale of the B-17 bomber and is then joined by GEN James E. Rainey, Comma...
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“If he is lost it will be the most universally regretted single loss we ever had. But that kid ain’t going to fail.”
This is the story of the high-fliers in early twentieth-century American aviation.
Wright brothers Orville and Wilbur stunned the nation and the world with their pioneering flight in 1903, and since then, aviation has spread its wings, so to speak. The Wright Brothers and other innovators like Glenn Curtiss are in...
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