The Great American Authors
Randal Wallace Presents : The Great American Authors Special Season Welcome to our special 16 episode season looking at the Great American Authors of American Literature. We take you through biographies of each of our selected authors, and pick up some writing tips from each one of them as well. Over the next 16 episodes we will look back at F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edgar Allan Poe, Dr. Suess, John Steinbeck, Thomas Wolfe, Mark Twain, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Harper Lee, J. D. Salinger, Margaret Mitchell, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, William Faulkner, Ian Fleming, J. K Rowling, Pat Conroy, Gene Hackman, Kurt Vonnegut, Walter Mosley, Lee Child, Stephen King, John Grisham, Joyce Carol Oats, Sinclair Lewis, Tennessee Williams, Ernest Hemingway, Jimmy Carter, Marilyn Quayle, Newt Gingrich, Bill Clinton, James Patterson, and the announcement about our hosts own three books: a history companion book to this podcast, and two novels by Randal Wallace. This should be a fun special Holliday season. Bob Dole will return in January 2026. This special Season in dedicated to our host's Mother Gloria Grant Wallace Bulmer who taught American and British Literature, Journalism, and South Carolina History at Myrtle Beach High School for many years. She would have loved this series. We invite you to come along with us on a wild ride through the high points and low moments of modern American History, in an effort to show the citizens of today that we are an amazing and resilient nation. Our Podcasts are separated by individual Documentary style titles. -- Season 1 : Bridging the Political Gap episodes 1 -11 --- Season 2 : Lessons in Leadership : --- The GIANTS of the Senate and Joe Biden episodes 14 - 16 ---- World War 2 Episodes 17 - 20 --- General MacArthur You're Fired Episodes 21 - 23 ---- A Celebration of the life of George Shultz episodes 26 - 28 ---- November 1963 : The end of the Age of Innocence episode 29 --- Season 3 ----The Johnson Treatment episodes 32 - 39 ---- Upheaval 1968 episodes 40 - 50 ---- Season 4: Richard Nixon 1968 -1971 The Man Who Saved the Union episodes 51 -67 ----- Season 5 Richard Nixon 1972 The Foundation of Peace episodes 71 - 96 -----1973 Ten Days in January 97 - 100 -- Season 6 Richard Nixon 1973 : Enemies at the Gate 101 - 125 ---- Season 7 Richard Nixon 1974 Through the Fire 126 - 147 ---- Season 8 Richard Nixon 1974 - 1994 The Fall and the Re-Rise of Richard Nixon. 148 - 174 plus bonus materials --- Season 9 Gerald Ford Beyond Watergate 175 -190 -- Season 10 John Jenrette. & Jimmy Carter too 191 - 224 -- Season 11 George H.W. Bush : The Leadership Lessons 225 - 250 --- Season 12: Mayor Hirsch 253 - 259, George H.W. Bush : The Sweep of History 260 - 285, Season 13 George H.W. Bush The Gulf War, The Coup, Clarence Thomas & the Cold War's End 286 - 318, Season 14 George H. W. Bush 1992 The Changing of the Guard 319 - 363 Season 15 Bob Dole 1993 - 1995 The Last Man Standing 364 - 402, Special Season 16 The Great American Authors 403 - (FAIR USE NOTICE : This presentation contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The use of this footage is for educational and historical commentary. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material.)
Episodes
These three writers all wrote just one novel of renown but they were gargantuan titles. We celebrate their impact on American Literature in this episode.
Harper Lee offered several writing tips centered on persistence, humility, and the importance of craft over reward. She emphasized a love for language and a dedication to writing for oneself.
Key Writing Tips from Harper Lee
- Develop a thick hid...
This episode looks at two literary giants and includes their writing tips. It also features the only writer in our entire series our host, Randal Wallace, actually met, Maya Angelou. Mrs. Morrison was at the time of her passing, America's only living Nobel Laureate for writing. This is an inspiring episode for any aspiring authors and for everyone else too.
Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison advised writers to embrace t...
This episode looks at three giants of American Literature who all wrote about the struggles of forgotten America. One of them, Mark Twain, is considered the Father of American Literature.
John Steinbeck is known for sharing six practical writing tips in a letter to a friend in 1962. These rules prioritize flow, discipline, and authenticity over immediate perfection:
- Focus on the daily work: Write one pag...
Is there a more terrifying writer in the world than Edgar Allan Poe, nor a more fun one to read with a child with than Theodore Geisel, "Dr. Seuss" ? I don't think so.
In this episode we chronicle two of the most extremely different authors of our entire series.
Edgar Allan Poe wrote some of the strangest and most horrifying stories ever written. "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" "The Mask...
In this episode our host honors two of his family members who passed away in recent times.
Aunt Margie Wallace - My Aunt was a substitute teacher in Darlington County for two decades after finishing a 30 year career at the sewing plant there. She was known to all the students there as "Grandma" and they turned out to her funeral in mass. She was a delightful, thoughtful lady and it is an honor for our show t...
Welcome to the first episode of our special Holiday Season, "The Great American Authors", Bob Dole's series will return in January 2026.
In this episode we welcome you to our series, an introduce you to our host, Randal Wallace's, English teacher Mother, Gloria Bulmer. She was also a writer and as part of a writing class, had some of her writing published in only one book by Coastal Carolina Unive...
In this our second episode honoring the life of Former Vice President Dick Cheney we listen to the various eulogies from his funeral in Washington D.C. at the Washington National Cathedral. They range from his cardiologist, former Press Secretary, a Former President of the United States, his grandchildren and daughter, a former Congresswoman in her own right. This is a moving selection of addresses.
On Sunday, November 15, 2025, I woke up to the news that legendary Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling Host Bob Caudle had died , peacefully, in his sleep at the age of 95. I can’t explain it but this one was like losing a lifelong friend because in a way it was.
Bob Caudle’s voice is as familiar to me as any on Earth, he has been a fixture in our home for my entire lifetime, each Saturday for my entire childhood stra...
Join us starting November 25, 2025 for a Christmas Holidays Special 16th Season as we venture into new territory. Over the end of November and through out December we will spend 16 episodes looking at the Great American Authors, From F. Scott Fitzgerald to Stephen King and all points in between. We hope you will join us as we take a little break from American Political History and take a deep dive into American Litera...
In this episode we look back at three people it is almost hard to imagine not being around.
Hulk Hogan, if you are kid in my age range, middle 50s, was as big a star as ever roamed the Earth. He was the catalyst for Professional Wrestling's leap into mainstream society taking it from a cable television novelty, to starring in, what is still today, the largest indoor sporting event in all of history with an attend...
In this episode , we look back at three men who worked tirelessly for their religious beliefs and trying to make this world a better place in their own way, Pope Francis, Pope Leo 14th, and Political Activist Charlie Kirk, plus a rock star from the 1950s and 60s, Connie Francis.
Pope Francis became the first Jesuit Priest to rise to the Papacy. The first from Latin America, and the first in centuries not to be born in...
For decades the one thing that never seemed to change in Washington D.C. was constant presence of David Gergen. He was an aid to Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He was a political analyst for PBS and CNN. David Gergen seemed as permanent a fixture as the Washington Monument in Washington D.C.
He wrote to extraordinary books Eyewitness to Power, and Hearts Tinged by Fire, w...
Last week, former Vice President Dick Cheney passed away, he was 84 years old. There has been no more powerful a figure in the history of politics in the modern era. He transformed the Vice Presidency into a power center all its own.
In this episode, we will look back at his life, his love of the outdoors, his life after the White House and his life long battle with coronary heart disease. Dick Cheney is also a heart ...
In this brief update we want to fill you in on our special non-political season to carry our show through the holidays, and some tribute episodes we have planned to look back at some of those we lost this year but have not had a chance to look back at as the season progressed.
We look forward to 2026 for the return of Bob Dole in our final two seasons looking back at his life and career.
Thanks for tuning in and pleas...
In our season finale we zoom in on the fight over a Balanced budget Amendment on the 1995 Congressional agenda.
You will hear Senators go round and round , from Pete Domenici, to Bob Dole, to Paul Simon, to even South Carolina’s own Senator Ernest Hollings.
All this debate rages as Bob Dole inches closer and closer to filing for President of the United States. We will take you right there, after an emotional moment be...
In this episode we start to move you through the big moments of 1995 as we get closer to the kick off of the 1996 Presidential Election. Bob Dole has not totally made his mind up yet and its clear to his wife and staf he needs to make the definitive move.
We will relive these moments as Bob Dole makes up his mind to run for a third time for President and we watch several of the more important accomplishments of the Re...
In this episode we set the stage for 1995 as Newt Gingrich becomes the biggest star in politics as he becomes the first Republican Speaker in 40 years. We will look back at his rise and watch him consolidate his position.
Plus this also marks the move by Bob Dole to seriously look at his own run for the Presidency.
Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.ran...
Episode 399 BOB DOLE 1993 - 1995 The Last Man Standing (Part 36) Under New Management (D) A New Whip
As we open this episode , we will see Bob Dole truly become the last man standing from an era of political figures who had dominated the scene for over two decades. There would be two Senate leadership races as George Mitchell retired as the Democratic Leader and Alan Simpson faced a challenge in his position as Bob Dole's number two man in Republican leadership. Both races would be decided by one vote.
We will h...
All eyes were trained on one man as the lame duck session began. It was the soon to be new Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich. In this episode we introduce you to him and watch those first moves from the new star of politics in 1994.
Questions or comments at , Randalrgw1@aol.com , https://twitter.com/randal_wallace , and http://www.randalwallace.com/
Please Leave us a review at wherever you get...
The power switch was swift as all eyes fell on the Republican leadership in the hours after the Republicans swept to to power in both houses of Congress. There was a push for moving the Contract with America's agenda to the forefront, talk of downsizing the staffs in Washington, and both leaders were busy ironing out what exactly their agendas were going to be.
Then came an even bigger piece of news. That Senator...
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