For the Ages: A History Podcast

Few people know Abraham Lincoln as intimately as Harold Holzer. The author, co-author, or editor of over 50 books on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War era, Holzer has explored everything from Lincoln’s election to his assassination, his views on immigration to his role as a father. In this conversation, Holzer joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss the life and times of America’s 16th president. 

Recorded on May 2, 20...

Spain’s involvement in early American history might feel limited, but Spanish people and their descendants have been involved in American military conflicts, both through direct fighting and the supply of weapons and funds, since the American Revolution, through the Civil War, both World Wars, and beyond. Join historian Marie Arana to learn how Spanish and Hispanic military involvement has been a constant in American history.

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By winter 1777, the Continental Army was exhausted, having barely escaped annihilation by the world’s most formidable fighting force. Two years into the war, King George, determined as ever to bring the rebellious American colonies to heel, faced a desperate set of foes in Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, to say nothing of rising wartime expenses and the threat of additional international rivals. Celebrated historian ...

For many Americans, Harriet Tubman can seem more like a character out of myth than a flesh-and-blood historical figure. Many know of Tubman’s escape from slavery and her brave work on the Underground Railroad, but little more about her life and personal experiences. In this interview with David M. Rubenstein, prizewinning author Tiya Miles delves into the real woman, from Tubman’s birth as “Minty Ross” to he...

Mark Twain was America’s first literary celebrity, a master of his craft whose legacy hangs over our literary tradition. Twain’s words captured the nation’s imagination because the life he led touched on so many aspects of the American experience. He wrote about racism, war, and the country’s western frontier as well as its growing urban centers because he witnessed firsthand the growth and turmoil of the Un...

Known as “America’s pastime,” baseball is much more than a game in the United States. Both a source of national pride and symbol of our identity, the sport is also a window into our past. Born out of alleys and vacant lots and now played in an arena of multi-million dollar contracts and international celebrity, baseball’s trajectory has in many ways mirrored that of our nation. Renowned filmmaker Ken Burns j...

It’s been said that if you remember the ‘60s, you weren’t really there, but when Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and her late husband, Dick, started to go through his papers from his time as one of the men behind JFK’s New Frontier, co-designer of LBJ’s Great Society, and RFK’s close advisor, that revolutionary decade became as tangible to the couple as it was 60 years ago. ...

The argument over states’ rights versus a strong federal government is far from a new debate in this country. Before the divisions of today, two men represented contrasting visions of what America could be: Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. Jefferson believed in individual liberties and limited federal power, while Hamilton promoted a strong national government. Their rivalry helped shape the nation’s earliest po...

Born in wartime Shanghai and brought to the United States at age eleven with no knowledge of English, financier and philanthropist Oscar Tang reflects on a life shaped by displacement, ambition, and civic responsibility. In conversation with David M. Rubenstein, Tang recounts his journey from a small town in Vermont to Yale and Harvard, before building a successful career on Wall Street. He also discusses the experiences that shape...

From his childhood in Venezuela’s famedEl Sistema music education program to his rise as one of the world’s leading conductors, Gustavo Dudamel reflects on the experiences that shaped his musical life. In conversation with David M. Rubenstein, Dudamel recounts conducting his first orchestra at age eleven, discusses the collaborative art of leading musicians, and shares how he prepares scores entirely from memory. Lookin...

At the beginning of 1776, virtually no one in the colonies was advocating independence. What changed over the course of one year? From Thomas Paine’s Common Sense in January to the Continental Congress that first grounded the idea of independence, historian Edward Larson, in conversation with David M. Rubenstein, traces a narrative path that reminds us why, as we approach the 250th anniversary of American independence, 1776 m...

Secretary of defense and friend and ally to two presidents, Robert S. McNamara was one of the most controversial men in American history for his role in the Vietnam War. Beyond his time at Harvard Law, his service during World War II, and his leadership of the Ford Motor Company and the World Bank, he is inevitably remembered for his fierce escalation of an unpopular and arguably unwinnable war. Authors Philip and William Taubman j...

The American Revolution was three wars rolled into one: a fight for independence, a civil conflict, and a struggle between nations. In this conversation with David M. Rubenstein, bestselling author Geoffrey Ward examines the many sides of the war through the stories of not just the Founding Fathers, but the soldiers, women, Loyalists, and others whose lives—and country—were forever changed by the movement. 

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The teenagers who made up the US Naval Academy class of 1940 arrived in Annapolis as boys on the eve of Hitler’s aggression and graduated as Europe collapsed, only to find themselves thrust into every major front of World War II, from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay and Normandy. Renowned military historian Craig Symonds joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss the young men’s sacrifice, loss, and extraordinary coming-of-age in h...

Covering 2.2 million acres, Yellowstone National Park is a geographic behemoth and, as the birthplace of America’s national park system, a cultural giant as well. But since its official establishment in 1872, the bucolic lands have been the source of frequent conflict: between Native Americans and Europeans, and tourism and environmental conservation. In this episode, prizewinning author Randall K. Wilson explores the complex...

Some of the most significant moments in American history have occurred over meals, as US presidents broke bread to strengthen alliances, diffuse tensions, and broker peace: Thomas Jefferson’s nation-building receptions; Richard Nixon’s practiced use of chopsticks to pry open China; Jimmy Carter’s cakes and pies that fueled a détente between Israel and Egypt at Camp David. Author Alex Prud’homme joins David M...

Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton’s gravestone identifies her merely as the daughter of Philip Schuyler and the widow of Alexander Hamilton, while her sister, Angelica, has only a marker next to the Livingston family vault, but neither memorial does justice to the complexity of the two women. Eliza was a vital aid to her husband’s political efforts, as well as a later reformer in her own right, and Angelica was a socialite wh...

In addition to being America’s first vice president and second president, Founding Father John Adams was a diplomat, the father of another president, and an avid diarist. In this conversation with David M. Rubenstein, Gordon S. Wood, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of the Revolutionary era, tackles this multifaceted figure, from his role in the birth of our nation to the precedents he set for all those who followed him.

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