Was the past better?  Were the "Good Old Days" really all they are chalked up to be?   Gregg Easterbrook, author of It's Better Than it Looks: Reasons for Optimism in an Age of Fear, has a bold argument.  Things are better now then...

Bruce is interviewed on Ohio v. The World Podcast, which is the creation of MHCBUYP fan Alex Hastie.  The subject is Curtis LeMay.  Politically we know him as George Wallace's reluctant running mate in 1968.  But there was much more to...

50 years ago, Medicare was created and some of it was recorded. We'll look at the original conversations that demonstrate LBJ's work on the bill, and compare the enactment of Medicare to the Affordable Care Act. And we'll contrast the two bill's...

A few questions, some from an older cast that now bears repeating in the wake of a new speaker election, and others from the premium channel now elevated.  Was Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal allowed to happen by a quiet public, or was thee...

We take a look at one day in the life and career of President George H.W. Bush - not in his presidency but in his vice-presidency.  That day revealed his leadership style and set future precedents, perhaps.  March 30, 1981 the day of the...

Bruce and Daily Beast/CNN correspondent Matt K. Lewis talk about midterms, and Presidents post midterms.  Bruce tells a story about Lincoln that he told 11 years ago. (more information on that story in the premium podcast). 

We are joined today by David Priess, former CIA intelligence officer and author about his new book on the history and the realities of impeachment, and the 25th, what people think it is, and what has really happened in history.  He is the author...

A law that may have given Billy The Kid a few more months of life, long enough to build a legend is still a part of today's politics.  The rich history of the Posse Comitatus law that separated military from law enforcement and forbids, in some...

A look at one of America's earliest blockbusters, the little book that changed American minds: Common Sense, its author Thomas Paine, the impact it had at the time and what it might mean today. We also examine the creative differences Paine had with...

Examining the moment in 1983 when nuclear war was possible with new research and stories from the Soviet side.  How close did we come to war?  And could that war have been accidental?  w/ White House Correspondent for National Journal...

Chris Matthews of Hardball joins the program!! He has just finished his book Bobby Kennedy - A Raging Spirit.  Chris talks about RFK and how his history and childhood, and his relationship with Joe Kennedy Senior that informed his own politics....

Crushing myths about the 1917 Russian Revolution that both Russians and Americans still get from Soviet textbooks.  Understanding that is the key to understanding today's Russia as well.  A very interesting conversation with Mikhail Zygar,...

Elbridge Gerry lent his name to a tricky political maneuver.  Not that he wanted to, or perhaps, deserved it.  With gerrymandering of congressional districts and state legislative districts on the agenda of the Supreme Court, Bruce discusses...

The story of the 1978 World Cup, a cautionary tale about democracy.  The world spotlight on the junta that controlled Argentina that year helped focus some attention on the plight of the victims of a vicious dictatorship, but locally, may have...

Taft fails in trying to lower tariffs, setting up his successor to do it.  In frustration, he walks away from the White House.  Meanwhile, his opponent, William Jennings Bryan, destroys the tariff in several populist arguments.  A look...

Is infrastructure always good?  We talk with Greg Young of the Very Popular "Bowery Boys NYC" podcast, about infrastructure.  In particular the story of Robert Moses and his career reforming New York's infrastructure.  Until he met his...

We speak once again to David Priess, former CIA Briefer and the author of The President's Book of Secrets.  While last time we spoke mostly about Presidents and intelligence, this time we get into the other people who use intelligence and how...

A look at 1944 and how intrigue, manipulation, misrepresentation, a few martinis, a song, an axe, and a finger in the page of a book changed the history of the Presidency.

Populism, Corruption, Citizenship and Immigration.  Rome struggled with these issues in its Republic phase.  Bruce is joined by Mike Duncan, host of The History of Rome Podcast, to talk about the pre-fall of the Roman Republic, period of 146...

With the leader of China erasing that country's 2 term limit, we are taking a look back at the 2 term presidential limit in the United States, how recent it is and whether it's a good thing.  This episode is from 2012.   BTW - As you...

The Mexican War, current U.S. politics, Mexican history are all topics Bruce joins Bob Crawford of the Avett Brothers and Dr. Benjamin Sawyer of Middle Tennessee State University, hosts of the Road to Now Podcast in Mexico where they discuss Mexico...

In a day everything changed and a new President inhabited the chair in the White House.  The country and the world were anxious.  Russia and Asia Pacific were frightening foreign policy issues.  We are speaking of 1945, but as A.J....

He was essential to the colonial resistance to the Stamp Act.  He was the bulwark of the American Revolution in Virginia.  He raised troops and supplies and organized the America's largest state.  He may have saved Washington's job,...

While so much attention is focused on splits in the GOP, there is a gaping split on the left that while, perhaps not large, is important to understanding both what happened in 2016 and the politics of 2017 and moving forward.  Special guest Chris...

On the 40th Anniversary of the rock star's death, We talk to Bob Crawford and Dr. Ben Sawyer of The Road to Now Podcast about the day Elvis died in '77,  The Elvis phenom, his manners, American life, rock and roll, drugs, the 'Shut Up and Sing'...