We’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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July 4, 2026 – In this episode, we’re joined by a familiar face, an attorney and author of great wisdom and insight. He’s David O. Stewart , here to talk about his latest book, “ The Democracy We Must Keep: Seven Founders, Nine Documents, and the Ideas that Framed America. ” Two hundred fifty years ago, men of different opinions, visions, and temperaments set out to create a world where people…
March 15, 2026 – We welcome a treasure from the City of Brotherly Love, Irene Levy Baker, back into the Wayback Machine. Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, she’s here to discuss “Cheers to McGillin’s: Philly’s Oldest Tavern.” She previously joined us to talk about her book, “100 Things To Do In Philadelphia.” You can find that interview, and my 2016 conversation with the tavernkeeper, Chris…
Feb 13, 2026 – We welcome award-winning author Jim Logan — a fourth-generation Oklahoman — aboard our time machine to discuss his debut novel, “Of Saints and Rivers.” The author, at 81, is as inspiring as his sweeping story that encompasses all the highs and lows of the period from the Gilded Age, Dustbowl, and Great Depression through the World Wars and the 1950s. The novel is the…
The New York Sun Review: ‘The Roosevelts in New York City’ Is an Exhilarating Climb in a Towering Family Tree – Dean Karayanis November 30, 2025 – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and lifelong Long Islander, Bill Bleyer , joins us in the time machine to walk the streets of Gotham past with his book, “ The Roosevelts in New York City .” Among his previous books is “ Sagamore Hill: Theodore…
July 4, 2025 – With the 249th birthday of America on July 4, 2025, and the 250th anniversary of Independence Day looming in 2025, the nation’s eyes are cast back to the place where America was born. Paul Kahan returns to tells us how that ground was sown and how the city has grown in “ Philadelphia: A Narrative History .” Paul Kahan earned a Ph.D. from Temple University and is a commentator on…
May 11, 2024 – What happens when a celebrated author — Muhammad Ali’s official biographer, no less — turns his talents to putting his mother’s century-long life down on paper? In this episode, our time machine welcomes aboard Thomas Hauser, author of “ My Mother and Me: A Memoir .” Eleanor Nordlinger Hauser, who passed away last year at 96, experienced a life of success and failures, meeting the…
April 1, 2024 – Where would an enslaved man who escaped the South find the courage to return to the Confederacy as a Union Spy? In this episode, we meet such a man thanks to Robert Hilliard, author of “ In Freedom’s Shadow .” The novel is based on the heroic true story of John Scobell, an enslaved African American who escaped early in the Civil War. Recruited by the Union to return south and…
October 11, 2023 – In this episode, our time machine welcomes aboard Brent Butt, who those of you in the Great White North know as the creator and star of the sitcom “Corner Gas,” so beloved by Canadians that it has spawned an animated version and a movie. He’s also host of the Butt Pod, which — since you probably have your phone out right now — I suggest you swipe over and subscribe to for some…
September 4, 2023 – How did airship R101 — embodying the British Empire’s global ambitions — die in fireball of dreams, romance, and hubris and turn to ashes in the pages of history? S.C. Gwynne brings us this story of reaching for the sky in “ His Majesty’s Airship: The Life and Tragic Death of the World’s Largest Flying Machine .” S.C. Gwynne previously joined us to discuss his books, “ Hymns of…
July 30, 2023 – What did service in the World Wars mean to women who found new opportunities to enter the workforce and join the fight as never before? We’ll go on a fictional ride with one of those service members with today’s novelist, Jenni Walsh. Her novel is “The Call of the Wrens,” the third she joined us to discuss after her debut, “ Becoming Bonnie ,” and its sequel, “ Side By Side ,”…
The New York Sun - ‘Baseball, Nazis & Nedick’s Hot Dogs’ Is a Story of Fathers, Sons, and a Lost America - Dean Karayanis June 17, 2023 - Reading about history is one thing, but what happens when a legendary sportswriter looks back nearly a century to recall his upbringing in Newark, New Jersey, during the trying decades of the ‘30s and ‘40s – as a Jewish kid, mind you — while Wall Street crashed…
The New York Sun - ‘It Ain’t Over’ Documents Yogi Berra’s Amazing American Life - Dean Karayanis May 11, 2023 - Who was the greatest Major League Baseball catcher of all time? If the name Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra doesn’t spring to mind, have I got the movie for you. It’s the story of a kid from St. Louis and D-Day veteran whose life story has the power to uplift not just fans, but people from…
The New York Sun - ‘Mourning the Presidents’ Considers How the Republic Eulogizes its Leaders - Dean Karayanis May 1, 2023 - When a president of the United States dies, what does how we memorialize his life and service say about the republic? Our time machine welcomes back Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky to give her insights as we discuss “Mourning the Presidents: Loss and Legacy in American Culture,”…
The New York Sun - Stephen F. Knott – Coming to Terms with John F. Kennedy - Dean Karayanis March 21, 2023 - How did a man who worked at the JFK Presidential Library grapple with the 35th president’s legacy over his own lifetime to deliver portrait of the real man behind the myths of Camelot? In this episode, our time machine welcomes back Stephen F. Knott, author of “Coming to Terms with John F.…
January 23, 2023 - How did the relationships of two pairs of U.S. presidents — Theodore Roosevelt with William Howard Taft and Franklin Delano Roosevelt with freshman Congressman Lyndon Baines Johnson — change the course of history, and the world we live in today? In this episode, presidential historian Mike Purdy brings us Presidential Friendships: How They Changed History. Mike is an opinion…
The New York Sun - ‘Muppets in Moscow’ Recounts How Sesame Street Reached Red Square - Dean Karayanis December 19, 2022 - How did Kermit the Frog, Big Bird, and the rest of the Sesame Street expand their neighborhood to Moscow after the collapse of the USSR? In this episode, we meet the woman who adapted a beloved American TV show for an audience newly freed from behind the Iron Curtain. TV…
November 21, 2022 - If you could ride along in a Humvee with one of the most admired American combat leaders of the last half century, what would you hope to learn? In this episode, our time machine welcomes back internationally acclaimed military historian and U.S. Army veteran Mike Guardia. We last caught up with Mike to discuss his book, Skybreak: The 58th Fighter Squadron in Desert Storm. Mike…
October 24, 2022 - Something special this week for the season of pumpkins, ghosts, and Candy Corn: A YouTube feature on what Hollywood gets right and wrong about yesterday called History Author Showtime. It’s a video breakdown of the 1975 movie, “The Legend of Lizzie Borden,” starring Elizabeth Montgomery, who you may remember as Samantha Stevens from “Bewitched.” I often ask authors what they…
October 10, 2022 - What if historical fiction could give someone the courage that saves their life? In this episode, Judith F. Brenner shares her debut novel The Moments Between Dreams, which has the power to do just that, as we mark Domestic Violence and Polio Awareness Months. The book has been described as "edutaining,' both educational and entertaining, as we return to the 1940s and ‘50s for a…
Featured in The New York Sun - Biden’s Tumble at Air Force Ceremony Stands Out in Long List of History’s Presidential Pratfalls - Dean Karayanis September 26, 2022 - How did Franklin Delano Roosevelt win reelection with 46 of the 48 states in 1936, despite America being in the throes of the Great Depression? In this episode, legendary historian David Pietrusza to discuss his new book, Roosevelt…
September 3, 2022 - On the morning of September 8th, 1900, disaster struck the vibrant, prosperous island of Galveston, Texas, tearing out its heart. In this episode, our time machine travels back to the turn of the last century to meet sixteen-year-old Clara and the Gladys family, against the backdrop of the worst natural disaster to ever strike the United States -- that killed between 6,000 and…
Featured in The New York Sun - After 77 Years, Hiroshima Bombing Stands Up to Second-Guessing - Dean Karayanis August 22, 2022 - What if you were a Midwestern haberdasher-turned-senator, who served just three months as vice president, before finding yourself thrust into the Big Chair, charged with winning World War II? In this episode, our time machine welcomes aboard journalist Jeffrey Frank who…
August 8, 2022 - In the late summer of 1942, the First Marine Division sought to wrest Guadalcanal from the Japanese Empire. We’ll meet one of only two reporters on hand to record the carnage, as the spot in the Pacific earned its nickname, the Island of Death. In this episode, our time machine travels back war zones to meet in intrepid journalist who told soldiers’ stories to the folks back home.…
July 25, 2022 - How did the worlds of hip-hop and boxing unite, blending together music, race, sports, and politics? In this episode our time machine welcomes back Dr. Todd D. Snyder who brings us Beatboxing: How Hip-Hop Changed the Fight Game. We previously caught up to discuss his previous book: Bundini: Don't Believe the Hype. Meeting Muhammad Ali's hype man, Drew "Bundini" Brown, was an…
July 2, 2022 - Who were the citizen spies who risked their lives to bring General George Washington the intelligence he needed to win the War for Independence? In this episode, we take a fictional trip back to the American Revolution, to meet the people who fought for liberty with their wits and secrecy, not muskets and cannon. Our guide on this journey is S.W. O'Connell who brings us, The Patriot…
June 27, 2022 - How did revolutions in the two great English-speaking nations -- the United States and the United Kingdom -- give birth to the American Constitution, and what does its creation have to tell us about the challenges we face over 200 years since its ratification? In this episode, we dig into those questions, traveling back to when it all started with James D. R. Philips, a lawyer and…
June 13, 2022 - Before he won ten World Series titles with the New York Yankees, Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra answered a higher team’s calling, to serve his country in World War Two -- a role in the Navy that ultimately led him to a rocket ship supporting the Normandy landings. For June 6, 2022, the 78th anniversary of the 1944 D-Day landings, my column in the New York Sun was titled: “Yogi Berra’s…
May 31, 2021 - The United States of America goes to great lengths to recover the remains of those who fall in battle, to offer a headstone, a finally resting place that loved ones can visit to honor their sacrifice. But what about those who fall and cannot be identified? In this episode, our time machine welcomes aboard readers ages 7 to 97, with a book that's perfect for Memorial Day. Since 1937,…
May 16, 2022 - Today, mapping the source of the Nile River is as easy as a Google search, but the mystery intrigued humanity for centuries. In this episode, best-selling author Candice Millard introduces us to the men who won a race worthy of Indiana Jones in River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile. We last met up with Candice Millard to discuss…
May 2, 2022 - Imagine you're struggling to feed your family during the Great Depression, and you cause a tragic accident at work. Do you risk your precious job at a time of sky-high unemployment and breadlines, or let someone else take the fall for what you did wrong? We'll meet a young man who faced that dilemma with award-winning novelist Sheila Myers who brings us The Truth of Who You Are. In…
April 18, 2022 - If a group of World War Two-era journalists invited you out for drinks, ready to open up about their interviews with everyone from Gandhi and Neru to Mussolini and Hitler, what would say? Readers get that opportunity with Deborah Cohen who brings us Last Call at the Hotel Imperial: The Reporters Who Took on a World at War. In this episode, our time machine welcomes aboard…
April 4, 2022 - What would you do if your estranged father died, leaving behind piles of Nazi-era documents related to the fate of your family's café in the world wars? In this episode, our time machine travels back to the inter-war years, to meet a Jewish family rocked by the turmoil of Austria-Hungary and them Germany coming out on the losing side. Our guide on this journey is Meriel Schindler…
March 21, 2022 - Who were the young American pilots who launched their fighter jets into the wild blue yonder during the first Gulf Wear, aiming to pry tiny Kuwait from Saddam Hussein's fist? In this episode, we'll travel back to January 17, 1991, as Desert Shield transforms into Desert Storm high in the skies over Iraq. Once there, we'll meet those American airmen -- and the teams on the ground…
March 7, 2022 - Best-selling author Eva Stachniak joins us to discuss her latest novel, The School of Mirrors. "During the reign of Louis XV, impoverished but lovely teenage girls from all over France are sent to a discreet villa in the town of Versailles. Overseen by the King’s favorite mistress, Madame de Pompadour, they will be trained as potential courtesans for the King. ... The students at…
Featured in The New York Sun - Martin Luther King Jr. Drew His Moral Authority From Religion - Dean Karayanis February 21, 2022 - It was once an unattainable dream, kept out of reach by lynch mobs, police dogs and firehoses. But in 2008, Barack Obama fulfilled the promise of that all men are created equal. In this episode, we take a look back at the man who changed the face of the Oval Office…
February 7, 2022 - Theodore Roosevelt's life is the stuff of myths and legends, a persona he carefully cultivated over his decades charging through public life. But what did those who shared his private moments think of the Rough Rider? We'll get freshly uncovered insights from those who knew him best, meeting the 26th president through the eyes of friends, families and confidants, through 14 lost…
January 24, 2022 - What happens when an acclaimed author on figures from George Washington and James Madison to Aaron Burr and Andrew Johnson, turns his historical searchlight inward to his own family's American story? David O. Stewart does just that in his novel The New Land, Book One of the Overstreet Saga. This is attorney-turned-author David O. Stewart's fifth appearance on the show. I…
January 10, 2022 - Surrounded, low on supplies, and on the verge of surrender, the soldiers of Argentina -- many young, barely trained conscripts -- wrote home in the waning days of the Falkland War, telling tales of hardship that bore no resemblance to the propaganda woven by the military junta back in Buenos Ares. Ricky D. Phillips brings us these up-close accounts for the first time in Last…
December 13, 2021 - How did a college dropout from Missouri, grow up to win five Marconi awards and rescue AM radio -- to have one U.S. president carry his bags into the Lincoln bedroom, and another award him the Medal of Freedom? It's the amazing life story of radio's greatest of all time, Rush Limbaugh, from his long-time friend James Golden, known better to tens of millions of listeners as Bo…
November 29, 2021 - How did a high school hockey team go from being the very worst in the country to the top 5%, and what lessons can we apply to our own lives from that historic turnaround? In this episode, our time machine steps onto the ice twenty years ago with the lowly Ann Arbor Huron High School River Rats. Our player-turned-coach is best-selling author John U. Bacon, who rescued a team…
The New York Sun - Upcoming Dump of JFK Documents Winds Up the Conspiracy Theorists - Dean Karayanis November 15, 2021 - On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Was it a lone gunman or something more sinister? In this episode, we debunk the conspiracy theories with renowned investigative journalist and attorney Gerald Posner, author of the Pulitzer Prize…
November 1, 2021 - Adolf Hitler infamously told his naval commander-in-chief, Admiral Karl Dönitz, "On land, I am a hero. At sea, I am a coward." But those battles on, under and over the Atlantic decided the fate of the world every bit as much as action in Europe and North Africa. In this episode, our time machine welcomes back Simon Read who brings us his wildly enjoyable new book The Iron Sea:…
October 18, 2021 - America's only bachelor president has had whispers about his relationship with a certain vice president for almost two centuries. But were they more than friends, and why does the answer matter in 2021? Our time machine travels back to the pre-Civil War period, to delve into the personal lives of our 15th president, James Buchanan, and his roommate William Rufus King, the 13th…
October 4, 2021 - Theodore Roosevelt is invoked in contemporary politics so often, it's easy to forget that he died in his bed 100 years ago. So who was the real flesh-and-blood man, and what would he think of his evolution into a mythical folk hero? Our time machine travels back, to meet the real TR with Michael Patrick Cullinane, author of Theodore Roosevelt’s Ghost: The History and Memory of an…
September 20, 2021 - In 2020, we saw one what was long called impossible: Peace deal after another between Arab states and Israel in the Abraham Accords. What do the leaders of these nations see for the future, and how can we foster it by better understanding the past? Joel C. Rosenberg has seen history unfold firsthand and spoken personally to the men changing their corner of world by beating…
Sep 6, 2021 - Our time machine travels back to a bright morning that turned dark, when ships of all sizes answered cries for help to evacuate Lower Manhattan after terrorists flew planes into the Twin Towers. Our guide on this journey is Jessica DuLong who bring us, Saved at the Seawall: Stories from the September 11 Boat Lift. Jessica DuLong is an award-winning author, journalist, historian,…
August 23, 2021 - Everyone has heard the timeless music of George Gershwin, but we may never have heard it in quite the same way without the love of Gershwin's life, Katharine Faulkner Swift, who he nicknamed "Kay." Mitchell James Kaplan brings us their Jazz Age romance in his novel, Rhapsody. In it, we meet a restless society wife who attends a concert that changes her life and the face of…
August 9, 2021 - In this episode, we toss the keys to our time machine into the hands of Lincoln historian Jason Emerson, who I welcomed for Q&A about his book Mary Lincoln for the Ages and several other titles related to the 16th president and the First Lady. Jason's guest hosting our interview with Michael Burlingame about An American Marriage: The Untold Story of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd.…
July 26, 2021 - You may not have heard the name Wolf the Quarrelsome. But once you meet this bold, Irish warrior -- and the woman who risked her life to build his spy ring -- you'll never look at Ireland quite the same way. In this episode, our way-back machine travels ten centuries into the past, as Viking invaders storm his island, and Wolf mounts a 15-year resistance campaign, climaxing in…
July 12, 2021 - Imagine you're Jewish during the Second World War, but safely in bed an ocean away from Nazi Germany, secure in the vastness of Canada. Would you march into the heart of the Third Reich, risking your life to stare down Hitler's war machine, for a country that didn't consider you a fully loyal and equal citizen? In this episode, we meet the heroes that Canadian Prime Minister…
