American History Hit

In 1775, revolutionaries went to war against the British. Seeking independence from colonial ties, they fought more than 150 battles over eight years. A relatively new nation of just 2.5 million peopl...

Just twenty years after independence, the United States fought a lesser-known war against the Barbary States of North Africa... some use the term 'Corsairs', others referred to them as 'Pirates'. But ...

This is one of the deadliest conflicts in North American History. But who was King Philip? What started the war? And how did it change history? Don is joined by Professor David Silverman from George W...

In 1867, the United States purchased Alaska from Russia in a deal that reshaped the map of North America... but what did that moment mean for the people already living there? In this episode, we explo...

From being locked up in the Tower of London to founding the 5th most populous state in the country, and the city at the heart of the Revolution, today we are charting the unlikely rise of William Penn...

It was Robert E. Lee's greatest strategic triumph but it came at a heavy cost - the loss of his talismanic leader and friend Stonewall Jackson among thousands of Confederate casualties. Guiding Don Wi...

What if we told you that puritans were actually sex-crazed? Well maybe not crazed but definitely not opposed to it. What if we told you that, actually, the entire mainstream belief of puritans being b...

During the Revolutionary War a vital web of intelligence was established, with General Washington at its head. Operating through coded letters, hidden signals, and a chain of ordinary civilians turned...

Geronimo's name is famous across the world: the Apache warrior who led a resistance movement against the United States out in the South West for years... But what happened to Geronimo (or Goyaałé) tha...

From fur traders to rulers of the New York social scene - how did the Astors rise to the top? What did it mean to be 'Old Money' in the Gilded Age? And where did that power go? Don is joined by New Yo...