BackStory with the American History Guys: Favorites

Series produced by BackStory with the American History Guys

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A collection of the best stories and features from BackStory, meant for excerpt by programs or stations.

BackStory is a weekly one-hour public radio show that provides a national broadcast audience with an enjoyable and accessible way of engaging challenging themes in American history and how they connect with today.

The pieces in this series are available for individual excerpt. If you are interested in full episodes of BackStory, check out our main series page.


188 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Caption: Surrender of Genl. Lee, at Appomattox C.H. Va. April 9th. 1865, Credit: Currier & Ives, Library of Congress
Freedom was a tenuous reality for many former slaves in the early days of the federally occupied South, with bands of returning soldiers — now out ...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Apr 24, 2015
  • Length: 09:43
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Surrender of Genl. Lee, at Appomattox C.H. Va. April 9th. 1865, Credit: Currier & Ives, Library of Congress
Were any rebel leaders hung for treason? Historian David Blight explains what happened to Confederate officials after the war, and why. This story ...

  • Added: Apr 24, 2015
  • Length: 09:41
Caption: "The death bed of the martyr President Abraham Lincoln", Credit: Currier & Ives, Library of Congress
Scholar Elizabeth Leonard talks with host Brian Balogh about the trials of the surviving suspects in Lincoln’s assassination, conducted in an atmos...

Bought by KSVR Studios: Skagit Valley Radio and PRX Remix


  • Added: Apr 16, 2015
  • Length: 10:38
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: "The death bed of the martyr President Abraham Lincoln", Credit: Currier & Ives, Library of Congress
Historian Martha Hodes outlines the public grief – and celebration – at Lincoln’s death across the Union. This story comes from the BackStory show ...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Apr 16, 2015
  • Length: 08:08
  • Purchases: 1
Piece image
Terry Alford, Edward Steers Jr., Wyatt Evans, and Sarah Jencks walk the Guys through the evolution of John Wilkes Booth’s plan not only to kill Lin...

  • Added: Apr 16, 2015
  • Length: 11:50
Caption: Cartograph by Ruth Taylor White, for the Hawaii Tourist Bureau, circa 1930. , Credit: Via the University of Oregon’s Knight Library.
Scholar and chef Ben Davison helps the Guys answer a burning question: What’s the origin of Thousand Island dressing, anyway? This piece comes from...

Bought by KCMJ Community Radio and WABE


  • Added: Mar 25, 2015
  • Length: 08:44
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Cartograph by Ruth Taylor White, for the Hawaii Tourist Bureau, circa 1930. , Credit: Via the University of Oregon’s Knight Library.
Chinese immigrants held on San Francisco's Angel Island in the early 20th century carved poetry deep into the walls that confined them. Judy Yung w...

Bought by WOUB, KUER, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Mar 25, 2015
  • Length: 09:21
  • Purchases: 3
Caption: Cartograph by Ruth Taylor White, for the Hawaii Tourist Bureau, circa 1930. , Credit: Via the University of Oregon’s Knight Library.
BackStory producer Andrew Parsons brings us the story of James Strang, a Mormon leader who moved his followers to Michigan’s Beaver Island -- where...

Bought by WABE and PRX Remix


  • Added: Mar 25, 2015
  • Length: 11:02
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Cartograph by Ruth Taylor White, for the Hawaii Tourist Bureau, circa 1930. , Credit: University of Oregon
BackStory producer Nina Earnest recounts the extremes to which Puerto Rican nationalist Pedro Albizu Campos and his followers fought for independen...

Bought by WABE and PRX Remix


  • Added: Mar 25, 2015
  • Length: 10:59
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Mural of Rosie the Riveter, Sacramento, Calif., Credit: Library of Congress
Producer Nina Earnest and legal scholar Lea VanderVelde unpack the tort of seduction — one of the few claims women could make to challenge sexual h...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Feb 10, 2015
  • Length: 07:26
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Toward Los Angeles, Calif., by Dorothea Lange, 1937., Credit: Library of Congress
Author Larry Tye and host Brian Balogh discuss the masterful campaign by PR guru Edward Bernays, to convince American women to take up smoking. Plu...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Feb 04, 2015
  • Length: 11:13
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Toward Los Angeles, Calif., by Dorothea Lange, 1937., Credit: Library of Congress
Author Richard Jurek describes how one giant leap in public relations helped launch NASA’s lunar program - and how brands used the space program to...

Bought by KPIP-LP and PRX Remix


  • Added: Feb 04, 2015
  • Length: 09:39
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Toward Los Angeles, Calif., by Dorothea Lange, 1937., Credit: Library of Congress
Historian Cathy Gudis returns with the story of how advertising followed 20th century Americans out onto the open road, and discusses efforts to cu...

Bought by WOUB and PRX Remix


  • Added: Feb 04, 2015
  • Length: 10:37
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Toward Los Angeles, Calif., by Dorothea Lange, 1937., Credit: Library of Congress
Composer Michael Levine, who wrote the long-running Kit-Kat jingle, tells host Brian Balogh what makes a jingle powerful — and catchy. Then… he off...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Feb 04, 2015
  • Length: 10:07
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Elektro the Moto-Man and his Little Dog Sparko, created by Westinghouse Electric Company for the 1939 World’s Fair., Credit: New York City Public Library
Matt Novak of the blog "Paleofuture" talks about "The Jetsons," the show that helped define American ideas of future technology without thinking mu...

Bought by WOUB, New Hampshire Public Radio, WABE, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jan 05, 2015
  • Length: 07:47
  • Purchases: 4
Caption: Elektro the Moto-Man and his Little Dog Sparko, created by Westinghouse Electric Company for the 1939 World’s Fair., Credit: New York City Public Library
Maria Lane, author of Geographies of Mars, relates what Percival Lowell observed on the red planet. This segment comes from BackStory's episode "Th...

Bought by Radio Newark and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jan 05, 2015
  • Length: 09:02
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Elektro the Moto-Man and his Little Dog Sparko, created by Westinghouse Electric Company for the 1939 World’s Fair., Credit: New York City Public Library
Bradley Boyd and reporter Ashley Creek head to the top of an old hotel in Birmingham, Alabama, which made provisions for a future that never came. ...

Bought by Troy Public Radio, WABE, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jan 05, 2015
  • Length: 05:11
  • Purchases: 3
Caption: Elektro the Moto-Man and his Little Dog Sparko, created by Westinghouse Electric Company for the 1939 World’s Fair., Credit: New York City Public Library
Historian Max Page talks about why New York City is so often the target of destruction on the page and the silver screen. This segment comes from t...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Jan 05, 2015
  • Length: 09:10
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: The greatest department store on earth; — and every day a bargain day,’ by J.S. Pughe. Puck, 1899.
Producer Eli Wirtschafter brings us the story of author L. Frank Baum’s very successful career creating other fantasy lands — department store wind...

Bought by WABE, Troy Public Radio, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Dec 22, 2014
  • Length: 10:09
  • Purchases: 3
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Producer Andrew Parsons explores the legacy of John Tyler, a man who was called a tyrant and worse simply for insisting that he was, in fact, the P...

Bought by WOUB, WABE, New Hampshire Public Radio, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Dec 08, 2014
  • Length: 08:30
  • Purchases: 4