History That Doesn't Suck

Professor Greg Jackson is touring the country with a live version of the podcast telling the story of The Unlikely Union of American states. Starting Sep 19, 2025 through July 4, 2026, you can hear the Professor history-tell in person, with video and live musicians.  It’s not recorded for the podcast so get your tickets now at ⁠HTDSpodcast.com/live-shows [http://htdspodcast.com/live-shows] In 100 minutes Professor Jackson will take audiences on a remarkable 100-year journey that begins when thirteen distinct, disparate British colonies set aside differences to unite as something greater. Then, in less than a century of this young nation's existence, the durability of its union and commitment to its founding ideals are put to the test in a bloody civil war.  In 2026, America will turn 250 years old, remarkably— because it nearly died a thousand deaths in just its first 100. This live stage show celebrates America’s semiquincentennial (250th birthday) by not only returning to its bold Declaration of Independence, but revisiting key events in its first centennial that gave this nation, as Abraham Lincoln spoke, “a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” ____ Connect with us on HTDSpodcast.com [https://www.htdspodcast.com/] and * go deep into episode bibliographies [https://www.htdspodcast.com/bibliography] and book recommendations [https://www.htdspodcast.com/book-recommendations] * join discussions in our Facebook community [https://www.facebook.com/groups/257926761619618/] * get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette [https://www.htdspodcast.com/newsletters-1]  * come see a live show [https://www.htdspodcast.com/live-shows] * get HTDS merch [https://htds-team-shop.fourthwall.com/] * or become an HTDS premium [https://htds.supercast.com/] member for bonus episodes and other perks. HTDS is part of Audacy media network. [https://www.audacy.com/] Interested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? Contact Audacyinc.com [https://audacyinc.com/contact] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

“There will be no more mercy now; anyone who stands in our way will be butchered.” This is the story of Adolf Hitler and the collapse of the Weimar Republic.  A dropout. A failed applicant to Vienna’s prestigious Academy of Fine Arts. A decorated but low-ranking soldier who attempts to overthrow the state and is convicted of treason. But only a decade or so later, he’s the nation’s leader. Not just the Chancellor, not even a “mere” president. He’s Germany’s dictator. The “Führer.”  How on earth does such an underwhelming man rise to such an overwhelming position of power? With virulent nationalism, rabid antisemitism, fearmongering, and violence in an economically panicked, democracy-doubting, and defeated Germany. This is the rise of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Reich.  ____ Connect with us on HTDSpodcast.com [https://www.htdspodcast.com/] and * go deep into episode bibliographies [https://www.htdspodcast.com/bibliography] and book recommendations [https://www.htdspodcast.com/book-recommendations] * join discussions in our Facebook community [https://www.facebook.com/groups/257926761619618/] * get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette [https://www.htdspodcast.com/newsletters-1]  * come see a live show [https://www.htdspodcast.com/live-shows] * get HTDS merch [https://htds-team-shop.fourthwall.com/] * or become an HTDS premium [https://htds.supercast.com/] member for bonus episodes and other perks. HTDS is part of Audacy media network. [https://www.audacy.com/] Interested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? Contact Audacyinc.com [https://audacyinc.com/contact] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

“Italy, Gentlemen, wants peace, wants quiet, wants work, wants calm; we will give it with love, if that be possible, or with strength, if that be necessary.” This is the story of Italy’s Benito Mussolini’s creation of fascism and rise to power in interwar Italy. Benito starts life the way his father intended—as a socialist—and the often moving, young schoolteacher quickly emerges as a leading voice in the movement as he’s entrusted to serve as the editor of one of the party’s most important newspapers. But the Great War changes that. Benito supports it, the party doesn't, and by the conflict’s end, the returned soldier has a new idea—one that takes him across the political spectrum, all the way from the Marxist left to the nationalist far-right—a violent, war-glorifying, anti-democratic, one-party, dictatorial version of nationalism. He calls it “fascism.”  Benito speaks of order. Economic prosperity. National pride. Some see his black-clad fighting squads, known as “Blackshirts,” as their saviors from the far-left’s communism, so feared in the wake of the recent Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. Indeed, many Italians welcome his march on Rome and his growing powers as Prime Minister, and celebrate his foreign policy achievements, including a reconciliation between Italy and the Vatican.  But as Benito kills Italy’s constitutional monarchy in all but name as he turns into a dictator, conquers Ethiopia, ignores the League of Nations, and bonds with Germany’s rising dictator Adolf Hitler, former allies are growing concerned. Some fear his anti-democratic path will also embolden Germany. As W.E.B. Du Bois questions: “If Italy takes her pound of flesh by force, does anyone suppose that Germany will not make a similar attempt?” Only time will tell. Connect with us on HTDSpodcast.com [https://www.htdspodcast.com/] and * go deep into episode bibliographies [https://www.htdspodcast.com/bibliography] and book recommendations [https://www.htdspodcast.com/book-recommendations] * join discussions in our Facebook community [https://www.facebook.com/groups/257926761619618/] * get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette [https://www.htdspodcast.com/newsletters-1]  * come see a live show [https://www.htdspodcast.com/live-shows] * get HTDS merch [https://htds-team-shop.fourthwall.com/] * or become an HTDS premium [https://htds.supercast.com/] member for bonus episodes and other perks. HTDS is part of Audacy media network. [https://www.audacy.com/] Interested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? Contact Audacyinc.com [https://audacyinc.com/contact] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

This is the story of interwar preparation–not that the United States realized it was preparing for World War II, new technologies, innovation, and a constant pushing of the limits in the 1930s did indeed help Uncle Sam prepare for the fight to come. To get us into an interwar mindset of praying for peace while preparing for war, Professor Jackson tells us the tale of the B-17 bomber and is then joined by GEN James E. Rainey, Commanding General, U.S. Army Futures Command, to discuss how the current day Army thinks about history to prepare for the future. In this informative conversation, GEN Rainey talks about the lessons, leaders, and innovations from the Army’s 250 years of service to the nation that can inform and inspire officers, soldiers, and leaders of all vocations to meet the missions of tomorrow. General James E. Rainey is the Commanding General Commander, Army Futures Command (AFC) [https://www.army.mil/futures]. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, AFC is the Army’s newest major command, responsible for transforming the Army to ensure war-winning future readiness, employing 30,000 Soldiers and Civilians at 128 locations worldwide. In his previous position, General Rainey served at the Pentagon, where he oversaw the Army’s operations and plans. General Rainey commissioned as an infantry lieutenant upon graduating from Eastern Kentucky University in 1987. He has commanded at every level from platoon to division and has served in numerous combat deployments in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He earned a master’s degree in advanced military arts and science from the School of Advanced Military Studies and another in Public Administration from Troy University. He also completed a Senior Service Fellowship at the University of Denver’s Korbel School of International Relations.  Disclosure: HTDS has not paid nor received any remuneration for this episode from the US Army or any other government agency. The opinions of the guest are his own and do not represent the opinions of Professor Jackson or HTDS. We are grateful to the many soldiers who have served our nation throughout history, and proud to bring discussions like this to the public in the spirit of education and access to the leaders in whom We the People place our trust. Books referenced in the interview: * The official US Army field manual number one, “A Primer to our Profession of Arms” [https://armypubs.army.mil/epubs/DR_pubs/DR_a/ARN43687-FM_1-000-WEB-2.pdf] * Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II [https://amzn.to/42XI8g2] by Arthur Herman * Prodigal Soldiers: How the Generation of Officers Born of Vietnam Revolutionized the American Style of War [https://amzn.to/43wnkN0] by James Kitfield * Real Soldiering: The US Army in the Aftermath of War, 1815-1980 [https://amzn.to/4kSokRl] by Brian McAllister Linn * America's First Battles, 1776-1965 [https://amzn.to/442humC] by Charles E. Heller (Editor), William A. Stofft (Editor) * General Fox Conner: Pershing’s Chief of Operations and Eisenhower’s Mentor (Leadership in Action) [https://amzn.to/43HsWTm]by Steven Rabalais  Connect with us on HTDSpodcast.com [https://www.htdspodcast.com/] and * go deep into episode bibliographies [https://www.htdspodcast.com/bibliography] and book recommendations [https://www.htdspodcast.com/book-recommendations] * join discussions in our Facebook community [https://www.facebook.com/groups/257926761619618/] * get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette [https://www.htdspodcast.com/newsletters-1]  * come see a live show [https://www.htdspodcast.com/tour] * get HTDS merch * or become an HTDS premium [https://htds.supercast.com/] member for bonus episodes and other perks. HTDS is part of Audacy media network. [https://www.audacy.com/] Interested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? Contact Audacyinc.com [https://audacyinc.com/contact] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]

“If he is lost it will be the most universally regretted single loss we ever had. But that kid ain’t going to fail.” This is the story of the high-fliers in early twentieth-century American aviation.  Wright brothers Orville and Wilbur stunned the nation and the world with their pioneering flight in 1903, and since then, aviation has spread its wings, so to speak. The Wright Brothers and other innovators like Glenn Curtiss are innovating and pushing the limit while the Great War takes aviation to new heights altogether.  But when the guns fall silent in Europe, the roar of its plane engines doesn’t. Former doughboy pilots and an upcoming generation of postwar aviators have all sorts of uses for these aircraft: crop dusting, photography, high-flying “barnstorming” stunts, and, of course, mail delivery. And as planes get faster and flights get longer; as daring pilots like Charlie “Lucky Lindy” Lindbergh, Howard Hughes, and Amelia Earhart refuse to accept anything short of the “sky’s the limit”; as postage and fine-dining passengers take to the skies; the United States will never the be the same. ____ Connect with us on HTDSpodcast.com [https://www.htdspodcast.com/] and * go deep into episode bibliographies [https://www.htdspodcast.com/bibliography] and book recommendations [https://www.htdspodcast.com/book-recommendations] * join discussions in our Facebook community [https://www.facebook.com/groups/257926761619618/] * get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette [https://www.htdspodcast.com/newsletters-1]  * come see a live show [https://www.htdspodcast.com/live-shows] * get HTDS merch * or become an HTDS premium [https://htds.supercast.com/] member for bonus episodes and other perks. HTDS is part of Audacy media network. [https://www.audacy.com/] Interested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? Contact Audacyinc.com [https://audacyinc.com/contact] To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy [https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices [https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices]