Our American Stories
Our American Stories
Our American Stories tells stories that aren’t being told. Positive stories about generosity and courage, resilience and redemption, faith and love. Stories about the past and present. And stories about ordinary Americans who do extraordinary things each and every day. Stories from our listeners about their lives. And their history. In that pursuit, we hope we’ll be a place where listeners can ref…Follow the podcast:
John Cazale: The Greatest Actor You Don't Know
On this episode of Our American Stories, John Cazale never became a movie star. He never received an Academy Award nomination, and his film career lasted only six years. Yet Al Pacino considered him an acting idol, Meryl Streep fell in love with him, and every one of the five films he appeared in w…
30:17
How Carole King and Gerry Goffin Wrote "A Natural Woman" for Aretha Franklin
On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1967, Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler approached the songwriting team of Carole King and Gerry Goffin with an idea. He needed a hit for Aretha Franklin and even had a title in mind: "A Natural Woman." After putting their children to bed, King and …
07:59
The Six Percent: The Woman Who Worked With the Enemy to Save Lives
On this episode of Our American Stories, Laura Margolis arrived in Shanghai to help Jewish refugees who had fled persecution in Europe. Then Pearl Harbor changed everything. With the city under Japanese occupation and some 20,000 Jewish refugees now trapped there, Margolis found herself classified …
10:49
Clarence Birdseye: The Arctic Adventurer Who Invented Frozen Food
On this episode of Our American Stories, Clarence Birdseye was always looking for his next adventure. He hunted coyotes in the American West, collected dangerous ticks in the Rocky Mountains, and eventually took his young family into the frozen wilderness of Labrador. There, Birdseye noticed how I…
19:28
Ralph Cox: The Last Man Cut From the "Miracle on Ice" Team
On this episode of Our American Stories, Ralph Cox had spent years dreaming of representing the United States at the Olympics. In 1980, he came within days of doing it. Then coach Herb Brooks called him into a room and delivered the news: Cox would be the final player cut from the U.S. Olympic hock…
07:59
America's First Animal Celebrities: Railroad Dogs
On this episode of Our American Stories, in the late 1800s, stray dogs began hopping aboard America's trains and riding wherever the rails took them. Their adventures soon made the newspapers, and some became celebrities known across the country. Paul Koudounaris, author of Go West, Young Dog, sha…
10:49
How a Farm Boy Invented Television
On this episode of Our American Stories, as a teenager growing up on a farm in rural Idaho, Philo Farnsworth had an idea that seemed almost impossible: transmit moving pictures through the air. Before long, he had built the first fully electronic television system and found himself in a battle with…
19:28
The Native American Chief Who Stood with George Washington
On this episode of Our American Stories, more than 13,000 Native Americans took part in the Revolutionary War, most fighting alongside the British. Daniel Nimham chose a different path. The last sachem of the Wappinger people of New York's Hudson Valley, Nimham joined the American cause, received a…
07:59
Are Pro Wrestlers Really Athletes?
On this episode of Our American Stories, from the days of Hulk Hogan to modern WWE, wrestlers travel constantly, train relentlessly, and perform feats that demand strength, timing, and endurance. The spectacle may be designed for drama, but the toll on the body is no joke. Sportswriter Riley Evans…
10:49
How America's First Female Detective Saved Abraham Lincoln
On this episode of Our American Stories, in February 1861, Abraham Lincoln was making a 13-day journey from Springfield, Illinois, to Washington, D.C., when warnings emerged of a plot to assassinate the president-elect as he passed through Baltimore, Maryland. With the country already coming apart …
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