Our American Stories
Our American Stories
Playlist by Our American StoriesOur 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 abo…Follow the podcast:
4,835 clip(s) in playlist
How One Gross Invention Added Decades to Human Life
On this episode of Our American Stories, before modern sanitation, cities were filthy, drinking water was often contaminated, and diseases like cholera and typhoid killed hundreds of thousands of people. Life in even the world's greatest cities could be dangerous, all because of a problem most peop…
20:17
My Grandfather Was the Best Storyteller I Ever Knew
On this episode of Our American Stories, before television and smartphones, there were front porches, and there were storytellers. For Dennis Peterson, the greatest storyteller he ever knew was his grandfather, Frederick Newman “Paw” Summers, an East Tennessee jack-of-all-trades whose tales could k…
09:59
The Surprising History of Air Conditioning and the Man Behind It
On this episode of Our American Stories, before air conditioning, summer shaped how people worked, where they lived, and which cities could survive in the heat. That all began to change in 1902, when Willis Carrier designed a machine to solve humidity problems in a printing plant. His invention tra…
07:59
I Thought I Knew My Father Until I Read His World War II Diary
On this episode of Our American Stories, when Sally Grove was growing up, she thought she knew her father. He was a soft-spoken Maryland family man who loved fishing, hunting, and spending time with his children. But after he died unexpectedly when Sally was just twenty years old, she discovered a …
38:37
Why the U.S. and Britain Nearly Went to War Over a Pig
On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1859, a pig wandered onto the wrong farm and sparked an international standoff. The United States and Great Britain nearly went to war over a single hog on San Juan Island, in what is now Washington State. History teacher and Our American Stories regular …
10:49
Twenty Years After My Sister's Murder, I Wrote to Her Killer
On this episode of Our American Stories, when Jeanne Bishop's pregnant sister, Nancy, and her brother-in-law, Richard, were murdered in their own home, her world shattered. The killer, a sixteen-year-old neighbor, was eventually caught and sentenced to life in prison, but no sentence could undo the…
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The Story of America: Theodore Roosevelt and the Modern Presidency [Ep. 41]
On this episode of Our American Stories, born into wealth, privilege, and chronic illness, Theodore Roosevelt seemed an unlikely candidate to become one of America's most energetic and transformative presidents. Yet through sheer determination, he reinvented himself as a rancher, war hero, reformer…
10:49
How Maurice Sendak Redrew Childhood in “Where the Wild Things Are”
On this episode of Our American Stories, Maurice Sendak had a rare ability to look at childhood without sentimentality. He understood its private fears and its unruly joys, and he tried to give those feelings a place to live on the page. That effort shaped the work that made him, for many, the defi…
27:26
How a Childhood Fascination With Paper Airplanes Became a World Record Career
On this episode of Our American Stories, most children eventually outgrow paper airplanes. John Collins never did. What began as a childhood fascination with folding paper and experimenting with flight grew into a lifelong passion that led him to become the Guinness World Record holder for the fart…
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Five Brothers Went Off to Fight World War II
On this episode of Our American Stories, when World War II called, the Wilson family of Iowa answered. One by one, five brothers left home to serve their country, while their parents and siblings waited anxiously for news from across the globe. Our regular contributor Joy Neal Kidney shares the st…
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