Season 98, Episode 1 · American History Tellers
Frontier Legends | Davy Crockett | 1
22 Jul 2026 · 42 min
Season 98, Episode 1 · American History Tellers
22 Jul 2026 · 42 min
In 1821, a little-known backwoods hunter named David Crockett won a seat in the Tennessee legislature, despite having little formal education and virtually no political experience beyond his gift for spinning a good story. It marked an unlikely turning point for a man who would become a symbol of the American frontier, which was then rapidly expanding as settlers pushed into land long inhabited by Indigenous peoples. Ultimately, Crockett's frontier persona would prove his greatest political asset, eventually carrying him all the way to Congress. But once there, he would break with his own…
by Audible · English · Kids & Family
The Cold War, Prohibition, the Gold Rush, the Space Race. Every part of your life - the words you speak, the ideas you share - can be traced to our history, but how well do you really know the stories that made America? We'll take you to the events, the times and the people that shaped our nation. A
S98 · E4 · 12 Aug 2026 · 38 min
In 1894, a young Utah ranch hand named Robert LeRoy Parker – already going by the alias "Butch Cassidy" – was convicted of horse theft and sent to a Wyoming penitentiary. It was a minor crime that set the course for a much larger criminal career. After his release, he went on to earn a fearsome reputation as the mastermind of a gang of outlaws known as the Wild Bunch, before he and his partner, the Sundance Kid, led lawmen on an international manhunt that would cement his place as one of the West's most enduring legends. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy…
S98 · E3 · 5 Aug 2026 · 37 min
In 1875, Bass Reeves became one of the first Black men to serve as a deputy U.S. marshal in the West. Reeves had been born into slavery, but after a violent confrontation with his owner, he fled to Indian Territory, in present-day Oklahoma. There, for three decades he used his knowledge of Indian languages and his expert marksmanship to hunt down murderers, horse thieves, and bootleggers across 75,000 square miles of remote terrain. As stories of his exploits spread across the frontier, he would become one of the most renowned and feared lawmen in the history of the West. See Privacy Policy…
S98 · E2 · 29 Jul 2026 · 39 min
In 1865, James Butler Hickok, an Army scout and itinerant gambler better known as “Wild Bill,” shot a man dead in the town square of Springfield, Missouri. The gunfight became known as the first recorded quick draw duel, and Hickok became famous overnight. He parlayed his newfound fame into a job as a deputy U.S. marshal, and before long he was one of the most recognizable lawmen on the frontier. But Hickok’s reputation as a fearless gunslinger and a high-stakes gambler put a target on his back – one that haunted him to the end of his days. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and…
S97 · E7 · 15 Jul 2026 · 38 min
Today George Washington is remembered as the quintessential “Founding Father,” but his path to becoming an American hero was far from certain. Throughout the Revolution, Washington and countless others—including women, free and enslaved Black people, and Indigenous nations—had to make difficult choices about where their loyalties lay and what kind of future they hoped to secure. To help us uncover these often-overlooked stories, Lindsay is joined by Dr. Scott Stephenson, President and CEO of Philadelphia’s Museum of the American Revolution, where the nation’s founding is explored as an…
S97 · E6 · 8 Jul 2026 · 40 min
After six long years of war, the Continental Army was exhausted, and Congress had run out of money. George Washington feared that without a decisive victory, the cause of independence would be lost.But there was fresh cause for hope in the summer of 1781, as a massive French fleet sailed for the Chesapeake Bay. French and American commanders devised a plan to trap the British Army on a peninsula in Yorktown, Virginia. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
S97 · E5 · 1 Jul 2026 · 41 min
In the aftermath of America’s victory at Saratoga, France entered the Revolutionary War, transforming the colonial rebellion into a global conflict. British officials decided that the path to victory lay in the South. As the fighting shifted to the Carolinas, a brutal civil war erupted, pitting families and neighbors against one another in cycles of violence and retribution.By 1779, the Patriot cause hung in the balance, undermined by rampant inflation, soldier mutinies, and one of the most notorious incidents of treason in American history. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy…
S100 · E2 · 7 Oct 2026 · 37 min
In 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt vowed to crack down on the corruption and mistreatment that plagued Ellis Island. He appointed William Williams as the new Commissioner of Immigration and tasked him with cleaning up the Immigration Service. But Williams’ strict interpretations of federal immigration law drew criticism from German American and Jewish community leaders. As immigration to the United States reached an all-time peak, Ellis Island became the primary battleground in a fierce national debate over what it meant to become American. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy…
S100 · E1 · 30 Sep 2026 · 39 min
In the 19th century, economic turmoil, political unrest, and religious persecution drove record numbers of Europeans to American shores — making New York City the busiest port of entry. But new immigrants faced a dizzying array of conmen and thieves eager to prey on their confusion. In 1892, the U.S. government reined in the chaos by establishing a federal immigration depot on Ellis Island in New York Harbor. Over the next three decades, a small group of government inspectors would confront one of the largest mass migrations in the history of the world. See Privacy Policy at…
28 Sep 2026 · 5 min
Lauren Malloy was a baby when her mother, Lori, was murdered in East Providence, Rhode Island. For thirty years, no one told her. Everyone said Lori died of natural causes. Then a stranger sent Lauren a message — and the lie collapsed. Now Lauren is investigating her own mother’s murder. She’s recorded hundreds of hours of interviews with law enforcement, family, childhood friends, and people who won’t stop contradicting each other. Every answer opens a darker question. Every person she trusts seems to be hiding something. And the closer she gets to the truth, the more she realizes the…
S99 · E4 · 23 Sep 2026 · 47 min
After a late-night police raid on the Stonewall Inn in June 1969, the LGBTQ community fought back in the streets of Greenwich Village. Suddenly, the LGBTQ rights movement found itself catapulted onto the national stage. But questions of how radical an approach to take would pit young activists against the pioneers of the 1950s and 1960s. Even with the formation of new organizations like the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance, questions emerged. Would it be better to take part in the political process? Or to stage confrontational “zaps?”These new groups would soon be engulfed…