Our American Stories

On this episode of Our American Stories, at Fort Irwin, where military training exercises push soldiers to the edge of real combat, the line between routine drills and genuine danger can blur without warning. Our American Stories regular contributor Richard Muniz remembers a night when that line vanished. A single misjudged moment during a live-fire military exercise sent a round into the wrong vehicle and forced a small crew to fight for their lives in the dark. His story is a look at how even the best-trained teams face risks that no plan can fully erase. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, by the start of 1864, the Civil War had dragged the country into exhaustion. Union armies faced setback after setback, and Lincoln watched public confidence slip as the Confederacy pressed its advantage. The outcome of the presidential election during wartime hung on the direction of the fighting, which turned the battlefield into a measure of Lincoln’s strength. Charles Bracelen Flood revisits this uneasy year, when the fate of the Union and the presidency moved together through uncertainty that reached from the front lines to the White House. We’d like to thank the Library of Congress for originally hosting this audio. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Blair and Cat Cornell learned their son would be born with special needs, they braced themselves for a future they could not quite picture. The early years brought long appointments and days that seemed to rise and fall on small breakthroughs. One evening, after a day that had worn their son down, Blair took him for a quiet drive. The shift was immediate. The tension left his face, and the moment settled into something gentle and steady. That drive eventually inspired JoyRide, a community built around children with developmental challenges who find comfort in cars and in the people who welcome them in. Blair shares how a simple ride became a way for families like his to feel seen. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before travelers lined up for brisket sandwiches or bags of Beaver Nuggets, Buc-ee’s began as Arch “Beaver” Aplin’s attempt to rethink what a roadside stop could feel like. He believed that even a quick break on a long drive deserved care, and the first Texas store reflected that instinct. Over the years, the idea grew until people started talking about the largest gas station in the United States as if it were a landmark rather than a convenience store. Eric Benson, who spent time tracing Aplin’s story for Texas Monthly, explains how a small experiment in hospitality reshaped the way drivers experience the open road. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the spring of 1961, McDonald County opened its highway map and discovered that it had simply vanished. The resort towns that depended on summer travelers were nowhere to be found, and what looked like a clerical mistake carried real consequences for the people who lived there. County leaders announced that McDonald County would symbolically secede from Missouri until someone paid attention. Dwight Pogue was a teenager then, watching his neighbors create a makeshift border patrol, hand out mock visas, and treat the whole effort as both a stand and a celebration. Looking back, he remembers how a small county briefly turned itself into its own territory and how that unlikely season brought the community together in a way no one expected. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before Glory brought the 54th Massachusetts to modern audiences, Robert Gould Shaw felt the pull of a story that had already begun to shape him. A quiet moment with Uncle Tom’s Cabin set him on a path that would place him at the head of one of the first Black Civil War regiments to see combat. The challenges he faced, the men who followed him, and the final march that secured the regiment’s legacy all unfolded long before the cameras arrived. Kirk Higgins of the Bill of Rights Institute traces how Shaw grew into the leader remembered today and how the history of the 54th Regiment continues to echo through the telling of the war. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Dr. David Berry lost his newborn daughter, the world around him narrowed until grief became the only thing he could feel. What began as an attempt to quiet that pain led him first to alcohol, then to cough syrup, and eventually to the stolen prescriptions that pushed him out of his home, his marriage, and the profession he loved. Dr. Berry shares how he reached the lowest point of substance abuse and how recovery helped him find solid ground again. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, as part of his ongoing series on the origins of everyday expressions, Andrew Thompson—author of Hair of the Dog to Paint the Town Red—shares the fascinating backstory behind the phrase “apple of your eye” and several others we still use without thinking. These familiar sayings carry histories shaped by religion, literature, and everyday life in earlier centuries. Thompson traces how these expressions traveled through time, how their meanings shifted, and why they continue to resonate in modern speech. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, Ralphie’s fantasy villain in A Christmas Story came from a dime novel that turned a real outlaw into a cartoon desperado. The actual Black Bart was nothing like the character on screen. In the 1870s, he robbed stagecoaches with a courtesy that puzzled sheriffs and captivated the public, leaving polite poems instead of violence. Roger McGrath looks back at the life of Charles Boles, a man whose quiet manners and curious habits made him one of the most successful and most unexpected bandits in Old West history. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Jeff Katz wrote a birthday note to his daughter Julia, he was marking a moment she would not recognize. Julia lives with global developmental delays, and her days move with a rhythm that has stayed the same for years. Still, the note gave Jeff a place to set down what life with her has looked like, from the small routines she loves to the concerns he quietly carries. As he reads it aloud, he reflects on how raising Julia has shaped him in ways he never expected. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, Scot Bertram and Christian Schneider have spent years tracing the unlikely beginnings of Saturday Night Live, and they return to share how the show first took shape. They follow its earliest days, when a quiet Canadian named Lorne Michaels gathered a scattered group of young performers and tried to build something that didn’t exist yet. What emerged was a late-night experiment that caught the country’s attention and set the rhythm for modern sketch comedy. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, back when Lorna Jean was struggling through the darkest stretch of her life, she didn’t expect anyone to come close. Then Allison, the wife of her doctor, paused on her rounds one afternoon and stepped into Lorna’s room. What started as a hesitant conversation slowly turned into a place Lorna could trust. Over the years, that friendship helped her weather crises, make sense of her own mind, and feel less alone in a world that often overwhelmed her. Lorna shares how that connection formed and why it has stayed with her for decades. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, when immigrant Osiris Hoil lost his construction job during the economic downturn of 2008, it felt like the kind of setback that ends a dream. He had left Mexico with hope for something better, only to find himself caught in the same financial crisis that pushed so many families to the brink. What he still had was his cooking, his mother’s standards, and a neighbor who believed he could turn those gifts into something real. With that encouragement, Hoil began what would become District Taco, a business that grew through persistence rather than luck. Osiris shares how that unlikely beginning took shape during one of the hardest moments in recent economic history. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, in September 1813, Oliver Hazard Perry sailed into the Battle of Lake Erie carrying a flag stitched with a promise not to give up the ship. He was young, outmatched on paper, and facing a British fleet that had dominated the early naval battles of the War of 1812. What followed was a decisive victory that reshaped the conflict and secured Perry’s place as one of its defining figures. Craig Du Mez of the Grateful Nation Project returns to this moment to explain how Perry’s resolve, his crew, and a shifting wind altered the course of the war. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, for a brief moment, Iowa found itself on the map of professional basketball. The Waterloo Hawks arrived with modest expectations and ended up claiming a win that still startles anyone who follows the early years of the league. They beat the Boston Celtics, then faded from view as quickly as they appeared. Tim Harwood, author of Ball Hawks: The Arrival and Departure of the NBA in Iowa, tells the story of how a small Midwestern town became the home of an NBA franchise and how that unlikely chapter continues to echo through local sports history. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Tom Zoellner found himself holding a diamond engagement ring with no wedding ahead of it, he began to wonder how a single piece of jewelry had come to carry so much weight. That question sent him far from the jewelry counters where most people shop for engagement rings and deep into the long history behind them. His search led to Victorian engagement traditions, the rise of diamond marketing, and the complicated story of how a proposal ring became a cultural expectation. Tom shares how his journey reshaped the way he understood love, loss, and the meaning we assign to the things we wear. Check out his book The Heartless Stone for more of the story! Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, before Kent Nerburn became known for his reflections on manhood and love, he was a young man circling the edges of his own life. That changed during a quiet afternoon in graduate school, when his friend Craig offered a gentle observation that revealed more about human nature than any book ever could. Craig understood what many struggle to see: people respond to interest, not perfection. Kent shares how a single gesture helped him move past the anxious self-image that once held him still and taught him what true social skill looks like from the inside out. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the turbulent years after the Revolution, settlers west of the mountains felt the weight of distance from the governments that claimed them. Their answer was to imagine a new state named Franklin, a place shaped not by polished politics but by the realities of frontier life. The Appalachian Storyteller traces how this fragile experiment rose and unraveled, revealing a moment when the boundaries of early America were still unsettled and ordinary people tried to shape a future that never quite arrived. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 defining children’s book artist of the twentieth century. Our own Greg Hengler traces how Sendak’s early life and restless imagination shaped the world that would become Where the Wild Things Are—a story that opened the door to a new kind of children’s literature and revealed just how powerful a picture book could be. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, The Indian Wars did not begin with a single event or a single clash. They formed slowly along the edges of a growing nation, where unfamiliar customs and competing claims to land created a series of misunderstandings that deepened over time. But why did Native Americans and settlers enter into a conflict that lasted for centuries? Here to tell the story is Ken LaCorte, host of the popular YouTube channel Elephants in Rooms. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.