BackStory with the American History Guys: Full Episodes

Series produced by BackStory with the American History Guys

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BackStory is a weekly one-hour public radio show that provides a national broadcast audience with an enjoyable and accessible way of engaging challenging themes in American history and how they connect with today.

Bringing BackStory To Your Station

Please confirm carriage of BackStory with the American History Guys by contacting Steve Martin at 703-715-0827 or steve@sfmconsulting.com.

New episodes launch every Friday on this page.

Click here for new promos for upcoming BackStory episodes every Monday.

More About Our Show

Curious about BackStory with the American History Guys? Please visit our station landing page for upcoming episodes, promotional photos, and other information, or visit our home page on PRX.


45 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Patent Pending: A History of Intellectual Property
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Full Episodes
Caption: 1814 wood engraving of two types of locking mechanisms., Credit: (Library of Congress).
Can genes be patented? Are downloaders inhibiting musical creativity – or enhancing it? This week’s BackStory explores how Americans have viewed “i...

Bought by KREV-LP, WOUB, WTJU, and WCAI / WNAN


  • Added: May 17, 2013
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 4
Born in the USA: A History of Birth [rebroadcast]
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Full Episodes
Caption: Migrant cotton picker and her baby, Buckeye, AZ, 1940, Credit: (National Archives).
It’s BackStory’s birthday! To celebrate one year as a weekly show, the American History Guys are going back to where it all begins: birth. From mid...

Bought by WOUB and WTJU


  • Added: May 10, 2013
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 2
Mission Accomplished: How Wars End
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Full Episodes
Caption: May 1, 2003: President George W. Bush declares an end to major combat operations in Iraq , Credit: (Paul Morse, White House photographer).
The declaration of "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq was famously premature. But have America's other wars had neat or definitive endings?  In this ep...

Bought by WRPI, WFPL News, WOUB, WTJU, and KREV-LP


  • Added: May 03, 2013
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 5
Fear Tactics: A History of Domestic Terrorism [rebroadcast]
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Full Episodes
Caption: Woodcut of the 1886 Haymarket Square Bombing., Credit: Harper's Weekly, LOC.
With recent events in Boston highlighting the horrors of domestic terrorism, we're re-broadcasting this episode of BackStory, which originally aire...

Bought by WCAI / WNAN, WTJU, WOUB, WXDU, KFOK-LP and more


  • Added: Apr 26, 2013
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 6
American Exodus: A History of Emigration
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Full Episodes
Caption: African-American emigrants to the U.S.S.R., aboard the German ship Deutschland, c1930s, Credit: Yelena Khanga.
With lawmakers tackling immigration, we're devoting an episode to its flip-side -- emigration. We’ll consider the stories of those who left the U.S...

Bought by KFOK-LP, KREV-LP, WRPI, WOUB, and WTJU


  • Added: Apr 19, 2013
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 5
BackStory - Paying Up: A History of Taxation
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Full Episodes
Caption: "O, the fatal Stamp Act" (one colonial newspaper's reaction to the Stamp Act of 1765.)
Just in time for Tax Day, BackStory delves into the long and turbulent history of taxation in America.

Bought by KFOK-LP, WOUB, WTJU, WCAI / WNAN, 90.5 WSNC and more


  • Added: Apr 12, 2013
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 10
Stuck: A History of Gridlock
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Full Episodes
Caption: Gridlock, Credit: Wikimedia Commons
On this episode of BackStory, Brian, Ed, and Peter take an in-depth look at stalemate in American history. Are there other times when the system ha...

Bought by KFOK-LP, WFPL News, WOUB, and WXDU


  • Added: Apr 05, 2013
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 4
Bridge For Sale: Deception in America
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Full Episodes
Caption: A version of P.T. Barnum's Fiji Mermaid. It may actually be his... in true Barnum fashion, the origins are unknown.
In America, you can be whoever you want to be. Literally. In this episode of BackStory, we look at some of the greatest cons, swindles, and counter...

Bought by WFPL News, WRPI, WEZU, Royalton Community Radio, WTJU and more


  • Added: Mar 29, 2013
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 8
Turf War: A History of College Sports [rebroadcast]
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Full Episodes
Caption: Chicago Kent College of Law indoor baseball player, M. Ryan, 1910, Credit: Library of Congress
Just in time for March Madness, we're taking on the history of college sports. It's a subject that has provided some especially heated controversie...

Bought by WFPL News, WOUB, and WTJU


  • Added: Mar 22, 2013
  • Length: 53:00
  • Purchases: 3
Committed: Marriage in America [Rebroadcast]
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Full Episodes
Caption: Wedding ceremony, 1908., Credit: LOC
Later this month, the Supreme Court will hear challenges to two major laws on marriage -- California's Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Ma...

Bought by WFPL News, WOUB, WMMT, and WTJU


  • Added: Mar 15, 2013
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 4
On The Clock: A (Brief) History of Time
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Full Episodes
Caption: Lithograph, 1918. , Credit: Library of Congress
In this episode, we’ll look at the changing ways Americans have experienced the 24-hour day — from pre-industrial times right on up through today’s...

Bought by WCAI / WNAN, WEZU, WRPI, WTJU, and WOUB


  • Added: Mar 08, 2013
  • Length: 54:30
  • Purchases: 5
Real to Reel: History at the Movies
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Full Episodes
Piece image
Six of this year’s nine nominees for Best Picture at the Oscars are films based in history. In fact, for the past forty years, the majority of Best...

Bought by WRPI, WCAI / WNAN, WTJU, and WOUB


  • Added: Feb 22, 2013
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 4
Been There, Done That: Historical Reenactments [rebroadcast]
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Full Episodes
Caption: Member of the Chesepeake and Potomac Vintage Baseball Club, Credit: Photo: Eric Mennel
On this episode, the History Guys ask what drives Americans to the suit up in the clothes of the past and reenact their history. Is it purely educa...

Bought by KREV-LP, WTJU, and WOUB


  • Added: Mar 01, 2013
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 3
Rise and Repeat: Cleanliness in America
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Full Episodes
Caption: Proctor & Gamble ad, 1898., Credit: LOC
Cleanliness is next to godliness, we say, and Americans have long associated good hygiene with moral and spiritual purity. This week on BackStory, ...

Bought by WOUB, WTJU, WMMT, and KREV-LP


  • Added: Feb 15, 2013
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 4
Love Me Did: A History of Courtship
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Full Episodes
Caption: Love's Reward. 1908., Credit: LOC
In this episode, the History Guys explore three centuries of pre-marital intimacy. Did economic considerations used to play a greater role in coupl...

Bought by WSKG, WFPL News, WTJU, and WOUB


  • Added: Feb 08, 2013
  • Length: 54:30
  • Purchases: 4
Rules of Engagement: Ethics in Warfare
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Full Episodes
Caption: The Gatling Gun patent drawing (1865). The gun was patented on May 9, 1865, and was officially adopted by the U.S. Army on August 21, 1866. Courtesy of the National Archives.
America’s use of targeted drone strikes in Pakistan and elsewhere has raised questions about what is — and is not — an appropriate way to wage war....

Bought by WRPI, WOUB, KREV-LP, and Troy Public Radio


  • Added: Feb 01, 2013
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 4
Straight Shot: Guns in America [Rebroadcast]
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Full Episodes
Caption: Infantryman training in Ft Knox, Kentucky, 1942. , Credit: US Office of War Information.
In the aftermath of the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut, Americans of all political stripes are wrestling with one big question: who should, and ...

Bought by KUFM - Montana Public Radio, KWGS, WGBH Radio Boston, KCUR, Capital Public Radio and more


  • Added: Jan 25, 2013
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 11
All Hopped Up: Drugs in America
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Full Episodes
Caption: Advertisement for cocaine toothache drops, 1885., Credit: LOC.
In December, recreational marijuana use became legal in Washington and Colorado. But back in the early 20th century, both states were among the fi...

Bought by WTJU, Spokane Public Radio, and WOUB


  • Added: Jan 11, 2013
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 3
Four More Years: A History of Presidential Inaugurations
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Full Episodes
Piece image
As the rest of Washington looks forward to the next four years, BackStory is looking back — at the last 224 years of presidential transitions. On t...

Bought by Spokane Public Radio, WOUB, and WTJU


  • Added: Jan 18, 2013
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 3
The Best of Times: BackStory Year in Review
From: BackStory with the American History Guys
Series: BackStory with the American History Guys: Full Episodes
Piece image
The American History Guys listen back to their favorite moments from the past year of weekly BackStory episodes. Highlights include excerpts from s...

Bought by KREV-LP, KSVR Studios: Skagit Valley Radio, WMMT, and WEZU


  • Added: Dec 28, 2012
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 4

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