Ed Ayers

The story of a group of people who get together each year to reenact the notorious 1946 Moore’s Ford lynching in Georgia.

How Buffalo Bill’s Wild West brought scenes from the American West to audiences around the globe.

Why Marvin Greer spends his weekends playing the part of a slave at Civil War reenactments.

Cuddle up with your sweetie for stories about three centuries of pre-marital intimacy, from Puritan "bundling" to the back-seat of the parents' Buick.

On who has had access to guns in the U.S., and what those guns have meant to the people who have owned them.

An hour of stories about a few high-stakes inaugurations from the past.

Why a hundred thousand Americans were ready to believe that Christ would return to earth in 1843.

Apocalyptic thinking in early Christian fundamentalism.

The dramatic story of the abolitionist mail crisis of 1835.

The rise and fall of the Post Office from Tocqueville to Fred Rogers.

Debunking myths about the Pony Express.

On the spectacular act of terrorism that took place in Manhattan a century ago.

Stories from the early days of air-conditioning in New York City movie theaters, and reflections on the technology's impacts in across the American South.

The story of the man who introduced ice cubes into our beverages.

On the introduction of the Franklin stove into the American home and the ensuing stove revolution.

Gender dynamics on the home front, and the ways in which the Civil War is distinct from other American conflicts.

Did the 2010 Tea Party Movement really have anything in common with 1773? What did the history of populism suggest about the Tea Party's future?

Political scientist Jacob Hacker explains how we wound up with a healthcare system so different from the European model, and why lobbyists hold so much sway.

Reporter Catherine Moore visits the first hospital in the New World and finds out why the “public plan” in the Virginia colony may have had its drawbacks.