How Accurate Was The Oregon Trail Game? The Real History Behind America's Most Famous Video Game | Sarah Keyes
Millions of Americans grew up playing The Oregon Trail, trying to avoid dysentery, survive dangerous river crossings, and make it west in one piece. But how accurate was the famous video game? In this...
23 Sep 38min
Trump Ranked the Presidents. A Historian Responds
President Donald Trump recently released his own ranking of America's presidents—placing himself at the top while labeling figures such as Barack Obama and Ulysses S. Grant failures. But how does his ...
2 Sep 39min
Why Does America Have the Electoral College? Peter Sagal Explains
Why does the United States use the Electoral College instead of a national popular vote? Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me! Or, actually, DO tell me. To get answers, Bob calls up Peter Sagal, longtime host...
26 Aug 45min
Why Did the U.S. Army Keep Disbanding the Rangers?
The history of the Army Rangers isn't one continuous story, it's a cycle of creation, disbandment, and revival that stretches back before the United States even existed. In this episode of Bob calls u...
19 Aug 30min
How Did the Cold War End? Reagan, Gorbachev & the Secret Summit That Changed History
How did the Cold War really end? Most Americans know about the Berlin Wall and the fall of the Soviet Union—but few know about the extraordinary meeting that helped make it all possible. On this episo...
12 Aug 24min
Why Did Disease Devastate Native Americans—but Not European Colonists? | Charles C. Mann
Guns, germs and steel. Emphasis on GERMS. When Europeans arrived in the Americas, they brought all sorts of diseases! A listener asks: Why did diseases like smallpox devastate Native American popula...
5 Aug 32min
The Man Who Saved Kyoto?
Who knows? Not me. Why wasn't Kyoto destroyed by an atomic bomb during World War II? Rumor has it, the Secretary of War at the time, Henry Stimson, had fallen in love with the city during his honeymoo...
29 Juli 40min
