For the Ages: A History Podcast
For the Ages: A History Podcast
Season 5 is available now!
Explore the rich and complex history of the United States and beyond. Host David M. Rubenstein engages the nation’s foremost historians and creative thinkers on a wide range of topics, including presidential biography, the nation’s founding, and the people who have shaped the American story.
Episode 15:
A Conversation with Oscar Tang on Business, Art, and Civic Leadership
Release: March 30, 2026
Featuring: Oscar Tang, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Born in wartime Shanghai and brought to the United States at age eleven with no knowledge of English, financier and philanthropist Oscar Tang reflects on a life shaped by displacement, ambition, and civic responsibility. In conversation with David M. Rubenstein, Tang recounts his journey from a small town in Vermont to Yale and Harvard, before building a successful career on Wall Street. He also discusses the experiences that shaped his philanthropic commitments—from supporting cultural institutions like the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Museum of Art to helping strengthen educational and civic institutions across the United States. Recorded on February 20, 2026
Episode 14:
Conducting New York’s Legacy
Release: March 16, 2026
Featuring: Gustavo Dudamel, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
From his childhood in Venezuela’s famed El Sistema music education program to his rise as one of the world’s leading conductors, Gustavo Dudamel reflects on the experiences that shaped his musical life. In conversation with David M. Rubenstein, Dudamel recounts conducting his first orchestra at age eleven, discusses the collaborative art of leading musicians, and shares how he prepares scores entirely from memory. Looking ahead to his tenure as music and artistic director of the New York Philharmonic, he explores the role orchestras can play in connecting communities and inspiring new generations of listeners. Recorded on September 17, 2025
Episode 13:
Declaring Independence: Why 1776 Matters
Release: March 2, 2026
Featuring: Edward Larson, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
At the beginning of 1776, virtually no one in the colonies was advocating independence. What changed over the course of one year? From Thomas Paine’s Common Sense in January to the Continental Congress that first grounded the idea of independence, historian Edward Larson, in conversation with David M. Rubenstein, traces a narrative path that reminds us why, as we approach the 250th anniversary of American independence, 1776 matters. Recorded on January 26, 2026
Episode 12:
McNamara at War: A New History
Release: February 16, 2026
Featuring: Philip Taubman, William Taubman, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Secretary of defense and friend and ally to two presidents, Robert S. McNamara was one of the most controversial men in American history for his role in the Vietnam War. Beyond his time at Harvard Law, his service during World War II, and his leadership of the Ford Motor Company and the World Bank, he is inevitably remembered for his fierce escalation of an unpopular and arguably unwinnable war. Authors Philip and William Taubman join David M. Rubenstein to provide a window into McNamara’s mind, including his relationship with the Kennedy family and the evolution of his views on Vietnam. Recorded on January 16, 2026
Episode 11:
The American Revolution: An Intimate History
Release: February 2, 2026
Featuring: Geoffrey Ward, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
The American Revolution was three wars rolled into one: a fight for independence, a civil conflict, and a struggle between nations. In this conversation with David M. Rubenstein, bestselling author Geoffrey Ward examines the many sides of the war through the stories of not just the Founding Fathers, but the soldiers, women, Loyalists, and others whose lives—and country—were forever changed by the movement. Recorded on December 12, 2025
Episode 10:
Annapolis Goes to War: The Naval Academy Class of 1940 and its Trial by Fire in World War II
Release: January 19, 2026
Featuring: Craig L. Symonds, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
The teenagers who made up the US Naval Academy class of 1940 arrived in Annapolis as boys on the eve of Hitler’s aggression and graduated as Europe collapsed, only to find themselves thrust into every major front of World War II, from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay and Normandy. Renowned military historian Craig Symonds joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss the young men’s sacrifice, loss, and extraordinary coming-of-age in history’s deadliest conflict. Recorded on November 24, 2025
Episode 9:
Glorious Lessons: John Trumbull, Painter of the American Revolution
Release: January 5, 2026
Featuring: Richard Brookhiser, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
History may be written by the victors, but it is illustrated by its painters, and perhaps few so famously or evocatively as John Trumbull—American Revolution army officer, spy, artist. In this conversation with David M. Rubenstein, Richard Brookhiser, Trumbull biographer and senior editor at National Review, delves into Trumbull’s tumultuous life. Recorded on November 14, 2025
Episode 8:
A Place Called Yellowstone: The Epic History of the World’s First National Park
Release: December 15, 2025
Featuring: Randall K. Wilson, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Covering 2.2 million acres, Yellowstone National Park is a geographic behemoth and, as the birthplace of America’s national park system, a cultural giant as well. But since its official establishment in 1872, the bucolic lands have been the source of frequent conflict: between Native Americans and Europeans, and tourism and environmental conservation. In this episode, prizewinning author Randall K. Wilson explores the complex history of the park, from its geological roots to its role in our understanding of the environment and our nation as a whole. Recorded on August 25, 2025
Episode 7:
Dinner with the President: Food, Politics, and a History of Breaking Bread at the White House
Release: December 1, 2025
Featuring: Alex Prud'homme, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Some of the most significant moments in American history have occurred over meals, as US presidents broke bread to strengthen alliances, diffuse tensions, and broker peace: Thomas Jefferson’s nation-building receptions; Richard Nixon’s practiced use of chopsticks to pry open China; Jimmy Carter’s cakes and pies that fueled a détente between Israel and Egypt at Camp David. Author Alex Prud’homme joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss the political power wielded by the White House kitchen. Recorded on June 30, 2024
Episode 6:
Pride and Pleasure: The Schuyler Sisters in an Age of Revolution
Release: November 17, 2025
Featuring: Amanda Vaill, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton’s gravestone identifies her merely as the daughter of Philip Schuyler and the widow of Alexander Hamilton, while her sister, Angelica, has only a marker next to the Livingston family vault, but neither memorial does justice to the complexity of the two women. Eliza was a vital aid to her husband’s political efforts, as well as a later reformer in her own right, and Angelica was a socialite who maintained friendships with the likes of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. In this conversation, historian Amanda Vaill offers a fuller portrait of these women and the Founding Era. Recorded on November 7, 2025
Episode 5: John Adams: His Life and Legacy
Release: November 3, 2025
Featuring: Gordon S. Wood, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
In addition to being America’s first vice president and second president, Founding Father John Adams was a diplomat, the father of another president, and an avid diarist. In this conversation with David M. Rubenstein, Gordon S. Wood, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of the Revolutionary era, tackles this multifaceted figure, from his role in the birth of our nation to the precedents he set for all those who followed him. Recorded on September 4, 2025
Episode 4: The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of US History
Release: October 20, 2025
Featuring: Ned Blackhawk (Western Shoshone), David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
For generations, the teaching of American history has often glossed over the important role Native communities have played in shaping the nation, but contemporary historians are reframing the conversation. In a discussion that spans five centuries, scholar Ned Blackhawk illuminates how the history of the Indigenous peoples of North America is an essential component to telling a more complete American story—and how, despite many obstacles, Native communities have persevered. Recorded on January 10, 2024
Episode 3:
Friends Until the End: Edmund Burke and Charles Fox in the Age of Revolution
Release: October 6, 2025
Featuring: James Grant, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
If ever there was proof that opposites attract, it was the friendship between the personally and politically conservative Edmund Burke and the liberal-leaning libertine Charles Fox, who formed a united front in 18-century British politics for a quarter of a century. Biographer James Grant joins David M. Rubenstein to demonstrate how, despite their many differences, Fox and Burke remained friends and political allies through the American Revolution and the dramatic impeachment of East India Company governor-general Warren Hastings, but ultimately fell out, both personally and professionally, over the French Revolution. Recorded on August 21, 2025
Episode 2:
Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic
Release: September 22, 2025
Featuring: Lindsay M. Chervinsky, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Shaped by crises at home and abroad, John Adams’s presidency became a proving ground for the nation’s fragile new government. Historian Lindsay M. Chervinsky sits down with David Rubenstein to reveal how Adams managed partisan conflict, foreign dangers, and a skeptical public, ultimately forging precedents for executive authority and democratic stability that secured the republic’s future. Recorded on April 29, 2024
Episode 1:
The Lyndon B. Johnson Years
Release: September 8, 2025
Featuring: Robert Caro, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Irrevocably tied to the tragedy of the Vietnam War, President Lyndon Johnson’s political legacy is also marked by his radical push to reimagine American life. Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Caro, author of The Power Broker and The Years of Lyndon Johnson, explores how Johnson pushed Congress to establish Medicare, Medicaid, and historic civil rights and reform legislation. Recorded on April 6, 2024
Explore our archive of earlier seasons.
