For the Ages: A History Podcast
For the Ages: A History Podcast
Listen to season 3 (2023-2024) of the podcast that explores the rich and complex history of the United States and beyond with host David M. Rubenstein.
A Conversation with Henry Louis Gates Jr. (RE-RELEASE)
Re-Release Date: August 19, 2024
Featuring: Henry Louis Gates Jr., David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Please enjoy this re-release of a past episode of For the Ages. New episodes will return Fall 2024. Henry Louis Gates Jr. has helped reshape the nation’s collective understanding of the legacy of slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and the ongoing struggle for racial equality. The storied filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist, cultural critic, and institution builder discusses this important history and how his scholarly work has developed how we learn about and understand the American story. Recorded on January 22, 2021
One Mighty and Irresistible Tide: The Epic Struggle Over American Immigration, 1924-1965 (RE-RELEASE)
Re-Release Date: August 5, 2024
Featuring: Jia Lynn Yang, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Please enjoy this re-release of a past episode of For the Ages. New episodes will return Fall 2024. In 1924, Congress put in place strict quotas that impacted national immigration policy for decades. Interweaving her own family’s story, New York Times deputy national editor Jia Lynn Yang uncovers how presidents from Harry S. Truman through LBJ and a coalition of lawmakers and activists fought to transform the American immigration system. Recorded on September 11, 2020
A Conversation with Walter Isaacson (RE-RELEASE)
Re-Release Date: July 22, 2024
Featuring: Walter Isaacson, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Please enjoy this re-release of a past episode of For the Ages. New episodes will return Fall 2024. Walter Isaacson discusses his career as a preeminent historian and biographer, how he chooses the people he writes about, and why he is fascinated by them. This includes his books Steve Jobs, the authorized biography of the Apple Inc. co-founder written by Isaacson at the subject’s request, and Leonardo da Vinci. Recorded on December 18, 2018
The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle (RE-RELEASE)
Featuring: Lillian Faderman, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Please enjoy this re-release of a past episode of For the Ages. New episodes will return Fall 2024. The fight for LGBTQ civil rights is long and hard-fought—and it still continues today. Award-winning author and renowned scholar Lillian Faderman discusses the history of the movement, from the 1950s up through the fight for marriage equality and beyond. Recorded September 25, 2020
Episode 37:
The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens
Release Date:
Featuring: Richard Haass, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Of all the threats facing the country today, perhaps the most critical are those coming from within. In the face of rising apathy, anger, division, and disinformation, how can U.S. citizens ensure the survival of the American experiment? Richard Haass, an esteemed diplomat and policymaker, looks beyond the nation’s Bill of Rights and emphasizes key commitments that citizens can make to one another and to the government to safeguard the future of democracy. Recorded on February 9, 2023
Episode 36:
The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America
Release Date: June 17, 2024
Featuring: Khalil Gibran Muhammad, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
While institutional and systemic racism is well documented in the Postbellum and Reconstruction South, its effects on African Americans in the Northern United States, as well as how those practices have shaped contemporary society, is often less understood. Scholar and historian Khalil Gibran Muhammed sits down with David M. Rubenstein to shine a light on the 19th and 20th century manipulation of racial crime statistics that has erroneously guided much of American public policy—influencing everything from education to incarceration—for over a century, tracing our nation’s codified persecution of African Americans from slavery through the Great Migration and beyond. Recorded on December 21, 2023
Episode 35:
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President
Release: June 10, 2024
Featuring: Candice Millard, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Marking one of the shortest presidencies in American history, James A. Garfield died less than seven months after inauguration due to a bullet wound sustained during an attempted assassination. A Civil War hero born into abject poverty, President Garfield’s attempted assassination set off a bitter struggle for power in the American government—even extending to contention surrounding the medical care used to treat his wound. Candice Millard, in conversation with David M. Rubenstein, offers an extraordinary account of Garfield’s momentous, if brief, presidential career and the legacy left not only by his work but by his death. Recorded on April 11, 2023
Episode 34:
The Trials of Harry S. Truman: The Extraordinary Presidency of an Ordinary Man
Release: June 3, 2024
Featuring: Jeffrey Frank, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
After serving for three months as vice president, Harry S. Truman, at age 60, suddenly inherited the White House. The nearly eight years that followed were unusually turbulent—marked by victory in the wars against Germany and Japan, the first use of an atomic weapon and the development of far deadlier weapons, the Cold War, the Red Scare, the Marshall Plan, and the fateful decision to fight a land war in Korea. How did Truman become the steadfast leader who, in the rush of events, helped shape the postwar world? Recorded on March 15, 2023
Episode 33:
Nimitz at War: Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay
Release: May 27, 2024
Featuring: Craig L. Symonds, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Following America’s violent entrance into World War II with the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States needed to swiftly mobilize for its fight in the Pacific Theater. In those tense days following the attack, President Roosevelt tapped Chester W. Nimitz to lead the charge. With the nation calling for swift justice against a complex backdrop of military challenges and internal politics, Nimitz rose to the challenges of his time and station to lead the United States in the fight for victory in the Pacific. Craig L. Symonds joins David M. Rubenstein to explore this pivotal figure and moment in American history. Recorded on January 10, 2023
Episode 32:
JFK and the Promise of Democracy
Release: May 20, 2024
Featuring: Frederik Logevall, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
John F. Kennedy was one of the most iconic political figures of the 20th century, a man known universally by his initials. From his college days to the end in Dallas, he was fascinated by the nature of political courage and its relationship to democratic governance. David M. Rubenstein is joined by historian Frederik Logevall to discuss how we should understand JFK and his role in both US and world politics, particularly during this time of growing threats to democracy both at home and abroad. Recorded May 3, 2023
Episode 31:
LatinoLand: A Portrait of America's Largest and Least Understood Minority
Release: May 15, 2024
Featuring: Marie Arana, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Today, Latinos represent 20% of the US population, with census reports projecting that one-third of Americans will identify as having Latino heritage by 2050. Exploring the complex history of immigration across the Americas, demographic diversity within US borders, and the impact on US politics, inaugural literary director of the Library of Congress Marie Arana joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss this extremely diverse set of Americans, with a focus on the broad range of racial, political, and historical backgrounds of the nation’s fastest growing minority group. Recorded on May 30, 2023
Episode 30:
Becoming FDR: The Personal Crisis That Made a President
Release: May 6, 2024
Featuring: Jonathan Darman, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
In popular memory, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the quintessential political “natural.” However journalist and author Jonathan Darman argues that this political acumen was the hard-earned result of Roosevelt’s seven-year journey through illness and recovery from polio. In that decade of adapting to the stark new reality of his life, he discovered how to find hope in a seemingly hopeless situation—a skill that he employed to motivate Americans through the Great Depression and World War II. In conversation with David M. Rubenstein, Darman underscores the link between Roosevelt’s struggles with polio and his growth as both a man and leader, drawing attention to the shrewdness and compassion that made Roosevelt so effective. Recorded on March 28, 2023
Episode 29:
In the Shadow of Slavery: African Americans in New York City, 1626–1863
Release: April 29, 2024
Featuring: Leslie M. Harris, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
In 1991, a crew of New York City construction workers found the remains of a massive burial ground under twenty feet of rubble, just blocks from City Hall. The forgotten cemetery contained the remains of as many as 20,000 African Americans, and pointed to the countless untold stories of the enslaved and free people who lived, labored, and died in New York. Historian Leslie M. Harris joins David M. Rubenstein to shine a light on these stories, tracing the early African American experience in New York from the arrival of the first slaves into the city in 1629 to the devastating racial violence of the New York City Draft Riots in 1863. Recorded on April 10, 2023
Episode 28:
The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human
Release: April 22, 2024
Featuring: Siddhartha Mukherjee, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
The discovery of the cell in the 17th century caused a paradigm shift in medicine, with the human body coming to be seen as something never before imagined: an ecosystem in and of itself; a collection of innumerable organic parts working in tandem to fulfill our biological functions. Physician and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Siddhartha Mukherjee sits down with David M. Rubenstein to explore how this watershed moment came about and how its effects are still playing out in the form of radical medical advancements that draw into sharper relief what it means to be human. Recorded on December 13, 2022
Episode 27:
How the Best Did It: Leadership Lessons from Our Top Presidents
Release: April 15, 2024
Featuring: Talmage Boston
Throughout history, Americans have looked to their president for guidance, seeking leadership from the nation’s highest office during times of turbulence. Historian and lawyer Talmage Boston speaks with David M. Rubenstein to discuss the leadership lessons that can be learned from America’s most effective presidents—from Washington’s precipitous rise to power to Reagan’s ability to motivate and inspire optimism—and how they can be instructive to today’s leaders. Recorded on February 12, 2024
Episode 26:
G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century
Release: April 8, 2024
Featuring: Beverly Gage, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
J. Edgar Hoover was not only the inaugural director of the FBI, but the architect of modern American law enforcement. Hoover’s stewardship over America’s justice system was as robust as it was ruthless, while his connections to white supremacists and the religious right spun a complex web between policing, politics, and race. Historian Beverly Gage sits down with David M. Rubenstein to discuss her Pulitzer Prize-winning book on Hoover, tracing the lawman’s decades-long career shaping the American legal and political landscape, a period of immense influence that would span eight presidencies. Recorded on March 8, 2023
Episode 25:
Hitler’s American Gamble: Pearl Harbor and Germany’s March to Global War
Release: March 25, 2024
Featuring: Brendan Simms, Charlie Laderman, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
In December 1941, Nazi Germany controlled much of Europe, Japan was fighting a brutal campaign in China, and the United States had yet to enter into combat on either front. The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, however, changed everything. Historians Brendan Simms and Charlie Laderman join moderator David M. Rubenstein to dissect the five crucial days between the attack on Pearl Harbor and Nazi Germany’s declaration of war on the United States, tracing the strategic decisions that would irrevocably change the course of the Second World War. Recorded on July 31, 2023
Episode 24:
River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile
Release: March 18, 2024
Featuring: Candice Millard, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
In an exhilarating and, at times, harrowing account of exploration, survival, and betrayal, author and journalist Candice Millard joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss the story of two men’s search for the headwaters of the Nile River. Richard Burton, an intelligent, highly capable, and decorated soldier, and John Speke, an ambitious aristocrat and army officer, embarked on the treacherous journey together, soon developing a heated rivalry that would persist throughout their lives. Alongside them on their epic journey was Sidi Mubarak Bombay, a peerless guide who was formerly enslaved, and who played a vital role in this story. Recorded on August 31, 2023
Episode 23:
Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit & Glamour of an Icon, Part Two
Release: March 11, 2024
Featuring: Kate Andersen Brower, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Author and journalist Kate Andersen Brower rejoins David M. Rubenstein to continue their conversation on the legacy of the great Elizabeth Taylor. Taylor’s triumphs––her precocious rise to megastardom, her fight for fair and equal pay despite the sexism present in Hollywood during her lifetime, her advocacy for those with HIV/AIDS––as well as the difficulties she faced in her life––her eight marriages and her struggles with addiction––are all brought into clearer focus in service of painting a rich portrait of the American icon. Recorded on March 24, 2023
Episode 22:
Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit & Glamour of an Icon, Part One
Release: March 4, 2024
Featuring: Kate Andersen Brower, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Elizabeth Taylor, a legend of cinema known across the world, was one of the last great Classical Hollywood stars whose talent and beauty led her to universal renown. Beyond the artist, though, Taylor was a feminist trailblazer, a human rights advocate, and a fighter—someone who championed the needs of others and struggled bravely against problems of her own. Author and journalist Kate Andersen Bower joins David M. Rubenstein to delve into the first ever authorized biography of the twentieth century’s most famous movie star, bringing a new look at the life and legacy of Elizabeth Taylor. Recorded on March 24, 2023
Episode 21:
Creating a Confederate Kentucky: The Lost Cause and Civil War Memory in a Border State
Release: February 26, 2024
Featuring: Anne E. Marshall, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Kentucky fought alongside the Union for the entirety of the Civil War, yet in the decades that followed, the state embraced many political and cultural traditions of the Confederacy, enacting Jim Crow laws and erecting monuments to embrace this adopted identity. In a fascinating conversation on identity and political myth-making, historian Anne E. Marshall breaks down how and why Kentuckians constructed this historically-revisionist narrative that shaped the trajectory of their state for the next 60 years. Recorded on August 23, 2023
Episode 20:
Mourning the Presidents
Release: February 19, 2024
Featuring: Lindsay Chervinsky, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
In an incisive analysis of national mourning following the deaths of presidents across US history, historian Lindsay Chervinsky joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss how such losses and the subsequent expressions of grief affected American culture and politics. Examining what can be learned from the ways we have grieved and remembered late presidents since the passing of George Washington in 1799, Chervinsky explores the way presidents continue to shape America even in death. Recorded on August 7, 2023
Episode 19:
The Age of Lincoln
Release: February 12, 2024
Featuring: Orville Vernon Burton, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
The arc of Abraham Lincoln’s political career existed in the context of the ideologically tumultuous 19th century. From a period of cultural pessimism in the 1840s and 1850s alongside the Millerites’ prediction of a Second Coming, this period saw the rise of utopian philosophies, the intwining of slavery and Southern identity, the merging of Manifest Destiny with the concept of free-market opportunity, and a collapse of a common, middle ground. Distinguished historian Orville Vernon Burton joins David M. Rubenstein to paint a portrait of the five decades pivoting around Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, and his place within them. Recorded on July 6, 2023
Episode 18: Coolidge
Release: February 5, 2024
Featuring: Amity Shlaes, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
In the wake of a pandemic and amidst deep partisan divisions and a looming budgetary crisis, Calvin Coolidge faced monumental challenges when he assumed the presidency following the abrupt death of his predecessor Warren G. Harding in 1923. From the Boston Police Strike to the rapid social and economic changes of the Roaring Twenties, Coolidge’s political career spanned and was marked by continuous upheaval in American life. In conversation with David M. Rubenstein, Amity Shlaes explores the personal and political characteristics that define Coolidge’s career and legacy.
Episode 17:
The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World, Part Two
Release: January 29, 2024
Featuring: Jonathan Freedland, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Jonathan Freedland once again joins David Rubenstein to discuss the story of Walter Rosenberg, one of the few Jews to successfully escape Auschwitz. Following Rosenberg’s arrival in Auschwitz, this conversation dives into the details of the risky escape plan he hatched alongside Fred Wetzler, the dangers that met them outside the camp once they had escaped, and how Rosenberg and Wetzler attempted to alert the international community about what they had seen and experienced.
Episode 16:
The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World, Part One
Release: January 22, 2024
Featuring: Jonathan Freedland, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
In April of 1944, Walter Rosenberg escaped from Auschwitz alongside Fred Wetzler, making them two of a very small number of Jews who were able to escape a concentration camp and make their way to safety during the Second World War. In the first of this two-part conversation, Jonathan Freedland and David Rubenstein discuss how anti-Semitism shaped Rosenberg’s life in the years leading up to the war, his eventual internment as a teenager in Slovakia, and how his plans to escape took shape once he landed in Auschwitz.
Episode 15:
John Quincy Adams: His Presidency and Final Years
Release: January 15, 2024
Featuring: James Traub, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Biographer James Traub continues the story of John Quincy Adams. Drawing on the sixth US president’s diaries, letters, and writings, Traub discusses Adams’ ascendance to the White House, his numerous achievements and failures in office, his stewardship of American foreign policy, and his continuous dedication to a code of ethics beyond the desire for reelection. Recorded on August 23, 2023
Episode 14:
John Quincy Adams: Early Life and the Road to the Presidency
Release: January 8, 2024
Featuring: James Traub, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
As the son of a Founding Father and with a political career that lasted until his death in 1848, John Quincy Adams was eulogized by many of his peers as one of the last links between the founding generation and the United States of the 19th century. In this first of two conversations, James Traub, author of John Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit, explores the origins of Adams’ political career, bridging a connection between his childhood and college years to the start of his career in diplomacy, against the backdrop of his father’s presidency. Recorded on August 23, 2023
Episode 13:
Morgenthau: Power, Privilege, and the Rise of an American Dynasty
Release: December 18, 2023
Featuring: Andrew Meier, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Described by former mayor Ed Koch as “the closest we’ve got to royalty in New York City,” the Morgenthau family immigrated from Germany to the United States in 1866 and went on to build a powerful real estate empire and make history in international diplomacy, domestic politics, and America’s criminal justice system. With links to figures ranging from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Donald Trump, the Morgenthau family played a role in advancing the New Deal, exposing the Armenian genocide and both consequential and controversial prosecutions through the DA’s office in New York City. Andrew Meier joins David M. Rubenstein to dive into the history and legacy of this American dynasty. Recorded on June 27, 2023
Episode 12:
Conflict: The Evolution of Modern Warfare
Release: December 11, 2023
Featuring: Gen. David H. Petraeus (US Army, Ret.), Lord Andrew Roberts, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
The conflicts that have marked the past 60 years have seen new weapons, new strategies, and complex new webs of alliance, enmity, and proxy violence. However, the evolution of warfare shows that certain challenges and solutions echo across history. General David H. Petraeus (US Army, Ret.) and Lord Andrew Roberts examine the nuances of warfare over the last 20 years, including the complications of urban battlefields, guerilla warfare, and civilian casualties, as well as common elements of conflict throughout the 20th century. Recorded on November 16, 2023
Episode 11:
Justice Deferred: Race and the Supreme Court
Release: December 4, 2023
Featuring: Orville Vernon Burton, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
While the Supreme Court is often presented in American history as a protector of civil liberties, its record across the centuries provides a more complex picture. While the short period of the 1930s to the 1970s saw the Court end segregation and safeguard both free speech and the vote, during the preceding period, the Court largely ignored or suppressed basic rights for many Americans. The succeeding period, too, saw a retreat and even regression on gains made toward racial justice. Prizewinning author and professor of history Orville Vernon Burton charts the Court’s racial jurisprudence, discussing the many cases involving America’s racial minorities and the impact of individual rulings. Recorded on July 6, 2023
Episode 10:
The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution
Release: November 27, 2023
Featuring: Lindsay Chervinsky, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
The US Constitution did not create or provide for the presidential cabinet. When George Washington called for the first convening of his department secretaries two and a half years into his presidency, he drew on his military experience to seek counsel on the wide array of challenges facing the new nation. Presidential historian Lindsay Chervinsky dissects the reasons behind the cabinet’s creation, and the far-reaching consequences that resulted, from the development of the party system to the balance of powers. Recorded on August 7, 2023
Episode 9:
The Liberation Trilogy: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945
Release: November 20, 2023
Featuring: Rick Atkinson, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Exploring the final installment of the Liberation Trilogy, historian Rick Atkinson discusses the titanic battle for Western Europe that defined the later years of the Second World War. Beginning with the commencement of D-Day, this period of the war saw the final campaign for European liberation, including the pivotal fight at Normandy, the liberation of Paris, the disaster of Operation Market Garden, the Battle of the Bulge, and the final push into the depths of the Third Reich. Recorded on August 21, 2023
Episode 8:
The Liberation Trilogy: The War in Sicily, Italy, and North Africa
Release: November 13, 2023
Featuring: Rick Atkinson, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
In this first of two conversations, Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson dives into the first two volumes of his monumental Liberation Trilogy, looking at North Africa during WWII and the harrowing campaigns that took place in Sicily and Italy. A pivotal point in history, this period of the war saw American and British armies clash with Vichy France forces in Morocco and Algeria, and then take on the Axis powers in Tunisia. Meanwhile, the fight to drive the German army up the Italian peninsula led to lethal battles at Salerno, Anzio, and Monte Cassino. Recorded on August 21, 2023
Episode 7:
Land: How the Hunger for Ownership Shaped the Modern World
Release: November 6, 2023
Featuring: Simon Winchester, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Since the dawn of civilization, land stewardship has served as the foundation for how societies coalesce and interact. In a wide-ranging conversation that examines European imperialism, the dispossession of Native American populations, and Joseph Stalin’s brutal collectivization in Society territories, bestselling author Simon Winchester illuminates how humanity’s conquest to acquire territory and wield its power has so definitively shaped history. Recorded on January 11, 2022
Episode 6:
The Witches: Salem, 1692
Release: October 30, 2023
Featuring: Stacy Schiff, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
In the harsh New England winter of 1692, a minister’s daughter began to scream and convulse, as if possessed by a demonic spirit. This incident marked the beginning of a year-long panic in Salem, Massachusetts, which culminated in the infamous witch trials and the execution of 20 individuals. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Stacy Schiff uncovers the origins of this phenomenon and the impact it had on the future republic. Recorded on April 26, 2022
Episode 5:
Beyond the White House: From George Washington to Donald Trump
Release: October 23, 2023
Featuring: Douglas Brinkley, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
While American presidents are only eligible to serve two terms in office and are beholden to protect the peaceful transfer of power to their successors, their influence in politics and public service can span decades following their presidency. Douglas Brinkley joins David M. Rubenstein to look at the post-presidential lives of the commander-in-chief from George Washington to Donald Trump, some establishing presidential libraries and others playing a powerful role in foreign policy. Recorded on August 18, 2023
Episode 4:
The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter's Journey Beyond the White House
Release: October 16, 2023
Featuring: Douglas Brinkley, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Although Jimmy Carter left the White House in January 1981 following a failed bid for reelection, his career in public service was far from over. Outside the boundaries of the Oval Office, he dedicated himself to finding peaceful solutions to international conflicts and fighting for human rights. Award-winning historian Douglas Brinkley explores the lessons of Carter’s life and legacy, drawing from his unprecedented access to the 39th president. Recorded on August 18, 2023
Episode 3:
Virginia Dynasty: Four Presidents and the Creation of the American Nation
Release: October 2, 2023
Featuring: Lynne Cheney, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Making up the earliest class of United States presidents, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe were all born and raised within the same sixty-mile circle east of the Blue Ridge Mountains, making up a “Virginia Dynasty” that came to shape America during the formative decades following the revolution. Author Lynne Cheney examines the friendships and rivalries within this “Virginia Dynasty,” and the contradiction between their espoused ideals of American liberty and prosperity and their status as slaveholders. Recorded on December 3, 2020
Episode 2:
American Republics, 1783–1850: Slavery, Native Americans, and American Identity
Release: September 25, 2023
Featuring: Alan Shaw Taylor, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Historian Alan Shaw Taylor continues his conversation with David M. Rubenstein on the decades that followed the American Revolution. This defining era saw Native Americans seeking to defend their homes from a flood of American settlers, the intertwining of slavery in American politics, economics, and daily life, and an emerging expansionist vision pushing the country westward. Alongside these character-defining evolutions in the young country’s economy and geopolitics, this era also saw America’s cultural and religious identity begin to take shape. Recorded on June 13, 2023
Episode 1:
American Republics, 1783–1850: Democracy and Empire
Release: September 18, 2023
Featuring: Alan Shaw Taylor, David M. Rubenstein (moderator)
Contrary to the popular narrative of a confident and stable young republic, the United States emerged from its constitution as a fragile, internally divided union of states still contending with European empires and other independent republics on the North American continent. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and the author of American Republics: A Continental History of the United States, 1783-1850, Alan Shaw Taylor joins David M. Rubenstein in this first of two conversations on the early decades of the American republic, exploring the limits of its physical and ideological borders. Recorded on June 13, 2023
Explore our Seasons 1 and 2 archive and experience 81 past episodes of For the Ages with David M. Rubenstein.
