August 14, 2023. The HTW team is ready to talk. In a special episode that wraps up Season 4, Sally asks the people behind the scenes about lessons they've learned from telling hundreds of true stories about the past. It’s a great conversation you’re not going to want to miss.    And when you’re finished, please fill out our listener survey: bit.ly/htw2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information ..read more

August 8, 1974. President Richard Nixon sits in the Oval Office, addressing the American people. He tells them: I’m going to resign. The news is shocking, but not unexpected. Today, it might even seem inevitable. But in the days leading up to the big decision, Nixon himself didn’t know what he would do. At night he roamed the halls of the White House, torturously weighing his options. He even ordered a speechwriter to draft a statement announcing his refusal to resign. Sally Helm sits down with political speechwriter Jeff Nussbaum to talk about this curious kind of a document: a speech that co ..read more

August 4, 1846. A few months into their journey from Illinois to California, a group of pioneers finds bad trouble. They’re in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah and they’ve just found a note from their guide. It essentially says, “That shortcut I told you take – don’t.” The setback disastrously delays their trip. Weeks later, when they Sierra Nevada, it’s dangerously late in the season. Soon, an early winter snow traps them in the mountains. What did they have to do to survive? And what’s the truth behind the legendary Donner Party? Special thanks to our guest: Daniel James Brown, author of  ..read more

July 16, 1945. It happened within a millionth of a second. In the New Mexico desert in the early morning hours, a group of scientists watched in anticipation as the countdown began. It was silent at first, yet hot and unbelievably bright. Then came the sound. The first-ever atomic bomb explosion... was a success. How did scientists working on the Manhattan Project create what was then the most powerful weapon in history? And how did the bomb’s existence forever change our sense of what human beings are capable of? Thank you to our guest Dr. Jon Hunner, a professor emeritus of U.S. history at ..read more

July 29th, 1992. The Baltimore Sun runs a feature about a surprise candidate in the upcoming presidential race: Barbie. The 11.5-inch icon of girlhood and glamor is running for office – and flying off the shelves. But how did a plaything become important enough to make national news? To answer that question, we take you on a journey through doll history, from French porcelain beauties to cherubs that stood for women’s suffrage. And of course, the doll who taught us how fun life in plastic could be. How did these dolls revolutionize play and even politics? And what do they have to tell us about ..read more

July 19, 1869. Naturalist John Muir watches the sun rise over the Sierra Nevada mountains. He’ll write in his journal of the stirring birds, glowing treetops, and even rocks that “seem to thrill with life.” He’s so taken with this landscape that he’ll decide to stay in the Yosemite Valley and try to protect it with the only weapon he has: the pen. How did Muir collide with the political forces of his day and help bring about National Parks as we know them? And how did he change the way many Americans think about the natural world? Special thanks to our guest: Dean King, author of Gu ..read more

July 16, 1945. It’s the summer of 1945 and World War II is underway. The USS Indianapolis has just set out from Mare Island on a top-secret mission. The famous vessel is delivering enriched uranium and other components of “Little Boy” to Tinian Island. The mission is technically a success, but for the men aboard the Indianapolis, the challenges are just beginning. On July 30, the ship is struck by two Japanese torpedoes, stranding its sailors at sea. For three and a half days, survivors are left floating in the Pacific Ocean, fending off sun exposure, dehydration, and shark attacks – and waiti ..read more

July 2, 1957. At the annual Tupperware jubilee in Florida, company VP Brownie Wise is admiring her handiwork. 1,200 people have convened on her private island for a luau—complete with live lobsters, orchid leis and prizes for Tupperware’s top sellers. Most of the people here owe their job to her. That's because Brownie perfected a sales strategy that has made the innovative plastic product famous. Not to mention a cash cow. She's famous, too: Fortune and CBS News have hailed her as a savvy corporate leader. But tonight, at this fabulous celebration of the company's glittering success, storm cl ..read more

June 12, 1928. The great Blues singer Ma Rainey steps up to the microphone at a studio in Chicago. She’s there to record a scandalous song called “Prove It On Me Blues.” It’s her answer to the rumor that she’d once attended a party with a bunch of other half-clothed women – a party that got busted by the cops. It’s a rumor she doesn’t deny. The song is just the latest of Rainey’s boundary-pushing moves. Her audience, and her record label, eat it up. How did Ma Rainey talk about sex and sexuality through the Blues? And in the America of that time, how was a boldness like hers even possible? Sp ..read more

June 10, 1816. A storm settles over Lake Geneva, Switzerland. Stuck inside a romantic villa, five writers grow restless. Then one of them issues a challenge: Who among us can write the most terrifying ghost story? The group includes two of the most accomplished poets of the day – Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. But it’s Percy's lover, Mary, who creates an enduring masterpiece: the novel Frankenstein. How did Mary Shelley draw from her life to write this harrowing story? And why have we been talking about it for more than two hundred years? Special thanks to our guest, Charlotte Gordon, a ..read more