The History of the Americans

The History of the Americans


Latest Episodes

Bacon’s Rebellion 6: Recriminations
November 19, 2025

It is late January 1677 in Virginia. Loyalists under the command of Governor Sir William Berkeley had suppressed Bacon's Rebellion just after New Year. Now Berkeley was prosecuting the surviving leaders of the rebellion, and loyalist units were looting th

Bacon’s Rebellion 5: Bacon’s Lousy Luck
October 24, 2025

Last episode ended with Sir William Berkeley, on the deck of a ship in the James, watching Jamestown burn to the ground in the wee hours of September 19, 1676. The rebels under Nathaniel Bacon were as

Bacon’s Rebellion 4: The Burning of Jamestown
October 17, 2025

Virginia Governor Sir William Berkeley has fled to the Eastern Shore with a small group of loyalist planters and a detachment of perhaps only fifty armed men. Nathaniel Bacon has occupied Berkeley's

Bacon’s Rebellion 3: Go Ahead, Shoot!
October 06, 2025

Nathaniel Bacon and his army of volunteers have returned from beating up on the friendly Occaneechees (Occaneechis) on the Roanoke River in southern Virginia. It is election day, and Henrico County wi

Bacon’s Rebellion 2: The Susquehannocks Strike Back
September 25, 2025

The Susquehannocks, having successfully escaped from their beseiged fort on Piscataway Creek in Maryland, fled through the Virginia Piedmont to set up winter quarters on the James and Roanoke Rivers.

Bacon’s Rebellion 1: The Case of the Repossessed Hogs
September 15, 2025

The year is 1675, and we are in Virginia. All kinds of social, demographic, fiscal, and economic pressures have been building for decades, and the common people are restive. There have been a string o

Notes on Virginia 1644-1675
September 02, 2025

We are back in Virginia, finally! In my defense, offered in response to the many listeners who have asked for "more Virginia," the thirty years before the Third Anglo-Powhatan War and Bacons Rebellion are almost blank spaces on published timelines of Vir

Augustine Herrman’s Map
August 08, 2025

I got the idea for this episode talking to a bartender in Prague. The place was empty, and the fellow was garrulous and quickly said he loved American history, which naturally prompted me to suggest a

Sidebar Conversation: Phil Magness on The 1619 Project
July 28, 2025

Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyDr. Phillip W. Magness is an economic historian and the David J. Theroux Chair in Political Economy at the Independent Institute.Magness research hasappeared in multiple scholarly venues, including theE

King Philip’s War 9: Aftermath
July 24, 2025

This is the last episode of our telling of King Philip's War. We cover the fate of the last Algonquian sachems, including the daring capture of Annawon, and the consequences of the war for the Indian