Axelbank Reports History and Today Evan Axelbank

On this episode, Adam Higginbotham brings us back to the moment that many say they will never forget, but also to a moment that is filled with misconception and myth. When the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986, seven astronauts lost their lives and NASA was confronted with its biggest failure. Higginbotham shows us how the space program chose to remember those lost, rebuild faith in its mission, and how NASA persisted as a larger reflection of American culture. Higginbotham also expla...

Teddy Roosevelt is thought of as the quintessentially masculine American president. He is known for going to war, for fighting buffalo with his bare hands, and sailing down the River of Doubt. But as Edward O'Keefe, the CEO of the Teddy Roosevelt Presidential Library explains, TR is more a product of the women in his life than the men. His mother, sisters and wives played critical roles in his formative years, his early political career and his presidency. From the mother who soothed his near...

Paul Sparrow argues that Franklin Roosevelt is the quintessential American president, not just of the 20th Century, but in all of American history. FDR's ability to rally the nation from the Great Depression, and then carry it into a devastating but essential World War showed not just his talent, but his understanding of the stakes the country faced. Sparrow argues that FDR is democracy's greatest champion, and that he became that way by understanding the key to rallying the American people w...

What does it mean to have "free time" and is it ever enough? In "Free Time: The History of an Elusive Ideal," Dr. Gary Cross explains how free time is both precious and deceptive. Why are people on vacation already searching the web for their next one? What counts as free time? Does technology help or hurt our experience with time spent away from work? Dr. Cross joins us to answer these questions, and to explain how the concept of "free time" began. We all want free time, but does it help our...

In "American Flygirl" Susan Tate Ankeny shows how a young girl with a fascination for flying became the first female Asian-American pilot to fly for the military. Hazel Ying Lee was born in Portland, but came of age at a time when the deck was stacked against people like her. Hazel never let discrimination or expectation shatter her dreams of flying for a living. She flew in China to defend her ancestral homeland from attack, then became a WASP for the US Airforce during World War II. Though ...

Though few remember it, James Swanson argues the Deerfield Massacre of 1704 played a critical role in the shaping of early America. He explains how Native tribes and French soldiers brutalized a small outpost of colonists in western Massachusetts and set off a continental effort to find the missing victims and establish forces to protect the colonies. The tale of large-scale kidnappings, battles over who land belongs to and fear of attacks without warning have clear parallels to today. Swanso...