39: The California Gold Rush and the Compromi...

“Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade.”This is the story of the preparations for D-Day. In November, 1943 the “Big Three”–that is, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin–meet in person fo ...  Show more

“‘What is that?' I asked. The Englishman answered calmly: 'It was my best enemy.’”This is the story of the little books that went to war, and the Frenchman whose ghosts we'll read by their light.In 1943, a consortium of American publishers began slipping pocket-sized paperbacks i ...  Show more

For white settlers, the Gold Rush offered a chance for fortune, but for California’s Native inhabitants, the sudden hunger for gold spelled disaster. As the numbers of miners grew, they forced Native people off their ancestral lands, often starving or slaughtering them in the pro ...  Show more

On January 24th, 1848, a carpenter from Coloma plunges a hand into the American River and pulls out gold. This discovery triggers an explosion of findings, as people flock to the region seeking fortune and reinvention. But what were the chances of striking gold? What obstacles di ...  Show more

From the rings on our fingers, to coins in our pockets and, for a select few, the medals hanging around our necks. Gold is one of the most coveted metals in the world.

Gold still has the power to change lives, but in the mid 19th century, it also sparked the largest ...

The United States won the The Mexican–American War in the 1840s, and with it vast new stretches of western land. But in the 1850s, the question of what to do with this land – and whether to allow slavery in the new territories or not – became a redning issue for politicians of al ...  Show more