Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

American History Hit

Join Don Wildman as he explores the past to help us understand the United States of today

Sounds,62 episodes

Episodes

ListGrid

Battle of Shiloh
Battle of Shiloh, American Civil War
29 May 2025,36 mins
Heaven's Gate: The UFO Cult
How was a comet involved in the deaths of 39 people?
26 May 2025,56 mins,
Gerald Ford: The Unelected President
President Gerald Ford's story.
22 May 2025,41 mins
The Manson Family: Cult Murder in Hollywood
What happened in the summer of 1969?
19 May 2025,56 mins,
How to Survive the Desert: Phoenix to Las Vegas
History of the Southwest and its cities.
15 May 2025,38 mins
Jonestown: The Death of a Cult
What happened to over 900 members of the Peoples Temple that fateful day in Guyana?
12 May 2025,24 mins,
1945: America & Victory in Europe
80 years on, we're taking a look at final months of fighting from January to May.
08 May 2025,35 mins,
Jonestown: The Birth of Peoples Temple
Who was Jim Jones, founder of Jonestown?
05 May 2025,51 mins,
The Fall of Richard Nixon
The Fall of Richard Nixon
01 May 2025,38 mins
Vietnam: The End of the War?
Was there peace in 1973?
28 Apr 2025,39 mins
Richard Nixon: Rise from Poverty
Richard Nixon's rise from poverty to the Presidency.
24 Apr 2025,40 mins
Vietnam: Conscientious Objection
Don speaks with a veteran medic of the Vietnam War.
21 Apr 2025,48 mins
The Truth About Paul Revere's Ride
Who was this legend of the American Revolutionary War?
17 Apr 2025,41 mins
Vietnam: The My Lai Massacre
We explore one of the most harrowing events of the Vietnam War.
14 Apr 2025,53 mins,
President Lyndon B. Johnson: Triumph to Tragedy
President Lyndon B. Johnson's triumph and tragedy
10 Apr 2025,44 mins
Vietnam War: Turning Points
We begin our Vietnam series with the key moments in the war.
07 Apr 2025,50 mins
Battle of Fort Donelson
Join us as we continue our advance through the battles of the Civil War.
03 Apr 2025,30 mins,
Bobby Kennedy: Assassination of a Future President
Hear about the Bobby Kennedy's presidential campaign in 1968...which ended in tragedy
31 Mar 2025,40 mins
Battle of Iwo Jima: WW2 in the Pacific
The story of the Battle of Iwo Jima in WWII.
27 Mar 2025,48 mins
Confederacy: The Myth of the Lost Cause
Where did the myth come from?
24 Mar 2025,38 mins
What If JFK Wasn't Shot?
Would JFK have fought in Vietnam?
20 Mar 2025,40 mins
The Confederacy: Could They Have Won?
The military strategy of Confederacy in Civil War.
17 Mar 2025,32 mins
President Eisenhower: War of Soviets & Segregation
President Eisenhower and the Cold War and Civil Rights.
13 Mar 2025,48 mins
The Confederacy: Life in the South
Conscription, bread riots and cotton - how did the people of the seceded states live?
10 Mar 2025,57 mins
The Illuminati in the US
Who were the real Illuminati?
06 Mar 2025,43 mins
The Confederacy: Who Was Jefferson Davis?
The Only President of the Confederate States of America
03 Mar 2025,58 mins
President Harry Truman
Next up in the Presidents series - number 33.
27 Feb 2025,47 mins
Jamestown: Decline & Fall?
Why did the colonists leave Jamestown?
24 Feb 2025,32 mins
Jamestown: Surviving The Fort
What was it like to live in the fort at Jamestown?
20 Feb 2025,56 mins
Did Vikings Reach the US?
What is the truth about Vikings in North America?
17 Feb 2025,40 mins