History That Doesn't Suck

From Airship, the studio behind American Scandal, American History Tellers, and History Daily, comes a new true crime history podcast that takes you inside the minds of some of our most notorious felons and outlaws, exploring the dark side to the American dream.

In this new show, host Jeremy Schwartz will introduce you to the picture-perfect brothers who teamed up to kill their parents; the thief who stole babies and ruined countless lives; the crypto king who siphoned off billions in the name of saving the world—and plenty more. From assassins and gangsters, to...

“Only Capone kills like that.”

This is the story of the rise and fall of Al Capone, and the last gasps of Prohibition. 

No other gangster compares to Scarface. He’s remained prominent in the American consciousness for 100 years due to his overt violence and lavish lifestyle, funded by *ahem* unsavory business practices. He brazenly orders murders like the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, but he also doesn’t hesitate to get his own hands dirty when it comes to traitors. Capone seems to have jumped onto the mob scene ready...

“Don’t ask me nothin’! You hear me? Don’t ask! And don’t bring anybody in here for me to identify. I won’t identify them even if I know they did it!”

This is the story of the nation’s up-and-coming criminal underground. 

By 1920, with few exceptions, producing, buying, and selling alcohol is outlawed, but that doesn’t stop enterprising Americans. Many feel perfectly comfortable flouting the law and continuing to drink at their leisure, albeit with the added thrill that comes with evading halfhearted lawmen. Some cops are even in on...

“You’re Bill McCoy.” “Never heard of him.”

This is the story of a crazy decade-plus when America outlawed booze…but the liquor kept flowing. 

The Prohibition era marks a partial return to the Golden Age of Piracy, with bootleggers frequenting old haunts in the Caribbean, including Nassau, capital of The Bahamas. These sailors are also buying, selling, and drinking copious amounts of—you guessed it—rum. But how does all this booze get from the Bahamas to speakeasies in New York? 

William “Bill” McCoy is a legendary r...

Episode Description:

“Farewell, you good-for-nothing, God-forsaken, iniquitous, bleary-eyed, bloated-faced old imp of perdition, farewell!”

This is the story of the path to prohibition.

Early America drinks a lot – I mean, A LOT. Alcohol doesn’t give you dysentery, it’s used as a medicine, and in the first decades of the Republic, whiskey is cheaper than coffee or tea. But some are starting to think that maybe Uncle Sam needs an intervention. First, it's the American Temperance Society, then the Washingtonians, and by the late-nineteenth-century, it’s the Woman’s C...

“I believe I can swing it.”

This is the story of the Coolidge Administration.

Calvin Coolidge isn’t the most talkative guy–he’s painfully shy, to be frank–but “Silent Cal” does care deeply about public service. Over the years, the thrifty, hard-working New Englander moves up the ranks, from municipal offices to state offices, until, as Massachusetts Governor, he’s asked to join Warren G. Harding’s run for the White House. When the scandalous, playboy President meets an untimely end, family man Cal suddenly finds himself President of the Uni...

“If you knew of a great scandal in our administration, would you for the good of the country and the party expose it publicly or would you bury it?” 

This is the story of a brilliant man’s presidency and the greatest presidential scandal to precede Watergate. This is the story of Warren G. Harding and the Teapot Dome Scandal.

Growing up in Ohio, Warren–or little “Winnie,” as his mom calls him–shows his brilliance from day one. The smart, charismatic, and handsome boy grows up to become a newspaperman...

The Prof. sits down with fellow Prof. Ben Sawyer of the Road to Now Podcast and Middle Tennessee State University to chat through the last volume episodes. Russia, the Red Scare, the second Klan, and more, while Ben gets Greg to share behind-the-scenes details on the writing process. Enjoy!

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“I want to say make no settlement until they sign up that every bloody murderer of a guard has got to go.”

This is the story of the largest uprising in the United States since the Civil War.

As unions spread across the Progressive-Era United States, West Virginia mine owners manage to keep them out. They have some good reasons (tough margins) and some less savory ones … like their preference for an oppressive “mine guard system” in “company towns” that effectively removes civil government and private ownership, and reduces the American c...

“Every official except one elected yesterday at the first municipal election of this borough had been endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan.”

This is the story of the Second Ku Klux Klan.

It’s been nearly half a century since the Third Enforcement Act killed off the Klan in 1871. But amid Jim Crow segregation in 1915, the lynching of a Jewish Georgian Leo Frank, coupled with a new film, The Birth of a Nation, inspires William Simmons to resurrect the Klan. 

This new Klan has a longe...