While all music genres incorporate religious imagery, the blues has its origin in the soil of the church. In its infancy, the blues was often dismissed as undermining the church’s gospel songbook. The initial resistance, however, could not suppress the organic development of a genre of music born from suffering. The great Mississippi Delta bluesman, Muddy Waters, once said, "The blues was born behind a mule." Behind a beast of burden, the working man found in the blues a way to console the...

The gripping story of the fall of Heinrich Himmler--the man who sought to perfect genocide—as he becomes the most hunted war criminal in history during the convulsive final days of the Third ReichHeinrich Himmler, head of the SS, Gestapo, and Waffen-SS, rose to all but supreme power as architect of the concentration camps and commander of the murderous deportations, the mass sterilizations, and the gas chambers. In Himmler’s Last Days, acclaimed historians...

The gripping story of the fall of Heinrich Himmler--the man who sought to perfect genocide—as he becomes the most hunted war criminal in history during the convulsive final days of the Third ReichHeinrich Himmler, head of the SS, Gestapo, and Waffen-SS, rose to all but supreme power as architect of the concentration camps and commander of the murderous deportations, the mass sterilizations, and the gas chambers. In Himmler’s Last Days, acclaimed historians...

The fascinating story of the Red River Settlement, now Winnipeg, in the years 1813 to 1816, told with archival journals, reports, and lettersUnsettled tells the story of two hundred Highlanders who flee the Scottish Clearances in 1813 to establish a settlement on the Red River in what eventually became Winnipeg. They are sponsored by the Earl of Selkirk, a man who has never been west of Montreal. Families who have never left their Highland crofts take an e...

You won't find the Ocean Man and Pheasant Rump reserves on a map of southeastern Saskatchewan. In 1901, the two Nakoda bands reluctantly surrendered the seventy square miles granted to them under treaty. It's just one of more than two dozen surrenders aggressively pursued by the Laurier Liberal government over a fifteen-year period. One in five acres was taken from First Nations.This confiscation was justified on the grounds that prairie bands had too much land and that it would be...

Now’s not the time to pussyfoot around the issues. In this game, you’ve got to be brave enough to name and shame. For too long, many of the companies, governments, and individuals claiming to do the most are nowhere near walking their talk. They’ve put up beautiful window dressing to distract from all the horrible stuff happening inside their houses. Behind the scenes, these groups’ actions hold back the very progress they claim to support. We’ve been treated like fools, falling into the t...

2025 ASSOCIATION FOR RECORDED SOUND COLLECTIONS AWARDS CERTIFICATE OF MERIT * AUDIOFILE MAGAZINE EARPHONES AWARDThe audiobook edition of How Women Made Music: A Revolutionary History brings listeners closer than ever to their creative heroes. Featuring rare interview excerpts with Nina Simone, Sinead O’Connor, Lucinda Williams, Joni Mitchell, Taylor Swift, Solange, and many more.NPR’s launch of the multi-platform seriesTurning ...

From the #1 international bestselling author of THE REVENANT – the book that inspired the award-winning movie – comes the fascinating story of America’s first battle over the environment.In the last three decades of the nineteenth century, an American buffalo herd once numbering 30 million animals was reduced to twelve. In an era that treated the West as nothing more than a treasure chest of resources to be dug up and shot down, the buffalo was a commodity, hounded by hide hunters ...

The riveting history of a beautiful queen, a shocking murder, a papal trial -- and a reign as triumphant as any in the Middle Ages.On March 15, 1348, twenty-two-year-old Joanna I, Queen of Naples, stood trial for the murder of her husband before the Pope and his court in Avignon. Determined to defend herself, Joanna won her acquittal against overwhelming odds. Victorious, she returned to Naples and ruled over one of Europe's most prestigious courts for the next thr...

The immersive, captivating untold story of the mass radicalization of the Republican Party in the aftermath of January 6, 2021, entrenching the political power of a radical right-wing movement dedicated to dismantling democracy itself.Inspired by Donald Trump’s election lies, a growing movement of grassroots activists mobilized around the country to pick up where the insurrection left off, laying the groundwork to succeed next time where Trump had failed to keep hi...

Eighty years after the stunning and decisive battle, a revelatory new history of MidwayThe Battle of Midway was, on paper, an improbable victory for the smaller, less experienced American navy and air force, so much so that it was quickly described as “a miracle.” Yet fortune favored the Americans at Midway, and the conventional wisdom has it that the Americans’ lucky streak continued as the war in the Pacific turned against the Japanese. This new history demonstra...

**This program includes a forward written and read by Madeleine Albright, with a preface and introduction read by Stuart E. Eizenstat.The definitive history of the Carter Administration from the man who participated in its surprising number of accomplishments—drawing on his extensive and never-before-seen notes.**Stuart E. Eizenstat was at Jimmy Carter’s side from his political rise in Georgia through four years in the White House, where he served as Chief Domestic Policy A...