THE HISTORIANS #2 - How "Wild" was the Wild West? I Paul Andrew Hutton & Mark Lee Gardner
Release Date: 07/20/2026
The Great Game: Britain v. Russia in Central Asia
History Shorts
For nearly a century, Britain and Russia engaged in a silent struggle for power across Central Asia. Known as the Great Game, it was a contest of spies, diplomacy, military expeditions, and political intrigue, with Afghanistan caught between two rival empires. At stake was nothing less than the security of British India and Russia's expanding southern frontier. The rivalry brought both powers to the brink of war, shaped the modern borders of Central Asia, and left a lasting mark on one of the world's most contested regions. From disastrous invasions to near-conflicts over remote desert...
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Did a Cake Start the Salem Terror of 1692?
History Shorts
Before the Salem witch trials spiraled into one of the darkest episodes in American history, an unusual folk remedy set the stage. In February 1692, a witch cake—made from rye meal and the urine of the afflicted girls—was baked and fed to a dog in the hope that it would reveal the identity of a witch. Instead, the fear only grew. Within weeks, accusations spread across Salem. By the end of the crisis, nineteen people had been executed, one man had been pressed to death, and more than two hundred had been accused. Historians continue to debate what truly caused the girls' strange symptoms,...
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King William's War: P. Schuyler, the Iroquois & America’s Forgotten Conflict, w/ Samuel Marquis
History Shorts
I’m joined by bestselling and award-winning historian Samuel Marquis. He’s written widely on colonial America, the Golden Age of Piracy, and World War II — and he’s also the ninth-great-grandson of the legendary Captain William Kidd. His newest book, Empire and Frontier, takes us into a largely forgotten but pivotal chapter of early American history: King William’s War and the fragile alliance between Colonel Peter Schuyler and the Haudenosaunee, the Five Nations of the Iroquois. It’s a story of diplomacy, survival, and cross-cultural partnership on a violent frontier — one...
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The Polio Vaccine’s Cutter Incident of 1955
History Shorts
The announcement of the Salk polio vaccine in April 1955 was met with celebration across America. But within weeks, that joy turned to fear when some vaccinated children developed polio. A manufacturing failure at Cutter Laboratories had allowed live virus into thousands of vaccine doses, resulting in one of the most serious medical errors in U.S. history. The tragedy prompted sweeping reforms. Rather than abandoning the vaccine, scientists, regulators, and manufacturers strengthened testing, oversight, and production standards to ensure it could be used safely. Those changes restored public...
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The Wilmington Massacre of 1898
History Shorts
In 1898, Wilmington, North Carolina, was home to one of the most prosperous and politically influential Black communities in the United States. Then, on November 10, everything changed. An armed mob overthrew the city's legally elected government, murdered Black residents, and drove countless others from their homes in what remains the only successful coup d'état in American history. For generations, the event was dismissed as a "race riot." In reality, it was a carefully planned campaign to seize power and destroy a thriving multiracial democracy. The perpetrators openly organized the...
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Inside the White House as Chief of Staff to Laura Bush & Learning from the First Ladies, w/ Anita McBride
History Shorts
Join me for a fascinating conversation with Anita McBride — former Chief of Staff to First Lady Laura Bush, longtime White House veteran across three administrations, and current Executive-in-Residence at American University, where she directs the First Ladies Initiative. This episode is packed with history, leadership insights, and inspiration as we look toward America 250. If you enjoy stories from the White House, presidential history, or civic education, this one is a must-listen. SUPPORT THE SHOW: ADVERTISE: LEARN MORE: SPONSORED BY: ...
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The Truth About the Children's Crusade of 1212
History Shorts
The Children's Crusade of 1212 is often remembered as the tragic tale of thousands of innocent children marching to the Holy Land, only to be sold into slavery. It's a powerful story—but much of it is legend. Modern historians believe the so-called "children" were largely poor young adults, laborers, and society's outcasts seeking hope in a world that had little to offer them. Inspired by visions and faith, they set out believing God would accomplish what armies could not. The miracle never came. The sea did not part, the crusade collapsed, and countless lives were forever changed. In...
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The Eastland Disaster of 1915
History Shorts
On the morning of July 24, 1915, thousands of Chicago factory workers and their families gathered for a company picnic aboard the SS Eastland. The ship never made it out of the harbor. Just moments after passengers boarded, it rolled onto its side in only twenty feet of water—within sight of the dock. More than 844 people died, making it one of the deadliest maritime disasters in American history. Tragically, the catastrophe may have been made worse by safety regulations enacted after the Titanic disaster, as additional lifeboats increased the already unstable ship's top-heavy design....
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Zheng He and the Treasure Fleets of Ming China
History Shorts
Nearly a century before Columbus crossed the Atlantic, Ming China launched the largest naval expeditions the world had ever seen. Commanded by the remarkable admiral Zheng He, a former captive who rose to become one of history's greatest explorers, fleets of hundreds of ships and tens of thousands of sailors projected Chinese power across the Indian Ocean. They reached India, Arabia, Southeast Asia, and East Africa, forging diplomatic ties and showcasing the might of the Ming Empire. Then, almost as suddenly as it began, it ended. Political rivals convinced the imperial court to abandon the...
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The WWII Battle of LA: The Night America Shelled an Empty Sky
History Shorts
In the early hours of February 25, 1942, Los Angeles erupted into chaos. Air raid sirens wailed, searchlights swept the sky, and anti-aircraft batteries unleashed more than 1,400 shells at what thousands believed was a Japanese air attack. Witnesses reported seeing enemy aircraft overhead. The Army expected wreckage by morning. They found nothing. The so-called Battle of Los Angeles was likely triggered by a weather balloon, with gunners mistaking illuminated smoke from their own shells for enemy planes. Yet the panic had real consequences. Five people died in the confusion, and the fear...
info_outlineWelcome back to THE HISTORIANS — the series here on History Shorts where I sit down with two leading historians for an unscripted conversation about the questions that have shaped how we understand our past.
For episode two, I sat down with two of the foremost authorities on the American Wild West to ask one deceptively simple question:
How wild was the Wild West, really?
Paul Andrew Hutton is a Distinguished Professor of History at the University of New Mexico, a six-time winner of the Western Writers of America Spur Award, and the author of the New York Times bestseller The Undiscovered Country. Mark Lee Gardner is the bestselling author of Rough Riders, Shot All to Hell, and To Hell on a Fast Horse, whose WIRED video on the Wild West has been viewed nearly six million times.
What follows is a warm, opinionated conversation ranging from Buffalo Bill's Wild West show — which created the very conventions we still associate with Western film and fiction today — to whether Wyatt Earp is wildly overrated while Kit Carson remains the most underrated figure in American history.
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