For the Ages: A History Podcast

For many Americans, Harriet Tubman can seem more like a character out of myth than a flesh-and-blood historical figure. Many know of Tubman’s escape from slavery and her brave work on the Underground Railroad, but little more about her life and personal experiences. In this interview with David M. Rubenstein, prizewinning author Tiya Miles delves into the real woman, from Tubman’s birth as “Minty Ross” to her activism and beyond, to offer a clearer image of the American hero. Recorded on June...

Known as “America’s pastime,” baseball is much more than a game in the United States. Both a source of national pride and symbol of our identity, the sport is also a window into our past. Born out of alleys and vacant lots and now played in an arena of multi-million dollar contracts and international celebrity, baseball’s trajectory has in many ways mirrored that of our nation. Renowned filmmaker Ken Burns joins David M. Rubenstein to explore the story of this iconic national sport and to inv...

The argument over states’ rights versus a strong federal government is far from a new debate in this country. Before the divisions of today, two men represented contrasting visions of what America could be: Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. Jefferson believed in individual liberties and limited federal power, while Hamilton promoted a strong national government. Their rivalry helped shape the nation’s earliest political battles and continues to echo through American politics, influenci...

From his childhood in Venezuela’s famed El Sistema music education program to his rise as one of the world’s leading conductors, Gustavo Dudamel reflects on the experiences that shaped his musical life. In conversation with David M. Rubenstein, Dudamel recounts conducting his first orchestra at age eleven, discusses the collaborative art of leading musicians, and shares how he prepares scores entirely from memory. Looking ahead to his tenure as music and artistic director of the New York Phil...

Secretary of defense and friend and ally to two presidents, Robert S. McNamara was one of the most controversial men in American history for his role in the Vietnam War. Beyond his time at Harvard Law, his service during World War II, and his leadership of the Ford Motor Company and the World Bank, he is inevitably remembered for his fierce escalation of an unpopular and arguably unwinnable war. Authors Philip and William Taubman join David M. Rubenstein to provide a window into McNamara’s mi...

The teenagers who made up the US Naval Academy class of 1940 arrived in Annapolis as boys on the eve of Hitler’s aggression and graduated as Europe collapsed, only to find themselves thrust into every major front of World War II, from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay and Normandy. Renowned military historian Craig Symonds joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss the young men’s sacrifice, loss, and extraordinary coming-of-age in history’s deadliest conflict. Recorded on November 24, 2025

Covering 2.2 million acres, Yellowstone National Park is a geographic behemoth and, as the birthplace of America’s national park system, a cultural giant as well. But since its official establishment in 1872, the bucolic lands have been the source of frequent conflict: between Native Americans and Europeans, and tourism and environmental conservation. In this episode, prizewinning author Randall K. Wilson explores the complex history of the park, from its geological roots to its role in our u...

Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton’s gravestone identifies her merely as the daughter of Philip Schuyler and the widow of Alexander Hamilton, while her sister, Angelica, has only a marker next to the Livingston family vault, but neither memorial does justice to the complexity of the two women. Eliza was a vital aid to her husband’s political efforts, as well as a later reformer in her own right, and Angelica was a socialite who maintained friendships with the likes of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Je...

For generations, the teaching of American history has often glossed over the important role Native communities have played in shaping the nation, but contemporary historians are reframing the conversation. In a discussion that spans five centuries, scholar Ned Blackhawk illuminates how the history of the Indigenous peoples of North America is an essential component to telling a more complete American story—and how, despite many obstacles, Native communities have persevered. Recorded on Januar...

Shaped by crises at home and abroad, John Adams’s presidency became a proving ground for the nation’s fragile new government. Historian Lindsay M. Chervinsky sits down with David Rubenstein to reveal how Adams managed partisan conflict, foreign dangers, and a skeptical public, ultimately forging precedents for executive authority and democratic stability that secured the republic’s future. Recorded on April 29, 2024

Please enjoy this re-release of a past episode of For the Ages. New episodes will return Fall 2025. The women’s suffrage movement was a hard-fought, decades-long campaign to extend that most essential of democratic rights to all Americans regardless of sex. That protracted struggle would rapidly come to a head in August of 1920 in Tennessee, the final state needed to ratify the 19th Amendment. Author and journalist Elaine Weiss talks with David Rubenstein about the struggles of the suff...

Please enjoy this re-release of a past episode of For the Ages. New episodes will return Fall 2025. Bestselling author Walter Isaacson, in conversation with David M. Rubenstein, discusses the life and work of the Nobel Prize-winning Jennifer Doudna who, with her collaborators, created a DNA-editing tool with the power to revolutionize human health. Recorded on February 19, 2021

Lasting from 1865 to 1877, Reconstruction in the American South was an aspirational endeavor that brought with it newly enshrined rights for Black Americans, including Black male suffrage, birthright citizenship, and equal protection under the law, as well as the hope of national reconciliation. Despite early progress in education and government, lack of support and Southern resistance led to setbacks. In this conversation, Selwyn Vickers joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss how challenges to...