Pritzker Military Museum & Library Podcasts

The stories of The Last Good War are full of reflections on duty, courage, fear, pride, sacrifice, and loss.

From the beginning, the nation’s commander-in-chief and its capitalists have been uneasy partners in the American enterprise. But for a few decades, it was nothing short of love. In American Colossus, Brands chronicles an age when the railroads led the nation...

Heroes sometimes come from unlikely places. One day in 1917, a hero arrived in the New York National Guard by way of a cell at Sing Sing. Monk Eastman had been the most feared gangster in lower Manhattan.

In The Grand Design, Stoker charts the evolution of Union and Confederate strategies in the years between Fort Sumter and Appomattox, arguing that victory was not the inevitable result of Northern advantages in population or industry – it came down to the...

Technological innovations as far back as the chariot and the longbow were supposed to make foot soldiers obsolete, and yet they remain on the battlefield, taking on the hardest and most dangerous jobs under the most miserable conditions. No machine, however...

As a young man, returned from a tour of duty in Vietnam, he began writing an epic novel about the war he experienced and the way that combat changes people. More than thirty years later, his work is done. Matterhorn draws from Karl Marlantes’ experience...

In Eyes to the Horizon, Myers looks back over his military career, casting particular emphasis on the mistakes he believes were made in the aftermath of September 11th.

Fortress Rabaul describes the island’s role during the first year and a half of the war in the Pacific and the stories of the men who fought there, including Lt. Edward “Butch” O’Hare – who earned the Medal of Honor for turning back an entire wave...

For his first few months in Vietnam, Staff Sgt. Cavaiani felt like the war was passing him by. But when the war found him, Cavaiani was ready to prove his courage several times over.

The Enemy in Our Hands begins with the Revolution, when a captured British or Hessian officer could expect a relatively benign experience: housing in private residences or inns, permission to roam up to ten miles, and nothing more severe than having to sit...

Gallagher joined the Army in 2005 and deployed to Iraq two years later with a commission in the armored cavalry. His platoon, nicknamed the Gravediggers, was based out of Saba al-Bor, in the northwest fringe of Baghdad Province.

David Sears’ early career included service as a U.S. Navy officer with extensive sea duty aboard destroyer Gearing (DD-710) and a tour of duty as an adviser to the Vietnamese Navy.

Almost 34 years after what he described as “ten minutes of hell” in Vietnam, Alfred Rascon received the Medal of Honor from President Clinton.

Almost 34 years after what he described as “ten minutes of hell” in Vietnam, Alfred Rascon received the Medal of Honor from President Clinton.

On Hallowed Ground describes the evolution of Arlington National Cemetery and the origins of its most affecting memorials, like the eternal flame at the grave of President John F. Kennedy and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.