Changed America

Before Adam Walsh there were no faces on milk cartons, no Amber Alerts, no National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, no federal databases of crimes against children, no pedophile registry. His 1981 abduction and murder, unsolved for over a quarter of a century, forever changed America.

On June 28, 1969, the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York's Greenwich Village, was raided by police. But instead of responding with the typical compliance the NYPD expected, patrons and a growing crowd decided to fight back. The five days of rioting that ensued changed forever the face of gay and lesbian life. In Stonewall, renowned historian and activist Martin Duberman tells the full story of this pivotal moment in history.

William Henry "Chick" Webb (1905-39) was one of the first virtuoso drummers in jazz and an innovative bandleader dubbed the "Savoy King," who reigned at Harlem's world-famous Savoy Ballroom. Along with the likes of Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, and Cab Calloway, Webb helped create the popular dance and music culture, known as Swing, that swept the United States during and after the Great Depression and left an indelible impact on American culture.

On February 22, 1978, a devastating freight train derailment drastically altered Waverly, Tennessee, and its place in history. This was one of the worst train explosions of the twentieth century, killing sixteen people, injuring hundreds more, and causing millions of dollars in damage. What could have been dismissed as a single community's terrible misfortune instead became the catalyst for radical change, including the formation of FEMA, much-needed reforms in emergency response training, and the creation and enforcement of national and state safety regulations.

By the late 19th century, Americans rich and poor had come to expect high-quality fresh beef with almost every meal. Beef production in the United States had gone from small-scale, localized operations to a highly centralized industry spanning the country, with cattle bred on ranches in the rural West, slaughtered in Chicago, and consumed in the nation’s rapidly growing cities. Red Meat Republic tells the remarkable story of the violent conflict over who would reap the benefits of this new industry and who would bear its heavy costs.

On August 28, 1963, more than 200,000 people marched on the United States capital to demand equal economic opportunities and civil rights for Black Americans. And at the end of the event, Martin Luther King Jr. took to the podium and delivered his unforgettable “I Have a Dream” speech.

On April 14, 1865, only days after the Civil War had come to a close, a gunshot rang out in Ford’s Theatre and President Abraham Lincoln slumped forward in his seat. Hours later, the United States had lost its leader. Now listeners can step back in time to learn about what led up to the assassination plot, how the fateful evening unfolded, and the ways in which one tragic day changed America forever.

On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States delivered a unanimous ruling that declared racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, because separate could never be equal. Now listeners can step back in time to learn about what led up to this major milestone in the Civil Rights movement, how the landmark case unfolded, and the ways in which one critical day changed America forever.

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong took one giant leap for mankind when he became the first person to set foot on the moon. Now, listeners can step back in time to learn about what led up to the Apollo 11 moon landing, how the historic event unfolded, and the ways in which one remarkable day changed America forever.

President John F. Kennedy was a popular president. On November 22, 1963, he waved to excited crowds from the back of a car as it wound through the streets of Dallas, Texas. Suddenly, gunshots rang out. The president had been shot! He died shortly after. The country had lost its leader.

The 1930s were a tough time. The Great Depression left many people jobless and penniless. Dust storms and drought led to failed crops. Livestock died. People thought things couldn’t get much worse. Then, on April 14, 1935, the sky turned black. For hours, an enormous dust blizzard blanketed the country in darkness.

On December 7, 1941, Japan’s surprise attack on the U.S. naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, propelled the United States into World War II. Now, listeners can step back in time to learn what led up to the attack, how the tragic event unfolded, and the ways in which one infamous day changed America forever.

On April 9, 1861, soldiers gathered outside Fort Sumter. They were fighting for the Confederacy, which was made up of southern states that had left the United States. The soldiers demanded the U.S. Army leave the fort. Even though the fort had less than a week’s worth of supplies, the Army refused. Three days later, a fight for the fort began. That battle was the start of the Civil War. Now listeners can step back in time to learn about what led up to this historic conflict, how the costly event unfolded, and the ways in which one explosive day changed America forever.

For years, the relationship between Great Britain and the American colonists had been wearing thin. Colonists felt they were being treated unfairly. The British thought they were putting down a rebellion. On April 19, 1775, the two sides clashed at Lexington and Concord. The American Revolution was about to begin. Now listeners can step back in time to learn about what led up to the battles, how the historic events unfolded, and the ways in which one shot changed America forever.

In August 1955, a fourteen-year-old African American, Emmett Till, was visiting family in Mississippi when he was kidnapped from his bed in the middle of the night by two White men and brutally murdered. His crime: allegedly whistling at a White woman in a convenience store. The killers were eventually acquitted.

In November 1965, some 450 men of the First Battalion, Seventh Cavalry, under the command of Lt. Col. Hal Moore, were dropped by helicopter into a small clearing in the Ia Drang Valley. They were immediately surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. Three days later, only two and a half miles away, a sister battalion was chopped to pieces. Together, these actions at the landing zones X-Ray and Albany constituted one of the most savage and significant battles of the Vietnam War. How these men persevered makes a vivid portrait of war at its most inspiring and devastating.

"Bloody Sunday" - March 7, 1965 - was a pivotal moment in the civil rights struggle. The national outrage generated by scenes of Alabama state troopers attacking peaceful demonstrators fueled the drive toward the passage of the Voting Rights Acts later that year. But why were hundreds of activists marching from Selma to Montgomery that afternoon?

Through the eyes and words of survivors and victims alike, as well as the careful research for which Newberry Honor Award winner Jim Murphy is known, listeners will experience one of the most devastating natural disasters in U.S. history and understand why and how life in the United States was forever changed.

In The Small and the Mighty, Sharon McMahon proves that the most remarkable Americans are often ordinary people who didn’t make it into the textbooks. Not the presidents, but the telephone operators. Not the aristocrats, but the schoolteachers. Through meticulous research, she discovers history’s unsung characters and brings their rich, riveting stories to light for the first time.

In this remarkable WWII story by New York Times best-selling author John R. Bruning, a renegade American pilot fights against all odds to rescue his family - imprisoned by the Japanese - and revolutionizes modern warfare along the way. From the knife fights and smuggling runs of his youth to his fiery days as a pioneering naval aviator, Paul Irving "Pappy" Gunn played by his own set of rules and always survived on his wits and fists. But when he fell for a conservative Southern belle, her love transformed him from a wild and reckless airman to a cunning entrepreneur.