Cross-Examining History: Recent Episodes
Talmage Boston
Cross-Examining History is a podcast featuring interviews with the country’s leading historians conducted by nationally prominent interrogator Talmage Boston, author of Cross-Examining History: A Lawyer Gets Answers from the Experts About Our Presidents. He examines American history through the highly entertaining process of asking insightful questions that inspire his subjects to tell their best stories and provide their most important commentary about their best-selling books’ subjects.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Peter Onuf and Frank Cogliano on their newest book Thomas Jefferson Survives. They are leading Jeffersonian scholars and have written 15 books on Jefferson between them.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Matthew Pinsker on his newest book Boss Lincoln: The Partisan Life of Abraham Lincoln. Matthew is the author of Lincoln's Sanctuary: Abraham Lincoln and the Soldiers' Home, and Brian Pohanka Chair of Civil War History at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Doug Bradburn, Director of George Washington's Mount Vernon, about America's first president and the beginnings of the country. Doug is an award-winning author and scholar of early American history.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Bret Baier, host of Special Report with Bret Baier on the Fox News Channel and chief political anchor for Fox, on his newest book The Case for America: An Argument on Behalf of Our Nation.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of author Richard Bell on his newest book The American Revolution and the Fate of the World. Richard Bell teaches Early American history at the University of Maryland.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Jon Meacham on his newest book American Struggle: Democracy, Dissent, and the Pursuit of a More Perfect Union: An Anthology. Meacham is a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and #1 New York Times Bestselling author.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of author Philip Taubman on his new book McNamara at War. Robert McNamara was the US secretary of defense under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson at the height of the Cold War.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Richard Carwardine, Welsh historian and former President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, on his newest book Righteous Strife: How Warring Religious Nationalists Forged Lincoln's Union.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of authors Peter Baker and Susan Glasser. Baker and Glasser are the bestselling authors of The Man Who Ran Washington and the Divider.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Bret Baier, host of Special Report with Bret Baier on the Fox News Channel and chief political anchor for Fox, on his newest book To Rescue the American Spirit: Teddy Roosevelt and the Birth of a Superpower.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Bryan Burrough, journalist and best-selling author of eight books, including Barbarians at the Gate and his newest release, The Gunfighters: How Texas Made the West Wild.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Mark Updegrove, an American author, historian, journalist, and Presidential Historian for ABC News, about his latest book Make Your Mark: Lessons in Character from Seven Presidents. Mark Updegrove is also the president and CEO of the LBJ Foundation in Austin, Texas, and served as the director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum for eight years.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Phil Gramm on his new book The Triumph of Economic Freedom: Debunking the Seven Great Myths of American Capitalism. Phil Gramm is a former US Senator of nearly two decades, an economist, and author.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Kostya Kennedy on his new book The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America. Kostya is a New York Times bestselling author of fantastic books on baseball greats Pete Rose, Jackie Robinson, and Joe DiMaggio.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Sandy Kress, writer, teacher, and philanthropist, and Pete Geren, President and CEO of the Sid W. Richardson foundation, on freedom and opportunity in education.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Tevi Troy, author of 5 presidential history books, on his latest book The Power and the Money: The Epic Clashes Between Commanders in Chief and Titans of Industry.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Garry Kasparov, the greatest chess player of all time, about Russia, Ukraine, and protecting democracy worldwide. Garry Kasparov founded of the cross-partisan Renew Democracy Initiative in 2017.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Nigel Hamilton, a British-born American biographer, historian, and author, about his new book Lincoln vs. Davis: The War of the Presidents.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Edward F. O'Keefe on his new book The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created a President. O'Keefe is CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Lindsay Chervinsky, American presidential historian and author of Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Marc Selverstone on his new book The Kennedy Withdrawal: Camelot and the American Commitment to Vietnam. Marc Selverstone is a Cold War historian and author of Constructing the Monolith: The United States, Great Britain, and International Communism, 1945-1950. He is also the Director of presidential studies at the UVA Miller Center.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Malcolm Gladwell on his new book Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering. Malcolm Gladwell is the author of seven New York Times bestsellers: The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, What the Dog Saw, David and Goliath, Talking to Strangers, and The Bomber Mafia.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Jeffrey Rosen, author of The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America. Rosen is president and CEO of the National Constitution Center and hosts We the People, a weekly podcast of constitutional debate. He is also a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic. He was previously the legal affairs editor of The New Republic and a staff writer for The New Yorker.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Hampton Sides, author of non-fiction adventure stories set in war or depicting epic expeditions of discovery and exploration. His most recent book, The Wide Wide Sea, is an epic recount of the voyage of Captain James Cook, culminating in his death in Hawaii.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Brody Mullins, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and author of The Wolves of K Street. Previously, Brody spent nearly two decades covering the intersection of business and politics for The Wall Street Journal.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and author of An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, and No Ordinary Time: Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Frank Cogliano, author and Professor of American History at the University of Edinburgh, Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and former president of the Scottish Association for the Study of America.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Lawrence Wright, Pulitzer Prize winning author and long time staff writer for The New Yorker magazine.
In this very special episode, Talmage Boston has the tables turned and is interviewed by Dale Petroskey. Talmage Boston is a trial lawyer, historian, and podcaster who just published his newest book, How The Best Did It: Leadership Lessons from Our Top Presidents.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Tracy Daugherty, biographer and author of Larry McMurtry: A Life.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of H.W. Brands, historian and author of Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics. H.W. Brands is Dickson Allen Anderson Centennial Professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin and a two time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of George Getschow, editor of Pastures of the Empty Page: Fellow Writers on the Life and Legacy of Larry McMurtry. His book is a collection of essays offering an intimate view of Larry McMurtry, author of Lonesome Dove and The Last Picture Show.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Ronald C. White, historian and author of A. Lincoln, American Ulysses, and his new book On Great Fields: The Life and Unlikely Heroism of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. On Great Fields is a comprehensive biography of an American soldier and leader who deserves to be known for more than his heroism in the Civil War.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of David Brooks on his new book How To Know A Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen. David is author of New York Times best sellers The Second Mountain and The Road to Character. He also writes for The New York Times.
Talmage Boston invites Bret Baier back for a live cross-examination style interview on his new book To Rescue the Constitution: George Washington and the Fragile American Experiment. Bret Baier is the host of Special Report with Bret Baier on the Fox News Channel and chief political correspondent for Fox.
Talmage Boston conducts a live cross-examination style interview of Jonathan Eig on his newest book King: A Life. Eig is the bestselling author of six books, including his previous book Ali: A Life.
Talmage Boston conducts a live cross-examination style interview of Gregg Jarrett. Gregg Jarrett is a Fox News commentator, attorney, and bestselling author of The Russia Hoax and his newest book, The Trial of the Century, about the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925.
Talmage Boston conducts a live cross-examination style interview of S.C. Gwynne. S.C. Gwynne is the Pulitzer prize nominated author of Empire of the Summer Moon, The Perfect Pass, and Rebel Yell. His newest book, His Majesty's Airship: The Life and Tragic Death of the World's Largest Flying Machine, tells the story of the British airship R101—which went down in a spectacular hydrogen-fueled fireball in 1930, killing more people than died in the Hindenburg disaster seven years later.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of James Conroy on his new book The Devils Will Get No Rest: FDR, Churchill, and the Plan That Won the War. James Conroy is a trial lawyer of 37 years turned award-winning author of narrative history.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Evan Thomas on his new book Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II. Evan Thomas is an American journalist, historian, and author. He is the author of nine books, including two New York Times bestsellers, John Paul Jones and Sea of Thunder.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Philip Taubman on his new book In The Nation's Service: The Life and Times of George P. Shultz. George P. Shultz was US Secretary of Labor, Secretary of the Treasury, and Secretary of State, and was pivotal in steering the great powers toward the end of the Cold War.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of William Inboden and Dale Petroskey on William Inboden's his new book, The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, The Cold War, And The World On The Brink, about how Ronald Reagan and his national security team confronted the Soviets, reduced the nuclear threat, won the Cold War, and supported the spread of freedom around the world. Dale Petroskey worked in the White House as Assistant Press Secretary under Ronald Reagan.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Burk Murchison and Michael Granberry on their new book, Hole In The Roof, about The Dallas Cowboys, Clint Murchison Jr., and the stadium that changed American sports forever.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Phil Gramm on his newest book The Myth of American Inequality: How Government Biases Policy Debate. Phil Gramm is a former US Senator of nearly two decades, an economist, and author.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Ed Goeas on his new book A Question of RESPECT: Bringing Us Together in a Deeply Divided Nation which he co-authored with Celinda Lake. Goeas is an author, premier pollster, and political veteran of Washington DC of over 40 years.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Jon Meacham on his newest book And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle. Meacham is a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and #1 New York Times Bestselling author.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Doug Brinkley on his newest book Silent Spring Revolution. Brinkley is an author, historian, and Katherine Tsanoff Brown Professor in Humanities in the Department of History at Rice University.
In a program of the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth, Talmage Boston moderates a live event with the great Henry Kissinger, former US Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, and author of over a dozen books on diplomatic history and international relations. Since its founding in 1951, the mission of the nonprofit, nonpartisan World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth has been to promote international awareness and understanding. For more information and to become a member, visit www.dfwworld.org or call 214-965-8400.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Peter Baker and Susan Glasser on their newest book The Divider: Trump in the White House. Baker and Glasser are the bestselling authors of The Man Who Ran Washington.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of David Maraniss on his fantastic new book Path Lit By Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe. David Maraniss is a New York Times best-selling author and two time Pulitzer Prize winner.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of lawyer-turned-author Corban Addison on his new book, Wastelands: The True Story of Farm Country on Trial.
In a program of the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth, Talmage Boston moderates a live event with Jonathan Martin and Karl Rove on Martin's new book This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future. Jonathan Martin is a national political correspondent for The New York Times and a political analyst for CNN. Since its founding in 1951, the mission of the nonprofit, nonpartisan World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth has been to promote international awareness and understanding. For more information and to become a member, visit www.dfwworld.org or call 214-965-8400.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Kostya Kennedy, author of True: The Four Seasons of Jackie Robinson., which has received glowing reviews in the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. In the past, Kostya has written NYTimes bestsellers on Joe DiMaggio and Pete Rose, and is a former senior writer at Sports Illustrated. He’s now the Editorial Director at Dotdash Meredith, overseeing special editions under such brands as LIFE, People, Entertainment Weekly and EatingWell.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Mark Updegrove, an American author, historian, journalist, and Presidential Historian for ABC News, about his latest book Incomparable Grace: JFK in the Presidency. Mark Updegrove is also the president and CEO of the LBJ Foundation in Austin, Texas, and served as the director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum for eight years.
James Baker returns for a cross-examination style interview. James Baker is an American attorney and statesman who served as White House Chief of Staff and US Secretary of the Treasury under Ronald Reagan and as US Secretary of State and White House Chief of Staff under George H.W. Bush.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of John Avlon on his new book Lincoln and the Fight for Peace. John Avlon is an author, columnist and commentator. He is a senior political analyst and fill-in anchor at CNN, appearing on New Day every morning.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Annette Gordon-Reed, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, historian, and Harvard Professor, on her newest book On Juneteenth.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Joe Lieberman, American Senator, on centrism and how to work together across the aisle in the government.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of David McCloskey, former CIA analyst and author of the new spy thriller Damascus Station.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of David Rubenstein, American patriotic philanthropist and author of the bestselling new book The American Experiment.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Bret Baier, host of Special Report with Bret Baier on the Fox News Channel and chief political correspondent for Fox, on his newest book To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Jeff Shesol, historian, cartoonist, and author of Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. The Supreme Court, about his newest book Mercury Rising.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Julia Sweig, historian and author of Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding In Plain Sight. "Perhaps the most underestimated First Lady of the twentieth century, Lady Bird Johnson was also one of the most accomplished and often her husband's secret weapon."
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Jason Riley, historian and author of Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell. Maverick showcases Sowell's most significant writings and traces the life events that shaped his ideas and resulted in a Black orphan from the Jim Crow South becoming one of our foremost public intellectuals.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Ronald C. White, historian and author of A. Lincoln, American Ulysses, and his new book Lincoln in Private. Lincoln in Private looks at Abraham Lincoln's reflections and ruminations he wrote on slips of paper to give a better understanding of the private Lincoln behind the public Lincoln.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of Walter Isaacson, bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs. Walter Isaacson's newest book tells the story of how Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues launched a revolution that will allow us to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and have healthier babies.
Talmage Boston holds a live cross-examination style interview of the legendary John Grisham, author of (among many others) A Time to Kill, The Firm, The Pelican Brief, and his newest novel, A Time For Mercy.
Talmage Boston conducts a live cross-examination style interview of David Stewart, bestselling and award-winning author of the new book "George Washington", about the political rise of America's founding father.
Talmage Boston conducts a live cross-examination style interview of David Michaelis, author of the new biography of unforgettable first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, titled "Eleanor".
Talmage Boston conducts a live cross-examination style interview of Susan Eisenhower. Susan Eisenhower is an American consultant, author, and expert on international security, space policy, energy, and relations between the Russian Federation and the United States of America. She is the daughter of John Eisenhower, and the granddaughter of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Talmage Boston conducts a live cross-examination style interview of David Eisenhower. David Eisenhower is an American author, public policy fellow, professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and eponym of the U.S. presidential retreat Camp David. He is the grandson of President Dwight Eisenhower and a son-in-law of President Richard Nixon.
Talmage Boston conducts a live cross-examination style interview of investigative journalist Bob Woodward, who did much of the original news reporting on Watergate, about the 2020 election. Journalist Gene Roberts called Woodward and Bernstein's reporting "maybe the single greatest reporting effort of all time".
Talmage Boston conducts a live cross-examination style interview of prolific historian HW Brands, two time Pulitzer Prize finalist, about his new book The Zealot and the Emancipator: John Brown, Abraham Lincoln, and the Struggle for American Freedom.
Talmage Boston conducts a live cross-examination style interview of Lincoln Prize winner Harold Holzer, author of The Presidents vs. the Press: The Endless Battle Between the White House and the Media, From the Founding Fathers to Fake News.
Talmage Boston conducts a live cross-examination style interview of NYT chief White House correspondent Peter Baker and Politico editor Susan Glasser about their new book, The Man Who Ran Washington: The Life and Times of James A. Baker III.
Talmage Boston conducts a live cross-examination style interview of former Secretary of State James A. Baker discussing "The Lawyer as Leader".
David Rubenstein returns to Cross-Examining History with another fascinating interview. David Rubenstein is an American businessman, investor, philanthropist, and most recently, author of The American Story: Interviews with Master Historians.
Talmage Boston holds a live Zoom meeting cross-examination style interview of the legendary John Grisham, author of (among many others) A Time to Kill, The Firm, The Pelican Brief, and his newest novel, A Time For Mercy.
Talmage Boston holds a live Zoom meeting cross-examination style interview of Nicholas Basbanes, author of Cross of Snow: A Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Talmage Boston conducts a cross-examination style interview of Barry Gewen, author of The Inevitability of Tragedy: Henry Kissinger and His World.
Talmage Boston conducts a cross-examination style interview of Scott Turow. Scott Turow is the author of many bestselling works of fiction, including Testimony, Identical, Innocent, and his latest book The Last Trial. His books have been translated into more than forty languages, sold more than thirty million copies worldwide, and have been adapted into movies and television projects.
Talmage Boston conducts a cross-examination style interview of Ted Widmer. Ted Widmer is an American historian, author of Martin Van Buren in The American Presidents Series and Ark of the Liberties: America and the World.
Talmage Boston conducts a live cross-examination style interview of Ken Starr. Ken Starr is an American lawyer who served as the 39th Solicitor General of the United States, known for heading the investigation of the Whitewater controversy in the Clinton Administration. He has also served as Dean of the Pepperdine University School of Law and President of Baylor University.
Talmage Boston conducts a live cross-examination style interview of Jerry Mitchell. Jerry Mitchell is an American investigative journalist who convinced authorities to reopen cold murder cases from the Civil Rights Era. He tells the whole story in his new book Race Against Time.
Talmage Boston conducts a live cross-examination style interview of Brian Kilmeade. Brian Kilmeade co-hosts Fox's morning show, Fox & Friends, and he hosts the Fox News Radio program The Brian Kilmeade Show. He is also author of 5 books, including his newest book Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers: The Texas Victory That Changed American History.
Talmage Boston conducts a live cross-examination style interview of Stephen Harrigan. Stephen Harrigan is the author of Big Wonderful Thing: A History of Texas.
Talmage Boston conducts a live cross-examination style interview of David Rubenstein. David Rubenstein is an American businessman, investor, philanthropist, and most recently, author of The American Story: Interviews with Master Historians.
Talmage Boston conducts a live cross-examination style interview of S.C. Gwynne. S.C. Gwynne is the Pulitzer prize nominated author of Empire of the Summer Moon, The Perfect Pass, and Rebel Yell. His newest book, Hymns of the Republic, tells the story of the final year of the American Civil War.
Talmage Boston conducts a live, in-person, cross-examination style interview of John Grisham. John Grisham is the legendary author of A Time To Kill, The Firm, The Pelican Brief, and most recently, his brand new suspense thriller novel The Guardians.
Talmage Boston conducts a cross-examination style interview of Trish Hall, op-ed editor for the NYT, about her book Writing To Persuade.
Talmage Boston conducts a cross-examination style interview of Dayton Duncan and Julie Dunfey about their book Country Music: An illustrated History and its upcoming film by Ken Burns.
Talmage Boston conducts a cross-examination style interview of Bud Selig, the ninth commissioner of baseball, and author of For the Good of the Game.
Talmage Boston conducts a cross-examination style interview of Clay Risen, author of: The Bill of the Century: The Epic Battle for the Civil Rights Act; American Whiskey, Bourbon & Rye: A Guide to the Nation's Favorite Spirit; and A Nation on Fire: America in the Wake of the King Assassination.
Talmage Boston conducts a cross-examination style interview of John Grisham, author of A Time To Kill, The Firm, The Pelican Brief, and most recently his series of young adult fiction books starring Theodore Boone.
Talmage Boston conducts a cross-examination style interview of David McCullough, author of The Pioneers.
Talmage Boston hosts a discussion and interview of David Brooks, author of The Second Mountain. Recorded at a live event in Dallas, TX.
Talmage Boston hosts a discussion and interview of Doug Brinkley, author of Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race. Recorded at a live event in Dallas, TX.
Talmage Boston hosts a discussion and interview of Evan Thomas, author of First: Sandra Day O'Connor. Recorded at a live event in Dallas, TX.