Our American Stories

On this episode of Our American Stories, every Sunday, Our American Stories host Lee Habeeb speaks with Mitchel "Big Mitch" Rutledge, who has spent more than forty years serving a life sentence in Alabama. Each call traces the shape of faith, regret, and forgiveness inside a place built for punishment. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, at Fort Irwin, where military training exercises push soldiers to the edge of real combat, the line between routine drills and genuine danger can blur without warning. Our American Stories regular contributor Richard Muniz remembers a night when that line vanished. A single misjudged moment during a live-fire military exercise sent a round into the wrong vehicle and forced a small crew to fight for their lives in the dark. His story is a look at how even the best-trained teams face risks that no plan can fully erase. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, by the start of 1864, the Civil War had dragged the country into exhaustion. Union armies faced setback after setback, and Lincoln watched public confidence slip as the Confederacy pressed its advantage. The outcome of the presidential election during wartime hung on the direction of the fighting, which turned the battlefield into a measure of Lincoln’s strength. Charles Bracelen Flood revisits this uneasy year, when the fate of the Union and the presidency moved together through uncertainty that reached from the front lines to the White House. We’d like to thank the Library of Congress for originally hosting this audio. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Blair and Cat Cornell learned their son would be born with special needs, they braced themselves for a future they could not quite picture. The early years brought long appointments and days that seemed to rise and fall on small breakthroughs. One evening, after a day that had worn their son down, Blair took him for a quiet drive. The shift was immediate. The tension left his face, and the moment settled into something gentle and steady. That drive eventually inspired JoyRide, a community built around children with developmental challenges who find comfort in cars and in the people who welcome them in. Blair shares how a simple ride became a way for families like his to feel seen. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before travelers lined up for brisket sandwiches or bags of Beaver Nuggets, Buc-ee’s began as Arch “Beaver” Aplin’s attempt to rethink what a roadside stop could feel like. He believed that even a quick break on a long drive deserved care, and the first Texas store reflected that instinct. Over the years, the idea grew until people started talking about the largest gas station in the United States as if it were a landmark rather than a convenience store. Eric Benson, who spent time tracing Aplin’s story for Texas Monthly, explains how a small experiment in hospitality reshaped the way drivers experience the open road. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the spring of 1961, McDonald County opened its highway map and discovered that it had simply vanished. The resort towns that depended on summer travelers were nowhere to be found, and what looked like a clerical mistake carried real consequences for the people who lived there. County leaders announced that McDonald County would symbolically secede from Missouri until someone paid attention.Dwight Pogue was a teenager then, watching his neighbors create a makeshift border patrol, hand out mock visas, and treat the whole effort as both a stand and a celebration. Looking back, he remembers how a small county briefly turned itself into its own territory and how that unlikely season brought the community together in a way no one expected. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, long before Glory brought the 54th Massachusetts to modern audiences, Robert Gould Shaw felt the pull of a story that had already begun to shape him. A quiet moment with Uncle Tom’s Cabin set him on a path that would place him at the head of one of the first Black Civil War regiments to see combat. The challenges he faced, the men who followed him, and the final march that secured the regiment’s legacy all unfolded long before the cameras arrived. Kirk Higgins of the Bill of Rights Institute traces how Shaw grew into the leader remembered today and how the history of the 54th Regiment continues to echo through the telling of the war. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, when Dr. David Berry lost his newborn daughter, the world around him narrowed until grief became the only thing he could feel. What began as an attempt to quiet that pain led him first to alcohol, then to cough syrup, and eventually to the stolen prescriptions that pushed him out of his home, his marriage, and the profession he loved. Dr. Berry shares how he reached the lowest point of substance abuse and how recovery helped him find solid ground again. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, as part of his ongoing series on the origins of everyday expressions, Andrew Thompson—author of Hair of the Dog to Paint the Town Red—shares the fascinating backstory behind the phrase “apple of your eye” and several others we still use without thinking. These familiar sayings carry histories shaped by religion, literature, and everyday life in earlier centuries. Thompson traces how these expressions traveled through time, how their meanings shifted, and why they continue to resonate in modern speech. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Our American Stories, Ralphie’s fantasy villain in A Christmas Story came from a dime novel that turned a real outlaw into a cartoon desperado. The actual Black Bart was nothing like the character on screen. In the 1870s, he robbed stagecoaches with a courtesy that puzzled sheriffs and captivated the public, leaving polite poems instead of violence. Roger McGrath looks back at the life of Charles Boles, a man whose quiet manners and curious habits made him one of the most successful and most unexpected bandits in Old West history. Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.