Roundup

Murder case, Leo Frank lynching [video 4 minutes, 46 seconds]

Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) -- Turn back time, more than 90 years, to a cold case that won't gather dust. It's a classic whodunit, starting with the rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl and ending in a lynching. It was grist for a prosecutor's political aspirations, a case that was appealed all the way to the country's highest court and a story hotly debated in the national press. At the center of it all was Leo Frank, a northern Jew who'd moved to Atlanta to supervise the

1st Thermonuclear Bomb Test (November 1, 1952) [video 1 minute, 33 seconds]

In an operation code-named Mike, the first thermonuclear weapon (hydrogen bomb) was detonated at Enewetak atoll in the Marshall Islands, Nov. 1, 1952.

Adam Davidson and Alex Blumberg: Accidents Of History Created U.S. Health System [audio 7 minutes, 19 seconds]

If you want to understand how to fix today's health insurance system, you'd be smart to look first at how it was born. How did Americans end up with a system in which employers pay for our health insurance? After all, they don't pay for our groceries or our gas. It turns out there never was any central logic at work. The evolution of the American health care system began in the 1920s, when choices boiled down to which crazy cure you preferred... ... In that era, most me

"Comedy And The Economic Crash Of 1929" [5 min 32 sec]

People need comedy during tough economic times, but during the great stock market crash of 1929 there was a problem. Large numbers of entertainers lost their shirts, too, and there didn't seem like much to laugh at. This week is the 80th anniversary of the big market crash.

History of Government Health Care and Costs [video 3 minutes and 24 seconds]

James Freeman discusses on the Cavuto show how the history of government health care shows that costs always run over budget.

Irish Laborers Buried Under Suburban Railroads [audio 3 minutes 15 seconds]

When commuters ride the train in the northwest suburbs of Philadelphia, most don't know they are passing within a stone's throw of a mass grave. Historians are excavating what could be the remains of more than 50 Irish laborers buried underneath the railroad. Peter Crimmins of member station WHYY in Philadelphia reports.

Mystery Endures: Remains Found Not Those Of Artist [audo 3 minutes 36 seconds]

New DNA testing shows that the disappearance of writer, artist and explorer Everett Ruess is still a mystery — despite findings earlier this year that indicated his remains had been found. The 20-year-old vagabond from California vanished 75 years ago in the steep and rugged canyon country of southern Utah. Ruess has since attracted a cult following passionate about the young man's writing and inspired by his disappearance. "You can't help but become fascinated by

Layoffs At 100-Year-Old Mill Gut Town's Identity [audio 4 minutes 51 seconds]

International Paper has just announced plans to lay off 1,600 workers because of slack demand for paper. As part of the pullback, the company will eliminate 1,100 jobs in Franklin, Va., where the mill is more than 100 years old. The company is by far the area's dominant employer.

Halloween: The Time Between [audio 28 minutes 29 seconds]

Put on your scariest costume and go trick-or-treating again in this portrait of the personal--and cultural--meanings of Halloween. Derived from ancient beliefs about the the dangers of times of transition--the end of October marks the time between the summer and winter seasons,between earth's time of life and death--and this is the theme of the holiday. Incorporating Celtic rituals with Catholic ones, involving the dead coming back to possess the spirit of the living, and the living trying to hi

Eiffel Tower Celebrates A 'Green' 120th Birthday [audio 2 minutes 37 seconds]

The Eiffel Tower in Paris is celebrating its 120th birthday. To mark the occasion, the city is putting on a free sound and light show every night for the next two months. It takes place on the facade of the tower that faces the Seine River. The show is environmentally friendly because it is powered by LED strobe lights. It took more than a month to attach the lights to the tower's girders.

Fox News looks at 'historical' perspective of white house attacks [video 2 minutes, 52 seconds]

[Automatically Generated Transcript (may not be 100% accurate) from video also contained on the above link] "We've been telling you the last few days about the White House attacks on Fox News the insurance industry and the US chamber of commerce. Today some historical perspective on the subject of administration aggression. From a man with first hand experience. Correspondent James Rosen explains."... ... " Against its perceived opponents the Obama White

Berlin Wall in Los Angeles [video 7 minutes, 19 seconds]

Eight original segments of the Berlin Wall are in front of 5900 Wilshire - the Variety building - along Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles. The Wende Museum's public art initiative to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The eight wall segments (soon to be ten) of reinforced concrete is on the lawn area in front of 5900 Wilshire along Wilshire Blvd. The segments, which are each 12ft. tall and 3.9 ft. wide, face the Los Angeles County Museum of Art directly a

Why America Wants to Promote Liberty and Democracy [video 1 hour 9 minutes 48 seconds]

Pulitzer Prize for History recipient Gordon Wood traces the history of American efforts to promote democracy around the world from the French Revolution to current involvement in the Middle East. As far back as the 19th century, the identity of America has been linked to its central role in sparking republican revolutions around the world.

French Priest Provides Voice To Holocaust Witnesses [audio 4 minutes 47 seconds]

Some researchers say up to a third of all Holocaust victims were executed not in camps, but by bullets. Most of them had been shot by German troops during the invasion of Russia. A French priest has spent years searching for mass graves and recording the memories of elderly witnesses. His organization has opened a display of the priest's work in Paris.

Theodore W. Allen Interview on the Invention of the White Race, Parts I and II [audio 1 hour 11 seconds (combined)]

Chad Pearson of the University at Albany, SUNY, interviews Marxist historian Theodore W. Allen, author of the The Invention of the White Race: Vol. 1: Racial Oppression and Social Control (London: Verso, 1994) and The Invention of the White Race: Vol. 2: The Origin of Racial Oppression in Anglo-America (London: Verso, 1997). This covers part 1 and 2 of a 2 part interview.

"Human Rights and Their Limits" [video 1 hr 35 min 3 sec]

In Human Rights and Their Limits (Cambridge University Press), Wiktor Osiatynski examines how the concept of human rights has developed in waves: each call for rights serves the purpose of social groups that try to stop further proliferation of rights after their own goals are reached. Although a state of unlimited democracy threatens rights, excessive rights can limit resources indispensable for democracy. Human Rights and Their Limits argues that although rights are a prerequisite

Body Politics: A History of Health Care [audio 54 minutes 51 seconds]

In 1912, Teddy Roosevelt became the first presidential candidate to stump for national health insurance. He lost that election, but a century later, the issue continues to divide Americans. On this episode, the History Guys explore the origins of the health care debate, and try to explain how we wound up with a system so different from the European model. They hear from Jacob Hacker, author of the "public option" plan, about why lobbyists hold so much sway over health poli

Berlin wall 20 years on: 'The Berlin wall was a monster' [video 4 min 55 sec]

Berlin wall 20 years on: In the first of five films, Berliners describe how their city was divided by the wall and why a few risked their lives to escape from east to west.

The Moderometer: Charting Obama's Zig-Zag, September 28 to October 12

By Gil Troy Mr. Troy is Professor of History at McGill University in Montreal and a Visiting Scholar at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, DC. His latest book is: Leading from the Center: Why Moderates Make the Best Presidents (Basic Books).

Q and A with former UN security official Gordon Goldstein on Afghanistan and lessons learned in Vietnam [video 27 minutes, 26 seconds]

Courtesy of Kathryn Jones from the The Massachusetts School of Law, here is a recent video of a special q and a with former UN security official Gordon Goldstein on Afghanistan and the lessons learned in Vietnam. While Sorley’s book A Better War has been passed around the Pentagon, Goldstein’s Lessons In Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam, has been circulating around the White House and is now being read by President Obama.