How bullies shaped 19th-century America
HistoryExtra podcast
08/30/26
•42m
About
Comments
Featured In
America's Gilded Age is often remembered for rapid expansion and opportunity, but beneath the surface lay a brutal society in which it paid to be a bully.
In this episode, Elinor Evans speaks to historian Andrew Wender Cohen about his new book Gangster of New York: A Violent Life in Nineteenth-Century America. Following the remarkable career of Louis Bieral – a boxer, gambler, political enforcer and American Civil War veteran – Cohen uncovers how one man's life illuminates the brutal realities of the 19th-century US, from slavery and organised crime to political corruption and the struggle to establish the rule of law.
-----
GO BEYOND THE PODCAST
To find out more about the craze for pedestrianism mentioned in this episode, listen to our podcast series The Tiger Tamer Who Went To Sea', which chronicles the remarkable life of Bob Carlisle, a Victorian-era showman, sailor, and early endurance athlete: https://bit.ly/4wNcMEw
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Previous Episode
The Bayeux Tapestry is making headlines as it is loaned to the British Museum to be shown in England for the first time in almost a thousand years. It holds many mysteries, including the famous Aelfgyva scene, where an enigmatic woman is portrayed alongside a curious priest. David Musgrove is joined by Michael Lewis and Emily Winkler to investigate.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Next Episode
Laura Ingalls Wilder: life of the week
August 31
•46m
Laura Ingalls Wilder’s 'Little House' books have captivated generations with tales of family, hardship and survival on the American frontier. But how closely did Wilder’s fiction reflect her real childhood – and what should we make of its more controversial portrayals?
In this episode, Elinor Evans speaks to author and biographer Pamela Smith Hill about the tragedies that Wilder omitted from her stories, her complex collaboration with daughter Rose Wilder Lane, and the groundbreaking realism that helped to make her work a sensation.
-----
GO BEYOND THE PODCAST
To find out more about the real history in Little House on the Prairie, don't miss our explainer to the series, available at https://bit.ly/3TYZ6bN
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
If you like this episode you’ll love
Promoted