For the Ages: A History Podcast

The story of the 1929 stock market crash and the Great Depression that followed goes far beyond the events of “Black Tuesday.” New York Times bestselling author Andrew Ross Sorkin joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss the speculation, greed, and ignored warnings that led to that epic economic meltdown, while examining the ways in which the economic and political state of the US in the late 1920s resembles our nation today.
Recorded on November 11, 2025

One hundred and fifty years before the events of January 7, 2021, the 1872 Louisiana gubernatorial election—arguably the most contentious in American history, with both parties claiming corruption and neither candidate conceding—led to racial violence across the state and the deaths of at least 150 Black men in the Colfax Massacre. CNN’s Dana Bash and author David Fisher join David M. Rubenstein to discuss the little-known story of this violent moment in America’s history.
Recorded on May 1, 2025

The early decades of the twenty-first century may be the most revolutionary period in modern history, with tectonic shifts in globalization, technology, identity, and geopolitics. But monumental change can be found across history as humans have lived, and thrived, through more than one great realignment. What were history’s most transformative revolutions, and how can they help us to understand our own fraught world today? CNN host Fareed Zakaria investigates the eras and movements that have shaken norms while shaping the modern world, with a focus on three such periods that hold profound lessons for today.
Recorded on April 26, 2025

Few people know Abraham Lincoln as intimately as Harold Holzer. The author, co-author, or editor of over 50 books on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War era, Holzer has explored everything from Lincoln’s election to his assassination, his views on immigration to his role as a father. In this conversation, Holzer joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss the life and times of America’s 16th president. 
Recorded on May 2, 2025

Spain’s involvement in early American history might feel limited, but Spanish people and their descendants have been involved in American military conflicts, both through direct fighting and the supply of weapons and funds, since the American Revolution, through the Civil War, both World Wars, and beyond. Join historian Marie Arana to learn how Spanish and Hispanic military involvement has been a constant in American history.
Recorded on November 25, 2025