Best Summits On Tenth Podcasts (2025)

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The Unhealed Wounds of WW2 POWs and Combat Veterans 50:10

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3d ago50:10

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Nearly 16.4 million Americans served in the U.S. Armed Forces in World War II, and for millions of survivors, the fighting left many of them physically and mentally broken for life. There was a 25% death rate in Japanese POW camps like Bataan, where starvation and torture were rampant, and fierce battles against suicidal Imperial Japanese forces, l…

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Robert McNamara Thought Enough Data Could Win Any War. Instead, It Led America to the Vietnam Quagmire 1:00:21

5d ago1:00:21

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Robert S. McNamara, who was Secretary of Defense during JFK and LBJ’s administrations, and one of the chief architects of the Vietnam war, made a shocking confession in his 1995 memoir. He said “We were wrong, terribly wrong.” McNamara believed this as early as 1965, that the Vietnam War was unwinnable. Yet, instead of urging U.S. forces to exit, h…

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70. Behind the Scenes with a Full-Time Writer 24:18

4d ago24:18

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Send us a text Suzy is back this week for part two of her interview with prolific author, Simon Rose. This week they chat about how to sustain a career in writing, and what that really looks like. Sign Up for the Inspired Writing Newsletter HERE Submit Your Page for our Show don't Tell Coaching Episodes Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts (Thank you!)…

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The Philistine Connection: Do the Roots of October 7 Go Back 3,000 Years? 36:24

10d ago36:24

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The October 7th attacks of Hamas on Israel were an unprecedented, surprise incursion by land, sea, and air that stunned the world and prompted Israel to declare war. The attacks, which included massacres in Israeli communities and a music festival, resulted in the deaths of over 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals and the capture of some 251 hosta…

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The Thucydides Trap: How A Rising Athens Made The Peloponnesian War Inevitable 46:29

12d ago46:29

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The Peloponnesian War is considered one of the most famous wars of the ancient world not only because it was a massive and devastating conflict that reshaped the Greek world, but also because its thorough documentation by the historian Thucydides transformed how we understand history and war. On the face of it, the Peloponnesian War, fought over 20…

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69. Writing Time Travel for Middle Grade and YA with Simon Rose 27:47

9d ago27:47

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Send us a text Suzy chats this week with prolific author Simon Rose in the first of two episodes about writing time travel books for young audiences. They cover research, alternate histories, and time travel (in all directions!) GUEST: Simon graduated from university with a degree in history and his first novel for middle grade readers, The Alchemi…

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The Free French Army in North Africa, 1940-1945 49:37

14d ago49:37

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One of the principal architects of Allied Victory in North Africa during World War Two was French General Louis Dio. His importance in North Africa lies in his role as a key leader of the Free French forces and a trusted subordinate to General Philippe Leclerc. He participated in every battle from Douala to the Fezzan Campaigns in the early 1940s. …

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An Inventor’s Quest to Build a Pneumatic Subway System in 1870s New York 45:11

19d ago45:11

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Alfred Beach built America’s first operational subway in secret beneath 1860s Manhattan, decades before the city’s official electric subway line in 1904. He designed and commissioned a 300-foot-long, eight-foot-diameter tunnel 20 feet underground, built with a tunneling machine he invented for this purpose. The car moved quietly and silently, pushe…

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68. Fantasy with Richie Billing 41:03

20d ago41:03

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Send us a text Mentioned in this Episode: The Fantasy Writer's Toolshed Podcast https://richiebilling.com/ Sign Up for the Inspired Writing Newsletter HERE Submit Your Page for our Show don't Tell Coaching Episodes Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts (Thank you!) Intro and Outro Music is Daisy by Zight and used under a CC by 4.0 DEED Attribution 4.0 I…

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Spirited Rivalry: Did Ireland or Scotland Invent Whisky? 48:53

24d ago48:53

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There’s a divide between Scotland and Ireland as fierce as the Protestant/Catholic split during the Thirty Years’ War or the battles between Sunnis and Shias in the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. It’s the debate over who invented whisky. Both Ireland and Scotland claim to have originated the spirit. Ireland cites its early monastic traditions and the …

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The Horse That Ate the Legion: Rome’s Cavalry's Triumph Over the Infantry 41:21

26d ago41:21

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The cavalry 'wings' that probed ahead of the Roman Army played a key role in its campaigns of conquest, masking its marching flanks and seeking to encircle enemies in battle. However, at the very beginning of Rome’s history, it didn’t even have a cavalry, and relied on Greek-style phalanx formations instead. It began as a small cavalry arm provided…

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67. Character First Writing and Writers' Summits with Daniel David Wallace 44:47

23d ago44:47

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Send us a text Register Here for the Escape the Plot Forest Writer's Summit October 18th - 22nd Daniel David Wallace's Website Sign Up for the Inspired Writing Newsletter HERE Submit Your Page for our Show don't Tell Coaching Episodes Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts (Thank you!) Intro and Outro Music is Daisy by Zight and used under a CC by 4.0 DE…

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Beyond Joan of Arc and Agincourt: How the 100 Years War Crushed Medieval Europe and Launched its Global Order 58:41

1M ago58:41

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Modern France and Britain were forged in the fires of the Hundred Years War, a century-long conflict that produced deadly English longbowmen, Joan of Arc’s heavenly visions, and a massive death toll from Scotland to the Low Countries. The traditional beginning and end of the Hundred Years' War are conventionally marked by the start of open conflict…

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Reverse Ellis Island: American Migrants Who Fought for Mussolini and Built Stalin’s USSR 38:33

1M ago38:33

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By History Unplugged

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66. Strategies for ADHD and Neurodivergent Writers with Nicole Bross 25:35

1M ago25:35

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Send us a text Preorder A Novel Approach HERE! (Releases on October 15th, 2025) Suzy sits down with Author, Editor, and Book Coach, Nicole Bross to talk about her new book A Novel Approach: Strategies for ADHD Writers. They dive into what makes neurodivergent brains unique, and how you can harness the strengths of your brain function to finish your…

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Don’t Use Rome as a Model of Why Societies Collapse; Use Crime Syndicates and Somalia Instead 49:42

1M ago49:42

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12,000 years ago, human history changed forever when the egalitarian groups of hunter-gathering humans began to settle down and organize themselves into hierarchies. The few dominated the many, seizing control through violence. What emerged were “Goliaths”: large societies built on a collection of hierarchies that are also terrifyingly fragile, col…

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A Union General Found a Loophole in the Fugitive Slave Act, Causing 1 Million Slaves to Flee North 45:21

1M ago45:21

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After the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, enslaved people feared running away to the North, as their return was mandated, and they faced brutal punishment or even death upon return to deter others from escaping. But that changed during the Civil War. Black slaves in Confederate Virginia began hearing rumors that they could receive their …

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65. One Stop for Writers With Becca Puglisi (Part 2) 35:16

1M ago35:16

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Send us a text Mentioned in the Episode: Writers Helping Writers One Stop for Writers Sign Up for the Inspired Writing Newsletter HERE Submit Your Page for our Show don't Tell Coaching Episodes Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts (Thank you!) Intro and Outro Music is Daisy by Zight and used under a CC by 4.0 DEED Attribution 4.0 International license.…

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The Civil War’s Brutal Finale: A War of Attrition as Terrible as WW2-Pacific and the Napoleonic Wars 47:55

2M ago47:55

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In 1864, the American Civil War reached a critical juncture with Ulysses S. Grant’s Overland Campaign, including the brutal battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania, which claimed over 60,000 casualties, surpassing Gettysburg as the Americas’ deadliest clash. Abraham Lincoln faced a contentious re-election against George B. McClellan, while Confe…

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Camp David Looks Like a 1970s Lakeside Retreat. Why is it the Site of the World’s Biggest Political Summits? 41:42

2M ago41:42

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Camp David, nestled in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains, spans about 125 acres, making it significantly smaller than other presidential getaways like Lyndon B. Johnson’s sprawling 2,700-acre Texas ranch or the vast 1,000-acre Bush family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine. Compared to grand diplomatic venues like the White House or international summit …

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64. The Emotion Thesaurus with Becca Puglisi (Part 1) 29:50

1M ago29:50

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Send us a text Suzy sits down with Becca Puglisi, one half of the team behind The Emotion Thesaurus series of reference books to talk all things Show, don't Tell! Learn about the Thesauruses and how they came to be, along with a variety of ways to use them to amp up your own writing. You aren't going to want to miss this episode! Sign Up for the In…

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How British Scientists' Self-Experiments on Underwater Rebreathing Created D-Day Submarine Tech (And Nearly Killed Them in the Process) 53:29

2M ago53:29

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In August 1942, over 7,000 Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, France, in a largely forgotten landing, with only a small fraction surviving unscathed. The raid failed due to poor planning and lack of underwater reconnaissance, which left the Allies unaware of strong German coastal defenses and underwater obstacles. Inadequate submersible…

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Over 200,000 Allied Troops Tried and Failed to Crush the Soviet Revolution After World War One 41:20

2M ago41:20

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The Allied Intervention into the Russian Civil War remains one of the most ambitious yet least talked about military ventures of the 20th century. Coinciding with the end of the first World War, some 180,000 troops from several countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Italy, Greece, Poland, and Romania, among others…

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63. Building a Social Media Presence for Writers 45:20

2M ago45:20

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Send us a text Join Suzy, and social media expert and author Melissa Pruitt as they talk about the best ways to build a social media presence for writers- and why you want to be doing this in the first place! Sign Up for the Inspired Writing Newsletter HERE Submit Your Page for our Show don't Tell Coaching Episodes Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts …

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How the U.S. Occupation of Japan After WW2 Forged the Most Durable Peace of the 20th Century 1:00:19

2M ago1:00:19

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During World War II, the U.S. and Japan were locked in bitter hatred, fueled by propaganda portraying each other as ruthless enemies, exemplified by dehumanizing "Tokyo Woe" posters in the U.S. and Japanese depictions of Americans as barbaric invaders. After the war, the feelings seemed to turn 180 degrees overnight. By the early 1950s, American se…

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Homer Couldn't Have Written the Iliad, But He Probably Dictated it Word for Word 52:53

2M ago52:53

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The Iliad is the world’s greatest epic poem—heroic battle and divine fate set against the Trojan War. Its beauty and profound bleakness are intensely moving, but great questions remain: Where, how, and when was it composed and why does it endure? To explore these questions is today’s guest, Robin Lane Fox, a scholar and teacher of Homer for over 40…

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62. In Conversation with Short Fiction Author Liz J. Bradley (Part 2) 28:10

2M ago28:10

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Send us a text In this week's episode we continue the conversation with short story author Liz J. Bradley about her writing process and experience with both short fiction and novel writing. Tune in for insight on how to apply what you learn in writing short stories to novels, and her #1 secret for figuring out how to juggle a plethora of writing pr…

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Depression-Era Planners Thought They’d End Poverty with Public Housing. Instead, They Created the Projects 41:02

2M ago41:02

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In the 1930s, New Deal-era technocrats devised a solution to homelessness and poverty itself. They believed that providing free or low-cost urban housing projects could completely eliminate housing scarcity. Planners envisioned urban communities that would propel their residents into the middle class, creating a flywheel of abundance where poverty …

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The Alabaman Jacksonians Who Rejected the Confederacy and Marched with Sherman to the Sea 49:01

2M ago49:01

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As the popular narrative goes, the Civil War was won when courageous Yankees triumphed over the South. But an aspect of the war that has remained little-known for 160 years is the Alabamian Union soldiers who played a decisive role in the Civil War, only to be scrubbed from the history books. One such group was the First Alabama Calvary, formed in …

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61. 100 Rejections with Liz J. Bradley (Part 1) 31:03

2M ago31:03

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Send us a text Join Suzy as she chats this week with her Virtual Assistant, Liz J. Bradley, about her own writing journey. They discuss the milestone of receiving 100 short fiction and poetry rejections, and the systems and processes Liz put into place to get there. Resources for Submitting and Tracking Short Fiction and Poetry: Submission Grinder …

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Frederick Douglass’s Private Writings on Abraham Lincoln, His Strong Critiques and Stronger Praise 49:05

2M ago49:05

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Frederick Douglass made the strongest arguments for abolition in antebellum America because he made the case that abolition was not a mutation of the Founding Father’s vision of America, but a fulfillment of their promises of liberty for all. He had a lot riding on this personally – Douglas was born into slavery in Maryland around 1818, escaped to …

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The Industrial Revolution Was Supposed to Lead to Unlimited Free Time But Only Gave Us Smartphones and Endless Dopamine 31:11

3M ago31:11

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Free time, one of life’s most important commodities, often feels unfulfilling. But why? And how did leisure activities transition from strolling in the park for hours to “doomscrolling” on social media for thirty minutes? Despite the promise of modern industrialization, many people experience both a scarcity of free time and a disappointment in it.…

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60. In conversation with Author Lidija Hilje (Part 2) 33:58

2M ago33:58

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Send us a text In part two of this conversation with Author and Book Coach Lidija Hilje dives into how she structured her book to span 20 years using a dual timeline. She and Suzy talk about how to use sensory showing details in literary fiction in order ground readers when you need to 'tell'. Finally, a round of quickfire questions about her writi…

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James Cook Mapped the Globe Before Dying At the Hands of Hawaiians Who Once Worshipped Him 56:56

3M ago56:56

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Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan are known for discoveries, but it was Captain James Cook who made global travel truly possible. Cook was an 18th-century British explorer who mapped vast regions of the Pacific, including New Zealand and Australia’s eastern coast, with unprecedented accuracy. He meticulously conducted soundings to measure…

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American Anarchists: The Original Domestic Extremists 39:37

3M ago39:37

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In the early twentieth century, anarchists like Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman championed a radical vision of a world without states, laws, or private property. Militant and sometimes violent, anarchists were heroes to many working-class immigrants. But to many others, anarchism was a terrifyingly foreign ideology. Determined to crush it, gover…

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59. Interview with Literary Fiction Author Lidija Hilje (Part 1) 40:05

3M ago40:05

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Send us a text Join Suzy for an interview with Book Coach and Literary Fiction Author, Lidija Hilje. The two speak about the differences between genre and literary fiction, including the defining ideas, structures, and themes. They also discuss her debut novel, Slanting Towards the Sea, and her journey from being a lawyer to writing. Sign Up for th…

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100 Years Before Ford v. Ferrari, a Horse Breeder Revolutionized Thoroughbred Racing Through a Similar Obsession With Progress 1:14:41

3M ago1:14:41

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Horse racing was the most popular sport in early America, drawing massive crowds and fueling a cultural obsession with horses’ speed and pedigree. In the early 1800s, every town in America with a few thousand people had a horse racing track, with major cities drawing crowds of up to 50,000. In the midst of this was Alexander Keene Richards (1827–18…

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Western Rome Fell Due to Germanic Immigration, Mass Inflation, and a Bloated Bureaucracy 39:05

3M ago39:05

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It took little more than a single generation for the centuries-old Roman Empire to fall. In those critical decades, while Christians and pagans, legions and barbarians, generals and politicians squabbled over dwindling scraps of power, two men – former comrades on the battlefield – rose to prominence on opposite sides of the great game of empire. R…

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58. Show, don't Tell Page Review: Memoir with Marcel Charpentier 37:54

3M ago37:54

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Send us a text In this page review episode, Suzy critiques a page from a Memoir with a twist- Marcel Charpentier is writing the story of his personal friend's childhood in collaboration with her. They discuss incorporating showing details and sense memory through the eyes of a child, and how to approach narrative distance. Sign Up for the Inspired …

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Why the Atomic Bombing of Japan is as Justified in 2025 as it was in 1945 52:29

3M ago52:29

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It's been 80 years since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the question of whether or not those bombings were justified has never been more contentious. That wasn't the case in the immediate aftermath: 85% of the American public approved the decision to bomb the cities in 1945, but this has dropped to 56% in more recent years, particularl…

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Surviving the Siege of Leningrad with Sawdust Bread and Iron Determination 46:54

3M ago46:54

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The first year of the siege of Leningrad that began in September 1941 marked the opening stage of a 900-day-long struggle for survival that left over a million dead. The capture of the city came tantalizingly close late that year, but Hitler paused to avoid costly urban fighting. Determined to starve Leningrad into submission, what followed was a w…

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57. Bonus Chat with Epic Fantasy Author, Katie Fitzgerald 17:20

3M ago17:20

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Send us a text In this special bonus episode, Suzy continues her discussion with Epic Fantasy Author Katie Fitzgerald. They discuss Katie's journey to self-publishing, how she leverages author communities to reach readers, and next-level show, don't tell writing advice. If you're ready to dive into the epic fantasy worlds of Katie Fitzgerald, you c…

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Depression-Era Governor Huey Long Wanted to Confiscate Individual Fortunes Over $1 Million, Possibly Leading to His 1935 Assassination 1:05:41

3M ago1:05:41

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The most radical piece of legislation in the 20th century was Louisiana Governor Huey Long’s “Share Our Wealth Plan,” a bold proposal to confiscate individual fortunes exceeding $1 million to fund healthcare, free college education, and a guaranteed minimum income for families struggling through the Great Depression—a plan so radical it sparked the…

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Rope Equals Fire as Humanity’s Most Important Invention: It Allowed Hunting Mammoths and Building Pyramids 55:36

3M ago55:36

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“‘Rope!’ muttered Sam[wise Gamgee]. ‘I knew I’d want it, if I hadn’t got it!’” Sam knew in the Lord of the Rings that the quest would fail without rope, but he was inadvertently commenting on how civilization owes its existence to this three-strand tool. Humans first made rope 50,000 years ago and one of its earliest contributions to the rise of ci…

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56. Show Don't Tell Page Review: Epic Fantasy with Katie Fitzgerald 36:11

3M ago36:11

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Send us a text Join Suzy as she chats with Epic Fantasy author Katie Fitzgerald to talk about setting the scene for the second book in a series. Learn about the different types of readers you need to think about, and how you can recap information without infodumping. Sign Up for the Inspired Writing Newsletter HERE Submit Your Page for our Show don…

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The Scopes Trial Was Entirely Orchestrated But Became an Unintended 1920s Culture War Touchpoint 56:43

4M ago56:43

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July 2025 marks the 100th anniversary of the Scopes Trial – a trial that exposed profound divisions in America over religion, education, and public morality. This was a legal case in Dayton, Tennessee, where high school teacher John Scopes was prosecuted for teaching evolution, violating the state's Butler Act. The Butler Act was a 1925 Tennessee l…

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The Panda Was First Discovered By Theodore Roosevelt’s Sons During a 9-Month Expedition in Himalayan China 42:05

4M ago42:05

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In the late 1920s, Theodore Roosevelt Jr. and his younger brother Kermit, sons of President Theodore Roosevelt, wanted fame and glory apart from the family spotlight. They were seeking the “empty spots” on the maps, the areas that had yet to be explored and described by Westerners. From these remote places, they hoped to bring back exotic animals t…

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55. Show don't Tell Page Review: Psychological Thriller with Liz Alterman 41:24

4M ago41:24

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Send us a text In this episode, Suzy chats with author Liz Alterman about her page from her work in progress. They discuss the merits and pitfalls of various writing habits, and how to 'unstick' yourself when you can't seem to keep writing forward. You'll also learn about the unique style choices that can be made when writing a psychological thrill…

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How Do We Really Know What Happened in the Past When Many Historians Were Propagandists and AI is Fabricating Everything Else? 48:46

4M ago48:46

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“History is written by the winners.” This aphorism is catchy and it makes an important point that a lot of what we know about history was written with an agenda, not for the purposes of informing us. Unfortunately, it isn’t true. There are many times that the so-called “losers” wrote the histories remembered today. After the American Civil War, Sou…

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Eugénie de Montijo: The Spanish Empress Who Built Modern Paris and is Blamed For Imperial France’s Downfall 45:45

4M ago45:45

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Thirty-three years after the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte’s Empire, his nephew (known as Napoleon III) became the first president of France before becoming emperor himself. Although he was a capable ruler and reformer, Napoleon III’s failed military campaigns, especially France’s loss to Germany in the Franco-Prussian War, led to his defeat, capture,…