Operation Valkyrie & Asmahan

Artstar from the Nerdskool Podcast joins Joe to cover several historical events from September 1944, touching on topics like the Dutch rail strike, the Boston Braves' history, Hamilton Jordan's life, Michael Douglas' career, and the Battle of Arracourt. The conversation included tangents about baseball team origins, the band Genghis Tron, wrestling, and TV theme songs, particularly Mike Post's work on The Rockford Files.

Joe sits down with author David S. Larson to discuss his time interviewing gangster Michael Hardy, who was born in 1944. David describes Hardy in detail as he recounts his 2 years of interviews of the former storied criminal in San Diego. David S. Larson is an author and former marketing executive who wrote the true-crime series The Last Jewish Gangster. Background: Larson is a former Fortune 500 global marketing executive. Other Works: He has written books like WEST: Journey Across the Plains and Mr. Meeks. Writing Style: He writes across genres including true crime, historical fiction, and memoirs. Subject: The books tell the true-crime story of Michael Hardy. The Connection: Hardy was the godson of famous mobster Bugsy Siegel. The Content: The story covers Hardy's life in Brooklyn, time in a dangerous Mexican prison, and work with the mob. The Early Years (Volume 1): Follows Hardy's entry into a life of crime in Brooklyn and his early criminal exploits. The Middle Years (Volume 2): Covers his time imprisoned in Mexico and his return to crime upon release.

Flashback to our 6th episode when Amy took a deep dive on the Oklahoma City Bombing, and we were new at podcasting...

Joe and Artstar cover historical events from September 1944, including the Battle of Lone Tree Hill in Dutch New Guinea and a significant earthquake in New York. The episode features multiple birthday celebrations, with Artstar presenting detailed biographies of Barry White and Peter Cetera, while Joe shared information about Ty Warner (creator of Beanie Babies) and Swoozie Kurtz.

American Timelines by History For Jerk is back....continuing August of 1944... Listen as we discuss historical events from August 1944, including the liberation of Paris and the creation of the United Nations. Artstar shares a detailed biography of baseball player Tug McGraw while Gruff details the "Mad Gasser of Mattoon" incident from 1944, where residents of Mattoon, Illinois reported mysterious gas attacks.

Welcome to August of 1944. Joe and Hunter discuss various topics such as Richard Belzer's and Sam Elliott's birthdays, and the tragic death of Joseph Kennedy Jr. Hunter presents a detailed account of the Fort Lawton riots, highlighting the racial tensions and cover-up that followed.

Operation Valkyrie & Asmahan: July 1944 Part 2. Hunter Bizzle and Gruff cover Operation Valkyrie, the plot to assisinate Hitler and the mysterious death of Arab superstar Asmahan in July of 1944.

Jumping into July 1944, Joe talks about the Hartford Circus Fire tragedy, and Arstar tells us about Lt. Jack Robinson refusing to give up a seat on the bus. This is American Timelines.

In this episode, the American Timelines gang explore historical and artistic topics, including baseball history, World War II recruitment posters, and the development of the V1 flying bomb. Specifically: Joe Nuxhall's Record-Breaking MLB Debut Joe shares the story of Joe Nuxhall, who at 15 years and 10 months became the youngest person to pitch in a Major League Baseball game for the Cincinnati Reds in 1944. Vojtěch Preissig's Life and Art Artstar shared the life story of Czech artist Vojtěch Preissig, who was born in 1872 and worked as a topographer, illustrator, and designer. Artstar also discussed how the Nazis categorized artists into "degenerate" and "Nazi-approved" categories, with the former including modern artists like Otto Dix, Paul Klee, and Picasso, while the latter favored realistic or neoclassic art. Nazi V1 Flying Bomb Overview Hunter presented an in-depth overview of the V1 flying bomb, also known as the Buzz Bomb or Doodle Bug, developed by Nazi Germany during World War II. The Ern Malley Hoax Steve shared the story of the Ern Malley poetry hoax, which was created to mock modernist poetry but ended up being embraced by some as legitimate art.

Joe is joined by Quin Cho, Author and Fellow, Pacific Atrocities Education to discuss his books and expertise on World War 2. Quin Cho is an accomplished historian and author specializing in the history of global conflict and geopolitics in the Asia-Pacific region. A 2023 summa cum laude graduate of the University of Southern California, Quin earned a 4.0 GPA as a double major in History and International Relations. His academic excellence and rigorous training in archival research and historiography earned him the prestigious Outstanding Senior Award from USC’s Phi Beta Kappa society, an honor bestowed upon only three students in his graduating class.Quin’s debut book, Competing Empires in Burma: A Chronicle of the China Burma India Theater of World War II, achieved critical acclaim, ranking in the top 10 of Amazon’s military regiments category and earning an average rating of 4.91 stars on Goodreads.Currently, he is authoring a multi-volume work on the Kwantung Army, exploring its role in the false flag attack on the South Manchuria Railway that precipitated Japan’s conquest of Manchuria and set the stage for World War II in the Asia-Pacific.As a fellow at Pacific Atrocities Education since January 2024, Quin has made significant contributions to the organization’s mission. Despite a three-month sabbatical to study Korean through the State Department’s Critical Language Scholarship, he wrote 176 pages of his forthcoming book, which now totals approximately 427 pages. In March 2024, Quin conducted extensive archival research at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, scanning thousands of pages of primary source documents. These materials enriched his book and expanded PAE’s archival collection. Additionally, he completed a 40-page mini-book on the Battle of Wuhan, slated for release in early 2025.​Looking ahead, Quin’s first volume on the Kwantung Army (150–200 pages) is scheduled for release in September 2025, coinciding with a commemorative event at the Officers Club in San Francisco marking the 80th anniversary of World War II’s end. This strategic launch aims to amplify the book’s reach, with subsequent volumes planned for future years. To continue this ambitious project, Quin seeks to extend his fellowship with PAE through 2025 and 2026, ensuring further contributions to the organization’s educational and archival efforts.