Episodes

Today we'll learn about the classic 1970 film Waterloo and its depiction of Napoleon's final defeat. Joining us to discuss the historical accuracy of Waterloo is historian and professor at Louisiana State University, Alexander Mikaberidze. Alexander has also written numerous books on the Napoleonic era, including his latest which is called The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History. Learn more about the true story with Alexander's books The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History: https://links.boatspodc...

In the movie Donnie Brasco we see the story of an FBI agent who goes into deep cover infiltrating the New York mafia families. The truth is Donnie Brasco was the under-cover name for Joe Pistone. He joins us today along with actor and Joe's co-host on the Deep Cover Podcast, Leo Rossi. Learn more about the true story Follow Joe and Leo's podcast Deep Cover Podcast: https://links.boatspodcast.com/173guest Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/98032571-873a-4e2e-...

How much of 2014's The Alamo really happened? To help us separate fact from fiction in the movie, we’ll be chatting with professor, historian and author Stephen L. Hardin. Stephen was also a historical consultant on the movie we’ll be chatting about today, so we’ll get some extra insight into the production of the film as well. Learn more about the true story with Stephen's books Lust for Glory: An Epic Story of Early Texas and the Sacrifice That Defined a Nation https://links.boatspodcast.com...

Wake Island was attacked on the same day as Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 (December 8th on Wake Island across the International Date Line). A few months later, on August 11th, 1942, Paramount Pictures released the war propaganda film Wake Island. To help us separate fact from fiction in the movie, we’ll be chatting with Professor Gregory J. W. Urwin from Temple University. Gregory is a military historian who has written two fantastic books about Wake, including Facing Fearful Odds: The Sie...

How historically accurate was 2012's Lincoln? To help us separate fact from fiction in the movie, we’ll be chatting with Dr. Brian Dirck, who is a Professor of History at Anderson University and author of multiple books on President Lincoln, including Lincoln and the Constitution, The Black Heavens: Abraham Lincoln and Death and Lincoln the Lawyer. Learn more about the true story Pick up Brian's book The Black Heavens: Abraham Lincoln and Death: https://links.boatspodcast.com/170book Another o...

1989's Glory is currently the most requested movie to cover. Gregory J. W. Urwin is an author, military historian, and Professor at Temple University. He'll join us today to separate fact from fiction in Glory. Learn more about the true story A Brave Black Regiment by Louis F. Emilio with an introduction by Gregory J. W. Urwin: https://links.boatspodcast.com/169emilio Black Flag Over Dixie: Racial Atrocities and Reprisals in the Civil War, Edited by Gregory J. W. Urwin: https://links.boatspodc...

Back on episode #152 of Based on a True Story, we covered season 1 of the History Channel's Project Blue Book. Today, Rob Kristoffersen comes back on the podcast to talk about the events we saw in season 2. Learn more about the true story Follow Rob's podcast Our Strange Skies: https://links.boatspodcast.com/168guest Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/2e5305dd-0616-47ea-b24a-359821c15e66 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com...

Dr. Clayborne Carson is the Martin Luther King, Jr., Centennial Professor of History at Stanford University and the founding director of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute at Stanford. He joins us today to compare history with the 2014 movie Selma. Learn more about the true story Listen to Dr. Carson's podcast: https://links.boatspodcast.com/167podcast Read the Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr edited by Dr. Carson: https://links.boatspodcast.com/167book Find th...

Chris Wimmer is the host and producer of the extremely popular Legends of the Old West and Infamous America podcasts. He joins us today to compare history with the 2007 movie The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Learn more about the true story Follow Chris's podcast Legends of the Old West: https://links.boatspodcast.com/166guest Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/d7181892-f71b-4ae7-8716-2071e974502c Find the transcript and full show n...

Eric Marcus is a journalist, founder and host of the Making Gay History Podcast. He joins us today to compare history with the 2015 Roland Emmerich movie Stonewall. Learn more about the true story Follow the Stonewall season of Eric's Making Gay History Podcast: https://links.boatspodcast.com/165guest Stonewall Fact Sheet: https://stonewall50consortium.org/stonewallfactsheet.pdf Stonewall First Anniversary Pride March Fact Sheet: https://stonewall50consortium.org/pridemarchfactsheet.pdf Making...

The 2002 John Woo movie 'Windtalkers' tells the story of a Navajo code talker during World War II. Is the film historically accurate? Judith Avila is the author of Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir By One of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of WWII Learn more about the true story Get Judith and Chester Nez's book Code Talker: https://links.boatspodcast.com/164guest Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/566b5fd6-886a-4fbf-960b-ace9f09cf231 Find the transcr...

Author Furman Daniel joins us today to separate fact from fiction in the classic World War II film Patton. Learn more about the true story Get Furman's book Patton: Battling with History: https://links.boatspodcast.com/163guest Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/7998af84-06c8-46f7-b810-b37083961029 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/163 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the ads by sup...

Our story today covers the capture of the notorious Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann. The operation to hunt him down and bring him to justice was depicted in the movie Operation Finale, and today we'll find out how many of the things we saw on screen actually happened. Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/1c1b0322-1757-40b6-82e2-6685c30c3f52 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/162 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast....

Erica Kelley is the host of the Southern Fried True Crime podcast. She joins us today to separate fact from fiction in the 2019 movie Just Mercy. Learn more about the true story Listen to Erica's episode about the true story: https://links.boatspodcast.com/161guestepisode Follow Erica's podcast: https://links.boatspodcast.com/161guest Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/53c6cdd3-287e-4bee-87c0-49b6dd242c2a Find the transcript and full show notes: https://lin...

Today marks the 157th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863). How much of the movie's depiction of the battle is historically accurate? I'm joined by Jim Hessler and Eric Lindblade to find out. Jim and Eric are both Gettysburg Licensed Battlefield Guides and are the co-hosts of The Battle of Gettysburg Podcast. Learn more about the true story Follow The Battle of Gettysburg podcast: https://links.boatspodcast.com/160guest Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https:/...

June 6th, 1944. D-Day. Fast forward 76 years and today, June 6th, 2020, we'll chat with author and historian Marty Morgan to separate fact from fiction in one of the most popular movies depicting D-Day, Saving Private Ryan. Learn more about the true story Get Marty's book D-Day: A Photographic History of the Normandy Invasion: https://links.boatspodcast.com/159book Another of Marty's books mentioned is Down to Earth: The 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment in Normandy: https://links.boatspodcas...

Craig Symonds is the Earnest J. King Professor of Maritime History at the Naval War College as well as Professor Emeritus of History at the U.S. Naval Academy. He also has a great book called The Battle of Midway that dives into the true history behind the battle. He joins us today to discuss the historical accuracy of the 2019 movie Midway. Learn more about the true story Get Craig's book The Battle of Midway: https://links.boatspodcast.com/158book Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment...

Ryan Stitt is the host of The History of Ancient Greece Podcast, and he joins us today to separate fact from fiction in the 2004 movie Alexander. Learn more about the true story Follow Ryan's podcast: https://links.boatspodcast.com/157guest Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/f3c27ad3-6809-4732-95d3-9b9e8acccf49 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/157 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove th...

1962's Mutiny on the Bounty is one of the most popular requests to cover and today we'll do that with the help of Brandon Huebner, the host of The Maritime History Podcast. Learn more about the true story Follow Brandon's show The Maritime History Podcast: https://links.boatspodcast.com/156guest Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/a52b0228-d295-4dd7-bfbf-36080e07ef4c Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/156 Support our spons...

Maurice Samuels, Author and Yale's Betty Jane Anlyan Professor of French, joins the Based on a True Story podcast to separate fact from the fiction we saw in 1998's depiction of Les Miserables. Learn more about the true story Get your copy of Maurice's book: https://links.boatspodcast.com/155book Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/28955942-3d61-45c2-bbb4-d4c3d7af04d4 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/155 Support our spon...

Author Matthew Polly joins the Based on a True Story podcast to separate fact from the fiction we saw in 1993's Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. Matthew's book called Bruce Lee: A Life is considered the authoritative biography on the film legend and martial artist. Learn more about the true story Get your copy of Matthew's book: https://links.boatspodcast.com/154book Find Matthew's work: https://links.boatspodcast.com/154guest Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episod...

Today we'll learn about the historical accuracy of the movie 12 Years a Slave with Professor Greg Jackson from the History That Doesn't Suck podcast. Learn more about the true story Subscribe to Greg's podcast: https://links.boatspodcast.com/153guest Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/9f4814a1-6d40-4f6c-ab0e-476fa2c7a096 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/153 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertiser...

UFO expert Rob Kristoffersen joins Based on a True Story to discuss the historical accuracy of the History Channel's TV show Project Blue Book. Learn more about the true story Follow Rob's podcast: https://links.boatspodcast.com/152guest Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/d4cde2c9-7b36-4023-a767-bbe939a4dfb7 Find the transcript and full show notes: https://links.boatspodcast.com/152 Support our sponsors: https://links.boatspodcast.com/advertisers Remove the a...

Author Michael Wallis joins the Based on a True Story podcast to separate fact from the fiction we saw in Disney's 1955 film Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier. Learn more about the true story Get your copy of Michael's book, David Crockett: The Lion of the West: https://links.boatspodcast.com/151book Find all of Michael's books: https://links.boatspodcast.com/151guest Did you enjoy this episode? Leave a comment: https://galas.fm/episode/c3563cdd-9f51-4941-93fe-2033f569a8bf Find the tr...