This week on History Happy Hour: On May 6, 1937, the majestic German zeppelin Hindenburg arrived in Lakehurst, New Jersey. Suddenly, a titanic inferno lit up the sky, and within seconds the proud symbol of Nazi Germany was gone.

Historian Catherine Grace Katz returns to History Happy Hour to talk about her new book Shadow Before the Flame: The Hindenburg Disaster and Prelude to War.

Catherine Grace Katz holds degrees in history from Harvard and Cambridge, and received a J.D. from Harvard law School. She was on History Happy Hour six years ago, in October 2020, to talk about her book Daughters of Yalta.

This week on History Happy Hour: Author James Ellman takes a critical look at George Patton, calling him one-dimensional and flawed in his new book Patton Reconsidered: General George S. Patton Jr. as a Wartime Commander.

We’ll get into it with him to find out what he thinks Patton’s problems were.

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James Ellman is an investor, historian and author of several books including “McArthur Reconsidered” and “Seeds of Victory.” He lives near San Francisco with his wife and sons.

This week on History Happy Hour: Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle were thrown together by challenges of war. They did not always get along, but nevertheless found a way to work together – personifying resistance to Adolph Hitler during WWII and for years beyond. But that is only a small part of a complex story. Both men influenced their countries, and the world around them, long after the war was won.

Chris and Rick talk with Richard Vinen, author of the new joint biography The Last Titans: How Churchill and de Gaulle Saved Their Nations and Transformed the World.

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Richard Vinen is a professor of history at Kings College London. He was previously a fellow of Trinity College Cambridge and, an archive by-fellow at Churchill College Cambridge. He has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, The London Review of Books, The Boston Globe, and others. He has appeared frequently on radio and television. He has published widely on British, French, and European history and his book “National Service: Conscription in Britain, 1945–1963” won the Wolfson prize for history in 2015.