In colonial America, English men outnumbered women seven to one. Family lore says my 7th great-grandmother, Honor O’Flynn, was kidnapped in Ireland, shipped across the Atlantic, and offered as a bride to one of those men.
Two centuries later, my great-great-grandfather Billy Gaul fought in the Civil War—belonging to the tiny fraction of soldiers who survived from the very first day of battle to the last.
By the 1960s, my dad, Bill Durbin, was working in secrecy as part of an army of scientists trying to prevent nuclear catastrophe during the Cold War.
Across nine generations, my family lived through every U.S. presidential administration, every major war, and three centuries of social and technological change.
I just launched a new narrative history podcast exploring American history through the lives of the people who actually lived it. It’s called One American Family: The Story of a Nation as Seen from the Branches of One Family Tree
The trailer and first episode “Witness to Democracy” are live now wherever you get your podcasts.
Listen now on Apple Podcasts
Listen now on Spotify
Listen now on Overcast
Listen now on Pocket Casts
Listen now on Amazon Music