You're listening to an airwave media podcast.

My name is Greg Jackson.

I'm a PhD holding historian, a professor and the creator of history that doesn't suck.

A podcast that makes legit seriously researched

American history come to life through entertaining stories. Join me for a

chronological telling of the United States story. From the revolution to

fractious civil war, tenacious inventors, brave reformers, and more.

With more than 100 episodes, you can already binge a listen to your way from 1776 to the early 20th century.

Listen to history that doesn't suck on Spotify.

I read a lot of old manuscripts while researching the show.

Oftentimes, the writing is stuffy and dull.

Sometimes it's beautiful prose.

And other times you just find those passages that you fall in love with.

Now, most of these old manuscripts, especially those about piracy,

tend to be written by educated commoners who then shop them around to the local gentry.

What they're doing there is looking for a patron,

somebody to read their work, to pay, to have it published,

and then to take a stake in any profits that might come from it.

Publishing houses were growing more and more common all across Europe,

in this case in England,

but they rarely took on the expense of printing unless the book was already

a proven bestseller, and then they rarely paid royalties out.

...