David Traxel & Paul Clancy

It was a time in America when the rich were getting obscenely rich while the poor were barely getting by; when waves of immigrants were threatening to overwhelm the economy and society; when a young and controversial president was determined to leave his mark on the world, not just America. It sounds like we're talking about recent news, but it's actually the early years of the 20th century being described in David Traxel's new book Crusader Nation. We'll meet him in a few minutes. But first, the amazing story of a warship, the "USS Monitor," the history-making vessel built by the Union in the Civil War. Paul Clancy's new book about the Monitor's brief wartime deployment, its tragic and ironic demise, and its dramatic recovery is called Ironclad.