As we prepare to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation, this episode invites listeners to look back at the words and events that helped launch the American story.

In this special Fourth of July episode of Radio Reading Room: Stories of Americana, host and reader Myron Hieronymous Thomas explores the origins, meaning, and enduring legacy of the Declaration of Independence. Drawing from historical context provided by the National Archives, the episode traces the road from colonial unrest and Thomas Paine’s Common Sense to the Continental Congress, Thomas Jefferson’s drafting process, the July 1776 vote for independence, and the signing of one of America’s most defining documents.

Listeners will hear a full reading of the Declaration of Independence, followed by reflections on how July 4 became America’s annual celebration of liberty, remembrance, and national identity. This episode invites listeners to revisit the words, sacrifices, and ideals that helped shape the United States—and to celebrate Independence Day with gratitude, reflection, and care.

In this episode of Radio Reading Room Podcast: Stories of Americana, host and reader Myron Hieronymous Thomas presents Ambrose Bierce’s haunting Civil War short story "A Horseman in the Sky". First published in 1889, the story follows a young Union soldier facing an impossible choice between family loyalty and military duty, offering listeners a dramatic reflection on courage, conscience, and the human cost of war.

In this episode we present Mark Twain’s Mark Twain’s “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is a gloriously ridiculous frontier yarn in which a well‑meaning visitor asks a simple question and immediately gets trapped in the verbal quicksand of Simon Wheeler — a man who can talk longer than a summer day. Wheeler launches into the saga of Jim Smiley, a gambler who would bet on anything: horses, dogs, birds, sermons, and probably the weather if you gave him a minute. Smiley’s pride and joy is Dan’l Webster, a frog he “educates” to jump like a green lightning bolt. Everything goes great until a stranger cheats by secretly filling the frog with quail shot, turning the champion jumper into a paperweight. Twain’s tale is a celebration of tall stories, bad bets, and the eternal human talent for being bamboozled — all told with a straight face and a wink. is a gloriously ridiculous frontier yarn in which a well‑meaning visitor asks a simple question and immediately gets trapped in the verbal quicksand of Simon Wheeler — a man who can talk longer than a summer day. Wheeler launches into the saga of Jim Smiley, a gambler who would bet on anything: horses, dogs, birds, sermons, and probably the weather if you gave him a minute. Smiley’s pride and joy is Dan’l Webster, a frog he “educates” to jump like a green lightning bolt. Everything goes great until a stranger cheats by secretly filling the frog with quail shot, turning the champion jumper into a paperweight. Twain’s tale is a celebration of tall stories, bad bets, and the eternal human talent for being bamboozled — all told with a straight face and a wink. Read by Myron Hieronymous Thomas