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

In this episode of The Radio Reading Room-Stories of Americana, step into the charged summer of 1776 as young Elias Carter, along with Mara Whitcombe and Jacob Turner, are drawn into the dangerous work of carrying the newly printed Declaration of Independence through the streets of Philadelphia. Set against the heat, secrecy, and uncertainty of the American founding, The Night the Wind Shifted is a story of ordinary people risking everything to help give voice to an extraordinary idea: that liberty belongs not to kings, but to the people. Read by Myron Hieronymous Thomas.

*This work is an original creation conceived and directed by Myron Hieronymous Thomas. The drafting process incorporated the use of an AI writing model, which generated prose under the author’s explicit guidance and creative supervision. All intellectual property, narrative design, and final editorial decisions originate with and belong to Myron Hieronymous Thomas.

In this episode, we take listeners into the mist‑covered hollows of early America, where superstition lingers in the treetops and every rustle in the underbrush feels like a whisper from the past. Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow remains one of the most enduring tales in American folklore—rich with humor, mystery, and the eerie charm of a village caught between daylight reason and nighttime imagination. The story unfolds like an autumn evening by lantern light. You’ll meet the lanky schoolmaster Ichabod Crane, the spirited Katrina Van Tassel, and the boisterous Brom Bones—each brought to life with character, cadence, and the gentle theatricality that defines The Radio Reading Room. As the tail winds toward its famous midnight ride, Myron’s reading captures both the playful satire and the creeping suspense that have made Sleepy Hollow a classic for generations. Settle in, slow down, and let this timeless American ghost story carry you into a world where legends ride at night… and where the line between myth and memory grows wonderfully thin. Read by Myron Hieronymous Thomas.