Creator and Producer – Alan Wellikoff​

​

Growing up in the Bronx, Alan Wellikoff would get beyond the gritty nature of his surroundings by seeking out its history amid its ancient Indian settlements, unmarked Revolutionary War battlefield and old farms and woodlands. This instinct for finding the past in the present never left him. Over the years, it’s seen him fall only to rise again in re-enacted battles of the Revolution; work as curator of the museum where Washington’s army spent the winter of 1783; star in the academy-award-nominated documentary, "Generation on the Wind" and steal through the night, ducking security, to stand alone on Little Round Top, in Emerson’s Garden, aboard the U.S.S. Constellation  and – never to be forgotten -- in the theater box where Lincoln was shot. It lies at the heart of History on the Road.

​​

In addition to writing articles on automotive, travel, political and historic subjects for national publications that include The American Spectator, Car & Driver, GQ, Men's Journal, Playboy, Smithsonian, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, National Geographic and Historic Traveler, Wellikoff has been an ongoing columnist for both Esquire and Success magazines as well as the New York Sun newspaper. A fellow at the Company of Military Historians, he's author of four books, including a bestseller and a History Book Club Selection hailed by the Washington Times as “an elegant essay on the Civil War.” Wellikoff has appeared as a repeat guest and commentator on the CBS Morning News and NPR's All Things Considered among other programs, and is listed among Wikipedia's top American travel writers. His work won the praise of P.J. O'Rourke, Pete Seeger, David Mamet and The Washington Post Writers Group.

​

​

 

Co-Executive Producer and Host -- P.J. O'Rourke

​

Coming out of a tradition of Midwestern cultural and political satirists that includes Mark Twain, Will Rogers and H.L. Mencken -- P.J. O’Rourke rightly contends as the latest figure in that celebrated literary line. History on the Road's producer is a writer and journalist whose forays into automotive reportage, political commentary, autobiography, war correspondence and financial analysis have seen him go from editor-in-chief of the National Lampoon to become the foreign-affairs desk chief of Rolling Stone, a featured commentator on 60 Minutes, star of the British documentary, War Feels Like War, a frequent guest on Bill Maher’s Politically Incorrect, and regular panelist on National Public Radio’s Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me.

 

Mr. O’Rourke is the author of countless articles and columns for such publications as Automobile, Car & Driver, The American Spectator, Playboy, Esquire, Vanity Fair, New Republic, New York Times Book Review, The Guardian, The Atlantic and Harper’s magazines, among others. He has had published a score of books that have been translated into 12 languages and include three New York Times best-selling hardcover editions – two of which went to the top of the paper’s list. The Cato Institute’s H.L. Mencken Fellow now works as editor-in-chief of American Consequences, an online magazine covering global economics and finance. He might serve as History on the Road's host.

 

Sadly, P.J. -- friend and inspiration -- passed away on March 15th, 2022.

 

​