Audiovisual Walking Tour Guides
IMMERSIVE AUDIO WALKING TOURS OF WASHINGTON D.C.
DON'T JUST SEE THE NATIONAL MALL. STEP INSIDE ITS STORIES
WRITTEN BY BESTSELLING & AWARD-WINNING AUTHORS and HISTORIANS
Every BARDEUM experience focuses on a pivotal moment, person, or moral crossroads in American history - bringing depth and human context to monuments often reduced to dates and stone. Whether explored while walking the Mall or listened to from anywhere in the world, BARDEUM reveals not just what happened here, but why it mattered - and still does.
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“A masterfully-told account of astonishing heroism. Captivates from the start. Hearing of the grit, determination, and bravery of these soldiers while walking along the names etched into the Vietnam Veterans Memorial offers a far greater understanding of their sacrifice. Prepare to be immersed!"
Adam Makos, New York Times bestselling author of Spearhead.
VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL
"A spellbinding and moving story—one of the most harrowing accounts of war I have ever encountered.”
Douglas Preston, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lost City of the Monkey God.
KOREAN WAR MEMORIAL
“With beautiful writing and a deep understanding of her subject matter, Laura Kamoie brings life to the young, conflicted, idealist, Thomas Jefferson, in the momentous summer of 1776, when he is asked to write the document that would change his life and forge a new nation.”
Stephanie Dray, New York Times bestselling author of Lily of the Nile & The Women of Chateau Lafayette
JEFFERSON MEMORIAL
Testimonials
Washington, D.C. Tours on the National Mall
Stretching more than two miles through the heart of Washington, D.C., the National Mall has long served as America’s most visible stage for remembrance, protest, and national reckoning. It is where ideals are celebrated, challenged, mourned, and redefined - often in full public view.
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Lined with some of the nation’s most recognizable memorials - from the quiet gravity of the Lincoln Memorial to the unflinching wall of names at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial - the Mall tells the story of an unfinished democracy. These sites are more than landmarks. They are questions carved in stone: about sacrifice, leadership, courage, and consequence.
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BARDEUM was founded here, among these monuments, with a singular goal: to help people understand why these places exist by telling the human stories behind them. By focusing on pivotal moments and individual lives, our Washington, D.C. experiences move beyond dates and dedications - connecting visitors and listeners to the choices, conflicts, and moral stakes that shaped the nation.
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Discover the stories behind the stone - and the people who lived them.
Enhance Your Visit Through Story
BARDEUM experiences are built around one guiding principle: history is best understood through the lives of the people who lived it.
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Each Washington, D.C. experience focuses on a single true story - placing you inside a defining moment that gives deeper meaning to the site itself.
One Place. One Moment. One True Story.
Rather than broad overviews or timelines, each BARDEUM experience centers on a specific historical event and the people caught inside it. By narrowing the lens, the past becomes immediate, human, and unforgettable.
This is not a summary of history - it is an invitation to step inside it.
Written by the World’s Best Storytellers
Every BARDEUM experience is written by an award-winning author, historian, or journalist chosen not only for their expertise, but for their ability to tell a story with clarity, tension, and emotional depth.
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Our Washington, D.C. contributors include Pulitzer Prize winners, New York Times bestselling authors, and leading historians whose work is trusted by readers, educators, and institutions alike.
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This author-led model is at the heart of what makes BARDEUM different.
Experience the Monument Through Meaning
Monuments tell us that something happened.
Stories help us understand why it mattered.
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By pairing place with narrative, BARDEUM transforms visits to Washington, D.C.’s monuments & memorials into experiences of reflection and understanding - connecting the physical space to the human choices, sacrifices, and consequences it represents.
Washington, D.C. Tours
“Laura Kamoie draws upon her deep knowledge and appreciation of Thomas Jefferson's unique contributions and deep contradictions in this lively and informative depiction of his role in shaping the foundation of the United States of America. More than that though, she shows us in a moving coda how Jefferson's work on the Declaration of Independence has inspired generations of people seeking the blessings of liberty ever since.”
Lars Hedbor, author of the Tales from a Revolution series
“With beautiful writing and a deep understanding of her subject matter, Laura Kamoie brings life to the young, conflicted, idealist, Thomas Jefferson, in the momentous summer of 1776, when he is asked to write the document that would change his life and forge a new nation.”
Stephanie Dray, New York Times bestselling author of Lily of the Nile & The Women of Chateau Lafayette
Testimonials
To Begin the World Again
Thomas Jefferson Memorial
The Jefferson Memorial sits on the southern edge of the Tidal Basin in East Potomac Park, deliberately aligned with the White House. Designed in a neoclassical style, its white Imperial Danby marble echoes the Pantheon in Rome - an intentional homage reflecting Thomas Jefferson’s own architectural influences, including Monticello and the Rotunda at the University of Virginia. Inside the domed interior, visitors encounter excerpts from Jefferson’s most influential writings, including the Declaration of Independence - the philosophical foundation of the nation.
To Begin the World Again invites listeners to step into the charged summer of 1776, when independence was still uncertain and the future of the colonies hung on the words of a single document.
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Written by bestselling historical novelist Laura Kamoie, this BARDEUM experience draws from historical record, correspondence, and context to explore Jefferson’s role as principal author of the Declaration - and the immense pressure surrounding its creation.
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As you move through the Jefferson Memorial, the story follows the intellectual urgency, political compromise, and moral tension of the moment: a man articulating ideals of liberty while living within their contradictions. From late-night drafting sessions to fragile alliances and history-altering votes, To Begin the World Again offers an interpretive journey into the birth of American democracy - and the complicated legacy of the man who helped put its ideals into words.
LAURA KAMOIE
AUTHOR
American Historian and New York Times bestselling author of America's First Daughter & My Dear Hamilton.
BRADFORD HASTINGS
NARRATOR
Multi-Award Winning Professional Voice Actor and Audiobook narrator.
“A captivating profile in courage . . . absolutely riveting.”
Anthony Doerr, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of All the Light We Cannot See
Testimonials
Unforgotten
"A spellbinding and moving story—one of the most harrowing accounts of war I have ever encountered.”
Douglas Preston, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lost City of the Monkey God.
“Superb . . . There is no finer example of American fighting men at their best when the times were at their worst.”
General James N. Mattis (Ret.), U.S. Marines, former Secretary of Defense
Korean War Veterans Memorial
Dedicated in 1995 and located in West Potomac Park, the Korean War Veterans Memorial is one of the most visited sites on the National Mall - drawing millions of visitors each year. Yet the conflict it commemorates remains among the least understood in American history. Often called the Forgotten War, Korea occupies a quiet space between the clarity of World War II and the cultural reckoning of Vietnam, its significance easy to overlook despite its lasting global consequences.
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Part of that obscurity lies in how the war ended - or failed to end. After three years of brutal combat, the fighting stopped not with victory or defeat, but with an armistice. The front lines remained largely unchanged, frozen along the 38th Parallel, where a once-unified people were divided into a Communist North and a Democratic South. Veterans would later say, with bitter understatement, “We died for a tie.”
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What began as a civil conflict rapidly escalated into a global ideological war - one that never formally concluded. No peace treaty was signed. The Korean Peninsula remains divided by a heavily fortified demilitarized zone, one of the most dangerous borders in the world. The war’s legacy is not confined to history books; its unresolved tensions continue to shape geopolitics today.
Unforgotten brings this overlooked chapter of history into sharp focus. Written and narrated by acclaimed historian and New York Times bestselling author Hampton Sides, the BARDEUM experience centers on the extraordinary courage of Private Jack Chapman during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir - one of the most harrowing engagements of the Cold War.
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As you walk among the statues of soldiers frozen in patrol, step inside the forgotten frontlines of a war fought in unimaginable cold, against impossible odds, and followed by a deafening silence at home. Through one young man’s courage and sacrifice, Unforgotten honors the Silent Generation who endured one of America’s most punishing wars - and returned asking for nothing.
HAMPTON SIDES
AUTHOR & NARRATOR
New York Times bestselling Author of gripping non-fiction adventure stories.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
Set along the southwestern edge of the Tidal Basin, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial unfolds across a sequence of open-air rooms, each representing one of FDR’s four unprecedented terms in office, preceded by a prologue. Together, these spaces trace a presidency that reshaped the American government and guided the nation through economic collapse and global war.
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The memorial’s rooms follow the arc of Roosevelt’s leadership: his first term amid the desperation of the Great Depression; the sweeping New Deal programs that redefined the relationship between citizens and government; and his pivotal role during World War II, as he led the Allied cause against the Axis powers. The final room marks Roosevelt’s death in April 1945—just months into his fourth term and on the eve of victory—inviting reflection on a presidency that helped shape the modern world.
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The prologue features a bronze sculpture of Roosevelt seated in a wheelchair, a powerful acknowledgment of his battle with polio - an aspect of his life deliberately hidden from public view during his presidency. This moment of revelation sets the emotional foundation for Courage & Determination, BARDEUM’s experience at the FDR Memorial.
Written by Pulitzer Prize finalist H. W. Brands, Courage & Determination steps inside the private struggle that nearly ended Franklin Roosevelt’s political future before it truly began. Long before he led the nation through depression and war, FDR faced a devastating personal crisis that tested his ambition, resilience, and sense of purpose.
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Drawing from historical record and personal correspondence, the story follows Roosevelt from the confidence of a patrician upbringing through the harrowing summer that left him paralyzed by polio - and into the slow, painful transformation that reshaped his understanding of leadership. Through perseverance, reinvention, and Eleanor Roosevelt’s quiet strength, Courage & Determination reveals how Roosevelt’s greatest trial became the crucible that forged his empathy, resolve, and vision.
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This is more than a story of illness or recovery. It is the story of transformation - because before Franklin Roosevelt could change the world, he had to survive his own.
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H.W BRANDS
AUTHOR
Two-Time Pulitzer Prize Finalist and New York Times bestselling author of over 30 books.
“A masterfully-told account of astonishing heroism. Captivates from the start. Hearing of the grit, determination, and bravery of these soldiers while walking along the names etched into the Vietnam Veterans Memorial offers a far greater understanding of their sacrifice. Prepare to be immersed!"
Adam Makos, New York Times bestselling author of Spearhead.
Testimonials
Behind Enemy Lines
"Absolutely engrossing! The best way to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial."
Anonymous User
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is formed as a wide, solemn “V,” with one arm reaching toward the Lincoln Memorial and the other toward the Washington Monument. Its polished black granite reflects the faces of those who come to remember, merging the living with the engraved names of 58,318 men and women who died in combat or were declared missing in action.
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The memorial honors service rendered during one of the most complex and divisive conflicts in American history - a war shaped by unconventional battle tactics, political turmoil at home, and deep national disagreement. Yet beyond the controversy, the Wall stands as a testament to those who served with courage and loyalty, carrying out their duty in circumstances few could fully comprehend.
Behind Enemy Lines brings visitors inside one extraordinary moment of that war. Written by New York Times bestselling author Eric Blehm, the BARDEUM experience centers on the true story of Medal of Honor recipient Roy Benavidez and a covert rescue mission on May 2, 1968 - an operation that pushed the limits of human endurance and resolve.
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As you walk beside the Wall, step into a brutal ambush, a desperate fight for survival, and a single soldier’s impossible decision to leap from a helicopter armed with only a medical bag and a knife. Through Benavidez’s actions, Behind Enemy Lines illuminates the loyalty, sacrifice, and brotherhood that defined those who fought - and reminds us that some heroes leave the battlefield only to continue serving others for the rest of their lives.
ERIC BLEHM
AUTHOR
New York Times bestselling author writing about those who serve.
BRADFORD HASTINGS
NARRATOR
Multi-Award Winning Professional Voice Actor and Audiobook narrator.
Washington Monument
Following the death of George Washington, Americans immediately debated how best to honor the man who had led a revolution and helped found a nation. Early proposals called for a monumental tribute at the heart of the new capital rising along the Potomac. But political divisions soon intervened. With the election of Thomas Jefferson and the rise of his party in Congress, the project stalled - its completion delayed for nearly two generations.
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By the 1830s, as tensions over slavery deepened, Americans in both North and South searched for unifying symbols of national identity. Washington - though a Virginian - remained universally revered. A towering obelisk, envisioned to be the tallest structure in the world, offered a way to honor a figure who stood above faction and division, even as the nation itself drifted toward fracture.
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Construction began in 1848 but halted just six years later, leaving the monument unfinished at 156 feet - a pause still visible today in the subtle change of stone. The Civil War brought further delay, but in the spirit of reconciliation, work resumed in 1879. When completed in 1884, the 555-foot Washington Monument stood not only as an architectural achievement, but as a tribute to a leader who placed democratic ideals above personal power.
Retiring Becomes Him explores the principle at the heart of Washington’s legacy. Written by Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Edward J. Larson, the BARDEUM experience focuses on the moments when Washington did what no one expected: he stepped away. Not once, but twice, he relinquished authority - first as commander of the Continental Army, and later as president - setting a precedent that would shape the future of the republic.
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As you stand beneath the soaring monument, step inside the story of a man who twice held the fate of a fragile nation in his hands and chose restraint over ambition. Retiring Becomes Him is more than a biography; it is a meditation on character, humility, and the courage to walk away from power when the moment demands it.
EDWARD LARSON
AUTHOR
Pulitzer Prize winning and New York Times bestselling author.
World War II Memorial
World War II drew Americans from every corner of civilian life into roles they never anticipated - experiences that would alter the course of their lives and, for many, end them before their futures could unfold. The World War II Memorial honors this collective sacrifice, standing as a tribute to a generation shaped not by ambition or conquest, but by duty.
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That pattern is deeply rooted in American history. During the Civil War, U.S. Senator John Thurston of Nebraska reflected on how ordinary citizens rose to extraordinary calls of service - leaving farms, workshops, classrooms, and homes not for glory, but because their country asked. Less than a century later, the same summons echoed again as World War II set the world aflame.
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Once more, Americans stepped forward. Drawn from city blocks and cornfields alike, they fought not for personal gain, but out of conviction and belief that liberty was worth defending. The memorial asks us to remember them not only for the lives they gave, but for the ideals they carried with them into war.
Field of Fire brings that truth into sharp focus. Written by bestselling author Gregory A. Freeman, the BARDEUM experience centers on the extraordinary true story of Benjamin Salomon - a Beverly Hills dentist turned Army soldier whose final stand during the Battle of Saipan ranks among the most heroic acts in American military history.
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As you walk the memorial’s pillars and fountains, step inside the moment when Salomon refused to abandon his wounded comrades, manned a machine gun alone against a Japanese banzai charge, and gave his life to save others. Decades later, his valor was finally recognized with the Medal of Honor. His story is one of quiet heroism—shared by millions who answered the call, and remembered here.
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GREGORY A.
FREEMAN
AUTHOR
Award Winning Journalist and author of compelling narrative nonfiction.
DAN JOHN
MILLER
NARRATOR
An Audie award-winning voice-actor, Dan has been named a “Best Voice” by Audiofile magazine 5 years running. He has also had roles in Walk the Line and Leatherheads.
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