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Bonus Episode - Minor Miners, Activist Entertainers, and Spanish Painters
In this bonus episode Sebastian takes question from the listeners about the recent episodes on Henry Box Brown and Snow White. First, we hear some co…
8 hours ago
Episode #248 - Was There a Real Snow White?
The Brothers Grimm once write that "Snow White" was Germany's best known folktale. When the beloved fairytale served as the inspiration for the famou…
1 week ago
Episode #247 - Was Box Brown Magically Emancipated?
One of the most celebrated stories from the Underground Railroad is that of Henry Box Brown, the man who mailed himself to freedom. In 1849 Henry Bro…
3 weeks ago
Bonus Episode - Disappearing Doppelgängers, Viking Thralls, and the Comedy of the Sagas
In this bonus episode Sebastian takes questions about the recent series on the Viking voyages to North America. In it he reckons with the history of …
4 weeks ago
Episode #246 - How Far Did the Vikings Voyage? (Part III)
For centuries the western Norse colony of Vinland was known only to scholars of the Icelandic Sagas. But in the 19th century the work of a few Scandi…
1 month ago
Episode #245 - How Far Did the Vikings Voyage? (Part II)
The only literary sources we have about the Viking settlements west of Greenland come from the Icelandic Sagas. The only problem is that the Sagas ca…
1 month, 3 weeks ago
Episode #244 - How Far Did the Vikings Voyage? (Part I)
Between the 9th and 11th centuries Norse explorers undertook a series of remarkable journeys through the North Atlantic. Iceland and Greenland were s…
2 months ago
Bonus Episode - Ponzi Empires, Thieving Saints, and Skin Grafts
In this Bonus Episode Sebastian takes questions from listeners about the series on the original Ponzi Scheme. The host investigates the history of th…
2 months, 1 week ago
Episode #243 - What Was Ponzi's Scheme? (Part II)
Charles Ponzi's remarkable rise and fall played out over the course of a wild eight month period. He went from being a failed importer-exporter mired…
2 months, 2 weeks ago
Episode #242 - What Was Ponzi's Scheme? (Part I)
The name Charles Ponzi has become synonymous with financial frauds. In 1920 the formerly obscure Italian immigrant suddenly became one of the most fa…
3 months ago