Episode Details

Daniel wondered how a quiet, grassy place like Connecticut could be so contradictory — and so innovative. Herman, who grew up near Storrs, explains how the state's Puritan roots, institutional history, and Yankee ingenuity form a double helix that keeps synthesizing into new forms. From the Mansfield Training School's transformation into a research farm to the state-run liquor store as a 350-year-old artifact, this episode is a guide to reading the layers of a small state with an outsized legacy.