Podcast Episodes
Back to Search
Land of the Free? The Real Story Behind the Star-Spangled Banner
Season 6
October 19, 1814. An eager audience files into the Holliday Street Theater in Baltimore, about to see a debut performance, described as a “much-admir…
5 months, 3 weeks ago
They Saw What the United Nations Couldn’t
Season 6 Episode 22
October 24, 1945. The Charter of the United Nations is signed, promising to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” Back when the char…
5 months, 3 weeks ago
How LEGO Rebuilt the Toy Itself
Season 6 Episode 21
October, 1955. In living rooms across Denmark, children tear open the box of a brand-new toy: the LEGO System in Play. Inside are plastic bricks, a p…
6 months ago
Stalin’s War on Genetics
Season 6 Episode 20
October 11, 1955. Nearly three hundred of the Soviet Union’s top scientists sign a secret letter demanding the removal of one man: Trofim Lysenko. Fo…
6 months, 1 week ago
The Bone Wars
Season 6
October 4, 1915. President Woodrow Wilson designates Dinosaur National Monument as a national historic site. That’s a big deal, right? There must’ve …
6 months, 2 weeks ago
When Nintendo (and Mario) Rescued Video Games
Season 6 Episode 19
September 27, 1986. You’re a kid in the mid-80s. You get home from school, flip on the TV, and see something strange: a commercial where a giant egg …
6 months, 3 weeks ago
The First Lady Who Tamed the Bull Moose
Season 6 Episode 18
September 14, 1901. Midnight in the Adirondacks. A pounding knock at the door jolts Theodore and Edith Roosevelt awake. William McKinley is dead. Hou…
6 months, 4 weeks ago
Presenting: The C-Word
With every episode, Lena Dunham and Alissa Bennett take you on a historical deep dive into the life of a woman society dismissed by calling her mad, …
7 months ago
An Astronomer Hunts a KGB Hacker
Season 6 Episode 17
September 10, 1986. It’s just before 8am when Cliff Stoll’s pager jolts him awake. A computer at Lawrence Berkeley Lab has flagged a problem: a tiny …
7 months ago
Shaving Russia
Season 6
Sept 5, 1698. Tsar Peter the Great of Russia returns home from a year-long European tour. When noblemen, religious figures, and friends gather to wel…
7 months, 1 week ago