Episode – 0658 : The Gold Standard Podcast Transcript For a period of about 200 years, and really intensely for less than 50 years, the world’s monetary system functioned on […]
Episode – 0656 : The Rise, Fall, and Possible Rise of the Wooly Mammoth
Episode – 0656 : The Rise, Fall, and Possible Rise of the Wooly Mammoth Podcast transcript Thousands of years ago, enormous furry elephants roamed the northern latitudes of Europe, Asia, […]
Episode – 0655 : The History of Photography
Episode – 0655 : The History of Photography Podcast Transcript Prior to the 19th century, capturing images required the talent of an artist and a whole lot of time. The […]
Episode – 0653 : Ice Ages
Episode – 0653 : Ice Ages Podcast Transcript Five different times during the Earth’s history, the planet has entered a prolonged period of reduced temperatures. When this happens, massive ice […]
Episode – 0652 : The Real-Life Lord of the Flies
Episode – 0652 : The Real-Life Lord of the Flies Podcast Transcript In William Golding’s 1954 novel, the Lord of the Flies, a group of young boys find themselves on […]
Episode – 0651 : Chickens
Episode – 0651 : Chickens Podcast Transcript Around 10,000 years ago, someone in Southeast Asia captured a bird that lived on the floor of the jungle. Today, billions of descendants […]
Episode – 0649 : The History of Money
Episode – 0649 : The History of Money Podcast Transcript Money is a very strange thing. All of us use it. We spend it, earn it, and save it. We […]
Episode – 0648 : The Hanseatic League
Episode – 0648 : The Hanseatic League Podcast Transcript One of the most successful enterprises of the Middle Ages was a collection of free cities located in Northern Germany and […]
Episode – 0646 : The Election of 1864
Episode – 0646 : The Election of 1864 Podcast Transcript The election of 1860 was unquestionably the most important election in American history. The presidential election after that was still […]
Episode – 0645 : Han van Meegeren: Forgery As an Art Form
Episode – 0645 : Han van Meegeren: Forgery As an Art Form Podcast Transcript In 1945 after the conclusion of the Second World War, a Dutch man was accused of […]
Episode – 0644 : Buffalo Soldiers
Episode – 0644 : Buffalo Soldiers Podcast Transcript During the US Civil War, over a quarter million African-Americans served and fought on the Union side with distinction. After the Civil […]
Episode – 0642 : The Republic of Letters
Episode – 0642 : The Republic of Letters Podcast Transcript Starting in the early Renisanase and going through to the early 19th century an intellectual community developed in Europe and […]
Episode – 0640 : The Catiline Conspiracy
Episode – 0640 : The Catiline Conspiracy Podcast Transcript We like to think of terrorist plots as being a condition of the modern world. However, there were such plots were […]
Episode – 0639 : The Battle of Yarmouk
Episode – 0639 : The Battle of Yarmouk Podcast Transcript From August 15 to August 20, in the year 636, one of the most important battles in history took place. […]
Episode – 0638 : Philippe Petit and the World’s Greatest Tightrope Walk
Episode – 0638 : Philippe Petit and the World’s Greatest Tightrope Walk Podcast Transcript On the morning of August 7, 1974, the people of New York City woke up to […]
Episode – 0637 : Pedestrianism
Episode – 0637 : Pedestrianism Podcast Transcript In the United States and Britain in the 19th century, there was a competitive activity that at one time might have been the […]
Episode – 0635 : White Elephants
Episode – 0635 : White Elephants Podcast Transcript If you’ve been around long enough, you might have heard something being described as a white elephant. A white elephant is something […]
Episode – 0633 : The History of Gunpowder
Episode – 0633 : The History of Gunpowder Podcast Transcript Sometime almost 2000 years ago, a Chinese alchemist experimenting with three different ingredients discovered something astonishing.When the ingredients were subjected […]
Episode – 0629 : The Roman Pomerium
Episode – 0629 : The Roman Pomerium Podcast Transcript Ancient Rome had an enormous number of customs and traditions. Some of them have been passed down to us in the […]
Episode – 0628 : Stephanie St. Clair
Episode – 0628 : Stephanie St. Clair Podcast Transcript The 1920s and 1930s were the heydays of organized crime in New York City. There were several mobsters from that period […]




















