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Lost Civilizations, Part 3: European Visitors to the New World Before Columbus

Learn about cultures that came to America long before Columbus, suggesting that trans-oceanic voyages could be accomplished well back into the Bronze Age.

From Farm Fields to Classrooms: Horace Mann’s War for Universal and Compulsory Education

In a remarkably short span of time, American children went from laboring on family farms to spending their days in classrooms. The change came from optimistic reformers like Horace Mann, who in the early 1800s dreamed of education, literacy, and science spreading throughout all levels of American society. But other…

The Story of Human Language, From Proto Indo-European to Ebonics English—John McWhorter

Language not only defines humans as a species, placing us head and shoulders above even the most proficient animal communicators, but it also beguiles us with its endless mysteries. For example... How did different languages come to be? Why isn't there just a single language? How does a language change,…

Why Food Tells Us More About a Culture Than Anything Else—Ken Alba

You and your ancestor from 1,000 years ago have almost nothing in common. Your clothes are different. Your worship rituals are different. Your thoughts about the opposite sex are definitely different. Almost the only similarity is that both of you are driven to obtain food. In fact, one could say…

Why Did WW2 Advance Civil Rights When WW1 Reversed Them? Here’s What WEB DuBois Said

Many of us think that we know all there is to know about W.E.B Du Bois was the early 20th century’s most significant thinker, writer, and philosopher of the U.S. civil rights movement. He saw an extraordinary opportunity during World War 1 to advance the rights of black Americans. He…

The American Revolution Would Have Been Lost Without a Ragtag Fleet of Thousands of Privateers

Privateers were a cross between an enlisted sailor and an outright pirate. But they were crucial in winning the Revolutionary War. As John Lehman, former secretary of the navy under President Ronald Reagan, observed, “From the beginning of the American Revolution until the end of the War of 1812, America’s…

What It Was Like to be a WW2 Paratrooper

When General Douglas MacArthur fled the Phillipines in the beginning of World War Two, he swore to return, and did so in 1944 in an epic battle in which the Allies faced banzai charges, jungle warfare, and the block-by-block battle to retake Manila. Critical players were the 11th Airborne Division,…

Vlad the Impaler is the (Partial) Inspiration for Count Dracula

Vampire lore goes back to the ancient world (revenant legends abound from Rome to China) but vampire mythology doesn't come into its own until at least the Renaissance period. Was the inspiration for it all the bloodthirsty Wallachian ruler Vlad Tepes, the ruler who impaled tens of thousands in the…

Episode on What Event Do You Stop?

All of us have terrible regrets. Accepting that job that became dead-end. Marry someone from high school who ended up being a kleptomaniac with halitosis. Emptying out our life savings to invest in Logan and Jake Paul’s NFT collections Don’t you wish you could take it all back? While we…

In the Premodern Era, Survival Meant Overcoming Earthquakes, Sieges, Global Cooling, Asteroid Strikes, and Cannibalism

Have you ever wondered if you could have survived the eruption at Pompeii, escaped San Francisco's 1906 Earthquake, found a seat on Titanic's lifeboats, outrun the Goths in the Sack of Rome, or lived through the apocalyptic Chicxulub asteroid strike? Surprisingly, the answer to all those questions is yes, even…