When People Thought They Were Made of Glass
In 1422, King Charles VI died after ruling France for more than 40 years. He was also remembered as Charles the Mad, in part because he was convinced that his body was made of glass and would shatter ...
30 Nov 201726min
Nazis, Churchill and Chocolate
When Lord Victor Rothschild first heard the news, he was incredulous -- surely Nazi Germany wasn't seriously planning to assassinate Winston Churchill with an exploding chocolate bar. However, Rothsch...
28 Nov 201726min
When (and why) did the US start calling its citizens consumers?
Today, the terms "citizen" and "consumer" are often used interchangeably by authors, journalists and politicians. To some experts, this shift has disturbing implications. But how important is a word? ...
23 Nov 201739min
Does the US Confederacy still exist in Americana, Brazil?
At the close the US Civil War, tens of thousands of former Confederate families fled the US for a small city in Brazil, where they sought to continue living as they had in the days before the war. Tun...
21 Nov 201732min
Did a real-life rainmaker almost drown San Diego?
Charles Mallory Hatfield considered himself a real-life rainmaker (or, as he preferred to describe himself, a 'moisture accelerator') and, when San Diego faced one of its most damaging droughts, Hatfi...
16 Nov 201727min
X-Rays, Songs and Soviets: The Stilyagi Story
Caught between the conflicting ideologies of the Cold War, Soviet teens were banned from collecting Western music -- smuggled records could be both rare and expensive. The solution? Discarded X-rays, ...
14 Nov 201730min
Who solves murders in Antarctica?
Antarctica is home to one of the most brutal climates on the planet, and the few humans living on this continent face profound isolation and cramped quarters. Often, tension rises as the months betwee...
9 Nov 201726min
How White America Tried to Destroy Chinese Restaurants
Today Chinese restaurants serve some of the most popular cuisine in the United States, with more than 41,000 restaurants scattered around the country. Yet in the 1900s these restaurants were so contro...
7 Nov 201734min
