The Apollo 1 Disaster (Encore)
In the early 1960s, the United States was always a step behind the Soviet Union in the space race. By the mid-1960s, the Americans had caught up. They didn’t have many glamorous firsts, but they wer...
27 Nov 202514min
Imperial Units of Measure (Encore)
Almost every country in the world uses the metric system…..almost. There are still a few stragglers, like the United States, who use units handed down to them from the British. These are known as Imp...
26 Nov 202517min
Roller Coasters
For over a century, people have enjoyed the thrill of visiting an amusement park and riding roller coasters. The very first thing we can point to and call a proto-roller coaster had neither rollers n...
25 Nov 202514min
The Paraguayan War (Encore)
In the 1860s, one of the bloodiest wars in the Western Hemisphere took place….and it wasn’t the US Civil War. It was a war between Paraguay and an alliance of Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil, and it ...
24 Nov 202515min
The Ottoman Empire
One of the most important empires in history was the Ottoman Empire. It wasn’t the biggest empire, but it had an outsized impact on the world due to its strategic location and its moment in history....
23 Nov 202516min
The Kokoda Track
In July 1942, Japanese forces landed on the north shore of the island of New Guinea Their goal was to cross the island by land and take the strategic city of Port Moresby. If they had been success...
22 Nov 202514min
The Phoebus Cartel
Companies that sell products to the public have to follow a fine line. On the one hand, they need to sell stuff to make money, and the way they do that is by making a good product. However, if the...
21 Nov 202515min
The Marshall Plan (Encore)
At the end of the Second World War, Europe was a mess. The economies of most countries were in shambles and the threat of communism loomed over the continent. In a speech at Harvard University on Ju...
20 Nov 202515min
