Walt Whitman, Poet of Democracy

Tracy and Holly discuss the high volume of work produced by both Webster and Worcester, the inconsistencies in Webster's work, and learning languages.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informatio...

30 Jun 202317min

Noah Webster Jr. and Joseph Emerson Worcester were both born in New England, both went to Yale, and both compiled multiple dictionaries during their lifetimes. But they were very different men, and th...

28 Jun 202343min

The conflict between Noah Webster and Joseph Emerson Worcester, and their dictionaries came to be known as the Dictionary Wars. To set the scene, part one covers the biographies of the two men. Resear...

26 Jun 202342min

This 2018 episode features Julian Eltinge, one of the highest-paid and most famous actors of the early 20th century. He acted alongside Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and Rudolph Valentino, and beca...

24 Jun 202336min

Holly and Tracy talk about Barbette's identity and speculation about his life. They also share stories of square dancing in school as kids. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

23 Jun 202326min

Square dancing has very old roots and has endured as a pastime to present day. Its history, though, comes with some thorns, and scholars don’t even agree on its exact origin.  Research:         Ander...

21 Jun 202341min

Vander Clyde Broadway went by a few different names in his life, but Barbette is the one he got famous with. He was a female impersonator from Texas who became the toast of Paris in the 1920s. Researc...

19 Jun 202339min

This 2020 episode covers George Sand, an incredibly famous writer of incredible output. Her behavior and personal style were almost as talked about as her novels, and these factors combined made her i...

17 Jun 202340min