John James Audubon: American Woodsman, Part 1
Though John James Audubon was the son of a French planter, he cultivated the image of an American frontiersman. In this episode, New York Public Library curator Michael Inman joins us for a discussion...
18 Jun 201220min
The Death of Poe
In 1849, Edgar Allan Poe disappeared for five days before he was found semi-conscious outside of a saloon. He died four days later, presumably from alcohol abuse. Over the years, many alternate cause-...
13 Jun 201231min
William Kidd: A Pirate's Rep for Me
William Kidd had settled down by 1695, but privateering was still in his blood. He struck up a plan to attack pirates plaguing English ships and enlisted investors to back his efforts. Eventually he w...
11 Jun 201223min
Nikola Tesla and the War of the Currents, Part 2
By 1887, Nikola Tesla secured seven patents for components of his alternating current system. In 1888, George Westinghouse offered to hire Tesla to develop the AC system, and that's when the Current W...
6 Jun 201227min
Laura Bridgman's Education
Laura Bridgman was the first deafblind person to be educated -- a feat accomplished by Samuel Gridley Howe in the 1830s. People from around the world came to see her, including Charles Dickens, who wr...
4 Jun 201226min
Nikola Tesla and the War of Currents, Part 1
In 1857 Nikola Tesla began work on direct current motor issues. In 1884, he approached Thomas Edison with ideas about alternating current, but Edison championed direct current. Their disagreement led ...
30 Mai 201216min
P.T. Barnum's Biggest Stars
P.T. Barnum worked with many performers. Perhaps the most famous was the diminutive General Tom Thumb. Barnum also promoted Swedish singer Jenny Lind, but his biggest act was Jumbo the Elephant, an Af...
28 Mai 201226min
Operation Mincemeat, Part 2
Operation Mincemeat aimed to relay false information to the Nazis by dropping a corpse where they would find it, along with fake documents. The British agents gave their corpse a backstory to make it ...
23 Mai 201228min
