The Great Leap Forward
In the mid-20th century, Chairman Mao Zedong launched an ambitious plan to revolutionize Chinese agriculture and industry, build up the economy and turn China into a communist utopia. Read the show no...
1 Sep 201424min
Hetty Green, the Witch of Wall Street
She was the wealthiest woman in the U.S., skilled when it came to amassing a fortune. But her eccentric behavior and miserly ways led to bad press and a less-than-flaterring nickname. Read the show no...
27 Aug 201429min
The Heathen School
The Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut was founded with the plan that it would draw young men from world cultures, educate them, convert them to Christianity, and then send them back to t...
25 Aug 201430min
Andrews' Raid, or: The Great Locomotive Chase Pt. 2
As the second part of the story picks up, James Andrews and 22 men have commandeered a northbound train in Big Shanty, Georgia. Its conductor, William Fuller, has begun chasing them on foot with two o...
20 Aug 201434min
Andrews' Raid, or: The Great Locomotive Chase Pt. 1
The Great Locomotive Chase was a very daring - but very failed - plot to commandeer a train and destroy a crucial stretch of railroad during the Civil War. It's a wild and fun story that covers a lot ...
18 Aug 201422min
The Discovery of Longitude
People knew how to find their north-south position even before we had the idea of "latitude." But once people lost sight of land, they didn't have reliable way of figuring out how far east or west the...
13 Aug 201432min
The La Scala Opera House
The Teatro alla Scala is one of the most renowned opera houses in the world, and is Italy's crown jewel of the arts. Even if you have only a passing knowledge of opera, odds are, you know a name conne...
11 Aug 201428min
Victor Lustig: Con Man Extraordinaire
He's most famous for selling an iconic structure he didn't own, but Robert Miller, known better by his alias Count Victor Lustig, led a life of spectacular cons, daring escapes, smooth talking and cou...
6 Aug 201425min
