Dictators

Before he became the most powerful ruler in the world in 434 CE, Atilla the Hun was a nomadic warrior terrorizing the Eastern Roman Empire. But to take the crown and gain control, Atilla would need to spill the blood of his own brother. 

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Alexander turns his sights on defeating the Persian navy, laying siege to an island city before pursuing Persia’s King of Kings across the Achaemenid Empire. His military victories are stunning, but his conquest cannot hold under the weight of his early death.

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Before he was Alexander the Great, conqueror of empires, he was Alexander III — son of Philip, student of Aristotle, and precocious prince who would become a king when he was barely past his teenage years.  

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As the Gilded Age comes to a close, Henry Ford emerges to revolutionize American manufacturing and ignite a new class of consumers. He works overtime to burnish his image as a populist hero — an image that’s complicated by his vivid contradictions and inflammatory controversies.

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The fourth and final Conspiracy Theories crossover. In November 2018, equipment from the largest utility provider in America sparked a fire that killed 86 people and destroyed thousands of homes. The devastation was unprecedented, but the Camp Fire is far from the only disaster caused by Pacific Gas & Electric. Are their political donations protecting them from stricter regulation?

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In March 2011, the worst nuclear meltdown since Chernobyl took place in northern Japan. The incident was triggered by a natural disaster, but it was decisions made by the facility’s operators that led to such catastrophic damage. From Conspiracy Theories, a Spotify Original from Parcast.

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An emergency plan to cut costs in Flint, Michigan, resulted in a contaminated water supply for the city’s residents. The water looked, tasted, and smelled foul – because it was tainted with toxic chemicals, harmful bacteria, and lead from old pipes. But government officials repeatedly dismissed the community’s concerns. What did they know about the burgeoning crisis? And how are they paying for their negligence now? From Conspiracy Theories, a Spotify Original from Parcast.

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The Love Canal was supposed to be a suburban idyll. Instead, it became a dumping ground for one company’s chemical waste. After the land changed hands in the 1950s, a school and 900 homes were built atop the toxic landfill. Decades later, residents are still battling deteriorating health and government negligence. From Conspiracy Theories, this four-part series covers four times corporations and officials knew their actions could cause harm, and forged ahead anyway.

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Born into a banking dynasty, John Pierpont Morgan became a Wall Street wunderkind in the 1860s. By his early 30s, he could afford an early retirement. But a life of leisure wasn’t in the cards for Morgan, who would go on to cut history-making deals, multiply his exorbitant wealth, and hold enough power to seal America’s financial fate several times over. 

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A Supreme Court decision in 1824 changed Cornelius Vanderbilt’s fate, opening the door for the enterprising steamboat captain to build a navigation empire — and from there, a railroad takeover. He outmaneuvered his rivals until he had the power to manipulate the entire U.S. economy. 

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