In this first episode, I read excerpts from the following texts:

•  *A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare* by James Shapiro -- secretly setting-up The Globe
• *The Wars of Reconstruction* by Douglas Egerton -- violent losers
• *The Electric Life of Michael Faraday* by Alan Hirshfeld -- almost missing the transformer
• *Nixonland* by Rick Perlstein -- multiple burglaries
• *Why Poetry* by Matthew Zapruder -- taking your head off