High Crimes and History

The opioid crisis in the United States has reached historic levels and remains one of the worst drug epidemics in history, but it is far from the first country to be addicted. The Qing dynasty of China struggled in the face of an illegal opium trade that swept the country in the 19th and 20th centuries. Pushed by Britain and exploited by European powers, the epidemic spiraled into war, economic devastation, and the destruction of one of the greatest empires in the history of the world. This is that story.

In our anniversary episode we answer listener questions, including why history is so violent, whether historians can diagnose mental illness, why Trevor can’t pronounce anything right, and whether our cats are furry little bastards. Spoilers: they are, but we still love them.

Thank you to everyone who has been there this past year! Here’s to another one.

What is the worst way to die? Ancient Persia invented many of the methods of execution used throughout history. Some are still used today. Others were so horrific they were never used again. These cruel and unusual punishments kept power in the hands of the kings and struck fear in the hearts of their enemies. Whether fact or fiction, one thing is known: it’s not death we fear. It’s the way we die that keeps us up at night.

He was a man who clashed with House leadership in a war of words, violated acts of Congress as a show of force after previous investigations on impeachable charges were inconclusive, and was potentially motivated to action in order to influence his upcoming presidential election. No, he was not our current president. He was President Andrew Johnson, and he has a lot to teach us about the next potential impeachment.

In 1491, England was in for a shock. Edward IV’s youngest son, Richard of Shrewsbury, was alive. That was a problem for three reasons. One, if Richard was alive then he was the rightful heir to the English throne. Two, he was already dead. And three, the man protested that he was Richard in the first place. In order to understand why, we need to know the role of pretenders in the Middle Ages.

How far would you go to make a comfortable living? Faced with a shortage of bodies for dissection, medical schools in Victorian England turned to resurrectionists. Gangs of men exhumed and stole bodies to sell to medical practitioners, operating a practice that flirted between legal and criminal.

Corsair slavery in the 16th and 17th centuries does not fit into the modern model of the slave trade. White European Christians were enslaved in the hundreds of thousands by North African Muslim pirates. A controversial historical topic in today’s current events, the truth is more complicated than race. Religious and economic warfare fueled a massive enterprise in which entire villages and ships vanished without a trace. Sold into slavery on the Barbary Coast, the people of the Mediterranean world lived in fear of what might appear on the horizon – a fear of enslavement that still exists around the world today.

Men have always had a biological need to compete, and that need can turn deadly, but rarely was it socially acceptable. However, at one point in time it was not only commonplace for gentlemen to take that competition to the dueling field, but in America it was the ultimate proving ground, even when it was illegal. From politicians to pioneers, for two hundred years the duel was a socially acceptable method of killing a man. In many ways, it became its own art form. Here is the history of the duel in America.

Some legends are larger than life. The question is where to separate fact from fiction. We dive into another famous crime in history - the Ako incident in 1703, in which 47 samurai conspired to take revenge for their master's death in Edo Japan. But are they the heroes of this story, as fiction paints them to be? Or are they morally ambiguous murderers? The answer comes down to the matter of honor.

Werewolves have long been a horror trope in literature, but historically many people have claimed to have committed crimes as lycanthropes. Their journey has been one of tragedy and heroism, of champions and murderers, of the sane and the insane. Whether under duress or delusion, the history of the werewolf trial takes Trevor and listeners to weird world of witchcraft and psychosis, a place where the truth is stranger than fiction.