Before Rosa Parks made history by refusing to give up her seat in Montgomery, Alabama, there was another young woman, just 15 years old, who had done the very same thing. Her name was Claudette Colvin. In this episode, we uncover the overlooked and extraordinary story of Colvin’s defiance, arrest, and her pivotal role in the court case that would ultimately help bring down bus segregation in the South. Why was her name nearly erased from the movement? What does her story reveal about the politics of protest and the cost of courage?

Join us as we explore how a teenager with fire in her heart and history in her classroom helped lay the legal foundation for one of the most powerful civil rights victories in American history.

Topics Covered:

• The climate of Montgomery, Alabama, in early 1955

• Claudette Colvin’s act of defiance and arrest

• Why the civil rights leadership chose Rosa Parks instead

• The role of respectability politics in the movement

• Colvin’s role in Browder v. Gayle and desegregating buses

• Her life after the movement and slow path to recognition

• The legacy of young, often-forgotten pioneers in social change

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TODAY IN CONTEXT BONUS: The animosity between the United States and Iran is one of the most enduring geopolitical rivalries in modern history, rooted in a mix of historical grievances, ideological conflicts, and strategic competition. In this episode, we explore how this complex relationship evolved from the early 20th century to the present day. The 1953 CIA-led coup that overthrew Iran’s democratic government, the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the Iran Hostage Crisis, the nuclear standoff, and the rise of regional tensions have all contributed to the bitter rift between the two nations. With each new chapter of this rivalry, the animosity deepens, leaving a legacy that continues to shape global politics today.

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In the frigid mountains of North Korea in the winter of 1950, 30,000 United Nations troops, led by the U.S. Marines, faced encirclement by over 120,000 Chinese soldiers in one of the most brutal military engagements of the 20th century. The Battle of Chosin Reservoir was not just a fight for survival, it was a testament to courage, discipline, and resilience in the face of overwhelming odds and unimaginable cold.

This episode chronicles the 17-day siege that came to define the Korean War and produce some of the most heroic actions in modern military history.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• Why U.S. forces pushed deep into North Korea despite Chinese warnings

• How 120,000 Chinese troops secretly surrounded the Marines

• The horrors of combat at -30°F: frozen weapons, frostbitten limbs, and relentless night attacks

• Acts of valor like the stand at Fox Hill and the aerial bridge over Funchilin Pass

• The role of air support, evacuation efforts, and the breakout to Hungnam

• How the “Frozen Chosin” earned their place in Marine Corps legend

• The strategic fallout that led to Truman firing General MacArthur

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On August 20, 1940, in a quiet Mexico City study, one of the last living architects of the Russian Revolution was struck down, not by a rival revolutionary, but by an ice axe wielded by a Soviet assassin. Leon Trotsky’s murder was the climax of a decades-long battle over power, ideology, and the very soul of socialism.

In this gripping episode, we uncover the story behind the assassination of Leon Trotsky, his rise as Lenin’s brilliant right hand, his fall at the hands of Stalin’s machinery, and his final years in exile, hunted by the regime he once helped build. This is not just a story of betrayal and espionage, it’s a story of history rewritten by force.

In this episode, we explore:

• Trotsky’s revolutionary beginnings and rise alongside Lenin

• The brutal power struggle with Stalin after Lenin’s death

• Exile, isolation, and the founding of the Fourth International

• The NKVD’s global campaign to erase Trotsky

• The failed May 1940 raid and the shocking success of Ramón Mercader

• Trotsky’s final words, legacy, and the symbolic weight of his murder

• How Stalin’s regime rewrote history—and how Trotsky refused to vanish from it

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Peter speaks with Joseph J. Ellis, a Two-Time Pulitzer-Prize winner, about his newest book, The Great Contradiction: The Tragic Side of the American Founding. They discuss what the Founding Fathers got right and wrong, and which would have gotten the highest SAT score!

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This Week's Top Picks from The Collector:

1. 10 Zany Facts About Benjamin Franklin You Probably Didn't Know
2. 5 Lesser-Known Signers of the Declaration of Independence

In 1517, a German monk named Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to a church door in Wittenberg, and shattered the religious unity of Europe. What began as a protest against the sale of indulgences exploded into a revolution that transformed Christianity, divided kingdoms, and reshaped the course of history.

In this episode, we explore how a theological spark ignited a cultural and political wildfire, from Luther’s dramatic stand at the Diet of Worms to the rise of Calvinism, the English break with Rome, and the Catholic Church’s own Counter-Reformation. The Reformation wasn’t a single movement, it was a tidal wave of ideas, power struggles, martyrs, and revolutions that forged the modern world.

In this episode, we cover:

• The medieval Church’s power, corruption, and the sale of indulgences

• How Gutenberg’s printing press turned protest into mass movement

• Luther’s confrontation with Church and empire, “Here I stand”

• The rise of new reformers: Zwingli, Calvin, and Henry VIII

• The Council of Trent and the Jesuits’ role in the Catholic revival

• The Thirty Years’ War and the devastating price of religious division

• The enduring legacy: personal faith, pluralism, and global Protestantism

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In May 1941, the Royal Navy launched one of the most relentless and emotional naval pursuits in history. Their target? The Bismarck, the pride of the Nazi fleet and the battleship that had just sunk HMS Hood, killing over 1,400 British sailors in mere minutes.

This episode dives deep into the epic chase that followed: a saga of vengeance, codebreaking, aerial strikes, and raw naval power. From the icy Denmark Strait to the stormy waters of the Atlantic, we follow the Bismarck’s final voyage and the resolve of a nation determined to send her to the bottom.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why the sinking of HMS Hood sent Britain into national mourning

• How Churchill’s iconic command—“Sink the Bismarck!”—rallied a navy

• The daring Swordfish biplane strike that crippled the Bismarck’s rudder

• The brutal final battle and the debate over scuttling vs. shellfire

• How Robert Ballard’s 1989 discovery shed light on the ship’s last moments

• Why this story still captures imaginations through film, song, and myth

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Of all the legends surrounding American presidents, none is quite as enduring, or as delightfully absurd, as the tale of William Howard Taft getting stuck in a bathtub. In this episode, we plunge into the deep end of this iconic story: separating fact from fiction, myth from memory, and slapstick from subtle truth.

What really happened in the White House bathroom? Did six aides really pull him out with butter and a pulley? Or has history inflated a comical rumor into folklore?

Join us as we explore:

• Taft’s real struggles with weight and self-image

• The origins of the bathtub legend (and the photo that may have started it all)

• How early 20th-century media and American humor shaped presidential mythmaking

• The surprisingly touching legacy of a man mocked for his size but admired for his humility

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In the waning days of the Civil War, with Richmond in ruins and Confederate armies surrendering across the South, one man refused to accept defeat: Jefferson Davis. This episode follows the desperate final flight of the Confederate president as he evades Union troops across the crumbling Southern landscape, clinging to a dream already buried. From his escape from Richmond to his capture in Georgia dressed in a cloak that became the stuff of legend, this is the gripping true story of the last days of the Confederacy and the symbolic collapse of the cause Davis refused to abandon.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

• The fall of Richmond and the disintegration of the Confederate government

• Davis’s refusal to accept Lee’s surrender as the end of the war

• The frantic effort to relocate the Confederate capital and keep the dream alive

• Davis’s journey through Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, carrying the remnants of the Confederate treasury

• The $100,000 bounty, fueled by suspicions (and propaganda) that Davis had ties to Lincoln’s assassination

• The drama of Davis’s capture near Irwinville, Georgia, and the enduring controversy over whether he was disguised as a woman

• His imprisonment at Fortress Monroe, the debate over treason charges, and his eventual release

• The rise of Lost Cause mythology and Davis’s postwar legacy as a self-styled martyr

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Journalists are supposed to cover the story, not become it. But in 1900, four ambitious American war correspondents, armed with pens, revolvers, and an appetite for front-page glory, did exactly that. In the desperate pursuit of a scoop deep inside Qing China, they stumbled into a rural village, provoked a sacred site, fired a gun, and, knowingly or not, sparked the chain reaction that helped ignite the Boxer Rebellion.

In this episode, we unravel the jaw-dropping tale of how yellow journalism, nationalist rage, cultural ignorance, and frontier bravado collided to fuel one of the most explosive anti-foreign uprisings of the 20th century. You’ll meet the real-life characters behind the headlines, explore the murky events in Pingluo that escalated into nationwide chaos, and trace how history quietly buried the role of the American press in lighting the fuse.

Topics Covered:

• The rise of the Boxer movement and anti-foreign resentment in Qing China

• The cultural and spiritual motivations behind the Boxers' beliefs

• How four U.S. reporters became catalysts for violence in Pingluo

• The ripple effects that led to mass killings, the siege of Beijing, and foreign invasion

• The lasting consequences of sensational journalism on war, imperialism, and memory

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SPONSORED BY THE PODCAST REPUBLIC: https://www.podcastrepublic.net/ 

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