July 7, 2007. In a dramatic ceremony featuring pop stars, fireworks, and smoke cannons, the Colosseum is named one of the seven new wonders of the world. It’s an appropriately over-the-top blowout for an arena which, centuries before, was home to its own lavish events. How did spectacles once unfold on the floor of this ancient arena? And how did the Romans use games to entertain people and to control them?

Special thanks to our guests, Alison Futrell, co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World, and Barry Strauss, author of The War That Made the Roman Empire: Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavian at Actium.

** This episode originally aired July 4, 2022.

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June 28, 1928. Louis Armstrong is in the studio recording what he hopes will be another hit. His career is on the rise, but he’s not a household name yet. But he’s about to lay down a track – “West End Blues” – that won’t just change his career, but the entire genre of jazz. 

But Armstrong didn’t compose “West End Blues” – it was written by his mentor, a man only remembered by people who are really into the history of jazz, a cornet player named Joe “King” Oliver. Armstrong records this song likely as a favor to this father figure, someone who set him on the path to becoming an American icon. Oliver might be forgotten by many, but his role is undeniable.

Before “What a Wonderful World” or “Hello Dolly,” how did Louis Armstrong get his start following King Oliver around New Orleans? And how did the complicated, sometimes fractured relationship with his mentor give rise to this legendary career?

Special thanks to Ricky Riccardi, director of research collections at the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens, New York, and author of several books on Armstrong, including his most recent, Stomp Off, Let's Go: The Early Years of Louis Armstrong.

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June 22, 1611. It’s been a long, cold winter. Henry Hudson and his crew have been stranded in the Canadian Arctic for months, living on the ice in wooden shacks - starving, sick, and ready to go home.

And yet, Hudson wants to carry on and search for the Northwest Passage, a theoretical trading route to the Pacific that could bring him untold fortunes. His crew has had enough.

How does this journey go so wrong? And what happens when you push a crew of sailors beyond the extreme?

Special thanks to Peter Mancall, historian at the University of Southern California and author of Fatal Journey: The Final Expedition of Henry Hudson.

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June 9, 1954. Senator Joseph McCarthy has accused the United States Army of having communists within its midst. After rising to power during a time of great fear in America, McCarthy's name has become synonymous with anti-communism – and with baseless, life-ruining accusations. But today, five simple words will take down one of the most notorious men in American political history.

What made McCarthy so powerful in the first place? And how did that very same thing eventually bring him down?

Thank you to our guest, Ellen Schrecker, historian, author and expert on McCarthyism.

Thank you to Thomas Doherty, Professor of American Studies at Brandeis University, for speaking with us for this episode. He is the author of Cold War, Cool Medium: Television, McCarthyism, and American Culture. 

** This episode originally aired June 8, 2020.

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June 14, 1938. It’s 8:30 PM at Lake Worth Casino in Fort Worth, Texas. All eyes are on a huge high-dive platform, 40 feet in the air. And at the top? A woman… on a horse.

Horse diving is one of the most popular acts in America, and Sonora Carver is one of its stars. She’s been doing it for years, traveling the country to perform one of the more unbelievable stunts in sideshow history. 

But a few years back, Carver suffered a devastating injury during one of these dives and completely lost her eyesight. And yet, she continues to perform this act for thousands around the country.

How did diving horses become one of America's most popular attractions, only to fade into near-complete obscurity? And what does Sonora's story reveal about the complicated relationship between risk, resilience, and entertainment?

Special thanks to our guests: Cynthia Branigan, author of The Last Diving Horse in America; and Vicki Gold Levi, author and cultural historian of Atlantic City.

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June 4, 1941. Reinhard Heydrich transmits a message to all regional governors in the Third Reich: prepare for “action against occult teachings.”

Heydrich is carrying out the orders of Adolf Hitler, who is furious at his Deputy Führer, Rudolf Hess. Inspired by a horoscope reading, Hess decided to fly a secret mission to Great Britain and sue for peace. But Hess crash-lands in Scotland—the plan doesn’t pan out—and his failure becomes an international embarrassment.

So in retaliation, Hitler cracks down on mysticism throughout Germany. Magicians, spiritualists, and faith healers are arrested, their homes get searched, and their books are confiscated. 

And yet, the “Hess Action” only lasts a few weeks. Because Hitler and many of the top Nazi leaders are also obsessed with the occult, the supernatural, and the fringes of science.

How does Nazi Germany embrace the metaphyiscal, mysticism, and mythology? And how do they use these ideas to strengthen their fascist regime?

This episode features a conversation with Eric Kurlander, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of History at Stetson University and author of Hitler's Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reich.

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May 30, 1855. Five thousand Native Americans come to Walla Walla to negotiate a treaty. However, it’s not exactly a fair negotiation – the territorial governor basically tells these tribes that they have no choice but to live on reservations in order to maintain peace.

This moment comes in the wake of a violent time in the Pacific Northwest, a period started by the killing of Christian missionaries—namely, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman—by the Cayuse tribe. In the wake of their deaths, the Whitmans are portrayed throughout the United States as martyrs; the Cayuse, as a problem to be dealt with. But in reality, the backstory behind these murders is a lot more complicated.

How did things go so wrong between the Cayuse and the Whitmans? And how did these missionaries’ deaths lead to a massive expansion of the United States?

Special thanks to Bobbie Conner, director of the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute; and Blaine Harden, former correspondent for the Washington Post and author of Murder at the Mission: A Frontier Killing, Its Legacy of Lies, and the Taking of the American West. 

We also consulted another great book putting this episode together, Unsettled Ground: The Whitman Massacre and Its Shifting Legacy in the American West by Cassandra Tate.

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May 22, 1856. Charles Sumner isn’t worried about making friends in the Senate. His rhetoric is inflammatory, almost intentionally. He’s an ardent abolitionist in a time when people are still enslaved throughout the South.

In his most recent speech, Sumner attacked his colleagues directly, especially pro-slavery Senator Andrew Butler. Butler’s cousin, Preston Brooks, is also in Congress, and as a southern gentleman, he decides he has to do something to retaliate.

What pushes Preston Brooks to assault Charles Sumner on the Senate floor? And how does this attack help drive Americans towards civil war?

Special thanks to Steve Puleo, author of The Great Abolitionist: Charles Sumner and the Fight for a More Perfect Union. 

Two other books we used to put this episode together: Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War by David Donald, and The Caning of Charles Sumner by Williamjames Hull Hoffer.

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May 16, 1920. Tens of thousands of people surround St. Peter’s Basilica to honor Joan of Arc, a French peasant girl who died nearly five hundred years before. Joan’s feats in battle—and her visions of God—have become legendary since her heyday during the Hundred Years' War. And today, the Catholic Church is making her a saint. But Joan was a real person – and while many supported her during her lifetime, many others wanted her dead. Who was this curious figure? And how did her faith turn the tides of a seemingly endless age of violence?

Special thanks to Nancy Goldstone, author of ⁠The Maid and the Queen: The Secret History of Joan of Arc⁠; and Charity Urbanski, associate history professor at the University of Washington.

** This episode originally aired May 15, 2023.

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May 15, 1940. It’s opening day. San Bernardino, California is a city on the rise, and to meet this new demand for cheap, good food, two brothers have created a restaurant: McDonald’s Famous Barbecue.

You can order a PB&J sandwich, barbecued pork, baked beans, and yes, a hamburger. It’s a work in progress, but Dick and Mac McDonald never stop innovating.

How did the McDonald brothers engineer a system that would be replicated in thousands of locations across the globe? And why don't they get the credit they deserve?

Special thanks to Adam Chandler, journalist and author of Drive-Thru Dreams: A Journey Through the Heart of America's Fast-Food Kingdom; and Marcia Chatelain,  professor of Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America. 

Here are two other great books we used in putting this episode together: Ray & Joan: The Man Who Made the McDonald’s Fortune and the Woman Who Gave It All Away by Lisa Napoli; and McDonald’s: Behind the Arches by John F. Love.

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