Henry Ford built a successful car company based on the principle of mass production of affordable cars. But his company was eclipsed by General Motors, which had a totally different marketing strategy: planned obsolescence.

251 Keep the Consumer Dissatisfied

A chronicle of the history of the twentieth century, including art, music, popular culture, science, religion, and, of course, politics and war.

History

Society & Culture

The war against Japan brought the Nationalists and the Communists back into a new alliance, but it didn't last. Mao Zedong polished up his political writings and asserted his authority over the Party.

368 The Second United Front

Adolf Hitler redeployed Luftwaffe units from the Eastern front to the Mediterranean. With Axis air superiority in the region established, shipments of equipment and supplies to Panzer Army Africa substantially increased. Soon Rommel was on the move again, this time driving the British deep into Egypt.

367 El Alamein

Rommel was surprised by a British offensive (Operation Crusader) and his forces were driven all the way back to where he had started from a year earlier. But in a few months, he and his army pushed the British back to where they had started.

366 The Desert Fox

When the United States entered the war, the German U-boats suddenly had many more targets.

365 The Second Happy Time

Reinhard Heydrich was one of the most vicious of the Nazis. So much so that the Czechoslovak and British governments decided that he needed to be eliminated.

251 Keep the Consumer Dissatisfied

Download our free app to listen on your phone