Decades after singer Dean Reed's mysterious death, his daughter Ramona digs through a treasure trove of documents left behind by her mother to learn more about the man she called Papa...and to figure out what really happened to him.

Red Elvis is a co-production of iHeart Podcasts and School of Humans and is part of the Curiosity Audio Network. It's based on the Curiosity Stream documentary Red Elvis: The Cold War Cowboy.  Check out the doc at https://curiositystream.com

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One of the remarkable myths of the American Revolution is that it was an all male affair. Really? An eight year home front war and American women didn't notice it? In fact, women played vital roles throughout the war — from enforcing the boycotts of British imports to writing and publishing propaganda, from nursing the soldiers at Valley Forge to scavenging active battle fields for usable clothing and weapons.

Carol Berkin dispels the myth that the success of the war rested solely on the shoulders of "great men" and explores the valuable contributions that women made to the effort — and beyond. Carol Berkin is Presidential Professor of History at Baruch College and a member of the history faculty of the Graduate Center of CUNY. She has worked as a consultant on several PBS and History Channel documentaries, including, The Scottsboro Boys, which was nominated for an Academy Award.

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While most works of cinema are produced for mass-entertainment and escapism, a peculiar minority have had a profound influence on our culture. Whether intentionally or not, some movies have brought social issues to light, changed laws, forwarded ideologies both good and bad, and altered the course of American history through their resounding impact on society.

Renowned Yale Film Professor Marc Lapadula is a playwright, screenwriter and an award-winning film producer. In addition to Yale, Marc has taught at Columbia University's Graduate Film School, and he created the screenwriting programs at both The University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins.

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Did you know the best thing you can do for your brain is take a nap? If you ever thought sleep was just downtime between one task and the next, think again. The fact is, your brain pulls an all-nighter when you hit the hay. Many regions of the brain — especially those involved in learning, processing information, and emotion — are actually more active during sleep than when you're awake. These regions work together to sort and process the information you've taken in during the course of the day, helping your brain function better.

Professor Jessica Payne explains the science behind the sleeping brain, and outlines all sorts of practical information on how to control your sleep habits to ensure maximum health and productivity. She is the Nancy O'Neill Collegiate Chair and Professor of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame, where she directs the Sleep, Stress, and Memory Lab. Her course, The Sleeping Brain, routinely sports a waitlist because of its immense popularity. She is also a two-time recipient of the Distinction in Teaching Award, and won the Award for Teaching Excellence at Harvard University's Derek Bok Center.

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They say the personal is political. But the rivalry between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton may be the most political of any relationship in history.

Hamilton is experiencing a well-deserved revival in recent years. His vision of America as an economic powerhouse with an aggressive government as its engine has found many followers. He helped get the Constitution ratified, found the Federalist Party, and served as the first Secretary of the Treasury. But Jefferson fought bitterly with Hamilton throughout their careers and articulated a very different vision for the new nation, promoting an agrarian democracy built upon geographic expansion—an "empire of liberty," he called it. These tensions remain embedded in the Constitution and in the debates that roil politics in America to this day.

Louis Masur is a Distinguished Professor of American Studies and History at Rutgers University. He received outstanding teaching awards from Rutgers, Trinity College, and the City College of New York, and won the Clive Prize for Excellence in Teaching from Harvard University. He is the author of many books including "Lincoln's Last Speech," which was inspired by a talk he presented at One Day University.

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Can science and religion truly coexist, or are they forever locked in conflict? Kenneth Miller approaches this question from a unique perspective. In focusing on a few of today's most contentious issues, he explores if science can be understood in a religious context, or have we finally reached the end of faith?

Modern science has its roots in western religious thought, was nurtured in universities established for religious reasons, and owes some of its greatest discoveries to scientists who themselves were people of faith. Nonetheless, on one issue after another, from evolution to the "big bang" to the age of the Earth itself, religion is often on a collision course with scientific thought.

On one side, religious believers have constructed pseudosciences to justify narrow interpretations of scripture or to support specific religious claims. On the other, non-believers have used scientific authority to label faith a "delusion" to be set aside.

Kenneth Miller is a professor of biology at Brown University. He has received six major teaching awards at Brown, the Presidential Citation of the American Institute for Biological Science, and the Public Service Award of the American Society for Cell Biology. In 2009 he was honored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science for Advancing the Public Understanding of Science, and also received the Gregor Mendel Medal from Villanova University. In 2011 he was presented with the Stephen Jay Gould Prize by the Society for the Study of Evolution.

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Professor Anna Celenza shows how music doesn't simply reflect culture, it can change it. She highlights three musical masterpieces that, each in their own way, changed America for the better: A ballad that fueled the need for the Civil Rights movement; an album that influenced American foreign policy; and a musical that that forced us to reassess history. 

Anna Celenza is the Thomas E. Caestecker Professor of Music at Georgetown University. She is the author of several books, including 'Jazz Italian Style: From Its Origins in New Orleans to Fascist Italy and Sinatra.' In addition to her scholarly work, she has served as a writer/commentator for NPR's Performance Today and published eight award-winning children's books, among them 'Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue' and 'Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite.' She has been featured on nationally syndicated radio and TV programs, including the BBC's 'Music Matters' and C-SPAN's 'Book TV.'

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What role do money, IQ, marriage, friends, children, weather, and religion play in making us feel happier? Is happiness stable over time? How can happiness be increased? Professor Catherine Sanderson describes cutting-edge research from the field of positive psychology on the factors that do (and do not) predict happiness. She provides practical (and relatively easy!) ways to increase your own psychological well-being.

Catherine Sanderson is the Poler Family Professor and Chair of Psychology at Amherst College and is often cited as the school’s most popular professor. Her research has received grant funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Health. She has published over 25 journal articles in addition to five college textbooks.

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In the relatively short history of the United States, certain events irrevocably altered the direction of the nation and signaled the dramatic start of a new historical reality. Some took the form of groundbreaking political and philosophical concepts; some were dramatic military victories and defeats. What all of these turning points had in common is that they forever changed the character of America.

Edward O’Donnell is a professor of history at College of the Holy Cross. He is the author of several books, including Henry George and the Crisis of Inequality: Progress and Poverty in the Gilded Age. O’Donnell also has curated several major museum exhibits on American history and appeared in several historical documentaries.

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Abraham Lincoln is considered our greatest president — and one of the most controversial. People have debated various aspects of his personality and politics. Was he depressed? Was he truly opposed to slavery? Did the Union prevail because of his leadership, or despite him? This episode, led by noted Lincoln scholar Louis Masur, aims to uncover the man and not the myth.

Louis Masur is a Distinguished Professor of American Studies and History at Rutgers University. He received outstanding teaching awards from Rutgers, Trinity College, and the City College of New York, and won the Clive Prize for Excellence in Teaching from Harvard University.

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