Swashbuckling Stories of Savage Seamen

Guest: Eric Jay Dolin, author, "Black Flags, Blue Waters," and "Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America"

Though golden-age pirates are often romanticized by popular culture, a pirate’s life was far less appealing than is often portrayed. Reviewing the actual stories of these storied individuals reveals that their lives were usually nasty, brutish, and short.

 

Pirates, Past and Present

Guest: Peter Lehr, author, "Pirates: A New History, from Vikings to Somali Raiders"

The late 1600s was the "golden-age" of piracy, but modern pirates are still motivated by the same factors that prompted Blackbeard to terrorize the seas in his day.

 

Outlaw Ocean

Guest: Ian Urbina, investigative reporter, "The New York Times," and author, "Outlaw Ocean"

There are very few untamed regions left on our planet. Perhaps the most dangerous, unregulated, and least understood are the watery depths of the world’s oceans. Author and journalist Ian Urbina weighs in on the wild criminality that often characterizes these unclaimed waters.

 

The Russian Five

Guest: Jenny Feterovich, producer, "The Russian Five" documentary

In a true story more like a spy film, the Detroit Red Wings hockey team helped five world-class Russian players defect to join their team at the end of the Cold War. They led the Red Wings to win two Stanley Cups back to back.

 

Miracle in Lake Placid

Guest: John Gilbert, author, "Miracle in Lake Placid: The Greatest Hockey Story Ever Told"

Forty years later, the victory of the US ice hockey team over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics still stands as the ultimade underdog story.

 

It’s Like Hockey, But at the Bottom of a Pool

Guest: Tyera Eulberg, Captain, USA Women's Elite Underwater Hockey Team

Ice hockey. Field hockey. Underwater hockey? This lesser-known sport has been around since the 1950s, and it is one of the most intense sports out there, since you have to do it holding your breath. 

Learn more about underwater hockey here.