The one thing most anyone knows about First Lady Edith Wilson is that she conspired to cover for Woodrow Wilson after he suffered a debilitating stroke in 1919. There's much more to this complex woman's story, says this week's guest, Rebecca Boggs Roberts. She's the author of a new Edith Wilson biography titled "Untold Power." She describes Edith Bolling's rise from rural Virginia with only two years of formal education to the heights of power in Washington in a time of change for women and the nation.
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Rebecca Roberts, "Untold Power"

Intriguing hour-long conversations with people who are making things happen. Hosted by Peter Slen.  New episodes every Sunday evening. From the network that brings you "Washington Today" and "Lectures in History" podcasts.

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Ilyon Woo, our guest this week, was recently awarded the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Biography for her book "Master Slave Husband Wife." The book recounts the harrowing journey of self-emancipation made by married slaves William and Ellen Craft in 1848. Disguised as a wealthy disabled white man with his servant, the Crafts left Georgia, avoiding slave traders, law enforcement, and even friends to gain their freedom. This program originally aired in February 2023. 
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Ilyon Woo, "Master Slave Husband Wife"

Former congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) talks about Americans who have struggled with mental illness and the stigma and silence that he says still surrounds it. He shares the stories of the people profiled in his book, "Profiles in Mental Health Courage," including himself and members of his own family.       
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Patrick Kennedy, "Profiles in Mental Health Courage"

Half Jewish and a member of the Hitler Youth who saw Adolf Hitler in person, Jochen "Jack" Wurfl, author of "My Two Lives," talks about surviving in Nazi Germany and his later life and success in the United States. To hide their identities after the Nazis took over in 1933, Mr. Wurfl and his brother were baptized Catholic and later joined the Hitler Youth. His Catholic father, deemed a political enemy by the state, was sent to a concentration camp in Austria, while his Jewish mother was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Auschwitz, where she perished. 
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Jochen "Jack" Wurfl, "My Two Lives"

Filmmakers Zachary Treitz and Christian Hansen discuss their 4-part Netflix docuseries "American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders," about the events surrounding the death of freelance journalist Danny Casolaro (cas-uh-LARE-oh) in 1991. At the time of his death, officially ruled a suicide, Mr. Casolaro was working on a story about a series of crimes – including drug running, money laundering, and murder – that he argued were connected to a cabal of ex-government officials associated with the Reagan administration and the CIA. He referred to this group as "the Octopus."     
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Zachary Treitz & Christian Hansen, "American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders"

In "The Lies of the Land," Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) history professor Steven Conn argues that the reality of rural America today is vastly different from the way it is often portrayed by politicians and the media. He says rural Americans have not been left behind or been overlooked and are just as connected to the forces of American modernity – militarization, industrialization, corporatization, and suburbanization – as people living in the rest of the country.  
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Rebecca Roberts, "Untold Power"

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