Since the World's been Turning

In this episode we explore the life of iconic 20th century fiction writer – Ernest Hemingway. Throughout his life Hemingway cultivated an image of hyper-masculinity: he was a heavy drinker, a big game hunter, a deep sea fisher, and a war correspondent. 

He was present at some of the most significant conflicts of the 20th century, and they influenced his work. 

But the larger-than-life writer also had a softer side. To help us get to know Hemingway, we’re joined by  special guest, writer Mary V. Dearborn. Mary’s the author of Ernest Hemingway: A Biography. 

We return to the theme of colonialism as we visit the Belgian Congo. It’s a tale of two countries: one a huge territory deep inside the equatorial rainforest, and the other a tiny European nation, led by a King with imperial dreams.

We’re joined by a special guest Adam Hochschild, a writer, historian and the author of King Leopold’s Ghost, the story of King Leopold and the Congo.

A cultural touchstone and masterpiece of suspense, this week’s episode features Alfred Hitchcock’s seminal film, Psycho. 

Perhaps more than any film we’ll discuss during this series, Psycho is a film so completely entrenched in the cultural consciousness that it’s hard to separate the film from its myth.

Here to talk about the history of Psycho is Andrew Hunt, a professor of history at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.

In this episode we’re talking about the Twist.  The dance that took the teenage world by storm in the 1950s and 1960s.  More broadly, we’re talking about its various different recordings, and the artist whose cover of the song made it into a smash hit phenomenon, Chubby Checker.

Here, helping us with this episode is Musicologist, Music Historian and Rock Musician, Dr Alexander Carpenter of the University of Alberta, Canada.

Today many people know about his assassination, and his rumoured affair with Marilyn Monroe – but there was a lot more to Kennedy than that. 

Special guest Frederik Logevall, JFK’s biographer, a professor at Harvard University, joins us to tell us about John F Kennedy: his politics, his family, and his time. 

Todays episode looks into the process of paying for radio time which is called Payola.

 A dominant trend in the 1930s onwards, Payola was a core part of the music industry and a huge influence on the dominant trends in popular music. Interestingly, while the practice is illegal, and suggests a rich-get-richer musical hierarchy, it played a surprisingly positive role in  pushing forward songs from more niche genres such as Country and R&B at a pivotal time in history, thus presenting a wider range of music to American audiences. 

Because of this, the issue remains a complex one with a lot of moral gray areas. 

So what is the story of Payola? How dominant really was it? And in what sort of form does it exist today?

In this episode we go back to the origins of the split between North and South Korea, as we learn about another famous statesman: Syngman Rhee. He was a gifted scholar, a revolutionary, a prickly, authoritarian ruler – and a dangerous driver. 

We’re joined for this episode by special guest David Fields, a historian and associate director of the Centre for East Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. 

In this episode we’re looking at the revolutionary spy plane that defined post World War 2 military surveillance, the Lockheed U-2.  The U-2 is still a key device today in the gathering of military intelligence. Its intensely aerodynamic design allows it to fly incredibly high, right near the edge of the atmosphere.

In this episode we’re looking at debatably the most notorious product failure in American history.

A flop that puts Crystal Pepsi and Google Glass to shame, the Ford Edsel has become synonymous with failure.  A new line of cars designed by Ford to try and compete in the upper-middle budget range, the Edsel suffered from poor planning, poor marketing, and even poorer design. Only collected nowadays by car collectors as a joke, or a historical artifact, the story of the Edsel begs the following questions. How does a company as big as Ford, mess up this badly? Who was responsible? And what impact has the Edsel left on the American Motor Industry today?

 In this episode we return to the Cold War and discuss yet another controversial political figure - Fidel Castro, the revolutionary firebrand who came to power in Cuba in the late 1950s. 

To some he’s a tyrant, and to others, he’s the hero who deposed a corrupt regime and defied America for decades. We’re joined by a very special guest, the historian and journalist Tony Perrottet. Tony is the author of several non-fiction books including Cuba Libre: Che, Fidel and the Improbable Revolution That Changed World History. He’s also a contributing editor at the Smithsonian Magazine in Washington, and has written for media outlets including The New York T