Who wrote the best-selling book in the U.S. in the 1800s? Why was she attacked from both sides for her story? And finally, how did she come to write the same exact book, word for word, 40 years later?

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Hollywood, cults, sex, and crime. It all seems like the perfect set up for a Netflix multi-season series. But this is the real story of the rich and famous getting brain washed into a criminal sex club that ultimately led to convictions on charges of conspiracy, sex trafficking, child porn, and more.

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We all dream, but what stops us from making those dreams a reality? This is about a middle-class kid from Ohio who never stopped believing in the future.

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Explorers are a special breed—fear of the unknown and of the awful possibilities of failure don’t seem to deter them. Perfect example: the handful of people who have explored the Mariana Trench, the deepest place on Earth.

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Some people are wildly talented but just can’t get out of the way of their own ego and ambition. Take Aaron Burr. He destroyed his political career by killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel, went on to treasonously plot a land grab to create his own empire, and wound up dying alone in a boarding house on Staten Island. 

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Donald Trump and Grover Cleveland are the only two presidents to get elected to two nonconsecutive terms. Their personalities and lifestyles explain a lot; neither liked having their opinions questioned, neither cared what others thought of them, and both had beautiful, much younger wives. 

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Take a look back, and you’ll see how similar human reaction is over the centuries to so many things that happen to us today. Take the recent fires in LA and the great Chicago fire of 1871. How do people decide what to save, and what matters most, when faced with a catastrophic event?

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The fires in California are terrifying to watch. But fire has a deep history…and there are lessons to be learned.

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Success doesn’t always come easy. We’re talking boobs, plastic, marketing directly to little kids…and getting indicted for corporate fraud. Who knew there was all that drama surrounding Barbie dolls and their creator, Ruth Handler?

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On this replay episode of The Backstory: Did you know that as recently as the Victorian era, somebody could have you committed to an insane asylum just because you disobeyed a husband, were too opinionated, were caught masturbating, and so much more? The treatment ranged from being chained to a wall, beaten...and more. And no one had to prove your insanity! This is the story of how one woman, post-lock-up, changed the status quo.

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