Join us today as we bemoan just how mislead we were by the memoire/story of Anna Leonowens. We are frustrated indeed.

Poet and adventurer, Gertrude Bell fell in love with Middle Eastern literature and then culture, so much so that her understanding and influence helped to bring about 50 years of peace in a turbulent area during the early 1900s.

In the 1800s, being declared "Incurably Insane" was the easiest way to get out of an asylum... but when you're a perfectly sane woman who has her own thoughts and opinions, goals and motivation, that's exactly what you were: Incurably Insane. Declared such, Elizabeth Packard used her new freedom from the asylum to change legislation and claim human rights for those dubbed insane -- for those those who were and those who weren't. Her life work is still known in US Legislation as Packard's Law.

BIOGRAPHY: The Woman They Could Not Silence, by Kate More

MUSIC: "Im Fruhling" by John Knowles Paine

How do the stories we tell or listen to impact our perceptions of ourselves and of the world? Today, we share Anne's version of the Twelve Dancing Princesses and discuss what wasn't told in the story as much as what was.

Leni Riefenstahl

Amelia Earhart was not the only woman setting flight records at the turn of the century -- so why do we remember her but not the others? Tune in to find out!

Biographies: Fly Girls by Kieth O'Brien and For the Fun of It by Amelia Earhart

Music: "Dreaming" by Amy Beach

Sportswoman, student, and patriot turned sniper, Lyudmila Pavlichenko served her country during World War II, becoming the deadliest sniper along the Eastern Front in Russia. With the highest women's record of 309 kills, the Germans gave her the nickname "Lady Death" and actively targeted her - with bullets and with chocolate bribes. After being injured by mortar fire, she was taken to a new war front: gaining more support for the war from the American public.

Today we'll read some of her speeches, discuss her role and the role of snipers on the war front, and discuss Machiavelli's timeless question: "Is it better to be loved or feared?"

Lyudmila's speech to the American People: https://www.marxists.org/archive/pavlichenko/1942/10/x01.htm

Music: "Firebird" by Igor Stravinsky

It's said that you have seven seconds to make a first impression. Catherine the Great left an impression on everyone she worked with, so much so that her husband's military asked her blessing and her preference before they carried out a military coup which put her on the Russian throne. But she did not stop there; the impression she left on her people and her reputation of justice and equality led them to a golden age.

Biography: Catherine the Great by Robert K. Massie

Music: "Allegro Molto" Symphony 1 by Maksym Beresovsky

During World War Two, SOE Operatives had a life expectancy of 6 - 12 weeks once they were put into the field. Virginia Hall actively participated in the liberation of France and then Austria, serving as boots on the ground in Europe for over six years. She was never captured, and the Gestapo never learned her identity; their records of her still only feature her nomme de guerre, Marie, or, as they called her, "The Limping Woman."

Biography: A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell

Music: "An American in Paris" by George Gershwin

The TV Series we reference in this episode: Churchill's Secret Agents: The New Recruits available on Netflix