The Thread

By OZY and iHeartRadio

Society & Culture History

What's The Thread about?

The Thread is an exploration of history’s interlocking lives and events. We turn back the clock, one story at a time, to reveal how various strands are woven together to create a historic figure, a big idea or an unthinkable tragedy. From OZY Media. History. Unwound.

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LAST EPISODE

Introducing The Future of X...

09.20.2021

Everybody loves to move. How we choose to move will determine what life looks like for the next generation. OZY’s hit podcast franchise The Future of X is back, and this season we’re investigating the future of mobility with our ...

The Thread episodes:

09.20.2021 Introducing The Future of X: Mobility Everybody loves to move. How we choose to move will determine what life looks like for the next generation. OZY’s hit podcast franchise The Future of X is back, and this season we’re investigating the future of mobility with our ...
07.26.2021 Introducing The Future of X: Farming Ever look down at your plate of food and wonder where the ingredients came from? OZY’s hit podcast franchise The Future of X is back, and this season we’re investigating The Future of Farming with our friends at Vital Farms. ...
06.10.2021 Special Series: The Election Day Massacre, Part 3 After the horrific violence of Election Day, 1920, in Ocoee, Florida, hundreds of Black families fled the town, never to return. White farmers took ownership of their lands. And the crimes of the mobs of white vigilantes - lynching, murders, ...
06.10.2021 Special Series: The Election Day Massacre, Part 2 Before the presidential election of 1920, the Klan marched through Florida to warn Black citizens not to vote. Newspapers across the state issued the same warning. When a prominent Black resident, Mose Norman, tried to cast his vote in the ...
06.10.2021 Special Series: The Election Day Massacre, Part 1 The worst incident of election violence in American history happened a century ago on Election Day, 1920 in the town of Ocoee, Florida. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
02.04.2021 Introducing: 'The Food That Built America' Sean is back with a brand new show. The Food That Built America, a new podcast from OZY and The HISTORY® Channel based on the hit documentary series from The HISTORY® Channel, tells the extraordinary true stories of industry titans ...
11.07.2020 The Election Day Massacre: 3 Part Special Series Promo A new OZY miniseries about the worst day of election violence in American history. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
08.22.2020 Introducing: 'California Love' Tupac and Dr. Dre’s “California Love” is more than just a song. To many, it is a sense of affection and loyalty to California and is the inspiration behind this show. Join host and New York Times writer Walter Thompson-Hernández ...
08.04.2020 Introducing: 'The Carlos Watson Show Podcast' In one of the most tumultuous years in generations, listen to the voices you need to hear to make sense of it all. Hosted by Carlos Watson. Episodes are available now in the iHeart Radio App or wherever you get ...
07.01.2020 REPLAY: ‘I Will Be Heard' In light of the unfolding situation and unrest across America—and the debate about the use and effectiveness of non-violent and violent means of protest—we thought it would be a good time to re-run a prior season of The Thread that ...
06.23.2020 REPLAY: The Transformation of Leo Tolstoy In light of the unfolding situation and unrest across America—and the debate about the use and effectiveness of non-violent and violent means of protest—we thought it would be a good time to re-run a prior season of The Thread that ...
06.17.2020 REPLAY: Turning Enemies Into Friends In light of the unfolding situation and unrest across America—and the debate about the use and effectiveness of non-violent and violent means of protest—we thought it would be a good time to re-run a prior season of The Thread that ...
06.09.2020 REPLAY: An Angelic Troublemaker In light of the unfolding situation and unrest across America—and the debate about the use and effectiveness of non-violent and violent means of protest—we thought it would be a good time to re-run a prior season of The Thread that ...
06.02.2020 REPLAY: The Pride and The Power In light of the unfolding situation and unrest across America—and the debate about the use and effectiveness of non-violent and violent means of protest—we thought it would be a good time to re-run a prior season of The Thread that ...
06.01.2020 Flashback: Episode 5 "High Hitler" (Sneak Peek) From the minds behind The Thread, Flashback is a series of stories of unintended consequences, disastrous turning points, dangerous ideas, crazy coincidences, unsung heroes and forgotten villains. Find out how some of the best-laid plans can go horribly wrong, or ...
06.01.2020 Flashback: Episode 4 "The Jordan Effect" (Sneak Peek) From the minds behind The Thread, Flashback is a series of stories of unintended consequences, disastrous turning points, dangerous ideas, crazy coincidences, unsung heroes and forgotten villains. Find out how some of the best-laid plans can go horribly wrong, or ...
06.01.2020 Flashback: Episode 3 "AC/DC" (Sneak Peek) From the minds behind The Thread, Flashback is a series of stories of unintended consequences, disastrous turning points, dangerous ideas, crazy coincidences, unsung heroes and forgotten villains. Find out how some of the best-laid plans can go horribly wrong, or ...
06.01.2020 Flashback: Episode 2 "Holy Smokes" (Sneak Peek) From the minds behind The Thread, Flashback is a series of stories of unintended consequences, disastrous turning points, dangerous ideas, crazy coincidences, unsung heroes and forgotten villains. Find out how some of the best-laid plans can go horribly wrong, or ...
06.01.2020 Flashback: Episode 1 "McVeigh’s Mentor" (Sneak Peek) Enjoy a preview of our first episode of Flashback. From the minds behind The Thread, Flashback is a series of stories of unintended consequences, disastrous turning points, dangerous ideas, crazy coincidences, unsung heroes and forgotten villains. Find out how some ...
06.01.2020 (Extended Trailer) Flashback: Isaac Newton’s ‘Year of Wonders’ Each of us handles social distancing in our own way. Some are doing virtual yoga classes. Others are turning to art. And then there are those truly rare birds... like Sir Issac Newton. He once turned his time in quarantine ...
06.01.2020 Introducing: Flashback Sean's back with a brand new show. Flashback is a series of stories of unintended consequences, disastrous turning points, dangerous ideas, crazy coincidences, unsung heroes and forgotten villains. Find out how some of the best-laid plans can go horribly wrong, ...
07.25.2019 S5E7: Bonus Episode: The Forgotten Giant of Women’s Basketball Nera White dominated her sport for 15 years, and even beat the Soviets at the height of the Cold War. But you’ve probably never heard of the Michael Jordan of women’s basketball. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
07.09.2019 S5E6: Successful But Not Equal Thanks to Title IX and the trailblazing women behind it, the U.S. has now dominated women’s soccer for almost three decades. The national team has won four Olympic gold medals, and now four World Cups. But, even in 2019, female ...
07.03.2019 S5E5: The Civil Rights Pioneer That History Forgot The Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray was a pioneering civil rights attorney and a co-founder of the National Organization for Women. She helped draw attention to the dual costs of racism and sexism and was instrumental in making sure that the ...
06.26.2019 S5E4: Too Strong for a Woman After learning she had not been considered for any of the teaching openings in her college department and that she came on “too strong for a woman,” Bernice “Bunny” Sandler went home and cried. Then she showed just how strong ...
06.19.2019 S5E3: These Are the Bodies More than 23 years before Brandi Chastain took off her jersey, the women of the Yale women's crew team were taking off more than theirs. In March 1976, 19 members of the Yale women's crew team stripped naked in a ...
06.12.2019 S5E2: A Team of Their Own In the summer of 1985, the first U.S. women’s national soccer team made their debut in Italy. The ragtag group, cobbled together in less than a week and with a shoestring budget, little time to practice, and hand-me-down uniforms, struggled ...
06.05.2019 S5E1: Ours to Win When Brandi Chastain ripped off her jersey after scoring the winning penalty kick in the 1999 Women's World Cup Final, her iconic celebration marked the arrival of women’s soccer, both on the global sports stage and in the public imagination. ...
06.03.2019 Season Five Trailer: Let Us Play When Brandi Chastain ripped off her jersey after scoring the winning penalty in the 1999 Women's World Cup Final, her now iconic goal celebration marked the arrival of women’s soccer, both on the global sports stage and in the public ...
04.24.2019 S4E7: Bonus Episode: A Tale of Two Killers What is it about The Catcher in the Rye that prompted two of the world’s most infamous assassination attempts? In Season 4 of The Thread we saw how the acquittal of President Ronald Reagan’s attempted assassin John Hinckley Jr. on ...
04.17.2019 S4E6: An Insane Defense? The 2015 conviction of Aurora gunman James Holmes really begins almost two centuries earlier in England, with the attempted assassination of the king. This episode explores how the insanity defense challenges lawyers, judges and juries in their pursuit of justice, ...
04.10.2019 S4E5: [FIXED] A Star-Spangled Murder ---Note from OZY-- Hi everyone, Thread team here. Thank you for listening! We fixed the error but — due to the nature of auto-download for subscribers — unfortunately, the only way to correct it on your device is to DELETE ...
04.03.2019 S4E4: America's Pet Murderer It was a grand time to be a rich New Yorker. The wealthy architect Stanford White was responsible for designing several iconic public, institutional and religious buildings in the city in a decadent beaux arts “American Renaissance” style, including the ...
03.27.2019 S4E3: “The Greatest Love Offering in the History of the World" In 1981, on his way to look for the actress Jodi Foster at Yale, where he had been stalking her, John Hinckley Jr. stopped off in Washington, D.C., and ended up shooting U.S. President Ronald Reagan in front of the ...
03.20.2019 S4E2: An Irresistible Impulse The ultimate act of revenge or the act of a woman driven so crazy by domestic violence that she could not comprehend what she was doing? It seemed crazy to raise that defense given the deliberateness of the act, the ...
03.20.2019 S4E1: Insights Into The Mind of Madness Shortly after midnight on July 20, 2012, in Aurora, Colorado, a man in dark body armor and a gas mask entered a midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises with a tactical shotgun, a high-capacity assault rifle, and a sidearm. ...
03.15.2019 Season Four Trailer: By Way of Insanity This season of The Thread, from the trial of James Hadfield in 1800 to the trial of Aurora gunman James Holmes over two centuries later, we explore six of the most high-profile murder cases in history through the lens of ...
10.29.2018 S3E7: Bonus Episode: From King to Kaepernick Would Martin Luther King, Jr. have taken a knee alongside Colin Kaepernick? Is there any precedent for the protests being waged by high school students in Parkland, Florida? This special bonus episode of The Thread examines how the impact of ...
10.15.2018 S3E6: The Soul Force In the final episode of this season, we trace the path of the revolutionary idea that spread across the globe to become the dominant form of political resistance today. We also examine the role that personal psychology, and even mental ...
10.08.2018 S3E5: ‘I Will Be Heard' William Lloyd Garrison, one of the leading figures of the early abolitionist movement in America, was a major influence on Leo Tolstoy. Garrison believed in using “moral suasion” rather than violence to achieve social change. Armed only with his newspaper ...
10.01.2018 S3E4: The Transformation of Leo Tolstoy Just before his death in 1910, the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy struck up a correspondence with a young lawyer in South Africa named Mohandas Gandhi, one that would change the young Indian’s life. Today Tolstoy is best known for penning ...
09.24.2018 S3E3: Turning Enemies Into Friends The Indian lawyer and activist Mohandas Gandhi was the first leader to take up the age-old doctrines of love and nonviolence and transform them into tools of political and social resistance. In doing so, he would inspire Bayard Rustin and ...
09.17.2018 S3E2: An Angelic Troublemaker The seasoned activist and Quaker Bayard Rustin was King’s mentor in nonviolence and the organizing genius behind the March on Washington in 1963. Many felt that Rustin was on his way to becoming the “American Gandhi.” There was just one ...
09.10.2018 S3E1: The Pride and The Power Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated after leading the most influential protest movement in American history. King revolutionized the use of nonviolent resistance to combat racial injustice in the United States, but the Alabama preacher did not ...
08.27.2018 Season Three Trailer: A History of Nonviolent Resistance Coming September 10, Season 3 of the Thread will chart how a revolutionary idea--nonviolent resistance--changed the course of history. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
04.16.2018 S2E6: From MGM to #MeToo The Hollywood casting couch existed long before Harvey Weinstein. In this final episode of the season, we explore some of Weinstein's antecedents in the industry, the scandals and crimes they covered up and how a new generation of Gloria Steinem-inspired ...
04.09.2018 S2E5: The King of Hollywood The film legend Clark Gable was a key figure at the heart of the glamour and excess of the Golden Age of Hollywood. But his rise and scandal-buried reign at the top of the movie world reveal a great deal ...
04.02.2018 S2E4: The Misfits In 1931, in the depths of the Great Depression, the Nevada legislature passed two bills: one to legalize gambling, the other to legalize a six-week waiting period for a divorce. Over the next few decades, hundreds of thousands of people, ...
03.26.2018 S2E3: The Woman Who Will Not Die Marilyn Monroe was larger than life. But beneath the soft-spoken movie star and sex goddess was another woman, one far bolder than most people realize. Monroe was an actress ahead of her time, one who was not afraid to stand ...
03.19.2018 S2E2: The Playboy Mystique Riding the wave of the sexual revolution of the 1950s and 1960s, Hugh Hefner created a male fantasy world in the pages of his Playboy magazine, one that would have lasting consequences for American life and culture. Behind closed doors, ...

Older episodes

The Thread

What's The Thread about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The Thread episodes:

Introducing The Future of X: Mobility

Introducing The Future of X: Farming

Special Series: The Election Day Massacre, Part 3

Special Series: The Election Day Massacre, Part 2

Special Series: The Election Day Massacre, Part 1

Introducing: 'The Food That Built America'

The Election Day Massacre: 3 Part Special Series Promo

Introducing: 'California Love'

Introducing: 'The Carlos Watson Show Podcast'

REPLAY: ‘I Will Be Heard'

REPLAY: The Transformation of Leo Tolstoy

REPLAY: Turning Enemies Into Friends

REPLAY: An Angelic Troublemaker

REPLAY: The Pride and The Power

Flashback: Episode 5 "High Hitler" (Sneak Peek)

Flashback: Episode 4 "The Jordan Effect" (Sneak Peek)

Flashback: Episode 3 "AC/DC" (Sneak Peek)

Flashback: Episode 2 "Holy Smokes" (Sneak Peek)

Flashback: Episode 1 "McVeigh’s Mentor" (Sneak Peek)

(Extended Trailer) Flashback: Isaac Newton’s ‘Year of Wonders’

Introducing: Flashback

S5E7: Bonus Episode: The Forgotten Giant of Women’s Basketball

S5E6: Successful But Not Equal

S5E5: The Civil Rights Pioneer That History Forgot

S5E4: Too Strong for a Woman

S5E3: These Are the Bodies

S5E2: A Team of Their Own

S5E1: Ours to Win

Season Five Trailer: Let Us Play

S4E7: Bonus Episode: A Tale of Two Killers

S4E6: An Insane Defense?

S4E5: [FIXED] A Star-Spangled Murder

S4E4: America's Pet Murderer

S4E3: “The Greatest Love Offering in the History of the World"

S4E2: An Irresistible Impulse

S4E1: Insights Into The Mind of Madness

Season Four Trailer: By Way of Insanity

S3E7: Bonus Episode: From King to Kaepernick

S3E6: The Soul Force

S3E5: ‘I Will Be Heard'

S3E4: The Transformation of Leo Tolstoy

S3E3: Turning Enemies Into Friends

S3E2: An Angelic Troublemaker

S3E1: The Pride and The Power

Season Three Trailer: A History of Nonviolent Resistance

S2E6: From MGM to #MeToo

S2E5: The King of Hollywood

S2E4: The Misfits

S2E3: The Woman Who Will Not Die

S2E2: The Playboy Mystique

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