Aleksandra Samusenko commanded a unit of Soviet tanks through some of the most brutal battles in human history. The Soviet Union never told her story. But an American paratrooper who'd escaped a Nazi POW camp never forgot her. In the final months of World War II, he joined her unit, and together they made the final push to Berlin.

Guest Hayley Noble shares the story of THE TANK COMMANDER Aleksandra Samusenko.

Haley Noble's website on Soviet Women in Combat is HERE, with social media links HERE.

Soviet WWII Music used in this episode can be found HERE. The Russian State History page on Samusenko (with lots of photos and documents) is HERE.

Additional music was composed by Exra Lipp, Amulets, Jimena Contreras, Wayne Jones, Esther Abrami, and Quincas Moreira.

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For decades, her remarkable achievements as United States First Lady have been overshadowed by her husband's big mistakes. Returning guest Heath Hardage Lee is back to help change that! Olivia introduces us to the remarkable and unfairly forgotten Pat Nixon.

Music in this episode provided by The Westerlies, Aaron Kenny, Josh Lippi and the Overtimers, The Mini Vandals, Cooper Cannell, Doug Maxwell, Quincas Moereira, and the US Marine Corps Band.

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She was one of the key figures of Irish Independence, known in her lifetime as The Irish Joan of Arc. But somehow, history only remembers her as the woman who wouldn't marry WB Yeats. More recently, a BBC headline called her "Ireland's heroine who had sex in her baby's tomb." Both those things are true, but... her real story is even more bonkers - and of course, so much more amazing.

Join us with guest Orna Ross to put Maud Gonne back in her rightful place, among the founders of modern Ireland.

Join the Kickstarter Campaign for a special edition of A Life Before benefitting the movement to memorialize Maud Gonne in Dublin!

Music in this episode was generously shared by Andy Reiner and Jon Sousa from their album Canyon Sunrise. Plus music from E's Jammy Jams, Jesse Gallagher, Doug Maxwell, Wayne Jones, Kevin MacLeod, and Audionautix.

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Artemisia Gentileschi was one of the most famed and respected painters in 17th century Europe, but after she died, her story - and many of her works - were lost, and over the years, Artemisia has become better known for what was done to her than for what she did. Award-winning artist Lindsay Huss helps us try to change that.

(Content warning: discussions of physical and sexual violence)

Music for this episode provided by Marc Nelson, Advent Chamber Orchestra, Catrin Finch, John Harrison, and the Wichita State University Chamber Players

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To launch our new book, What's Her Name, A History of the World in 80 Lost Women, former episode guests convene in London from all over the world for a Night of Celebration! In rapid-fire succession, brilliant 3-minute performances of poetry, song, story and dance take us chronologically through the history of the world. The magic is punctuated throughout with short readings by Katie and Olivia from the new book. The packed house at the Vagina Museum, with the most enthusiastic audience, made for a heartwarming night we'll never forget!

Introduction and reading by GABBY NEMETH, Senior Editor at Michael O’Mara Books

Musician and composer SAM HENDERSON (our little brother!) performing the world's oldest written song, the Seikolos Epitaph

Chemist and poet KIRK STAPLEY, reading his poem "Naia"

SISTER RITA MINEHAN, Brigidine Sister and founding member of the Solas Bhríde Centre, reading St. Brigid's Lake of Beer Prayer

GABO CEMÉ, founder of Eco Maya Travel and Wild Animal Sanctuary, telling the story of Zazil-Ha

Westminster Abbey's AARON PATERSON, reading the 17th century petitions and receipts of Elizabeth Gregory, Head Carpenter of the Abbey

Award-winning Pakistani singer-songwriter and Bollywood music director ZEB BANGASH performing Roshe, a love poem by 16th century Persian mystic Habba Khatun

Professor WALEED ZIAD of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, telling the story of 19th century Sufi mystic Dadi Mithan

IAN MORTIMER, bestselling author of more than twenty books on the history of England, reflects on the life of Harriot Mellon

Composer JESSICA WADLEY performing her original song "Mount Florence" about Yosemite adventurer Florence Hutchings

Dancer and choreographer JANET COLLARD performing her interpretation of 1920s cabaret dancer Valeska Gert's infamous "prostitute dance," Canaille.

KIP WILSON reading from her novel-in-verse One Last Shot, about Spanish Civil War photojournalist Gerda Taro

NIKKI DRUCE, host of the Macabre London podcast, recreates the final seance of Helen Duncan, Britain's last convicted witch

Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter NEYLA PEKAREK, formerly of The Lumineers, performs "I Want Everything" from her 2022 musical Rattlesnake Kate

SOPHIE POLDERMANS, author of Seducing and Killing Nazis, telling the story of Truus and Freddie Oversteegen and Hannie Schaft

Composer and musician Erica Glenn, Director of Choral Activities at BYU - Hawaii, performing an Art Song by Ukranian composer Stefania Turkevych

Historian PAM TOLER tells the story of anti-fascist war correspondent Sigrid Schultz, from her forthcoming book The Dragon from Chicago

Art Historian MONICA WALKER, Events Manager at the Old Operating Theater Museum, performs a bellydance in honor of Samia Gamal of Egypt

Artist, designer, and illustrator ELLA KASPEROWICZ, illustrator of our second book A Stinky History of Toilets, whose whimsical illustrations brighten the future of the world

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The story goes that the American Civil Rights movement started when Rosa Parks refused to leave her bus seat in 1955. But 89 years before that, Ellen Garrison refused to leave the waiting room at a Baltimore train station. When she was thrown out, she sued, in one of the first court cases to test African American civil rights. Criss-crossing America to teach former slaves wherever needed, Ellen Garrison devoted her life to lifting those who had been held down.

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From arriving at the port of Constantinople as a teenage bride to the heir to the Byzantine Throne, to exiling - and blinding - her own son, Constantine IV, to boldly crowning herself the first Empress Regnant of the Byzantine Empire, Irene of Athens' life was a wildly unpredictable ride through one of the most tumultuous and fascinating periods of medieval history.

Olivia interviews archaeologist and historian Judith Herrin, author of Women in Purple: Rulers of Medieval Byzantium and Unrivalled Influence: Women and Empire in Byzantium.

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A charming Indonesian orphan danced her way to fame and fortune... except literally everything about Mata Hari was a lie. She said she wanted to live like a butterfly in the sun. So could she really have been guilty of espionage?

Katie takes us to Leiden to marvel at the incredible life of Mata Hari.

Music featured in this episode provided by Doug Maxwell, Jesse Gallagher, Patrick Patrikios, Amulets, Offenbach, Jimena Contreras, BizBaz Studio, Wayne Jones, Quincas Moreira, ELPHNT and E’s Jammy Jams.

Want to help us “make history”? Become a Patron or Donate here!

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When Jewish mathematician Pepi Mehlberg was offered a new identity as Countess Janina Suchodolska in Nazi-occupied Poland, she took that chance and used it - to join the underground resistance, feed thousands of Nazi prisoners every week, and eventually rescue over 10,000 Poles from Majdanek concentration camp. And she was just getting started.

Our guests are Elizabeth White and Joanna Sliwa, authors of the new book The Counterfeit Countess: The Jewish Woman Who Rescued Thousands of Poles During the Holocaust.

Music featured in this episode provided by: Trialogo, Amanda Setlik Wilson, Kevin MacLeod, Esther Abrami, Myuu, Nico deNapoli, E's Jammy Jams, Adam Aston and Michael Levy.

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In 1867, a ship bound for California with 400 Chinese passengers signaled distress as it drifted in the Pacific Ocean. The ship's captain was a woman, and her mutinous crew had refused to sail the ship even though they were running out of water. How did Captain Hannah Masury Howe come to be in such a predicament, and how could she possibly save herself and the ship?

Our guest is NYT bestselling author Katherine Howe, in this real-life high seas adventure.

Music featured in this episode by provided by: Violeta del Carmen Parra Sandoval, Jeff Cuno, Elphnt, Emmit Fenn, Jesse Gallagher, Chris Haugen, Kevin MacLeod and Doug Maxwell.

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