What'sHerName

Her story was long consigned to legend and fantasy. An Irish pirate queen who commanded a fleet of ships from Spain to Scotland…in the 1500s?! Not likely. But in the 1990s, historian Anne Chambers found a trove of documents in a dusty old chest at Westport House, and the tales of Grace O’Malley were proven to be marvelously, fantastically, true. Join Katie on location in Ireland for a swashbuckling tale like no other!

Music featured in this episode included Kevin MacLeod, Doug Maxwell, David Lim, Half Pelican, and Fiddlesticks.

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When the mothers of Love Canal learned that their neighborhood was built on a chemical dump, they began the fight of their lives. First for information, and then to escape their own homes. But without biologist Beverly Paigen - who put her reputation, her career, and maybe even her own safety on the line - it would never have happened.

Discover this remarkable and infuriating story with returning guest Keith O'Brien, New York Times bestselling author of author of Paradise Falls.

Music featured in this episode by Kevin MacLeod, Aaron Kenny, TrackTribe, Mini Vandals, Asher Fulero, Myuu, and Doug Maxwell.



Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We often hear about history’s various Golden Ages, but what about when good times were over? Maria van Nispen, a bricklayer’s daughter, came of age during the Dutch “Disaster Year,” 1672. Justice, stability, even the Republic itself seemed lost. If you can’t change the world, change yourself…

Travel with Katie to Leiden archives to unearth this remarkable tale with guest Susan Suer.

Music featured in this episode includes Jimena Contreras, Doug Maxwell, Sir Cubworth, Emmit Fenn, Wahneta Meixsell and Hanu Dixit.

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Lusia Harris convinced her parents to let her try out for High School basketball, she never could've anticipated she'd end up scoring the first basket in Olympic Women’s Basketball history. Facing unprecedented hurdles at every step of her career, she broke records, made history, and changed women’s sports forever... and that’s just the beginning!

Olivia interviews guest Andrew Maraniss, author of Inaugural Ballers: The True Story of the First Us Women's Olympic Basketball Team (a 2002 Book of the Year by Kirkus. Andrew Maraniss is a New York Times bestselling author of sports and social justice nonfiction for teens and adults. His other books include Strong Inside: Perry Wallace and the Collision of Race and Sports in the South (winner of the RFK Book Awards Special Recognition Prize and the Lillian Smith Book Award), Games of Deception (winner of the Sydney Taylor Honor Award), and Singled Out (named one of Esquire Magazine's "Top 100 Baseball Books Ever Written"). Andrew is director of special projects at the Vanderbilt University Athletic Department and lives in Nashville. Follow him on Twitter @trublu24.

Music featured in this episode by Chris Haugen, Wayne Jones, King Canyon, Unicorn Heads, Kevin MacLeod, Tower of Light, and An Jone.

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The darkest time of year inspires us all to reflect on the meaning and power of Home. Experience Christmas in a grand country house through the eyes of an Edwardian child in this charming reading of Phyllis Elinor Sandeman’s memoir, A Country House Christmas performed by returning What'sHerName favorite Jay Stelling.

Guest Jay Stelling is an illustrator, doll maker and storyteller from North Yorkshire, England, and an assistant at Mother Shipton’s Cave. She graduated in 2018 from Leeds Arts University where she received a First in BA(hons) Illustration. You can often find her making tiny dolls in her little attic studio with her partner and their two fluffy cats. Jay is fascinated by fairies and folklore, with most of her work centred around charming character and children’s stories, such as fairy tales and Yorkshire legends. Jay’s first children’s book Whistle-Stop Thistle is a story about recycling and reusing scrap materials. You can purchase her dolls, books, and more on her website.

Music for this episode provided by: Fiddlesticks, Nate Blaze, Random Canadian, Brian Bolger, Sir Cubworth, Aaron Kenny, and Esther Abrami. We are especially grateful for this exclusive new recording of “Christians Awake," arranged and performed especially for us by the wonderful Kira Zeeman Rugen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

She always wanted to make it to Broadway. Instead she became Hollywood’s most iconic cowgirl, roping and riding (and most importantly – singing!) her way into the hearts of millions of fans. So when your life is one giant triumph – but not the triumph you aimed for – what do you do? Olivia interviews Theresa Kaminski, author of the wonderful new biography Queen of the West: The Life and Times of Dale Evans.

Music featured in this episode included: Aaron Kenny, Jesse Gallagher, Zacharaiah Hickman, Chris Haugen, E's Jammy Jams, Dan Leibowitz, and selections from songs by Roy Rogers and Dale Evans used by Educational Fair Use License.

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

St. Brigid tended an eternal flame in Kildare, Ireland, while caring for people, animals, and the earth. And though she lived 1500 years ago, her story is seeing a huge resurgence in the 21st century.

Come on location with Katie to the Solas Bhride Centre in Kildare to meet Brigidine nun, Sister Rita Minehan. We promise a balm for your weary soul!

_________________________

We're going back to Kildare for St. Brigid's Day 2026 and YOU'RE INVITED!

Music featured in this episode included: “Karitas” by Maria Jonas; and “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” “Love is Little,” and “Poor Wayfaring Stranger” by Fiddlesticks.

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What would it look like to live a life without fear? Mary Seacole’s story may hold the answer! She spent her life rushing from one catastrophe to the next, doing anything she could to ease human suffering – without a single thought for her own safety. From disease-infested Panamanian goldmines to the horrific battlefield hospitals of Crimea – Mary spent her life being “relentlessly useful” …but how on earth did she do it?

Olivia interviews historian Helen Rappaport, author of the fascinating new book In Search of Mary Seacole. Thank you to Penguin Audio for allowing us to use selections from their delightful audiobook production of Mary’s memoir, The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands, which was performed by Yasmin Mwanza. You can also find the full text of Mary’s memoir online here.

Guest Helen Rappaport is the author of In Search of Mary Seacole, The Romanov Sisters, The Last Days of the Romanovs, and many other critically acclaimed titles. She has been a full-time writer for more than twenty-three years, and in 2003 discovered and purchased an 1869 portrait of Mary Seacole that now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery, sparking a long investigation into Seacole’s life and career.

Music featured in this episode was provided by Minivandal, The Tides, Quincas Moreira, Aaron Kenny, the USMC Band, and Jeff Cuno.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The most prolific poisoner of all time couldn’t possibly have been a woman. Right??! Goeie Mie, “Good Maria,” was such a kindly nurse that desperate folks in 19th-century Leiden called her when they were sick, knowing she’d come even if they couldn’t pay. But they got worse, and worse, and usually died in misery.

Goeie Mie had life insurance on all of them.

Travel on location to Leiden, The Netherlands with Katie in this spooky Halloween Special!

___________________

Goeie Mie Gin has branched out to more drinks is now called True Tales Distillery. Check out THE BUTTERFLY IN THE SUN for another episode recorded with Josine Heijnen about notorious spy Mata Hari!

Music featured in this episode by Esther Abrami, Aaron Kenny, Román Cano, Kevin MacLeod, and Camille Saint-Saens.

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The richest, most famous person you’ve never heard of is Harriot Mellon. An icon of the stage in Regency England, she rose from abject poverty and abuse to become the wealthiest woman in the country. More surprising still: she was the sweetest, most wholesome soul you’ll ever meet.

Guest Dr Ian Mortimer is the author of over twenty books on the history of England, which have sold more than a million copies and been translated into fifteen languages. He’s been described by The Times as ‘the most remarkable medieval historian of our time,’ and is best known as the author of the four Time Traveller’s Guides – to Medieval England (2008), Elizabethan England (2012), Restoration Britain (2017) and Regency Britain (2020). He is currently the president of the Moretonhampstead History Society and vice president of the Mortimer History Society. He lives in Dartmoor (Devon), with his wife Sophie and enjoys visiting historical sites and museums, studying local history, playing guitars, walking in the country and running.

Music featured in this episode was provided by Asher Fulero, Sir Cubworth, Esther Abrami, Joel Cummins, Wayne Jones, and Emmit Fenn.

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices