HISTORY This Week

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How LEGO Rebuilt the Toy Itself Oct 13, 2025

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October, 1955. In living rooms across Denmark, children tear open the box of a brand-new toy: the LEGO System in Play. Inside are plastic bricks, a printed playmat of roads, little houses and trees — everything in perfect scale. As they build, something new is taking shape.

It looks simple, but it’s a radical idea — every piece connects, no matter when or where it’s made. It’s more than a toy — it’s a system. That quiet innovation will turn a small family workshop into one of the most successful companies in the world.

How did a small-town Danish carpenter launch a plastic toy empire? And how did LEGO re-envision what a toy can be?

Special thanks to Kristian Reimer Hauge, corporate historian at the LEGO Idea House; Daniel Konstanski, historian for Blocks Magazine and author of The Secret Life of LEGO® Bricks: The Story of a Design Icon; and Chris Byrne, researcher, historian, and “The Toy Guy.”

We also want to thank Dana Goldsmith, Andreas Friis, and Roberta Cardazzo.

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Stalin’s War on Genetics Oct 06, 2025

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October 11, 1955. Nearly three hundred of the Soviet Union’s top scientists sign a secret letter demanding the removal of one man: Trofim Lysenko. For decades, Lysenko had Joseph Stalin’s ear, ruling Soviet biology with an iron fist—banning genetics, rewriting textbooks, and sending dissenting scientists to prison or worse.

How did a peasant-turned-agronomist convince Stalin that wheat could turn into rye, and that ideology mattered more than evidence? And when politics replace science, what—and who—gets destroyed?

Special thanks to William deJong-Lambert, author of The Cold War Politics of Genetic Research: An Introduction to the Lysenko Affair; and Nikolai Krementsov, author of Stalinist Science.

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The Bone Wars Sep 29, 2025

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October 4, 1915. President Woodrow Wilson designates Dinosaur National Monument as a national historic site. That’s a big deal, right? There must’ve been a grand ribbon-cutting ceremony, maybe even a parade. But no. In 1915, nobody really cares about dinosaurs. But that is all about to change. And when it does, it is largely because of two paleontologists. Two guys who started off as best friends … until their growing obsession with unearthing and cataloging dinosaur bones would turn them into rivals. Then enemies. How did the competition between a pair of paleontologists lead to unprecedented dinosaur discoveries? And how did their rivalry unhinge them both?

Special thanks to guest Dr. Hans Sues, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

** This episode originally aired October 3, 2022.

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When Nintendo (and Mario) Rescued Video Games Sep 22, 2025

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September 27, 1986. You’re a kid in the mid-80s. You get home from school, flip on the TV, and see something strange: a commercial where a giant egg hatches behind a family’s console, revealing a toy robot. His name is R.O.B. — the Robotic Operating Buddy — but he's just an accessory. The real product: Nintendo.

Today, the Nintendo Entertainment System is launching nationwide. Just a few years earlier, the U.S. video game market had collapsed under the weight of bad games and too many consoles. But Nintendo had a plan — to sell Americans on something that didn’t look like a video game at all.

With a plastic robot, a disguised gray box, and a plumber named Mario, how did Nintendo manage to sneak video games back into living rooms—and rescue a dying industry?

Special thanks to Jeremy Parish, media curator at Limited Run Games, producer of NES Works, and co-host of the Retronauts podcast.

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The First Lady Who Tamed the Bull Moose Sep 15, 2025

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September 14, 1901. Midnight in the Adirondacks. A pounding knock at the door jolts Theodore and Edith Roosevelt awake. William McKinley is dead. Hours later, Theodore will be sworn in as the youngest president in U.S. history. But Edith barely flinches—her diary that day notes her children’s sniffles before her husband’s rise to power.

Who was this woman who grew up alongside Theodore, helped shape his presidency, reinvented the role of First Lady, and yet tried to erase her own story from the record?

Special thanks to Kathleen Dalton, author of Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life; and Edward O’Keefe, author of The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt: The Women Who Created a President. O'Keefe is also the CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, set to open next 4th of July.

Artwork: Studio portrait of Edith and Theodore Roosevelt seated together, by Walter Scott Shinn, 1916.

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Presenting: The C-Word Sep 11, 2025

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With every episode, Lena Dunham and Alissa Bennett take you on a historical deep dive into the life of a woman society dismissed by calling her mad, sad, or just plain bad: Lindsay Lohan, Judy Garland, Winona Ryder, Mariah Carey, Lil Kim and many more. Join them for a rich, hilarious, and heartbreaking look into exactly what it means when we call a woman “crazy.”

The C-Word was originally published behind a paywall from 2019 - 2022. This is the first time it’s being released to all major podcast platforms.

An Astronomer Hunts a KGB Hacker Sep 08, 2025

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September 10, 1986. It’s just before 8am when Cliff Stoll’s pager jolts him awake. A computer at Lawrence Berkeley Lab has flagged a problem: a tiny 75-cent accounting error. But when Stoll rushes to his office, he realizes this isn’t about missing spare change. Someone has slipped into the lab’s network, tunneling thousands of miles away into U.S. military computers.

Cliff isn’t a spycatcher. He’s an astronomer. And yet, from this moment on, he’ll spend months chasing a hacker who may be working for the KGB.

How did spare change uncover a spy ring? And why did this case mark the end of innocence on the Internet?

Special thanks to Cliff Stoll, astronomer, teacher, and author of The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage; and J.J. Widener, cybersecurity expert currently serving as Director of Cybersecurity Architecture at Kimberly-Clark.

Artwork: Cliff Stoll promo image

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Shaving Russia Sep 01, 2025

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Sept 5, 1698. Tsar Peter the Great of Russia returns home from a year-long European tour. When noblemen, religious figures, and friends gather to welcome him home, Peter pulls out a straight razor, holds it to their throats, and…forcibly shaves their beards. This event will go down in history as a first step toward Russian geopolitical power. Before Peter’s reign, Russia was an isolated nation that was largely ignored by the rest of the world.

How did Peter the Great almost single-handedly drag Russia onto the world stage? And how did his great beard-shaving endeavor lead to the Russia we know today?

Special thanks to our guest, Lynne Hartnett, Ph.D., Professor of History, Villanova University, and author of Understanding Russia: A Cultural History.

Artwork: Russian political cartoon depicting Peter the Great as a barber, ca. 18th century

** This episode originally aired August 31, 2020.

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José Cuervo Rebuilds a Tequila Empire Aug 25, 2025

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August 28, 1920. In the town of Tequila, fireworks burst overhead as people celebrate Mexico’s independence. Then… gunshots. Malachías Cuervo, heir to the famous tequila dynasty, has just reignited a bitter feud with his family’s rivals, the Sauzas.

For decades, his brother José Cuervo fought to rebuild the family business through drought, revolution, and political upheaval—turning a struggling operation into an empire. His tactfulness allowed Cuervo to survive as one of the most popular tequila brands in the world today.

How is José Cuervo able to navigate the Mexican Revolution, and a cutthroat industry? And what does his life reveal about the history of his country?

Special thanks to Ted Genoways, author of Tequila Wars: José Cuervo and the Bloody Struggle for the Spirit of Mexico.

Artwork: José Cuervo, ca. 1914 (colorized)

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The True Winnie-the-Pooh Aug 21, 2025

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August 24, 1914. A train pulls up to the lumber town of White River, Ontario, carrying a regiment of Canadian troops on board. On the tracks where they disembark is a small black bear cub. An army veterinarian decides to buy the bear and name her Winnipeg—Winnie for short—after the town where he's been living.

When the soldiers are deployed to the European front, Winnie is left at the London Zoo, where a child named Christopher Robin Milne will meet her. He'll later rename his own teddy bear after her: Winnie-the-Pooh.

How did a real-life boy and a real-life bear inspire some of the world's most famous literary characters? And what impact did these stories ultimately have on the people who helped bring them to life?

Special thanks to Ann Thwaite, whose book about Milne and Winnie-the-Pooh is titled Goodbye Christopher Robin: A.A. Milne and the Making of Winnie-the-Pooh.

Artwork: From "Christopher Robin Leads an Expedition to the North Pole" by A.A. Milne, 1926. Illustration by E.H. Shepard. (Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum)

** This episode originally aired August 23, 2021.

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