Documents That Changed the World

The secret decoding of a secret message: how Britain found out that Germany wanted Mexico to attack America to keep them out of World War I, and the spectacular backfire that resulted (researched/produced by Jill Fenno)

The black box that reveals, not conceals: how flight recorders were developed, how they work, how they're used, what happens to the information, and how they're related to the 8-track tape

That poster--isn't what you think. She's not Rosie the Riveter, and the lives she's led, as, feminist icon, symbol of wartime solidarity, cultural nostalgia touchstone, are almost all entirely wrong

Seward's Folly, enabled by a single piece of paper exchanged for $7.2 million, adding vast new territories to the US, and telling us about how money moves, and how people feel about how that's changing (researched/produced/co-written by Andrew Kyrios)

486 frames, likely the most scrutinized film of all time, dissected, debated, debunked, and the harbinger of things to come as events are increasingly documented and shared

Undoubtedly one of the great document stories of all time, which help us to think about permanence, durability, and what can happen when media outlast messages

Are you crazy? Maybe yes, maybe no, but either way, this book lays out what mental disorders are, and aren't, and reinforce the power that we give names of all kinds

Joseph Smith: led to long-buried golden tablets revealing lost truths...or the most successful humbug even known? Words, faith, a backstory that defies logic, and the power of belief

A two page letter from a great mind to a great leader about a great subject matter, the beginning of the Atomic Age and one of the oldest forms of writing

A shadowy skeletal hand gives us the first good look inside ourselves, and we've not been the same since

If you don't say it out loud, it doesn't work--magic spells, wedding ceremonies, and how to stop a riot, 18th Century style

The origin of standardized tests, the quantification of intelligence, and measuring and numbering of us all (written/researched/produced/recorded by Eli Gander-Rood)

How an icon gets conceived, how ideas get recorded, the value of cocktail napkins (real and virtual), and the story of how stories get started

Moving on gracefully (or not), the history of papal resignations, and why it helps to have it all written down

What makes sports sports, why the rules matter, how football got the way it is, and the basis of creativity

You must remember this: Casablanca, passports, exit visas, fictional documents, Rick, Ilsa, Sam's piano and the words that move us

The priest, the pamphlet, the Revolution, and lightning in a bottle, all in the right place at the right time

Bringing order to chaos, one meeting at a time

Fraud, plagiarism, hate, and the power of belief no matter what

Love, loss, and the stories a quilt can tell

Watergate, the Nixon White House, and the benefits of unsolved mysteries

What Gutenberg printed first, the unexpected effects all his works had, and how it's all about to happen again

The simple genius that makes the Internet happen

Where exactly is the Constitution? Chances are, what you think...is wrong