That's History, Babe!

BOOM! That was a sound that was NOT heard in the streets of London on the evening of November 5, 1605. BUT, had a gaggle of thirteen Catholic dissidents had it their way, that night would’ve seen the Houses of Parliament, King James, his family, Lords, Bishops, and Commons, all blown to smithereens! But what was their motivation? Why did they think the destruction of the King’s government would do...

We’re hearing strange noises…and no it’s not the sound of our own voices. This week on the pod, we continue our stint in the supernatural with a closer look at the world of spiritualism. Learn how people have tried to commune with ghosts over the ages and explore the social and religious movement that the belief in ghosts spawned in the America of the 1840s and 50s. Bet you didn’t know that ghosts...

Get ready for a spooky scary kickoff to the Halloween season here on THB. We’ve got vampires, tuberculosis, and most terrifyingly of all, the state of Rhode Island!! This week, we’re taking it back to the 1890s to explore the New England Vampire Panic, the story of when families ravaged by the spread of TB looked to a chilling legend from the Old World for explanations and protection, leading to s...

In the second installment of our two-part series on the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, things go a little off the rails. Friends record each other’s phone calls, a guy named Starr writes a 1,000 page smut book, the First Lady serves c*nt before a grand jury, and the President of the United States is impeached for only the second time in American history. Trust us…it’s a doozy. Tangents include Abe’s ne...

In part one of a two part special, we dig deep into one of the seediest political scandals in American history. A president, an intern, and a nosy secretary with an axe to grind plus a cast of other characters collide against a backdrop of totally 90s irreverence. We’re talking, of course, about THE LEWINSKY SCANDAL. Join us for part one, as we explore the rise of Bill Clinton, his history with wo...

The labor pains are radiating through the mic this week on the pod as we explore the story of Nadya Suleman, aka the Octomom; a California woman who in 2009 gave birth to EIGHT BABIES at once. We explore Nadya’s life and origins, the cultural context of her record-breaking birth experience, as well as the misogyny, racism, and classism present across so much of the coverage of Nadya’s story. Tange...

It’s a regular harem in here this week on the pod as we explore the life and legacy of one of the most formidable leaders in European history: Suleiman the Magnificent. Hear about the rise of the Ottoman Empire, Suleiman’s upending of the European political order, and the extraordinary influence of Suleiman’s wife Hurrem, a woman who rose from enslavement to the heights of power in the largest emp...

If beauty is pain, and pain is gain, then beauty is gain (thank you, transitive property). On this week’s ep, we go under the knife for a brief history of plastic surgery, exploring how changing or repairing appearances has been a tentpole of medical practice across the centuries. But how did these procedures develop? What is the social and psychological importance of appearance? And how does Kris...

This week on the pod, discover a presidential assassination that history forgot! Join us as we discuss the life and death of William McKinley, one of several cornfed presidents from Ohio. We explore McKinley’s presidency, his personal life and beliefs, and how he met his end at the hands of a loner son of immigrants disillusioned with capitalism. Beneath the surface of the McKinley assassination,...

She may not have been a coal miner’s daughter, but Mary Harris Jones, aka “Mother Jones”, was a ‘coal miner’s angel’. Clamber into the coal cart with us as we learn how an old lady who loved swearing helped miners and their families battle it out in some of America’s bloodiest labor disputes. Hear how Mother Jones came back from not one, but two, life-altering tragedies to become a champion of the...

DING DING DING. Choose your fighter!! Will it be: a fifteen year old noblewoman you’ve never heard of OR a thirty-five year old princess who loves Spain and the Pope! Nine Days. One crown. Who will win??? Come with us this week as we explore early modern England’s greatest royal SMACKDOWN, the battle for the throne duked out between Lady Jane Grey and Princess Mary Tudor. Learn how these two daunt...

A tidal wave hits your house. You’re hurt. You’re scared. You’re covered in molasses. An unimaginable situation for most of us. But for the residents of Boston’s North End on January 15, 1919, it was all too real! This week, we get stuck in the sticky icky story of one of the most bizarre disasters in American urban history: the Great Molasses Flood of 1919. Come with us as we explore how corporat...

This week, we’re exploring the seedy world of televangelism, a religious media phenomenon that swept onto the airwaves in 20th century America. Primped-up preachers begging their factory worker followers for money they don’t have, in exchange of course for eternal salvation, is just one of the milder outrages in this episode rife with scandal, political intrigue, and bizarre personalities. But how...

This week, we take it back a few millennia to the time of Ancient Greece, exploring the super gay myths and legends used to explain and sanctify the sexual behaviors of the Greeks themselves. But how did Greek myths define sexuality? How different were Greek ideas of sexual identity from our own? What do we get wrong when we project our contemporary labels onto people in antiquity? And can a coupl...

Could you and 60,000 of your closest friends beat your landlord in open warfare? If you’re an English peasant in the summer of 1381, then the answer is yes. This week, we explore one of the most seismic uprisings in the history of Medieval Europe, the Peasants’ Revolt! Learn how a ragtag group of farmers sacked London, killed a bunch of important people, and provided revolutionary inspiration for...

In a delayed salute to America’s 250th, we take a look this week at the couple whose certified VILLAINY nearly ended the Revolution and the nation itself: Benedict and Peggy Arnold. Learn about Benedict’s early heroics, Peggy’s sassy bratty kind-of-iconic upbringing, the espionage and wheeling and dealing that led to Benedict’s betrayal of the American cause and defection to the British, and specu...

This week on the pod, the brilliant buxom scholaress Madison Albertson returns to teach us a thing or two about “living history”, the school of thought behind such storied American museums as Colonial Williamsburg, Plimoth Patuxet, and many others. What do these places teach us about history that books alone don’t? Where did the idea for them come from? How do they shape how we remember our past?...

In part two of our series on mother-daughter showbiz legends Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli, we explore how Liza overcame grief and addiction, emerged from her mother's shadow as a fully formed artist, and defended the rights of the LGBTQ community through a career that has spanned seven decades! Tangents include whether we’d have sex with a clone of ourselves, a vaccine for lesbianism, and the wo...

We’re not saying they’re bigger than Jesus, but we’re not not saying that either. In our first ever two-part series, Abe and Jared examine the lives of a mother-daughter duo whose names are synonymous with “gay icon”: showbiz legends Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli. In part one, Jared pulls us on a pepped up prance down the Yellow Brick Road to explore Judy’s impact on film and music as well as her...

Did a corrupted video file ruin an hour of footage from this episode? Yes. Would we ever let that stop us? No. In the 80s and 90s, a pack of queer party animals burst into NYC’s backrooms, bringing a haze of gritty glamour, fashion, drugs, and dance wherever they went. They were the Club Kids; RuPaul, Richie Rich, Amanda LePore, Waltpaper, just to name a few. Join us as we dive into the club kids’...

POV: you’re at the sickest rave of your life. Candles flickering. Incense burning. Gregorians chanting. The place: Vatican City. The year: 1492. The man behind it all: Pope Alexander VI aka Rodrigo Borgia. This week, we return to a place of pope as we tell the story of the most ruthless family in papal history. Hear about the depravity and delusion of the entire Borgia clan in an episode rife with...

“Fake it 'til you make it”, right? Well Bernie Madoff faked it so hard he was sentenced to 150 years in prison! Come with us on a journey through the worst financial crime in US history (that we know of), the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme, where one man with a crippling fear of failure scammed thousands of people out of a sickening amount of money (we’re talking tens of billions, girl.) Tangents incl...

Ever wonder why your Republican uncle suddenly cares so much about monuments? In this episode, Jared, Abe, & special guest Madison Albertson (scholar, lesbian, and friend of the pod) explore the story of "the Lost Cause", a nationalist myth originating in the post civil-war South that paints the Confederate movement as moral, just, and TOTALLY NOT about slavery. Follow along as we dive into th...

It’s not enough to be a deadbeat dad if you want to be an artist. You also have to be obsessed with the sea. This week, we take center stage and explore the life of storied American playwright Eugene O’Neill. Digging into his methods, inspirations, artistry, horrible family life, and dismal performance as a husband and father, we discover the visionary voice of this brooding genius, and learn that...

Remember: just because you sit on the throne of Saint Peter doesn’t mean you can’t have a pet elephant or turn your palace into a brothel. This week, Jared and Abe plumb the depths of medieval history to explore the lurid, lascivious reigns of the un-holy men who led the Catholic Church. Yes, we’re talking about some BAD POPES. Tangents include but are not limited to Polish face, the snail-like Lo...