Revisionist History: The Staten Island Problem

Today, another episode from the Revisionist History Live universe. It's an old fashioned lecture, recorded at the New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University. Malcolm talks about a totally real thing he made up—a taxonomy of the modern mystery story—with a focus on murder mysteries and police procedurals. From Dragnet, to John Grisham, to Sherlock Holmes, it's all in there...and all connected t...

Malcolm talks with Ben Naddaff-Hafrey, host of The Last Archive , about the forgotten origins of a major social science, the missing chapter in Ella Fitzgerald’s life, and what it all has to do with the prison just down the street from Malcolm’s office. Listen, and check out the brand new season from Pushkin’s The Last Archive . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This season, Malcolm's covered a lot of the problems in higher education. Today on the show: A solution. A big idea being tested at a little school on the shores of Lake Michigan. A school called Hope College, believe it or not, with an idea so crazy it just might work. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Maria Konnikova, Revisionist History’s ombudsman—who's also an author, psychologist and professional poker player—is back for another round. This time she reads letters from the audience on the power of debate, and whether or not certain four letter words belong in Pushkin’s podcasts. Maria and Malcolm also look at the Columbia cheating scandal from a different angle, and hand out one more sparkli...

Consider this your invitation to the greatest award show no one’s ever heard of: the Pushkin Prizes, created to honor the giants of the American education system. This year, Malcolm is celebrating one prominent university that decided to play the US News & World Report at its own dirty rankings game—and smeared themselves in the process. Featuring an eagle-eyed math professor, our favorite dat...

In a live conversation taped at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, Malcolm and his Martian friend consult athletes Linda Flanagan and Lauren Fleshman on how to level the proverbial playing field. What would they ban from youth sports: Coaches? Parents? Uniforms? Whatever it takes to bring the love of the game to everyone. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In a live conversation taped at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, Malcolm chats with his old friend and New Yorker magazine colleague, Adam Gopnik, about Adam’s latest book, The Real Work: On the Mystery of Mastery. In the book, Adam follows numerous masters of their craft to find out just how they do what they do—and discovers that there is mastery all around us. In this episode, Malcolm and Ad...

Today, we’re bringing you a preview of Pushkin's new audiobook, “So Many Steves.” Steve Martin is more candid than he’s ever been about his creative life in this engrossing audio-biography centered around a series of conversations recorded over many afternoons at home with his friend and neighbor, writer Adam Gopnik. You can get “So Many Steves,” an audio-exclusive, now at Audible: http://audible....

What do you do after you've been humiliated at the Munk Debates? You call in the A-Team.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Malcolm talks with his old friend, the brilliant science writer Michael Specter, about the future of life on Earth. Michael's response to the Covid-19 pandemic was to create a new audiobook on how the mRNA vaccines have sparked a biotechnology revolution: Higher Animals: Vaccines, Synthetic Biology, and the Future of Life . He and Malcolm talk about how this scientific revolution is bigger than ma...

Today, we dig into the fascinating life of someone Malcolm knows very well: fellow Pushkin host Justin Richmond. Malcolm and Justin talk about being the product of biracial marriages, surviving racist bullies, and Justin's chance dinner with a megastar that changed his life.  Justin created his newest show, Started from the Bottom , to talk with successful people who grew up as outsiders about how...

Author, psychologist and professional poker player Maria Konnikova joins the show as Revisionist History’s first ombudsman. Maria advocates for the audience, reading letters from listeners and challenging Malcolm on matters great and small. They discuss how iodized salt is changing lives, the ethics of the Minnesota starvation experiments, and the ever-changing guidance around drinking alcohol. If...

Every writer, podcaster and storyteller obsesses about how they begin a story. But they rarely pay enough attention to endings. Nothing matters more. Malcolm and Mike Birbiglia solve endings for you. From our first-ever Revisionist History: LIVE events at the Town Hall in New York City and the Fillmore Philadelphia, Malcolm revisits how he’s tried to land the narrative plane. If you’d like to keep...

In which Malcolm reunites with his colleague, friend and fellow host of Broken Record (not to mention a music icon in his own right), Rick Rubin. This month Rick released his first book, called "The Creative Act: A Way Of Being." In it he shares practical principles on how anyone can generate creative authenticity and ultimately find their voice. If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news...

In part two of our special series with Cadillac, we test whether the all-electric Cadillac LYRIQ can keep up with the demands of a 21st-century helicopter parent, put a baby to sleep, and impress a collector of immaculate old-school Caddies. Join Malcolm on a test ride like you’ve never been on before. Part two of two.  This episode is sponsored by Cadillac. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy...

Not long ago, we got a call at Pushkin Headquarters from Cadillac. They knew that Malcolm takes cars very seriously… so they asked if he’d heard of the all-electric Cadillac LYRIQ and if he’d like to borrow one for a few days to put it to the test. Yes, yes he did. What resulted was a series of road tests, blindfolded experiments, and head-to-head comparisons. Part one of two.    This episode is s...

Malcolm's friend, actress/writer/director/producer Lake Bell, is obsessed with voice. Malcolm is a little obsessed with Lake. This excerpt from Lake's new Pushkin audiobook Inside Voice: My Obsession with HowWe Sound , showcases Lake and Malcolm's conversation about the phenomenon of the sexy baby voice (think Paris Hilton or any Real Housewife). Inside Voice is a deep dive into what our voices me...

Lester Glick’s year in the Minnesota Starvation Experiment cost him his hoped-for career and also left him with an eating disorder for the rest of his life. But like many of the other volunteers, he said he would have done it again in a heartbeat. Revisionist History explores the scientific legacy of this experiment, and asks whether it’s time to reimagine our understanding of sacrifice.    If you...

The Minnesota Starvation Experiment could never be done today. No scientist could get permission to starve 36 healthy people for close to a year. But why? Revisionist History tries to follow the strange logic that governs our thinking about medical experiments.  If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts, be sure to sign up for our email list at Pushkin...

In the final year of the Second World War, 36 men spent a year in a dingy set of rooms under the University of Minnesota football stadium. They were part of an experiment none of them would ever forget. What happened in the Department of Physiological Hygiene? Revisionist History uncovers a forgotten box of interviews in the archives of the Library of Congress.  If you’d like to keep up with the m...

Did Malcolm Gladwell blow it in his bestselling book Outliers ? What if all he did was write a primer for neurotic helicopter parents? To find out, Revisionist History descends on the University of Pennsylvania to run a roomful of eager students through a mysterious experiment, complete with Sharpies, huge white stickers, and a calculator. It does not end well. If you’d like to keep up with the mo...

Revisionist History returns on September 15th with a saga about self-sacrifice. Plus, Malcolm offers a mea culpa for an unintended consequence of a chapter he wrote in Outliers . If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts, be sure to sign up for our email list at Pushkin.fm. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ll be back in September with new episodes of Revisionist History. In the meantime, I got to sit down with my good friend and host of Cautionary Tales, Tim Harford. We discuss his recent trilogy about the epic race between two explorers to the South Pole and all the challenges they encounter along the way. We draw parallels between the 1920s explorers and Silicon Valley startups, and of course,...

Malcolm tells the story of how his parents and their friends sponsored three Vietnamese refugees, in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. And wonders: do we underestimate the value of ordinary acts of kindness? If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts, be sure to sign up for our email list at Pushkin.fm.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informati...

You thought the antics of Will, Grace, Jack and Karen were just harmless fun. Oh please. Revisionist History dives deep into a television sitcom that you may not have realized even had a deep end.  If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts, be sure to sign up for our email list at Pushkin.fm. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.