You're Wrong About

What happens when you’re just a little too good at forging the diaries of Adolf Hitler? And why did so many people want to read them? In 1983, the West German news magazine Stern bought sixty volumes of forged journals and held a press conference to announce their publication. This week, Adrian Daub of podcasts In Bed With the Right and The Feminist Present is here to tell us all about what would...

Who is out there behind the howling midnight parties in the distance? For generations we have coexisted in varying degrees of rivalry, conflict, and admiration with the North American canine known as the coyote. From pre-colonization to our modern backyards, through the wild west and the streets of San Francisco, award-winning NPR science reporter and YWA Maligned Animal correspondent Lulu Miller...

Where did all these teens come from? Harmony Colangelo, co-host of This Ends at Prom, is here to explain how, before Americans got to worry about what teenagers were up to, we first had to decide what they were—and how a boom in postwar educational films taught a generation of adolescents what not to do. Skipper Learns a Lesson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8kJzBJrOkU 1950 Family Date: https:/...

Have you scrubbed down the top of your fridge lately? Home & garden correspondent Sarah Archer is here to tell us how and when we got so obsessed with the antiseptically clean house as a status symbol, and whether we really need to worry about every bit of dust on that baseboard. Find out more about Sarah Archer: https://www.sarah-archer.com/ Support You're Wrong About: Bonus Episodes on...

This week, flim flam correspondent and certified April Fool Chelsey Weber-Smith is here to talk about a fistful of fake memoirs, featuring girls raised by wolves; the chicken pox of James Frey; what poetry can give us that memoir can't; and Eugene, Oregon (twice!).  Read more about it here: The Smoking Gun's "A Million Little Lies" https://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/celebr...

At the end of our last episode, we asked you to call in and tell us what has been bringing you joy, connecting you to your community, and where you’ve been finding hope in these last few months. These are some of the responses we wanted to share in hopes that we can all find new ways to survive this world together. Thank you to all who sent us messages; though we couldn’t play them all, we felt in...

What do Lily Tomlin, Snow White, and Kenny Ortega have in common? They were all part of the 61st Academy Awards, a broadcast now remembered as the worst of all time, and masterminded by Allan Carr (lover of spectacle and producer of Grease). But awards season correspondent and New Yorker staff writer Michael Schulman is here to argue that the tackiest, most disastrous Oscars of all time might just...

What is "emotional labor," and why is it probably not what your boyfriend accuses you of making him do when you want him to go to Ikea with you? Psychotherapist Ash Compton and journalist Rachel Monroe are here to tell the tale of how the term sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild coined—in her 1983 book The Managed Heart—has come to mean, well, almost everything. How is the term still us...

In County Kilkenny, Ireland, in an early year of a century not too long before our own, Alice Kyteler was accused of witchcraft. But the story doesn't end there. This week, Molly Aitken—author of BRIGHT I BURN—is here to tell us a tale where the more things* change, the more they stay the same. (*Men) Read Molly's books : https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2204198/molly-aitken/ T...

What would you do if you were pinned down by an 800-pound boulder, and no one knew where you were? In 2003, Aron Ralston had to answer that question. Today, our survival correspondent Blair Braverman is here to tell us the tale of the man, the myth, and the multitool. Blair Braverman tells us how the legendary story of one good dog is actually a story of two good dogs.  Read Blair’s book, Small Ga...

There's one last present at the toe of our stocking, and it's a new album by producer Carolyn Kendrick. We'll be back with a regular episode next week, but for now, come listen to some music, and join us for a conversation about making art and community in uncertain times, and the new year's dreams that will sustain us in 2025. Find Carolyn's songs, record, website, zine,...

'Twas (the night before) the night before Christmas/ And all through the show/ We await Sarah Archer with eyes all aglow/ To blow the dust off some old books from the shelf/ And tell us the tale of a jolly old elf. Where did he come from?/ Where is he going?/ We know you have questions/ So bundle up, if it's snowing/ And sing out your favorite holiday song/ (As ever, it was capitalism al...

Miles Klee can’t take it anymore. This week, a tale of corporate intrigue, world domination, and soda. Read Miles Klee at Rolling Stone . Support You're Wrong About: Bonus Episodes on Patreon Buy cute merch Where else to find us: Sarah's other show, You Are Good Links: https://www.rollingstone.com/author/miles-klee/ http://patreon.com/yourewrongabout https://www.teepublic.com/stores/your...

"Our alleged serial killers deserve better than this." Was Elizabeth Báthory the most prolific serial killer of all time, or was she just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Do we even have the tools to know? And what about that bathing in the blood of virgins thing? Lizzie correspondent Princess Weekes is here with your election night distract-a-thon.  Princess' YouTube Channel h...

Black cats and goblins and broomsticks and ghosts/ Covens of witches with all of their hosts/ You may think they scare me, you're probably right/ But American Hysteria's Chelsey Weber-Smith is on the show tonight. It's a tale of mischief, mayhem, and adults trying to keep their kids safe by nailing meat to the walls. What is Halloween? Can there be treats without tricks? And does it...

What could possibly go wrong when two skeptical podcasters try to summon a ghost? Join Sarah and Chelsey Weber-Smith (of American Hysteria) for a historical, theatrical, ecstatic spectacular for the living and dead. Hold hands with your favorite disembodied voices for a spiritualist séance* featuring fireside conversation, mystifying tricks, special guests, and music from The Little Lies – the onl...

Kellie Carter Jackson, author of We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance, is here to take us on a trip through American history where we learn about revolutions, change, and joy not from a few white men, but from generations of Black women. Kellie Carter Jackson https://www.kelliecarterjackson.com/ Read We Refuse https://www.kelliecarterjackson.com/we-refuse Support You're Wrong Abo...

"Times can blind us to certain truths and later generations can see that laws once thought necessary and proper in fact serve only to oppress. As the Constitution endures, persons in every generation can invoke its principles in their own search for greater freedom."  — Justice Anthony Kennedy  This week, Marcus McCann brings us to the end of our story of a few good men who challenged Te...

Or, is it legal to have gay sex in your own home? This week, Marcus McCann takes us back to the 2003 Supreme Court case that challenged a Texas anti-sodomy law--with little stops along the way for Mexican food, the endowment of James Dean, and peevish police. (Part 2 coming next week!) Dale Carpenter's book Flagrant Conduct: The Story of Lawrence v. Texas   Marcus' book Park Cruising: Wh...

"As long as the law is male, women must be outlaws."  — Linnea Johnson  This week, Moira Donegan takes us back to Chicago in 1969, when an underground feminist collective got fed up with doctors, and started providing abortions themselves.  Moira's podcast In Bed with the Right Moira in the Guardian Moira on the tradwife Support You're Wrong About: Bonus Episodes on Patreon Buy...

This week we travel back to the 80s, when America’s parents decided to freak out over some kids rolling dice and drawing things on graph paper! Adrian Daub walks Sarah through the history of Dungeons & Dragons, and the panic it inspired.  Content note: The story we're telling today also involves suicide; please listen with care.  Find Adrian online here . Buy his book The Cancel Culture P...

Maggie Mertens tells us a tale of the first women who fought to run the marathon, and of one woman who decided to cut to the finish line. Find Maggie online here . Find Maggie's book Better Faster Farther: How Running Changed Everything We Know About Women  online here. Support You're Wrong About: Bonus Episodes on Patreon Buy cute merch Where else to find us: Sarah's other show: Yo...

What is “originalism,” and what does it have to do with all these bribes? Mackenzie Joy Brennan has some answers. Find Mackenzie online here . You can find Abortion Access Front online here . "Anita Hill" episode of You're Wrong About . The US supreme court just basically legalized bribery by Moira Donegan Support You're Wrong About: Bonus Episodes on Patreon Buy cute merch Whe...

The city of Cleveland will not be made to apologize for its balloons. Harmony Colangelo defends the mistake on the lake. You can find Harmony on This Ends at Prom .  Support You're Wrong About: Bonus Episodes on Patreon Buy cute merch Where else to find us: Sarah's other show: You Are Good [YWA co-founder] Mike's other show: Maintenance Phase Links: https://podpeople.me/this-ends-at...

This week, Taylor Lorenz fights our latest moral panic. Are phones really making kids anxious, or are kids just good at noticing what's going on?  Listen to Taylor's podcast, Power User   Read Taylor in the Washington Post  ...and her book, Extremely Online Support You're Wrong About: Bonus Episodes on Patreon Buy cute merch Where else to find us: Sarah's other show, You Are Go...