Amanda Holmes reads Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Justice Denied in Massachusetts.” Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.
This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch.
You Dreamed of Empires sets the scene for a violent historical encounter: the war between the Spanish and Aztec empires. But in a fictionalization of Hernán Cortés' arrival in the city of Tenochtitlan in 1519, author Álvaro Enrigue challenges ideas about colonialism, revolution and influential rulers. In today's episode, he speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about finding humor and humanity in the men he writes about — sometimes laughing about, but not with, the powerful ones.
The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.
Music
Je ne pas si c’est tout le monde - Theme Comedie from Vincent Delerm’s score to the film of the same, long name.
Forbin’s Hi Fi from Michel Colombier’s score to Colossus: The Forbin Project
Boo’s Lullaby by Maria Chiara Agriro and Jamie Leeming
Helle (Ballade) from the great Phillipe Sarde score to that picture.
L’Espagne pour memoire from Michel Portal’s score to Un et a la garoupe
The Rain Never Stops on Venus by Michael Wollney
Je t’ai meme pas dit by Vincent Delerm.
From a Dream by Oregon
A version of Narcisus for Clarinet and Electronics as played by Thea Musgrave.
Notes
Good sources if you want to know more are Peter Manseau’s book about spirit photography and the spiritualist age (Cutting intersects interestingly with that crea), The Apparitionists, as well as this article by Jerry Ryan about the history of aquariums in Boston.
When most people think of Switzerland, they think of a small country embedded in the Alps that makes fine chocolates and is the home of the cuckoo clock.
They have been neutral in European conflicts for almost 500 years, and they serve as the headquarters for several international organizations.
Yet, it was the Swiss who, during the Renaissance, were some of the most feared and in-demand mercenary fighters in Europe.
Learn more about Swiss mercenaries and how they instilled fear into Europeans on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Every single rocket that has ever been launched into space has been a rocket that burned some sort of fuel.
These chemical fuel rockets have worked well for making the short trip to orbit. Beyond that point, however, they are not necessarily the best option for space travel.
There are a host of proposed methods for space travel that don’t involve rockets, some of which have already been tested.
Learn more about alternative forms of space flight and the possible future of space exploration on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
It's Indicators of the Week, that time each Friday when we look at three of the most fascinating numbers from the news. Today we explain why Hertz is trying to sell off part of its EV inventory, why office vacancy rates are still climbing and what Apple's class-action payout yielded one of our hosts.
Related Episodes: What could break next? (Apple / Spotify) How the South is trying to win the EV race (Apple / Spotify)
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Today's episode features two authors who've written novels centering the personal and political experiences of women during war. First, NPR's Rob Schmitz speaks with Vanessa Chan about The Storm We Made, which follows a mother in 1945 Malay grappling with how her secret work as a spy has resulted in the brutal Japanese occupation tearing her family apart. Then, NPR's Juana Summers chats with Alice McDermott about her novel Absolution, which depicts two American wives looking back on the friendship they developed living in Saigon as their husbands' "helpmeets" during the Vietnam War.
A number of lawsuits against Texas-based company RealPage are putting increased attention on how algorithms can interact with the rental market. In the lawsuit, RealPage is accused of facilitating a cartel between major property managers that results in higher prices for renters and increased profits for landlords who use RealPage's software. RealPage, however, denies any wrongdoing.
Today on the show, we dive into the details of the lawsuit and explain why this case challenges typical notions of cartel behavior.
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.