The quest to find the headwaters of the Nile River was the mid-19th century's equivalent to the space race. In her new nonfiction book, River of God, Candice Millard follows the story of two bitter rivals on an adventure into uncharted places to claim that prize for England. In an interview with Scott Simon on Weekend Edition Saturday, Millard spoke about the complicated legacy of the Nile's exploration and the arrogance behind "discovering" a land that has been populated for millions of years. And don't say we didn't warn you about the part where a beetle gets in someone's ear...
As you probably know, the Earth consists of 70% water and 30% land. However, all those bits of water and land are not the same.
Some of them hold great strategic importance because they serve as choke points for people who want to get from place to place.
One one-and-a-half-mile stretch of water is perhaps the most important stretch of water in the world. Through this small strait passes approximately 25% of the entire world’s trade.
Learn more about the Strait of Malacca and its importance on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Today, the Great Dismal Swamp is a National Wildlife Refuge stretching between Virginia and North Carolina. But from the late 1600s to the Civil War, indigenous peoples and slaves sought refuge from persecution in the sprawling forested wetland. In her novel for young adults, titled Freewater, author Amina Luqman-Dawson imagines a world inside the swamp's colonies, filled with freedom, love, and change. In an interview with Here and Now's Celeste Headlee, Luqman-Dawson talks about her decision to stay away from writing a non-fiction book and the power of historical fiction for teens and kids.
Entering the second world war, Britain was still the top naval power in the world.
While the British Navy was superior in its entirety, Nazi Germany had created a ship that terrified the British. One-on-one, it could take out any ship in the British fleet.
Eventually, it was sent out into the open ocean of the North Atlantic to disrupt shipping. When the British found out, they dedicated almost all of their fleet in the North Atlantic to its destruction.
Learn more about the sinking of the Bismarck on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
It's been 28 years since Apartheid ended in South Africa, but the country's people are still wrestling with the aftermath of segregationist policies. In her book, The Inheritors, journalist Eve Fairbanks shows – through the stories of three people – how decades of institutionalized racism etched themselves into the country's psyche. In an interview with Ayesha Rascoe on Weekend Edition Saturday, Fairbanks said she wanted to help people understand South Africa and its history in a more complex and nuanced way.
In the year 607, the Emperor Yang of the Sui dynasty implemented a reform whereby a series of exams would be administered throughout the empire to create a bureaucratic elite that would administer the country.
That reform became one of the bedrocks of Chinese society, throughout every dynasty, for the next 1,300 years. The effects of these exams can still be felt in Chinese society today.
Learn more about the Mandarin class and the Imperial Examination system on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
This episode features baseball diaries with Scott Simon. First up, CC Sabathia details his personal struggles with alcoholism and fame in his memoir Til The End. And then, a conversation with Ron Shelton about the story and legacy of the classic film Bull Durham in his new memoir, The Church of Baseball.
