Called "more dangerous than a thousand rioters" by the Chicago Police Department, Lucy Parsons was a radical socialist, a labor organizer, and a powerful orator who worked on behalf of people of color, women, and the homeless, she was
For decades, the author and scientist Giulio Boccaletti has studied the substance that's come to define life as we know it: water. And in his book Water: A Biography, he traces the history of how humanity, regardless of continent or creed, has shaped entire civilizations around a resource that's both fickle and essential for life on earth. In this episode, All Things Considered host Ari Shapiro talks to Boccaletti about our long, complicated history with water, and why understanding the past is crucial to the fight with climate change.
During the second world war, one of the biggest efforts of the war was the Manhattan Project: the secret American program to create an atomic bomb.
The scientists and staff of the Manhattan Project were in a race to beat Nazi Germany to be the first country to build the A-bomb. When Germany surrendered in May 1945, and Americans detonated the first device in July, they had seemingly won the race.
But was it in fact a race at all? How close were the Nazis to actually building an atom bomb?
After writing his Pulitzer Prize-winning books The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, author Colson Whitehead needed a change of pace. So for his next novel, Harlem Shuffle, he decided to tackle topics near and dear to his heart: heists and New York real estate. In today's episode, Morning Edition host Noel King talks to Whitehead about his book's protagonist, a furniture retailer named Ray Carney, and what draws him to a double life of crime.
In the year 331 BC, fresh from his conquest of Egypt, Alexander the Great established a new city in Egypt named after himself.
This new city, situated on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, at the end of the Nile Delta, would go on to become one of the most important cities in the world, and Alexander’s city is still alive and vibrant today.
Learn more about Alexandria, the "Bride of the Mediterranean" on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
During World War II, the US Army assigned statistician Abraham Wald the task of statistically figuring out where extra armor should be added to American bombers.
After analyzing the evidence and sharing it with the Army, he recommended the exact opposite of what the Army assumed. The reason was that the Army had engaged in a logical fallacy.
Learn more about survivorship bias and how it manifests itself into everyday thinking, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
When most people think of World War II, they think of the Allied power of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, versus the Axis power of Germany, Italy, and Japan.
However, this wasn’t always the case. At the start of the war in Europe, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union actually coordinated with each other to invade their neighbors.
Learn more about the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact.
Statistically speaking, about 90% of you listening to my words right now are right-handed. Of the rest of you, almost all of you will be left-handed.
The question of why so many more people are right-handed as opposed to left-handed is one that people have asked for centuries. It is an imbalance that has existed throughout history and across every culture.
Learn more righties and lefties and why the imbalance between them exists, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Want to find a good read? Or just keep up with the books everyone's talking about? NPR's Book of the Day gives you today's very best storytelling in a snackable, searchable, pocket-sized podcast. Whether you're looking to engage with the ideas and issues of our times – or temporarily escape from them – we have an author who will speak to you, all genres, moods and writing styles included. Today's great books in 15 minutes or less.
The ancient world had many great accomplishments. The Pyramids of Giza, The Great Wall of China, and the Colosseum are just a few of the great wonders which are still standing.
However, one of early humanity’s greatest achievements is one that didn’t leave any physical monuments. Its legacy is the people who live on the remote islands in the Pacific Ocean.
Learn more about the Polynesian navigators and how they explored the Pacific on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
