February 11, 2005. FBI agents bust down the door of a cinder block house near the University of Kentucky campus. Amid flash grenades and screaming teens, they arrest three students – plus a fourth student in a nearby dorm. The crime? Stealing almost $750,000 of rare books and manuscripts from the library at Transylvania University. Why did four freshmen deci ... Show More
Today
Did Homer Write the Odyssey? (Was He Even Real?)
August, sometime in the 500s BCE. In Athens, the Great Panathenaia is in full swing: chariot races, boat races, a hundred cattle slaughtered for the feast. And at the center of it, a competition in which performers recite the work of one poet, and one poet only: Homer. But nobody ... Show More
41m 1s
Aug 17
The Wire That Connected the World
August 17, 1858. New York City wakes to a hundred-gun salute. Church bells ring, flags fly from public buildings, and by nightfall, fireworks light up the sky. The city is celebrating a telegram from Queen Victoria to President Buchanan. Not what it says, but how it traveled: alo ... Show More
32m 55s
Aug 10
The French Monarchy Falls in a Day
August 10, 1792. At midnight, a single church bell begins to ring in Paris. Then another. And another. It's not a call to mass… it's a call to arms. For three years, King Louis XVI and his family have been living as prisoners in a palace, under virtual house arrest at the Tuileri ... Show More
34m 21s
Apr 2025
Fear, Heartbreak, Betrayal
Higher education is under attack. You've probably heard about the cases of Mahmoud Kahlil, Rumeysa Ozturk, and Alireza Doroudi. Students, studying in American universities being arrested and disappeared for their political stances. And our academic institutions are all too willin ... Show More
51m 12s
Jun 2024
Everyday, Everyday I Steal the Book: Three Major Book Heists
Rare books are, obviously, valuable. And that means people want to steal them, often in ridiculous ways. Sometimes in huge quantities, sometimes over huge amounts of time. This is the tale of three big book heists that are almost as irritating as Elizabeth's pronunciations of jus ... Show More
55m 37s