From rainmaking queens to dogged isolationists, the lives and reigns of Africa’s female rulers have long been shrouded in mystery, misunderstanding and misogyny. Over the centuries and throughout the continent, these individuals navigated the rigid traditions of their own cultures to wield power – even to the detriment of their subjects. Speaking to Danny Bi ... Show More
Today
A poetic history of England
How can you do justice to the story of 1,300 years of English history? Through verse, according to cultural historian Catherine Clarke – whose latest book is A History of England in 25 Poems. She takes Lauren Good on a poetic journey through time, exploring how it could be used f ... Show More
40m 17s
Mar 4
The hidden history behind Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore is one of the most iconic images in US history – but its story is far more complex and controversial than that of a simple sculpture. In this episode, historian Matthew Davis joins Elinor Evans to discuss his latest book, A Biography of a Mountain, which delves int ... Show More
40m 29s
Mar 3
Juana Inés de la Cruz: life of the week
She led “a life that really, in many ways, shouldn't have been possible”. So says historian Paul Gillingham of Juana Inés de la Cruz. This 17th-century polymath and nun challenged a host of social conventions – earning, through her extraordinary books and poems, a place in the pa ... Show More
30m 40s
Oct 2025
Voices of Thunder: Radical Women of the 17th Century
In 17th-century England, women weren’t asked what they believed, they were generally told to obey. But amid civil war, revolution, and religious upheaval, a remarkable group of women risked everything to speak out. They preached, prophesied and published their defiance, surviving ... Show More
46m 58s
Mar 2022
International, part 5: Hürrem Sultan: From Slavery To Queen (pt 1/2)
Hürrem Sultan, aka Haseki Sultan, aka Roxelana, was born around 1502 and was captured and sold into slavery as a young girl. She caught the attention of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and wound up shattering all kinds of glass ceilings for women, the enslaved, and concubines a ... Show More
1h 8m
Jul 2024
The Mighty Ashanti: Rival to the British Empire
<p>At the end of the 17th century, a small clan - the Akan - in West Africa began growing into what would later become the powerful Ashanti Empire. The state grew rapidly in both wealth and land until it spanned most of modern day Ghana, the Ivory Coast, and Togo. </p> ... Show More
29m 42s
Jul 2021
Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall, "Slave Revolt on Screen: The Haitian Revolution in Film and Video Games" (UP of Mississippi, 2021)
Michel-Rolph Trouillot wrote that “the silencing of the Haitian Revolution is only a chapter within a narrative of global domination. It is part of the history of the West and it is likely to persist, even in attenuated form, as long as the history of the West is not retold in wa ... Show More
1h 10m