Jul 17

Neither Confirm Nor Deny

In an episode we first ran back in 2019, we explore how a sunken nuclear submarine, a crazy billionaire, and a mechanical claw gave birth to a phrase that has hounded journalists and lawyers for 40 years and embodies the tension between the public’s desire for transparency and th ... Show More

29m 5s

Jul 10

The Holy Shiver

Lauren Brown gets goosebumps. A lot. Sometimes several times a day. When her partner, writer Carmen Maria Machado, noticed it...she couldn't stop thinking about it. Why does she get them in so many different situations? What’s happening in her body and what does it mean? We take ... Show More

37m 47s

Jul 3

Atomic Artifacts

Back in the 1950s, facing the threat of nuclear annihilation, federal officials sat down and pondered what American life would actually look like after an atomic attack. They faced a slew of practical questions like: Who would count the dead and where would they build the refugee ... Show More

40m 48s

Jun 2021

The Confederate flag and America’s battle over race

In June 2015 an American anti-racist activist climbed a flagpole on the South Carolina state house grounds to take down the Confederate flag. The protest followed the killing of 9 black people at a historic Charleston church by a white supremacist who was pictured holding the ... Show More

50m 52s

Sep 2019

Vexillology (FLAGS) with E. Tory Laitila

Flags! How long have we flown them? Will you get arrested for stomping on one? Which ones are cute and which are fugly? Which colors don't we see on flags and why? How did all this flag etiquette originate? E. Tory Laitila, a textile expert who also handles Honolulu's flag pro ... Show More

1h 18m

Nov 2022

Ole Miss

In 1962, a riot broke out in the University of Mississippi after African American student, James Meredith is enrolled. It essentially becomes the last stand of the Civil War, with people turning up with old Civil War muskets to defend the favoured institution of Southern elites. ... Show More

48m 24s

Mar 2021

Flagged and Stamped

Over the last half century, as many nations around our region have gained independence or been through regime change, they've have had to ask themselves big questions. Like, what makes our country, our country? What are the symbols that define us? And, who gets to decide the answ ... Show More

37m 29s

Nov 2019

The Message of the Flag

Countries and organisations all around the world use flags. These flags communicate their identity. Bruce Gulland and Liz Waid look at the history of flags and their uses today.

15m 1s

Apr 2025

Changing Stripes Revisited

At the January 6th Capitol insurrection, rioters waved Confederate, MAGA, and Trump-as-Rambo flags. Easy to miss without knowing the design was a bright yellow flag with three red stripes — the flag of South Vietnam.There were actually several confounding international ... Show More

32m 48s

Jun 2022

Flag Days: Unfolding a Moment

Betsy Ross sewed the first American flag. At least, that's what we were taught in school. But when historians go searching…there’s no proof to be found. In this collaboration with the podcast <a href="https://www.si.edu/sidedoor#seasonseven">Sidedoor</a>, we unravel this vexil ... Show More

31m 14s

Oct 2023

Assignment: America’s hidden histories

It’s more than 150 years since the end of the American Civil War. But the replacement of a monument dedicated to the Confederate Commander Robert E Lee with a statue of black icon Henrietta Lacks has proved an emotive issue in Roanoke, Virginia. In a region steeped in the history ... Show More

27m 46s

Jul 2023

Where Did the 'Don't Tread on Me' Flag Come From?

The Gadsden flag -- with its coiled rattlesnake on a bright yellow field and the words 'don't tread on me' -- has symbolic roots stretching back before the American Revolution. Learn its history in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://history.howstuffworks.c ... Show More

11 m

The Flag and the Fury