Stuff You Missed in History Class

In the 17th century, Europe was obsessed with science – and very competitively so. When it came to blood transfusions, there was a great deal of [Read more]

This 2015 episode covers the story of Violet Jessop, who was a shipwreck survivor — several times over. She traveled the world aboard some of [Read more]

Holly and Tracy talk about why Holly loved studying Wilfrid Voynich, when scurvy became a jokey disease, and the need for a good multivitamin and [Read more]

Scurvy is a deficiency in vitamin C, or ascorbic acid, and its story goes way back in history – all the way to our evolutionary [Read more]

We’ve talked about the Voynich manuscript many times over the years, but the man for whom the manuscript is named has his own fascinating story. [Read more]

This 2017 episode revisits roses, which humans have painted, written about, and assigned symbolic meaning for centuries. But this much-beloved flower predates mankind, and it’s [Read more]

On today’s episode, Tracy and Holly discuss their levels of familiarity with O. Henry and have a food digression. Talk then turns to how Rudolph [Read more]

Most of us grew up with the story of the sweet little reindeer that was picked on by his peers, and becomes the hero who [Read more]

O. Henry’s writing is taught in many schools because of his stories like “Gift of the Magi,” but it’s rarely mentioned that during his life, [Read more]

This classic is from 2014. In 1826, liquor was forbidden at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. Cadets smuggled alcohol into [Read more]