Stuff You Missed in History Class

Ignaz Semmelweis made a connection between hand hygiene and the prevention of childbed fever in the 19th century. He wasn’t taken seriously then, but today [Read more]

Born Constance Georgine Gore-Booth to a wealthy Protestant family, Constance Markievicz made a somewhat surprising transition to become a leader in the Irish Nationalist movement. [Read more]

Today’s show revisits one of the most pivotal events in modern Irish history. It was a precursor to a number of other events that have [Read more]

Cassie Chadwick (born Elizabeth Bigley) committed fraud at a level that would be almost impossible to pull off in today’s world of instant communication. Her [Read more]

Leeuwenhoek wasn’t REALLY a scientist — he had no formal training. But he made dozens of scientific discoveries. He’s credited with discovering microscopic life in [Read more]

This classic revisits the Luddite uprising — protests in northern England, in which workers smashed machines in mills and factories. This wasn’t the first organized [Read more]

Vasari was an artist and architect in 16th-century Italy. But what really made him famous was his writing. He penned biographies of famous artists, but [Read more]

Perceptions and interpretations of Phillis Wheatley’s life and work have shifted since the 18th century. This episode examines Wheatley’s published writing while enslaved, and how [Read more]

We’re revisiting the story of a a mysterious beast that trampled a woman in Arizona in 1883. First described as a demon, the creature turned [Read more]

The show’s 1000th episode continues the story of Sadako Sasaki, who died of A-bomb sickness after the bombing of Hiroshima. This second part of her [Read more]