Stuff You Missed in History Class

The Mercator projection gets a lot of grief for distorting the relative sizes of different land masses, but Mercator’s map was actually pretty good at [Read more]

At a young age, Alexis Soyer became a very well-known chef in both France and England, as popular for his fun personality as for his [Read more]

This 2018 episode covers Anne Lister, who was looking for a wife at a time when many women sought husbands to ensure financial stability. She [Read more]

Tracy and Holly talk about the folklore aspects of Jack Sheppard’s story, and how a mustache drawn on a photo of Charles Ponzi was part [Read more]

He’s synonymous with fraud today, but the most famous scheme Charles Ponzi pulled in his lifetime was surprisingly short-lived. Research: “Charles Ponzi Cheats Thousands in [Read more]

Jack Sheppard became sort of a serial breakout artist in 18th-century England. He was a real person who became a folk hero, but many of [Read more]

This 2016 episode covers famed lady pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read, who have been often requested as a topic by listeners. But telling their [Read more]

Tracy and Holly discuss online disagreements over the origin of the science-fiction genre of literature and the nature of Margaret Cavendish’s marriage. They then talk [Read more]

As a teenager, Mabel Lee fought for the women’s vote in the U.S. even though she wouldn’t benefit from it. As an adult, she continued [Read more]

Cavendish was a prolific poet, playwright, and natural philosopher. She published multiple works under her own name before that was common for a woman, and [Read more]