The Preamble

For 3 years, scientists in secret cities around the U.S. had been in a race against time to complete the world’s first atomic weapon. And in July of 1945, the very first plutonium bomb was ready. Constructing “The...

She was WWII's most decorated spy: a woman whose spirit and determination in the face of danger is unparalleled. Born in France, Odette Sansom joined Britain's SOE and used her unassuming, motherly demeanor to...

Together, let's hear from author Christopher Gorham, whose new book, The Confidante, is the first-ever biography written about one of the United State's most powerful women: Anna Rosenberg. Join us as Christopher and...

Shakespeare and Al Capone. What could possibly be a link between these two men who were born centuries apart? A master codebreaker named Elizebeth Smith Friedman. If her name doesn’t sound familiar, there’s a reason for...

It's time to return to the art of espionage. During World War II, Prime Minister Winston Churchill understood that boots on the ground were only one piece of the puzzle to drive out the enemy. In order to sabotage...

In a previous episode of our series, we had a conversation about the combined efforts of the Allied science community to beat Germany in the race to understand and build atomic weapons. It was a team effort, and you...

Let’s head to Great Britain and learn about a military organization that recruited women into the war effort all across the country. Women volunteered in great numbers and, throughout the war, thousands of women...

How did the United States successfully produce and detonate the first atomic bomb? That success happened through a combination of random events and intricately planned schemes that fed into the speeding train that was...

She was a larger than life woman who utilized her fame and charm to secretly gather intel for the Allies during World War II. She put herself in danger, fought for freedom, saved countless lives… and she did it all...

The Manhattan Project. It was a top-secret program ran for three war-filled years and employed over 120 thousand people. Most of those people had no idea that they were working on one of the most powerful projects of...

Over the next few weeks, we’ll explore the incredibly varied and complex roles women stepped into during World War II. No, they weren’t GIs. They didn’t land at the beach on Normandy on D-Day, or face military combat...

It was supposed to be a picturesque and luxurious sightseeing tour over Antarctica. One filled with wonder and awe, in a tour that had cultivated a reputation for giving passengers the “trip of a lifetime.” But what...

“You are now leaving Iranian airspace!” It was a moment that dozens of hostages and their loved ones longed for with bated breath, for 444 days. Freedom. To be released, and returned home. The Iranian hostage crisis...

A religious leader with a raging drug addiction who led his following to a tragic end. A President with the hope of finding peace between Israel and Egypt. And a politician who was pivotal to the early LGBTQ+ rights...

Did you know that Star Wars almost started a war in real life, over a sand crawler model? Would the film have been so wildly successful if someone else had been cast in the role of Han Solo, such as – let’s say –...