This week on The Life of X, we continue our series on America’s Banana King, Samuel Zemurray!

This week we discuss:

• Sam’s role in supporting the Zionist cause and the establishment of the state of Israel

• United Fruit in Guatemala

• It’s United Fruit! It’s the CIA! It’s another Coup on the isthmus!

• The United States government turns its back on United Fruit

• The end of Sam’s life and the legacy of United Fruit

Be sure to tune in next week for The Life of Rick James!

Based primarily on: The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King by Rich Cohen

Episode Artwork by Caricatures by Paris

This week on The Life of X, we continue our series on America’s Banana King, Samuel Zemurray!

This week we discuss:

• Sam goes toe to toe with power brokers and politicians in the US

• The Knox Plan and overthrowing the Honduran government

• Cuyamel becomes a certified threat to United Fruit

• The Banana Wars

• Sam sells out and “retires”

• Sam’s Philanthropy

• The fish eats the whale!

• United Fruit with Sam at the helm and the tragedies of World War II

Be sure to tune in next week for The Life of Samuel Zemurray (Part 3)!

Based primarily on: The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King by Rich Cohen

Episode Artwork by Caricatures by Paris

This week on The Life of X, we begin our series on America’s Banana King, Samuel Zemurray!

This week we discuss:

• Sam’s early life and journey to the US

• Sam Zemurray - the most innovative fruit peddler there ever was

• The fascinating fruit that is the banana

• The United Fruit Company and its global influence

• The growth of Sam’s business - Cuyamel - to rival El Pulpo!

Be sure to tune in next week for The Life of Samuel Zemurray (Part 2)!

Based primarily on: The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King by Rich Cohen

Episode Artwork by Caricatures by Paris

This week on The Life of X, we continue our discussion of Andrew Carnegie!

This week we discuss:

• The battle for the Edgar Thompson Steelworks at Homestead

• Frick’s difficult summer of 1892

• Andrew and Frick’s deteriorating relationship

• The birth of Margaret Carnegie in 1897

• Andrew becomes the richest man in the world

• Andrew’s retirement and philanthropy

• Andrew Carnegie - the friend you wish you had

• The end of his life

Be sure to tune in next week for The Life of Samuel Zemurray (Part 1)!

Based primarily on: Andrew Carnegie - by David Nasaw

Episode Artwork by Caricatures by Paris

This week on The Life of X, we continue our discussion of Andrew Carnegie!

This week we discuss:

• How Herbert Spencer’s ideas shaped Andrew’s thinking about his place in the world

• Andrew and Louise’s continued secret engagement

• Andrew’s battle with the PARR and his deal with Henry Vanderbilt and J.P. Morgan

• Andrews views on socialism and the publication of Triumphant Democracy

• Andrew’s bout with typhoid fever and the deaths of Tom and Mag Carnegie in late 1886

• Wedding and relationship with Louise

• The “Braddock Battlefield”

• Andrew’s relationship with top Republicans and the publication of The Gospel of Wealth

• Labor dispute at Homestead in 1889-1890, the Johnstown Flood, and Frick’s rise

Be sure to tune in next week for The Life of Andrew Carnegie (Part 4)!

Based primarily on: Andrew Carnegie - by David Nasaw

Episode Artwork by Caricatures by Paris

This week on The Life of X, we continue our discussion of Andrew Carnegie with part 2!

This week we discuss:

• The Trans-Pacific Railroad and what it meant for Andrew

• Andrew becomes financially independent at 26 and begins his life of travel

• The Union Iron origin story

• Andrew’s continued travel and success as a bond salesman in Europe

• Andrew’s turn to steel

• Early philanthropy, literary aspirations, and the beginning of a very lengthy courtship

• Henry Frick

Be sure to tune in next week for The Life of Andrew Carnegie (Part 3)!

Based primarily on: Andrew Carnegie - by David Nasaw

Episode Artwork by Caricatures by Paris

This week on The Life of X, we discuss the life of Andrew Carnegie. Born in Dunfermline, Scotland in 1835, Carnegie is best known as a titan of industry, literary figure, and philanthropist in the United States.

This week we discuss:

• Family and early life in Dunfermline

• Coming to America

• Mag Carnegie joins the LoX Hall of Amazing Mothers

• Andrew’s rise meteoric rise from bobbin boy to Superintendent of Pittsburgh Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad by 24.

• Andrew’s “heroic” role in the Civil War

• William Coleman, and making lake-loads of money at Oil Creek

Be sure to tune in next week for The Life of Andrew Carnegie (Part 2)!

Based primarily on: Andrew Carnegie - by David Nasaw

Episode Artwork by Caricatures by Paris

This week on The Life of X, we continue our discussion of Chiang Kai-shek.

This week we discuss:

• Post-WWII Chinese political situation

• The Taiwan uprising

• The conclusion of the Chinese Civil War

• Chiang’s time in Taiwan and the end of his life

Be sure to tune in next week for The Life of Andrew Carnegie (Part 1)!

Based primarily on: The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China by Jay Taylor

Episode Artwork by Caricatures by Paris

This week on The Life of X, we continue our discussion of Chiang Kai-shek.

This week we discuss:

• Chiang’s success and struggles as Supreme Commander of the China Theatre during WWII

• The Cairo Conference

• The war in Burma

• The Japanese Ichigo Campaign

• Chiang and Vinegar Joe’s crumbling relationship

• Yalta

• The death of FDR and Hitler and what they meant for China

• Red August

• Chiang’s meeting with Mao Zedong to discuss the future of China

Be sure to tune in next week for The Life of Chiang Kai-shek (Part 6)!

Based primarily on: The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China by Jay Taylor

Episode Artwork by Caricatures by Paris

This week on The Life of X, we continue our discussion of Chiang Kai-shek.

This week we discuss:

• Continued war with Japan and Chiang’s trouble with Warlords

• CCP explosion in membership

• Bombing raids over Chongqing

• World War II and what it meant for Chiang

• The New Fourth Army Incident

• Pearl Harbor

• Vinegar Joe Stilwell

• The Doolittle Raid

• The Cairo Conference

• The Burma Campaign

• The Yalta Conference and the end of WWII

• Chiang’s meeting with Chairman Mao and the continued Chinese Civil War

Be sure to tune in next week for The Life of Chiang Kai-shek (Part 5)!

Based primarily on: The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China by Jay Taylor

Episode Artwork by Caricatures by Paris