Mike and Sarah are journalists obsessed with the past. Every week they reconsider an event, person or phenomenon that's been miscast in the public imagination.
Sarah talks with Chelsey Weber-Smith, host of American Hysteria, about some of their favorite hoaxes—from the Loch Ness Monster to the Taco Liberty Bell—and ponder the value of pranks in a world of misinformation.
In 1974, Robert Opel ran naked through the Academy Awards telecast, and into American history. Today, Michael Schulman, a staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of Oscar Wars, tells Sarah the story of gay history, art, and tragedy that happened after Robert’s fifteen minutes were over.
During what should’ve been Roe v. Wade’s 51st birthday week, Sarah and reproductive health policy reporter Megan Burbank take a look at the movement, decades in the making, to tear down abortion rights in America, starting with the hypocrisy at its root. Is what we know as the pro-life movement a religious effort or a political movement? And how did a veneer of sincere belief conceal a toxic combination of racism and fear of paying taxes? Join us as we take out the trash — and look for the helpers who are cleaning it up.You can find Megan online here! Sign up for Megan's newsletter here! Two recent pieces by Megan:The Brand New Anti-Abortion Law That’s Steeped in an Old Moral PanicPlanned Parenthood awarded $110K after Spokane clinic protests100% of our net proceeds from this episode will be donated to the following organizations:
Sarah teams up with writer and editor Julie Kliegman—author of the hotly anticipated book MIND GAME—to look back at tennis's Battle of the Sexes, between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs (aka the Libber and the Lobber). No pigs were harmed in the making of this episode or in the Houston Astrodome on September 20, 1973.You can find Julie (and MIND GAME) online here.
The Exorcist turns 50 this week, so we invited Marlena Williams, author of Night Mother: A Personal and Cultural History of the Exorcist, to come tell us about the little possession movie that changed America forever. Was the set cursed by Satan himself, or plain old 70s misogyny? What makes a country going through a cultural upheaval embrace stories about the Devil? And—the most critical question of all—do Ouija boards really cause possession?