All Episodes

Ep. 145: Circumcision was not something I ever really thought about until I had two sons. When you have a baby boy a decision is suddenly thrust upon you, at least in the United States. I mean, there are lots of decisions thrust upon you: what are we going to name him? What about a middle name? What kind of diapers should we buy? Which car seat? Lots of questions, lots of decisions. One of them is next level though. Because, at some point, someone is going to ask you if you w

Ep. 144: August 6, 1945 began as a normal day in Hiroshima, Japan. I mean, kind of. Of course the country was embroiled in a deadly World War and enemy forces, the United States specifically, had been bombing cities for months, unleashing firestorms that had already claimed hundreds of thousands of civilian lives. But, if you could time travel to a Hiroshima sidewalk on the morning of August 6, 1945, it would seem at least a little bit normal. At 8 am that morning, the city w

Mini Fix # 26: When World War I erupted in July of 1914, soldiers as young as 18 rushed off to the trenches to fight. Most were told it would be a very short war. It would be over by Christmas and they’d be home to celebrate with their families. That’s what they were told. But as Christmas of 1914 neared, there was no end to the war in sight. In fact, it was only just getting started. The men, boys really, crowded into filthy cramped trenches in the ground where they were con

Ep. 143: It’s February 1942 and you’re a born and raised American citizen living on a farm in California. Born of immigrant parents, you’ve worked hard your entire life to carve out the life they’d dreamed you’d have here in this beautiful country, this land of opportunity. You’re well aware that 2 months ago the Empire of Japan attacked a US naval base called Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. You’ve seen it in the news. You’ve felt the rumblings of fear growing. Y

Ep. 142: “Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan… No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost,

Ep. 141: You’ve likely heard of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Geronimo, maybe Tecumseh. And if you’re a serious History Fix listener you’ve probably heard of Wingina too, who also went by the name Pemisapan. If you’re scrambling to place the name, I’ll help you out. Wingina was the weroance, or leader, chief, of the Algonquian speaking Secotan people who lived in coastal North Carolina when the first English colonists arrived in the 1580s. Wingina’s story, as we know it, mostly

Ep. 140: You’ve likely heard of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Geronimo, maybe Tecumseh. And if you’re a serious History Fix listener you’ve probably heard of Wingina too, who also went by the name Pemisapan. If you’re scrambling to place the name, I’ll help you out. Wingina was the weroance, or leader, chief, of the Algonquian speaking Secotan people who lived in coastal North Carolina when the first English colonists arrived in the 1580s. Wingina’s story, as we know it, mostly

Ep. 139: We know there were vast and impressive cities in the Americas before European contact. The stone buildings and pyramids are still there: Chichen Itza on the Yucatan Peninsula, Palenque, Tikal, La Danta pyramid at El Mirador, greater in volume than the Great Pyramid in Egypt, the mystical remains of Machu Picchu, nestled in the Andes Mountains of Peru. We know these once great cities flourished in Central and South America because the stones are still there to prove i

Ep. 138: Last week I came to you with the story of the French crown jewels recently stolen from the Louvre museum in Paris. All 8 pieces included diamonds, most of which probably came from India, and many of which were once part of the jewel collection of France’s King Louis the fourteenth. Diving into the world of Louis the fourteenth’s Indian diamond collection, however, led me directly to a stone that I failed to mention last week, a stone that is, quite possibly, the most