The Ice Queen

In 1921, a Russian officer named Roman von Ungern-Sternberg invaded Mongolia, ostensibly with the goal to liberate it from Chinese forces. But he had his own ulterior motives, and a pattern of cruelty that was only beginning. Support Noble Blood:— Bonus episodes, stickers, and sc ...  Show more

On a quiet morning in Hawaii in 2018, cell phones lit up with a text message that felt impossible. A ballistic missile was inbound, and this was not a drill. For 38 minutes, hundreds of thousands of people believed they were living their final moments. For Very Special Episodes, ...  Show more

“Despite being born into royalty, Anna Ioannovna didn’t have the easiest life. Her uncle publicly ridiculed her marriage, and the cruelty she experienced growing up may have had lasting emotional damage, leading her to eventually build an actual ice palace.”

As rulers go, Anna of Russia was considered pretty bad news. In the second part of this two-part series, the guys explore how Anna (aka Anna the Terrible)'s traumatic life experience may have contributed to her later, profoundly cruel punishments -- things like forcing a disgr ...

In the midst of the Cold War, Joseph Stalin's only daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva, decides to flee Mother Russia to start a new life in America. But with the KGB on her tail, how on earth is she going to get out? Playwright Dan Kitrosser unravels her story. See omnystudio.com/list ...  Show more

Khutulun's story is a little bit cloudy, in part because it’s many hundreds of years old, and in part because accounts of her life involve a combination of propaganda and an outsider’s interpretation of it.