Tokyo Rose and Axis Sally

When Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas, members of his crew observed the Taíno people offering them dried leaves as gifts. They had no clue why, but they soon found out that native people smoked the burning leaves, and when they brought these leaves back to Europe, it ...  Show more

The 19th-century Ottoman Empire was in decline and was called the “sick man of Europe”. The Ottoman Empire, like Qing China and Imperial Russia, failed to implement the forces driving European nations toward dominance. A group known as the Young Turks developed a strong admiratio ...  Show more

During World War II, Nazi radio broadcast the voice of an American woman who came to be known as Axis Sally. She spoke, via shortwave radio, to American women, attempting to turn them against their country and the American war effort. She was waging a battle on what came to be ca ...  Show more

We're five lyrics in, and Katie and Tom are getting musical. Literally, if you make it to the end. Dr Cara Rodway (Chair of the British Association for American Studies by day, musical nerd by night) gives a pretty convincing case for why the soundtrack has spent more weeks at UK ...  Show more

Broadcaster Fi Glover hosts a celebration of all things audio. Fi explains her passion for a medium which she describes as being like the best friend you never had. She reflects on the raw power of audio and talks to the broadcasters behind some of the bravest, brightest sounds y ...  Show more

During World War II, the bravery of Kamikaze pilots was legendary. When the war concluded, several Japanese soldiers remained in hiding on islands across the Pacific. Learn more about Japanese holdouts and the Bushido code in this HowStuffWorks podcast.