The Hoover Dam is Ridiculous, Part One: Man V...

For well over a century, schoolchildren across the United States learned the story of John Henry. According to the legend, John was a formerly enslaved man who found work with a railroad after the Civil War. Widely known as the best steel driver in the area, John wins a Phyrric v ...  Show more

While often forgotten by the global West, the Ottoman Empire was an absolute superpower in its heyday. As the Empire expanded across three separate continents, they also practiced mass enslavement -- and used it to power their army. In today's episode, Ben, Noel and Max explore t ...  Show more

In July 1970, one of the largest dams in the world - the Aswan High Dam in Egypt - was completed. It had taken ten years to build, and was not without controversy. Louise Hidalgo brings us voices from the archives and from one man who was there, Professor Herman Bell, about the c ...  Show more

And now for something completely different. Just kidding – tune in to hear the thrilling conclusion of America’s most amazing public works project in the 20th century.

In the early 1960s, Unesco appealed for scientists to go to Egypt to save antiquities that were threatened by the construction of one of the largest dams in the world, the Aswan High Dam on the River Nile.Professor Herman Bell answered that call from the UN. He spoke to Louise Hi ...  Show more

It’s May, 30th 1889, and the South Fork Dam in Western Pennsylvania is in danger. After nearly a month of hard rain, eight inches have fallen in one day, filling the lake behind the dam to capacity. And the dam’s owners, the South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club, have cut corners i ...  Show more