Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

Tracy shares her intentions to cover Peter Kropotkin years ago, and also unpacks some of the positive and negative aspects of his life.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

After returning to Russia, Kropotkin was captured and imprisoned. But his life took many turns from there, and in 1902 he published his book book “Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution.” Research: "Peter Alekseevich Kropotkin." Encyclopedia of World Biography Online, Gale, 1998. Gale ...  Show more

Poet Emily Dickinson has often been painted as a recluse and an oddball by history, though she had a passionate nature and a rich inner life. She wrote some of the most beloved and enduring poetry in the world during her introspective lifetime, but her audience didn't find her un ...  Show more

Bitterly lonely and abandoned by her family, Anna Ivanovna grew to hate love. And when she became the unlikely Empress of Russia she used her power to build an ice palace that was both a spectacle and a torture chamber. 

Hortense Mancini is perhaps most famous for being a royal mistress, but her life was a series of adventures and scandals. Hortense was willing to do whatever it took to be a woman who lived on her own terms in the 17th century.

Isadora was the purest of unconventional free spirits and one of history's most unique dance innovators. Many people only know how she died, but how she lived is a much more inspiring and fascinating story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices