The Atlas Obscura Podcast: The Family That Tried To Escape History
In 1978, a team of Soviet geologists working deep in the Siberian taiga came across something they never expected to see: a house. As it turned out, they had stumbled…
The Pentagon Threatened Pope Leo XIV’s Ambassador With the Avignon Papacy
The Free Press has documented a closed-door Pentagon meeting in which a senior Trump official lectured Pope Leo XIV’s ambassador on American military supremacy.
The Hazy Evolution of Cannabis
How did such a strange plant like cannabis come to be in the first place? When and where did we first domesticate it? And why oh why does it get…
King Kong (1933 film)
King Kong is a 1933 American pre-Code adventure horror monster film directed and produced by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, with special effects by Willis H. O'Brien and…
How Muslims Influenced Thomas Jefferson and America’s Founders | American Muslims
Did you know that Thomas Jefferson owned a copy of the Qur’an? That George Washington owned enslaved people who were Muslim? And that a Muslim diplomat broke his Ramadan fast…
When Did We Stop Being Naked?
Of course, the ancient Egyptians were probably not the first people to ever wear clothing, but we haven’t found any clothes older than the Tarkhan Dress. So how can we…
From Slavery to Freedom: The Untold Story of America’s First Muslims
Even before the United States was founded, tens of thousands of Muslims were already present, captured in West Africa and brought to colonial America in chains. Host Asma Khalid (NPR’s…
How Islam Influenced Black Americans in 1920s Chicago | American Muslims: A History Revealed
The 1920s saw a revival in Islam among Black Americans fleeing poverty and persecution in the Jim Crow South. In Northern cities including Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Newark, and New York,…
Rebecca Solnit on George Orwell
Rebecca Solnit has devoted her latest book to his life and work. It’s called Orwell’s Roses, and it was inspired by a visit she paid to his rural cottage, where…
Reclaiming the Banjo’s Black Roots | In the Making
Follow Hannah Mayree, musician, banjo maker, and founder of the Black Banjo Reclamation Project, as they organize workshops and performances celebrating the banjo’s Black history.