Revisionist History: The Staten Island Problem
Revisionist History: The Staten Island Problem
Revisionist History is Malcolm Gladwell's journey through the overlooked and the misunderstood. Every episode re-examines something from the past—an event, a person, an idea, even a song—and asks whether we got it right the first time. From Pushkin Industries. Because sometimes the past deserves a second chance. On the 250th anniversary of the United States, Revisionist History investigates the o…Social links:
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Coming Soon: The Staten Island Problem
On the 250th anniversary of the United States, Revisionist History investigates the overlooked story of New York City almost breaking apart as Staten Island threatened to secede. Over the course of five episodes, The Staten Island Problem reconstructs the battle for New York City amidst the turb…
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Frankenfood | The Mistakes Series
Would a tomato by any other name taste as sweet? What about a steak? Malcolm sends Ben on a mission to investigate the cutting edge of food technology and two mistakes: one from the 1990s and one that’s unfolding as we speak.
32:08
Reconstruction: The Unfinished Promise
Sharing Malcolm’s latest project, a podcast called Reconstruction: The Unfinished Promise. Imagine a time when the United States was split in two. And then had to put itself back together. It was a time of chaos and sometimes violence as millions of people fought for the right to become citizens…
50:09
Revisited: Ms. Buchanan’s Period of Adjustment
Revisionist History revisits an episode from season two and Malcolm tells the story of a phone call that set in motion a collaboration with President Barack Obama, which we'll preview next week.
32:50
Introducing The News from Scene on Radio
Scene on Radio is a two-time Peabody-nominated podcast that dares to ask big, hard questions about who we are—really—and how we got this way. Their new season, The News, asks: what’s really wrong with the news? Some have called the news media the oxygen of a functioning democracy. But if that’s tru…
42:03
The Great American Elevator Tragedy | The Mistakes Series
A single line of a building code proposal filled out by a fire inspector in Glendale, Arizona has had a devastating impact on the way housing is built across the entire United States. Malcolm enlists Stephen Smith, Executive Director of the Center for Building in North America, to investigate.
26:07
James Fleming’s Impossible Vietnam War Rescue | From Medal of Honor
This July 4th marks the 250th Anniversary of America—250 years of rebellion and innovation, of struggle and survival. At many times, our American experiment looked like it could fall apart at the seams. When you look closely at those moments, it was ordinary people who kept it all together. In thew…
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The Trust Diagnosis
The episode centers on the dilemma of a man with an advanced, metastatic case of prostate cancer. His name is Dan. Every doctor he spoke to had a different opinion on what he should do — or whether it was even worth doing anything at all. His question was: which of these many opinions should I trus…
39:09
The BlackBerry Problem | The Mistakes Series
Jim Balsillie, the one time co-CEO of Research in Motion, reflects on the mistake that led to the downfall of BlackBerry, once named the fastest growing company in the world.
32:56
The Worst Poet in the World | From Cautionary Tales
In light of our current series on mistakes, we're sharing an episode from Cautionary Tales—a podcast that’s all about mistakes and what we can learn from them. This story is about a poet—some say the worst poet in the world–William McGonagall. McGonagall's works were full of jarring meter, banal im…
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