The Last Archive
The Last Archive
The Last Archive is a show about the history of truth, and the historical context for our current fake news, post-truth moment. It’s a show about how we know what we know, and why it seems, these days, as if we don’t know anything at all anymore. The show is written & hosted by Ben Naddaff-Hafrey, and was created by the historian Jill Lepore. iHeartMedia is the exclusive podcast partner of Pushki…Social links:
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John Birch vs. the PTA
In the 1960s, a right-wing organization led by a former candy tycoon rose to fame in America for their anti-communist campaigns. They called themselves the John Birch Society. Then, they tried to take over the Parent-Teacher Association. This week, what the battle between the two organizations tell…
33:08
Leon Neyfakh on the Bush v. Gore Fiasco
Today on the show, Leon Neyfakh, co-creator of the hit podcasts Slow Burn and Fiasco, discusses his season on the aftermath of the 2000 election between Al Gore and George W. Bush. You can listen to the full season of Fiasco now.
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Part 2: Long Jump, Tall Tale
Jesse Owens spent the rest of his life retelling the story of the 1936 games and his encounter with Luz Long. We trace the evolution of a tall tale, discovering the hidden life of one of America’s iconic sports heroes. This is part two of a two-part crossover from Revisionist History’s ‘Hitler’s O…
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Part 1: The Jiggle & the Giddy Up
The most famous athlete in 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany was the American sprinter Jesse Owens, and one of the most famous stories from those Games was the unexpected, heartwarming encounter Owens had with the German long jumper Luz Long. The friendship between the two athletes would serve as a sym…
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70 Years of Brown v. Board of Education
Jill Lepore returns to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the ruling in Brown v. Board of Education with a special episode of The Last Archive. She and Ben Naddaff-Hafrey explore the amazing new AI-powered recreation of the Brown v. Board cases over at the Oyez project. Then, Kenneth W. Mack, the La…
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Man in the Box - 'The Deadline'
Today, we’re ending our Deadline mini-series with an essay about one of our favorite TV shows: Dr. Who. Afterwards, Jill and Ben talk about the greatness of genre fiction and Jill’s love-hate relationship with postmodernism. We hope you’ve enjoyed this special series of essays from The Deadline. Y…
50:34
No, We Cannot - ‘The Deadline’
This episode features an essay from Jill Lepore’s ‘The Deadline.’ Why are there so many stories about the end of the world these days? Jill’s essay “No, We Cannot,” elaborates a political theory of dystopian fiction. And then, after the essay, Jill and Ben talk about the use and misuse of the genr…
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The Disruption Machine - ‘The Deadline’
This episode features an essay from Jill Lepore’s ‘The Deadline.’ Today on the show, Jill and Ben travel back in time to the disrupt-or-die 2010s to revisit Jill’s essay about the gospel of disruption. And afterwards, they talk about the consequences and challenges taking on controversial subjects…
56:21
It’s Still Alive - ‘The Deadline’
This episode features an essay from Jill Lepore’s ‘The Deadline.’ Why do we insist on misreading ‘Frankenstein?’ Hardly a day goes by without someone comparing some new technology to Frankenstein’s monster. But there’s a much richer set of lessons to draw from Mary Shelley’s book. Today on the sh…
34:09
The Valley of the Dolls - ‘The Deadline’
This episode features an essay from Jill Lepore’s ‘The Deadline.’ Jill reads her essay on the tangled history of Barbie. And then, after, Ben and Jill talk about how the film fits in with the core concerns of the essay — the tangled web of intellectual property, IP theft, and the relationship betw…
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