Everything Everywhere

3000 Years of Roman History

Gary Arndt — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 06:03:29 +0000

Podcast Transcript Rome has been called the Eternal City, but its history has had enormous ups and downs. It went from being the largest, most important city in the world to a small backwater, then made a remarkable turnaround, becoming once again the most important city in Italy. It has been a center of power, ...

The Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund.

Gary Arndt — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 06:29:55 +0000

Podcast Transcript On Christmas Eve 1969, the nation of Norway received a massive Christmas present. After years of failed drilling attempts, Norway announced they had discovered one of the largest oil reserves on Earth. This remarkable find would immediately transform Norway from a quiet, industrial, and fishing-based economy into one of the world’s ten largest ...

All About Flags

Gary Arndt — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 06:18:00 +0000

Podcast Transcript Flags are one of the oldest and most successful systems of visual communication ever devised. Long before they became symbols of countries, flags and flag-like objects identified armies, ships, military units, and rulers. However, their modern role as symbols of entire nations is actually a relatively recent development. Learn more about flags and ...

The Doctor’s Riot of 1788

Gary Arndt — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 07:18:31 +0000

Podcast Transcript In the years after the American Revolution, New York City was growing rapidly, and so was the demand for trained physicians. But medical education required something that was difficult to obtain legally, and rumors soon spread that the dead were not being allowed to rest in peace. Anger grew, suspicions hardened, and in ...

German Americans

Gary Arndt — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 06:24:31 +0000

Podcast Transcript According to the US Census, the single largest ethnic group in the United States are Germans. More than 40 million Americans identified their ancestry as German. Driven from Europe by unrest, poverty, famine, and religious persecution, Germans quickly assimilated into American society. So much so that it’s difficult to imagine an America without ...

The Florence Cathedral

Gary Arndt — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 05:38:04 +0000

Podcast Transcript For more than a century, one of Europe’s richest cities worked on a building it didn’t know how to finish. Its designers created an enormous space that seemed impossible to cover, leaving future generations with one of the Middle Ages’ greatest engineering challenges. The solution would require new machines, new construction techniques, and ...

The History of the Plow

Gary Arndt — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 04:49:52 +0000

Podcast Transcript For most of human history, growing food depended on one deceptively simple piece of technology. Over thousands of years, it evolved from little more than a sharpened stick into a machine that could transform entire landscapes, open new regions to farming, and support much larger populations. Its development helped shape settlement patterns, economies, ...

The Liberal Arts

Gary Arndt — Tue, 18 Aug 2026 07:47:07 +0000

Podcast Transcript For thousands of years, educators have wrestled with the question: what knowledge does a person truly need? The answer once included seven formal subjects that established the foundation of education from ancient Greece through the medieval university. The subjects have changed dramatically over time, but the underlying idea has survived. Learn more about ...

John Dickinson: The Reluctant Revolutionary

Gary Arndt — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 05:54:14 +0000

Podcast transcript He was one of the most influential political writers of the American Revolution, helped shape the argument against British taxation, drafted major documents for the Continental Congress, and helped create both of America’s first two systems of government. Yet when the colonies decided to declare their independence, he refused to support it. For ...

The US Occupation of Japan

Gary Arndt — Sun, 16 Aug 2026 04:46:38 +0000

Podcast Transcript In the aftermath of World War II, the United States occupied Japan from 1945 to 1952. During the occupation, the United States aimed to achieve three main goals: demilitarization, democratization, and social and economic reform. Under US control, Japan was transformed from a militaristic empire into a peaceful, economic powerhouse. It was unlike ...

Currencies of the World

Gary Arndt — Sat, 15 Aug 2026 06:24:02 +0000

Podcast Transcript Every day, billions of people exchange pieces of paper, metal coins, and increasingly, numbers on a screen. The names attached to that money often have histories stretching back centuries, with origins in weights of silver, royal crowns, and ancient coins. Many of the names have similar origins, even if they are on the ...