Roundup

Jack the Ripper wasn't biggest fear of 1880s Londoners [30min]

Former British Conservative politician Michael Portillo presents a series revisiting the great moments of history to discover that they often conceal other events of equal but forgotten importance. In the late 1880s, Londoners were certainly afraid, but not, as we might expect, of a top-hat wearing, knife-wielding psychopath. Michael travels from London's East End to its West End to reveal that the fear that stalked those streets was no

NASA tried to keep Apollo 1 fire investigation in-house [audio 29min]

Americans have no trouble recalling where they were when the Challenger exploded. But outside the aerospace community, you'd be hard-pressed to find people who remember the fire on-board Apollo 1, which killed three astronauts. Nevertheless, the loss, the tragedy and the impact of that fire were as bad, if not worse, than Challenger: The Apollo 1 fire called into question the most fundamental aspects of NASA's management structure. In this program, NASA, upon experiencing its worst

Congress faulted NASA for Apollo 1 fire [audio 29min]

Following the fire on Apollo 1, NASA tried, for various reasons, to keep the investigation in-house. But Members of Congress had other ideas. NASA had gathered, and then kept secret, highly critical information about the company that built the Apollo 1 capsule. When that information was leaked, it threw the agency open to suspicion for the first time in its history. This program looks at the nearly devastating impact of Congressional investigations into the Apollo 1 fire on NASA's way of doing b

Clifford Geertz was pioneering cultural anthropologist [audio 3min]

Clifford Geertz, an eminent cultural anthropologist who stressed the importance of understanding the symbols of different societies, died late last month. Debbie Elliott has a remembrance.

AK-47 changed the face of war [audio 7min]

There are as many as 100 million AK-47s in the world. At the center of modern armed conflict, the weapons have also been glorified in rap music, gangster films and on national flags. In AK-47: The Weapon That Changed the Face of War (Wiley), author Larry Kahaner traces the weapon's role in modern culture. Kahaner is interviewed by journalist Andrea Seabrook.

EPA expected to issue million-year-long regulation [audio 5min]

In the coming weeks, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to issue a regulation that will extend 1 million years into the future. The timescale of the regulation, which deals with the disposal of power plant nuclear waste, is unprecedented territory for the EPA. In 2002, after Congress and President Bush approved plans to store power plant nuclear waste material inside Yucca Mountain, Nevada, the EPA was placed in charge of laying out the repository's building codes, designed to

History as a political tool [audio 8min]

NPR News Analyst Cokie Roberts talks with Steve Inskeep about how the Republican and Democratic parties use history to define themselves and the political landscape.

Drawing parallels between ancient Rome and the U.S. today [audio 7min]

Novelist Robert Harris speaks with Steve Inskeep about how the history of Rome is reflected in our modern-day world. Harris sees parallels between the time of Rome's transition from republican to imperial rule and the challenges the U.S. faces now.

Nathaniel Philbrick debunks Pilgrim myths, 2nd of 2 [audio 4min]

Part 2:"The Pilgrims and Native Americans": Nathaniel Philbrick, author of Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War, dispels some of the myths surrounding the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving.

Nathaniel Philbrick debunks Pilgrim myths, 1st of 2 [audio 4min]

Part 1:"Before Plymouth": Nathaniel Philbrick, author of Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War, notes that the Pilgrims encountered Native Americans -- and stole their corn -- before reaching Plymouth Harbor.

Q Camp was failed social experiment in WWII Britain [audio 30min]

Jolyon Jenkins recounts a forgotten story of World War II. The authorities had a problem with children who had been evacuated but who were too disturbed or delinquent for normal families to handle. So, when a group of earnest young conscientious objectors offered to take some of them off to a field in Essex and cure their antisocial tendencies, nobody asked too many questions. The staff theorized that antosocial children could be socialized by voluntarily sharing responsibilities. But the childr

Monasteries introduced rabbits to Britain as 'fish' for Lenten meals [audio 6min @21:08]

"Making History" investigated recent research into the introduction into Britain of the rabbit and consulted Julie Curl of the Norfolk Archaeological Unit, Simon Parfitt of the Natural History Museum, and Naomi Sykes at the University of Nottingham.

Adoption in UK was informal, unregulated before 20c [audio 7min @12:05]

"Making History" listener Christopher Reason contacted the programme after working on his family history. His grandfather Tom Reason (1872–1926) was the subject of a family story which said that, shortly after his birth, his father died, whereupon his mother remarried and emigrated and left little Tom in the care of the De Boyne family. Christopher soon discovered from Tom's birth certificate that this was a fabrication. Tom was illegitimate and was put down in the 1881 census as livin

Stonehenge fits within other local pre-historic sites [audio 8min @1:25]

"Making History" listener Martha Page is keen to find out about the links between Stonehenge and other pre-historic sites in the local landscape, such as Durrington Walls and Woodhenge. Presenter Nick Baker went to Stonehenge to talk to two leading specialists, David Bachelor, an archaeologist for English Heritage, and Mike Pitts, the editor of British Archaeology.

'The Few' and the battle over Britain [audio 10min]

In the summer of 1940 the Germans dominated the European continent while Britain stood alone. Shortly after the fall of France, Adolph Hitler ordered his Luftwaffe to gain control of the air over the English Channel just long enough to cover an invasion, and launched the Battle of Britain. As Spitfires dueled Messerschmitts, Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered his famous tribute to the pilots of the Royal Air Force:"Never in the field of human conflict, he said,"have so many owed so much,

Author examines founding Founding Fathers' views on religion [audio 8min]

In American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation Jon Meacham asks what America's founding fathers thought about religion in public life. Meacham says those on the left and the right often quote the founding fathers to serve their purposes.

Woody Guthrie was balladeer of Dust Bowl [audio 30min]

BBC Radio 2 goes on the trail of Woody Guthrie, telling the amazing story of an artist who has influenced so many, and yet who lived so simply, riding hobo on the trains and hitching his way through the devastated heart of America after the passing of the Great Dust Storms of the 1930s.

The Legacy of Alexis de Tocqueville [audio 16min @0:55]

Alexis de Tocqueville was an old-world aristocrat with aspirations as a social scientist. He left revolutionary France and travelled to America in the early nineteenth century. His subsequent volumes, Democracy in America and The Old Regime and the Revolution are still considered essential reading for students of American culture and modern democracy today. Laurie Taylor is joined by Hugh Brogan, Research Professor at the Department of History at the University of Essex and author of Alexis

Getty Museum returns Italian antiquities [audio 4min]

The Getty Museum has agreed to return 26 objects from its antiquities collection to Italy. The museum has been involved in a legal battle with the Italian Ministry of Culture. Former Getty curator Marion True was charged with knowingly trafficking in artifacts looted from archaeological sites. Elizabeth Blair reports.

Russian ex-KGB agent poisoned in London [audio 8min @9:18]

To readers of novels of Cold War espionage, the story of the former Russian spy currently clinging to life in a London hospital is reminiscent of the more complex works of John Le Carré. But this isn't fiction -- and the mystery of what brought Alexander Litvinenko to his hospital bed remains an especially perplexing real-life tale. Litvinenko is a former KGB agent who has been living in Britain for six years -- ever since he publicly criticized the Russian spy service, and later, President Vlad