The mystery: How did bubonic plague spread so rapidly? Could rat fleas have done it all? A new study points the finger at lice as possible accomplices.
The Rosetta Stone, the Kohinoor diamond, sculptures from Greece's Parthenon known as the Elgin Marbles are all dazzling objects that bear the history of early civilizations.
But these objects were also taken by colonizers, and still remain on display in museum galleries far from their homes.
Over the past several years museums around the world have been reckoning with the looted treasures they have kept and benefited from.
Now one small museum in Nashville, Tennessee is returning ancient objects excavated in Mexico.
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International courts investigating alleged war crimes have made headlines often in recent months. An arrest warrant has been issued for Russian President Vladimir Putin; arrest warrants have also been requested for senior Hamas and Israeli officials, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
What are these courts, where did they come from, and how did they come to decide the rules of war?
On today's episode, we travel from the battlefields of the U.S. Civil War, through the rubble of two world wars, to the hallways of the Hague, to trace modern attempts to define and prosecute war crimes.
When Jackie Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, it heralded an end to racial segregation in professional baseball.
And even though Major League Baseball teams were integrated, official recordkeepers refused to acknowledge stats from the Negro Leagues – where Black players were relegated to for decades.
Author and historian Larry Lester is one of the people who has fought to change that for years.
He's spent over 50 years compiling statistics from the Negro Leagues. Now, that effort is getting recognition from the MLB, and Lester spoke to Ari Shapiro on the battle for inclusion.
Statistics from the Negro Leagues have now been incorporated into the MLB's records – and it's reshaping the history of baseball.
For generations, Black baseball players' contributions to the sport have been ignored. Now, their legacies are being recognized.
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As war continues to rage in the Middle East, attention has been turned to how American Jews, Muslims, and Palestinians relate to the state of Israel. But when we talk about the region, American Christians, particularly evangelical Christians, are often not part of that story. But their political support for Israel is a major driver for U.S. policy — in part because Evangelicals make up an organized, dedicated constituency with the numbers to exert major influence on U.S. politics.
This week Code Switch digs into The Ministry of Time, a new book that author Kailene Bradley describes as a "romance about imperialism." It focuses on real-life Victorian explorer Graham Gore, who died on a doomed Arctic expedition in 1847. But in this novel, time travel is possible and Gore is brought to the 21st century where he's confronted with the fact that everyone he's ever known is dead, that the British Empire has collapsed, and that perhaps he was a colonizer.
Bethlehem: A Celebration of Palestinian Food is a love letter to Kattan's boyhood home — and the scents and flavors that made it a special place to learn how to cook.
Welcome to the "Epic of Marcos." In this tale of a family that's larger than life, Ferdinand Marcos, the former dictator of the Philippines, is at the center. But the figures that surround him are just as important: Imelda, his wife and muse; Bongbong, his heir; and the United States, his faithful sidekick. The story of the Marcos family is a blueprint for authoritarianism, laying out clearly how melodrama, paranoia, love, betrayal and a hunger for power collide to create a myth capable of propelling a nation. Today on the show, the rise, fall, and resurrection of a dynasty — and what that means for democracy worldwide.
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Riley Keough, Elvis' granddaughter, alleged that the company advertising a foreclosure sale of Graceland had forged documents. A Tennessee judge issued a temporary injunction on Wednesday to halt it.
Expelled from their property by the military amid World War II, Black families in the Harris Neck Land Trust are asking President Biden for an executive order to “correct a moral wrong.”
For nearly thirty years, the South African government held a man it initially labeled prisoner number 46664, the anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela. But in 1994, Mandela transformed from the country's 'number one terrorist' into its first Black president, ushering in a new era of democracy. Today, though, many in South Africa see Mandela's party, the ANC, as corrupt and responsible for the country's problems. It's an ongoing political saga, with all sides attempting to weaponize parts of the past – especially Nelson Mandela's legacy. On today's episode, we tell Mandela's story: the man, the myth, and the cost of freedom.
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As protests continue to rock the campuses of colleges and universities, a familiar set of questions is being raised: Are these protests really being led by students? Or are the real drivers of the civil disobedience outsiders, seizing on an opportunity to wreak chaos and stir up trouble?
There are clear similarities between 1968 and 2024, from presidential elections and anti-war protests to new Planet of the Apes movies. But historians tell NPR there are some key differences too.
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have turned their attention on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently. And the fact that the major party candidates are either trying to criticize him or praise him is a sign that his independent candidacy could have a real impact.
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