This Is Your Captain Speaking
What does a pilot sound like? Malcolm and Ben Naddaff-Hafrey take off on a long, strange investigation that takes them from Las Vegas to Family Guy to the airspace over…
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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. Because sometimes the past deserves a second chance.
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Most Recent Episode
This Is Your Captain Speaking
What does a pilot sound like? Malcolm and Ben Naddaff-Hafrey take off on a long, strange investigation that takes them from Las Vegas to Family Guy to the airspace over…
The Bear Was Poked With Maria Konnikova
Maria Konnikova returns as Revisionist History’s ombudsman. Today, she talks with Malcolm about assault rifles, tales of the two Matt Dillons, moral hazard, localized mortgage rates, and possible solutions to…
Unlocking Hidden Potential with Adam Grant
Malcolm Gladwell hosts a rollicking live discussion about Adam Grant’s new book, “Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things,” which is available now. They explore why we overemphasize innate…
Silicon Valley on the Couch
Why is Silicon Valley where it is? How did a narrow valley in California become the epicenter of the computer age? People usually say it’s because of Stanford, or the…
Guns Part 6: “Sin is the failure to bother to care”
Abdullah Pratt grew up in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in America, then returned to be an ER doctor in his neighborhood hospital. At the end of Revisionist History’s…
Guns Part 5: The Footnote
At the end of a forgotten study of convicted murderers, the author left a devastating footnote. We travel to an old plantation house outside Montgomery Alabama to hear his story…
Guns Part 4: Moral Hazard
Robert Kennedy was killed by an assassin's bullet in 1968, ending his presidential run. Had he been shot today, would he have lived? A what-if story about homicides and medical…
Guns Part 3: A Shooting Lesson
Malcolm goes to a shooting range in the woods of North Carolina to get a tutorial on the AR-15. It’s scary. It’s ugly. It’s at the center of the gun…
Guns Part 2: Getting out of Dodge
The longest running television series of the 20th century was Gunsmoke, a western set in the notorious Dodge City, Kansas. Malcolm sweeps away mountains of legal scholarship to make a…
Guns Part 1: The Sudden Celebrity of Sir John Knight
In the battles over gun rights, a shadowy English nobleman from the 17th century has unexpectedly taken center stage. Who was he? What did he do that has — 300…
Doctors, Guns, and Money
Coming soon – a six-part series from Revisionist History about everything Americans get wrong about guns. The series will air weekly, starting Thursday, August 31st. You can binge listen to…
Taxonomy of the Modern Mystery Story
Today, another episode from the Revisionist History Live universe. It's an old fashioned lecture, recorded at the New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University. Malcolm talks about a totally real…
Acting Out
Malcolm talks with Ben Naddaff-Hafrey, host of The Last Archive, about the forgotten origins of a major social science, the missing chapter in Ella Fitzgerald’s life, and what it all…
A Good Circle
This season, Malcolm's covered a lot of the problems in higher education. Today on the show: A solution. A big idea being tested at a little school on the shores…
Feeling A Bit Attacked with Maria Konnikova
Maria Konnikova, Revisionist History’s ombudsman—who's also an author, psychologist and professional poker player—is back for another round. This time she reads letters from the audience on the power of debate,…
The Pushkin Prize for Egregiously Deceptive Self-Promotion
Consider this your invitation to the greatest award show no one’s ever heard of: the Pushkin Prizes, created to honor the giants of the American education system. This year, Malcolm…
The Crisis in Girls’ Sports with Lauren Fleshman and Linda Flanagan
In a live conversation taped at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, Malcolm and his Martian friend consult athletes Linda Flanagan and Lauren Fleshman on how to level…
The Mystery of Mastery with Adam Gopnik
In a live conversation taped at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, Malcolm chats with his old friend and New Yorker magazine colleague, Adam Gopnik, about Adam’s latest…
Malcolm Goes to Debate School
What do you do after you've been humiliated at the Munk Debates? You call in the A-Team. The Brooklyn Debate League is a nonprofit organization that supports Speech & Debate…
Higher Animals with Michael Specter
Malcolm talks with his old friend, the brilliant science writer Michael Specter, about the future of life on Earth. Michael's response to the Covid-19 pandemic was to create a new…
Started From The Bottom with Justin Richmond
Today, we dig into the fascinating life of someone Malcolm knows very well: fellow Pushkin host Justin Richmond. Malcolm and Justin talk about being the product of biracial marriages, surviving…
Rodents and Red Wine with Maria Konnikova
Author, psychologist and professional poker player Maria Konnikova joins the show as Revisionist History’s first ombudsman. Maria advocates for the audience, reading letters from listeners and challenging Malcolm on matters…
A Treat for the Die-Hards
Every writer, podcaster and storyteller obsesses about how they begin a story. But they rarely pay enough attention to endings. Nothing matters more. Malcolm and Mike Birbiglia solve endings for…
The Mennonite National Anthem
Lester Glick’s year in the Minnesota Starvation Experiment cost him his hoped-for career and also left him with an eating disorder for the rest of his life. But like many…
The Rise of the Guinea Pigs
The Minnesota Starvation Experiment could never be done today. No scientist could get permission to starve 36 healthy people for close to a year. But why? Revisionist History tries to…
The Department of Physiological Hygiene
In the final year of the Second World War, 36 men spent a year in a dingy set of rooms under the University of Minnesota football stadium. They were part…
Outliers, Revisited
Did Malcolm Gladwell blow it in his bestselling book Outliers? What if all he did was write a primer for neurotic helicopter parents? To find out, Revisionist History descends on…
“I Was A Stranger and You Welcomed Me”
Malcolm tells the story of how his parents and their friends sponsored three Vietnamese refugees, in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. And wonders: do we underestimate the value of…
When Will Met Grace
You thought the antics of Will, Grace, Jack and Karen were just harmless fun. Oh please. Revisionist History dives deep into a television sitcom that you may not have realized…
Star Struck
A legendary Hollywood mogul, a famous author, a fatal drunk driving accident, and a brilliant bit of screenwriting, left on the cutting room floor. Revisionist History engages in a pop…
In Triplicate
A mystery that begins with the half-baked idea of an obscure California bureaucrat in the 1930’s and ends with one of the worst public crises in American history. Chicken Little…
Way to Go, Ohio
A century ago, a mysterious and disfiguring disease was finally cured by an experiment in Akron, Ohio . . . with a condiment. We ask: it is time to return…
The Magic Wand Experiment
What if you could design any experiment you wanted? Without worrying about money, ethics, logistics, or even the laws of nature? Revisionist History kicks off the season by giving some…
Revisionist History Season 7: The Experiment Experience
Revisionist History is back! And obsessed with ... experiments. Natural experiments. Thought experiments. Failed experiments. Experiments that end up in salt factories and file drawers filled with carbon copies. Not…
The Dog Will See You Now
If recent times have shown us anything, it’s that many problems can not be fixed by humans alone. In the Season 6 finale, Revisionist History turns to another species for…
A Serious Game
Tabletop Exercise Map, Grid, Unit Markers from a wargame analyzing NATO’s defense capabilities in the Baltics (See David Shlapak and Michael W. Johnson, “Reinforcing Deterrence on NATO’s Eastern Flank”)The best…
Laundry Done Right
Is there a right way to do your laundry? Of course there is. A long look at the science of cleaning your clothes.RESOURCES Elizabeth Morgan, Timothy J. Foxon, and Anne…
Little Mermaid Part 3: Honestly Ever After
Revisionist History presents: The Little Mermaid... our way. The grand finale of our three-part series. Featuring the voices of Jodie Foster, Glenn Close, Dax Shepard, Brit Marling, and many more.
Little Mermaid Part 2: The Fairytale Twist
The quest to revise The Little Mermaid continues. This week, we call in the experts. Part two of three. RESOURCES Angus Fletcher, Wonderworks: The 25 Most Powerful Inventions in the…
Little Mermaid Part 1: The Golden Contract
Vintage engraving of a scene from the Little Mermaid, a fairy tale by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen about a young mermaid willing to give up her life in…
The Judgment of Helen Levitt
Helen Levitt’s testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1951 [full testimony here]Helen Slote Levitt was on her way to the good life in 1950s Hollywood. Then one day,…
Project Dillard
A historically Black university in New Orleans is beloved by everyone – except the US News best colleges rankings. We hack our way back into the algorithm and show how…
Lord of the Rankings
For 30 years, US News & World Report has been using a secret formula to rank the best colleges and universities in the United States. As a public service to…
I Love You Waymo
The beach ball test.Revisionist History travels to Phoenix, Arizona to learn about the future of the automobile. It’s not what you think. It’s much better.Warning: Some of the actions depicted…
Introducing Revisionist History Season Six
The sixth season of Revisionist History is underway, and Malcolm’s finally out of the house. We play chicken with cars, war games with wonks, and travel deep under the sea.…
Bonus: Malcolm Gladwell and Adam Grant
Whenever Malcolm and Adam Grant cross paths on the book tour circuit, it’s always a good time. Here are pieces of two conversations from Clubhouse: one about Malcolm’s The Bomber…
Bonus: Return to the 404
We’re back in Atlanta - this week with jaunts to Jamaica, Kenya, court-side NBA games, and a deep dive into fine art forgery. Plus, Malcolm finally gets his big break…
Bonus: Druid Hills
Revisionist History takes a trip to Malcolm’s favorite city and gets a tour of Emory University, meets 3000 non-human primates and 8000 rodents, and dusts off an old TV pilot…
A Memorial for the Living
Lessons from the world’s most perfect memorial.SOURCES AND LINKS Changing Homelessness Website Photos of the 9/11 Memorial Tree Planting
‘Oh Howard, You Idiot!’
Getty ImagesA billionaire turned recluse befriends a minor novelist. Together they seize the publicâs imagination. Kind of. The true story behind the greatest autobiography youâve never read.SOURCES AND LINKS Orson…
Hamlet Was Wrong
The delicate science of hiring nihilism, examined in five deeply-personal case studies.SOURCES AND LINKS The Peter Principle by Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull “Kinetic Sculpture Race” in Humboldt County, CA…
Goodbye, Farewell and Amen
Getty ImagesHow do we remember one of the deadliest nights in human history? We don’t. Part four.SOURCES AND LINKS Full interview with Korean War veteran Bill Sinclair Full interview with…
Bombs-Away LeMay
The arguments, accidents, cold-blooded logic and sheer serendipity that led to the longest night of the Second World War. Part three.SOURCES AND LINKS Army Air Force filmTokyo, narrated by Ronald…
May the Best Firebomb Win
Basement laboratories. Mad scientists. Sticky gels, and a bake-off in the desert. The strange story behind Curtis LeMay’s weapon of choice. Part two.SOURCES AND LINKS The Scientific Method: A Personal…
The Bomber Mafia
Getty ImagesOn the eve of the Second World War, a band of visionaries at Maxwell Air Force Base tried to reimagine modern warfare. They failed. Part one on the extraordinary…
The Powerball Revolution
In Bolivia, a political activist radically reforms the voting process for... student council elections. Who else does he convince? Revisionist History. And maybe a fancy private school in New Jersey.SOURCES…
Hedwig’s Lost Van Gogh
An escape from war-torn Germany. Lavish dinners with Hollywood royalty. A Swedish baron and a dime-store heiress: we explore the long journey of a Van Gogh still life — and…
Dragon Psychology 101
Dragons hoard treasure, deep in their lairs. They don’t show it off to their neighbors. Revisionist History applies dragon psychology to the strange world of art museums, with help from…
Introducing Revisionist History Season 5
Andy Warhol. War. Smaug the Dragon. And, as always, digressions of great importance.
Revisionist History Presents: The Pushkin Industries Holiday Variety Show
Malcolm Gladwell debuts his first fireside chat, answering burning questions from Revisionist History listeners in this bonus episode. He lets us listen in on a conversation with Conan O’Brien and…
Bonus: Malcolm Gladwell on Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations
Malcolm Gladwell speaks with Oprah Winfrey about his new book Talking to Strangers, the one mystery he hopes might be resolved in our lifetimes, and the ways we could all…
The Queen of Cuba
On February 24, 1996, Cuban fighter jets shot down two small planes operated by Brothers to the Rescue, an organization in Florida that tried to spot refugees fleeing Cuba in…
The Obscure Virus Club
Throughout the 1960s, a biologist named Howard Temin became convinced that something wasn’t right in science’s understanding of viruses. His colleagues dismissed him as a heretic. He turned out to…
Chutzpah vs. Chutzpah
You thought that there was only one kind of chutzpah. Wrong. There’s two. Revisionist History tells the story of the Mafia’s showdown with a legendary Hollywood producer, in a battle…
In a Metal Mood
Two seasons after its investigation of the decline of McDonalds french fries, Revisionist History returns to fast-food’s high-tech test kitchens. This time the subject is cultural appropriation. The case study…
Descend into the Particular
An unarmed man is shot to death by police. How does the Jesuitical idea of “disordered attachments” help us make sense of what happened? Part three of three.INVESTIGATION OF THE…
Dr. Rock’s Taxonomy
John Rock was the co-inventor of the birth control pill — and a committed Catholic. He wanted his church to approve of his invention. What happens when a layman takes…
The Standard Case
Revisionist History tries to make sense of the conundrum of PED use in baseball, using the 500-year-old philosophical techniques of St. Ignatius. Part one of a three-part series on the…
Good Old Boys
If you disagree with someone — if you find what they think appalling — is there any value in talking to them? In the early 1970s, the talk show host…
Tempest in a Teacup
Bohea, the aroma of tire fire, Mob Wives, smugglers, “bro” tea, and what it all means to the backstory of the American Revolution. Malcolm tells the real story on what…
The Tortoise and the Hare
A weird speech by Antonin Scalia, a visit with some serious legal tortoises, and a testy exchange with the experts at the Law School Admissions Council prompts Malcolm to formulate…
Puzzle Rush
Malcolm challenges his assistant Camille to the Law School Admissions Test. He gets halfway through, panics, runs out of time, and wonders: why does the legal world want him to…
Analysis, Parapraxis, Elvis
The one song The King couldn’t sing.Elvis Presley returned from his years in the army to record one of his biggest hits, “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” But he could never…
Strong Verbs, Short Sentences
“She was Joan of Arc, Madame Curie, and Florence Nightingale — all wrapped up in one.”One long, hot afternoon on Capitol Hill, in the summer of 1991, the most powerful…
The Imaginary Crimes of Margit Hamosh
Epidemics of fear repeat themselves. The first time as tragedy. The second time as farce. Margit Hamosh? Definitely farce.What was it that Margit Hamosh did? What was her alleged fraud?…
Malcolm Gladwell’s 12 Rules for Life
Crucial life lessons from the end of hockey games, Idris Elba, and some Wall Street guys with a lot of time on their hands.Revisionist History wades into the crowded self-help…
The Hug Heard Round the World
Q: Was there a period where you felt you had something to prove? A: The first 45 years of my life.Sammy Davis Junior was one of the world’s greatest entertainers…
General Chapman’s Last Stand
Good fences make good neighbors. Or maybe not.General Leonard Chapman guided the Marines Corp through some of the most difficult years in its history. He was brilliant, organized, decisive and…
Free Brian Williams
"Sorry dude, I don’t remember you being on my aircraft."NBC news anchor Brian Williams told a war story on national television. It wasn’t true. But does that make him a…
A Polite Word for Liar
An early morning raid, a house-full of Nazis, the world’s greatest harmonica player, and a dashingly handsome undercover spy. What could possibly go wrong? One early morning in July of…
Burden of Proof
“He called to wish me ‘Happy Birthday.’ Then he said, ‘I’m failing everything.’” In 2013, Malcolm gave a talk at the University of Pennsylvania on the subject of proof. How…
Divide and Conquer
The complete, unabridged history of the world’s most controversial semicolon. US CONSTITUTION, ARTICLE IV, SECTION 3 New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new…
Bonus: Malcolm Gladwell debates Adam Grant
In a special live taping at the 92nd Street Y in New York, Malcolm talks with WorkLife’s Adam Grant about how to avoid doing highly undesirable tasks, what makes an…
The Basement Tapes
What is a son’s obligation to his father? A cardiologist in Minnesota searches through the basement of his childhood home for a missing box of data from a long-ago experiment.…
McDonald’s Broke My Heart
They made the world’s greatest French Fry. Then they threw it away.McDonald’s used to make the best fast food french fries in the world — until they changed their recipe…
Mr. Hollowell Didn’t Like That
Arrested, arraigned, indicted, tried, convicted, and sentenced to die in the electric chair in 24 hours. A man named Willie Nash is arrested for the murder of a white man…
State v Johnson
“Nobody was interested in justice.” The first of a two-part story about the lawyers who helped crack the colorlines of the Jim Crow South. A man rapes a woman. Vernon…
The King of Tears
Why country music makes you cry, and rock and roll doesn’t: A musical interpretation of divided America. Revisionist History goes to Nashville to talk with Bobby Braddock, who has written…
The Prime Minister and the Prof
The friendship that changed the course of World War II. How does friendship influence political power? The story of Winston Churchill’s close friend and confidant — an eccentric scientist named…
The Foot Soldier of Birmingham
“Oh, Mac. What did you do?” Birmingham, 1963. The image of a police dog viciously attacking a young black protester shocks the nation. The picture, taken in the midst of…
Miss Buchanan’s Period of Adjustment
A landmark Supreme Court case. A civil rights revolution. Why has everyone forgotten what happened next? Brown v Board of Education might be the most well-known Supreme Court decision, a…
The Road to Damascus
What happens when a terrorist has a change of heart? An Islamic militant, who left a trail of destruction in Europe, crosses over to work for the CIA. And then,…
A Good Walk Spoiled
Rich people and their addiction to golf: a philosophical investigation. In the middle of Los Angeles — a city with some of the most expensive real estate in the world…
The Satire Paradox
In the political turmoil of mid-1990s Britain, a brilliant young comic named Harry Enfield set out to satirize the ideology and politics of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. His parodies became…
Generous Orthodoxy
A 98-year-old minister takes on his church over the subject of gay marriage—and teaches the rest of us what it means to stand up in protest. A pastor officiates at…
Blame Game
In the summer and fall of 2009, hundreds of Toyota owners came forward with an alarming allegation: Their cars were suddenly and uncontrollably accelerating. Toyota was forced to recall 10…
Hallelujah
In 1984, Elvis Costello released what he would say later was his worst record: Goodbye Cruel World. Among the most discordant songs on the album was the forgettable “The Deportees…
My Little Hundred Million
In the early ’90s, Hank Rowan gave $100 million to a university in New Jersey, an act of extraordinary generosity that helped launch the greatest explosion in educational philanthropy since…
Food Fight
Bowdoin College and Vassar College are two elite private schools that compete for the same students. But one of those schools is trying hard to address the problem of rich…
Carlos Doesn’t Remember
Of the tens of thousands of talented, low-income students who graduate from high school every year in the United States, most never make it to universities appropriate to their gifts.…
The Big Man Can’t Shoot
Wilt Chamberlain’s brilliant career was marred by one, deeply inexplicable decision: He chose a shooting technique that made him one of the worst foul shooters in basketball—even though he had…
Saigon, 1965
In the early 1960s the Pentagon set up a top-secret research project in an old villa in downtown Saigon. The task? To interview captured North Vietnamese soldiers and guerrillas in…
The Lady Vanishes
In the late 19th century, a painting titled The Roll Call, by a virtually unknown artist, took England by storm. But after that brilliant first effort, the artist all but…
The Host
Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell is president and co-founder of Pushkin Industries. He is a journalist, a speaker, and the author of six New York Times bestsellers including The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers,…
