Things I knew little about

http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/hsw-shows/stuff-you-missed-in-history-class-podcast.htm

In 1915 Clara Immerwahr committed suicide using the service revolver of her husband, Nobel Prize winning chemist Fritz Haber. It is believed she did so after his refusal to abandon pioneering use of chlorine gas as a chemical weapon during the First World War. Haber’s son, Hermann later also killed himself, supposedly due to the shame he felt over his father’s actions.

I learned about Fritz Haber because I subscribe to “Stuff You Missed in History Class”. Almost everyone and everything discussed on this podcast was not talked about in any history class I ever sat through. In addition to Fritz Haber, I have been treated to looks at the life and times of such disparate figures as John Dillinger, Catherine The Great, Frida Kahlo, Ma Barker, Billy the Kid, Lord Byron, Gandhi, Lucretia Borgia, Meriwether Lewis, Brian Boru, Stokely Carmichael, and Mata Hari to name but a few.

The episodes have had different co-hosts over the years (currently Sarah Dowdey and Katie Lambert) and they each share in delivering the narrative of the topic/personage for that show. I like the style they use, which is kind of a “But Wait. There’s More” approach. Each podcast is 25 – 30 minutes which is a good length for me. It’s long enough to explore with some depth but it’s not as bad as some of the long lectures that can be found on iTunes University.

So I commend them on an entertaining and informative product. I hope you will sample Stuff You Missed in History Class and perhaps SYMiHC can make up for some of the things that were never brought up in school.