The History of the Twentieth Century

Mark Painter
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Sep 12, 2021 • 43min

252: Mahatma Gandhi Ki Jai!

In the early 1920s, Gandhi's first nationwide satyagraha campaign saw unprecedented Hindu-Muslim unity, but led to violence and failed to achieve its aims. Gandhi spent some time in prison, but by 1930, with a Labour government in power, Gandhi and the Indian National Congress felt ready to declare independence.
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8 snips
Sep 5, 2021 • 45min

251 Keep the Consumer Dissatisfied

Discover how consumer dissatisfaction has driven the automotive industry's growth by shifting from basic needs to a culture of consumption. Learn about William Durant's rise in the car business, his innovative strategies, and the eventual formation of General Motors. Explore the transformation of cars from luxuries to necessities, along with the challenges of theft and competition. Delve into Edsel Ford's leadership at Ford Motor Company, grappling with family dynamics and modernization amid economic pressures.
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Aug 29, 2021 • 49min

250 An Instinct for the Regrettable

Two of the twentieth century's worst technological innovations were leaded gasoline and chlorofluorocarbons. Both were introduced by the same person, engineer Thomas Midgley.
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Aug 15, 2021 • 49min

249: Coming of Age in Samoa

In the 1920s, most took it for granted that Western civilization and culture was the pinnacle of human accomplishment. A 23-year-old graduate student set out to prove that this was not the case, and that even the West had something to learn from other cultures.
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Aug 8, 2021 • 51min

248 Darwin's Dilemma

Charles Darwin himself noted that the development of civilization had "stopped" evolution by natural selection within our own human species. This led others to speculate on whether society could purposefully direct human evolution.
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Aug 1, 2021 • 52min

247 Inherit the Wind

The state of Tennessee had made it a criminal offense to teach evolution in the public schools. The trial of John Scopes became the most famous court case in America of the period.
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Jul 25, 2021 • 51min

246 The Great Debate II

If the first great scientific debate of the 1920s was over the size and composition of the Universe, the second was over the structure and nature of the atom. It turned out that the common-sense rules of our everyday world don't apply at the atomic level.
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Jul 11, 2021 • 40min

245 Les années folles

The French know the Roaring Twenties as the "crazy years," when Coco Chanel was the queen of fashion and Dada art was making everyone scratch their heads.
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Jul 4, 2021 • 41min

244 Anything Goes

Music has always been a part of theatre, from opera to vaudeville. But in the 1920s, the first true stage musicals appeared.
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Jun 27, 2021 • 44min

243 The Algonquin Roundtable

New York City grew to be the most populous city in the world in the 1920s, as well as home to the world's tallest buildings and the world's champion smart alecks.

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