In the 1920s, she scandalized Europe in a banana skirt and became the most famous entertainer in the world. But when war came, Josephine Baker traded applause for espionage—smuggling secrets for the French Resistance, hiding messages in sheet music, and risking execution by the Nazis In today's episode, Host Ben Thompson is joined by historian Taylor Cassidy to break down the astonishing life of a woman who refused to be boxed in - by racism, by borders, or by history itself. From the stages of Paris to the front lines of World War II and the steps of the March on Washington, this is the story of a performer who turned celebrity into a weapon.

Feathers. Freedom. Fire. This is Josephine Baker at full volume.

Wooden teeth? No. Cherry tree? Probably not. Absolute unit of a leader? Undeniably.

Ben Thompson welcomes EpicLLOYD from Epic Rap Battles of History for a Presidents’ Day breakdown George Washington — the six-foot-two surveyor who became the most dangerous man in the British Empire.

Outnumbered. Undersupplied. Outgunned. Washington lost more battles than he won, but he never lost the war. From the frozen gamble at Trenton to resigning his commission when he didn’t have to, he pulled off something rarer than victory: he gave power back.

If monarchy was the expectation, Washington was the plot twist.

Ice. Starvation. Total darkness. And somewhere out there — a polar bear that would very much like to eat you.

On this episode, Ben Thompson is joined by producer Andrew Jacobs to break down the life of Fridtjof Nansen — Arctic explorer, record-setting skier, neuroscientist, diplomat, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and the only man in history to drift across the polar ice cap on purpose.

Nansen didn’t just explore the Arctic — he weaponized it. He froze his own ship into the pack ice to prove a scientific theory. He skied farther north than any human had ever gone. And when he was done conquering the planet’s most hostile environment, he turned around and saved hundreds of thousands of refugees.

This one has frostbite, philosophy, and a man who genuinely believed the only way out… was further in.