Tag: true crime
-
The Faithful Executioner by Joel Harrington
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Faithful Executioner: Who knew being an executioner for 45 years would be depressing? Quick synopsis: A biography of Frantz Schmidt of Nuremberg who was an executioner for 45 years and executed 394 people. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Executing was a family affair, literally. If you were an executioner,…
-
The Gateway (Podcast)
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Gateway: A woman named Teal Swan is a nutjob? Get out of town! Quick synopsis: A look at the cult-like following of Teal Swan, a new age YouTube life guru. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Why is she dangerous? For one thing, she teaches people to “visualize their suicide,”…
-
American Murder: The Family Next Door (Netflix)
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for American Murder: For once, the neighbor knew it. Quick synopsis: The murder of Shanann Watts and her daughters by Chris Watts. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: The next-door neighbor pretty much immediately knew Watts did it. It is one of the first things he eludes to when alone with police.…
-
Blood & Ivy by Paul Collins
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Blood & Ivy: Murrrrrderrrrrr at Haaaaaaavaaaaad. Quick synopsis: The story of a murdered Harvard alum in 1849. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Most people don’t realize this, but surgeons often had a very hard time practicing their craft. Dead bodies for study were hard to come across and aspiring doctors…
-
The Dream Season 1: Podcast Review
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Dream: Prepare for a different perspective of a lot of people in your Facebook feed. Quick synopsis: A look into what multi-level marketing (MLM) is and why it can literally ruin people’s lives. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: You have seen MLMs all over the place. Most likely, you’ve…
-
Absolute Monarchs by John Julius Norwich
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Absolute Monarchs: Popes behaving badly. Quick synopsis: It’s about the Pope. All of them. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Pope Stephen VI put Pope Formosus on trial. The catch? Formosus was dead for 7 months. They exhumed him and had him sit there during the trial. It’s called the Cadaver…
-
The Ghosts of Eden Park by Karen Abbott
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Ghosts of Eden Park: Prohibition was so stupid. Quick synopsis: The story of George Remus, a famous bootlegger who became famous for something else afterwards. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: George Remus was the “king of the bootleggers” and at one point owned one seventh of the bonded liquor…
-
Lost Paradise by Kathy Marks
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Lost Paradise: These people make the Tiger King look downright classy. Quick synopsis: A short history of the people of Pitcairn Island with a specific focus on the sexual assault trials of 2004. It is all really gross. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: The people of Pitcairn Island are the…
-
The Last Duel by Eric Jager
Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for The Last Duel: This is why we have lawyers. Quick synopsis: The story of the last trial by combat in France in 1386. Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like: Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are set to write and act in the movie version of this book. That is all the…