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In this episode, we’ll meet Robert Peary and Matthew Henson, two adventurers with completely different backgrounds and temperaments who formed one of the most enduring and successful partnerships in the history of exploration. But there were also disappoi
Kat Long|
After traveling over hundreds of miles of dangerous ice, Robert Peary believed he had reached his goal: He and his team were the first men to stand at the North Pole. Or were they?
Jay Serafino|
Robert E. Peary expected worldwide fame for being first at the North Pole. But Frederick A. Cook said he had been first. Peary sensed his glory being snatched from his grasp—and mounted a relentless campaign to prove his claim.
Michele Debczak|
In 1968, a Minnesota insurance salesman named Ralph Plaisted was sitting in a bar, talking to a friend about snowmobiles. His friend said that if snowmobiles were so great, he should be able to ride one to the North Pole. Plaisted accepted the challenge.
Jake Rossen|
Global warming is changing the Arctic—and explorers of the past would barely recognize its green tundra, diminished glaciers, and ice-free seas. Our final episode looks at the North Pole’s many legacies.
Kerry Wolfe|
The demise of the Franklin Expedition remains the most compelling puzzle in Arctic exploration. What catastrophe had befallen Britain’s best-prepared polar expedition? And what tantalizing clues are still being uncovered?
Kat Long|
Before Robert Peary claimed to have reached the North Pole, he led several expeditions to northern Greenland. He brought back three legendary meteorites from the Arctic—and a young boy named Minik.
Kat Long|
While on their quest for the North Pole, Robert Peary and Matthew Henson had sons with Inughuit women. In the 1980s, an ambitious Harvard neuroscientist brought them to America.
Kat Long|
In the final bonus episode of The Quest for the North Pole, we travel to far northwestern Greenland to see the changing Arctic firsthand. Along the way, we'll see amazing wildlife, get frostbite, and realize how lucky we are not to be man-hauling thousand
Kat Long|
In this final bonus episode of History Vs., Erin and Mental Floss fact checker Austin Thompson discuss the challenges and delights of tracking down the truth about Theodore Roosevelt—and bust some TR myths, too.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https
Erin McCarthy|
How Theodore Roosevelt used his big stick diplomacy to make the most of an international incident in an election year. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers
Jay Serafino|
In this special episode, we’re taking a look at the statue of Theodore Roosevelt outside the American Museum of Natural History: Its history, what the artists intended, and why it’s controversial today. Plus, we’ll revisit Roosevelt’s thinking on race and
Erin McCarthy|
Famed illusionist Harry Houdini might have been one of the only people to succeed in leaving Theodore Roosevelt truly dumbfounded.
Ellen Gutoskey|
Theodore Roosevelt has been in the news lately, thanks to a ship with a cargo of coronavirus and a leaked letter to the navy. But more than 100 years ago, TR—that ship's namesake—engaged in a controversial letter-writing campaign of his own, one that ince
Erin McCarthy|
In 1990, Theodore Roosevelt's double-action revolver—the one he'd used during the Battle of San Juan Heights—was stolen from Sagamore Hill National Historic Site. It wouldn't come back to the museum for another 16 years.
Erin McCarthy|
In his 1893 book The Wilderness Hunter, TR wrote about what he called "a goblin story that really impressed" him. Mental Floss Science Editor Kat Long joins Erin to discuss "The Bauman Incident." Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.co
Erin McCarthy|
Between all of his writing, ranching, and governing, Theodore Roosevelt made time to maintain close relationships with his many family members—all of whom led vibrant, adventurous lives of their own, and also helped establish TR’s legacy. From sister Bami
Ellen Gutoskey|
Theodore Roosevelt was a man who never stopped fighting. He grappled with his own physical deficiencies, railed against corruption, and always fought to move the nation forward in the way he thought best. One-hundred-and-one years after his death, where c
Erin McCarthy|
At age 55, Theodore Roosevelt embarked on an Amazonian jungle trek along the River of Doubt, where he very nearly lost his life. It was, in many ways, the icing on the cake of a life brimming with near-death experiences. He had close encounters with wild
Jay Serafino|
Theodore Roosevelt loved Christmas, but the Roosevelt family never had a Christmas tree. If you believe the stories, it's because TR, an avid conservationist, had banned them—and that ban is supposedly what led his son, Archie, to sneak a tree into the Wh
Erin McCarthy|
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