Unit 731 was a secret biological warfare and human‑experimentation program run by the Imperial Japanese Army before and during World War II. Its experiments - vivisection, deliberate infection with plague, anthrax and other pathogens, frostbite and pressure tests, and field releases of disease - killed thousands, and left a legacy of trauma across East Asia.

After the war, many perpetrators avoided prosecution when U.S. authorities granted immunity in exchange for research data, a decision that raises urgent questions about ethics, power, and how states value scientific knowledge over justice.

So in this episode, I’m asking… what is Unit 731, and why did the US cover it up?

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Special Guest:

Jenny Chan, the founder of Pacific Atrocities Education - https://pacificatrocities.org - an organization dedicated to documenting and teaching about wartime atrocities in the Asia‑Pacific, including Unit 731. She curates resources, produces educational materials, and works with survivors’ families and scholars to keep this history visible.

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Highlights:

02:44 - The Origins of Unit 731

07:23 - The Experiments

10:49 - The Victims

17:12 - The Discovery of Unit 731

24:00 - Why Cover It Up?

28:28 - The Test is Classified

34:47 - The Ethics of Covering Up

40:42 - Institutional Trust

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For an extended reading list and to learn more, join our Patreon community now: ⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/cw/americathestoryoftheusa⁠

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America: Study Notes are quickfire explainers for all the things you want to know about the USA, but don't want to ask.

Today: and the first of our Presidents series, is all about George Washington - his election, presidency, key achievements and legacy.

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This week, UEA's Emma Long joins Liam to break down a packed slate of US political drama and historic scientific achievement.

They explore Donald Trump’s controversial executive order to create a national voter list, the constitutional backlash from states, and the wider political strategy behind tightening mail‑in voting rules.

They then unpack Trump’s underwhelming national address amid the escalating Iran conflict, rising global oil prices, and growing fears about America’s commitment to NATO.

Plus, they turn to NASA’s Artemis II mission, which has just launched four astronauts on a historic journey around the moon. What will it mean, and what's the point?

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Stories Mentioned:

• Trump’s national voter list: https://www.newsweek.com/trump-nationwide-voter-list-executive-order-legal-challenges-11765880 
• The latest in Iran: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c36r5p1l7w3t 
• NASA Artemis II website: https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/ 
• White House ballroom stalls: https://apnews.com/article/trump-white-house-ballroom-construction-halted-9cafc70569a3a05fcbaa6cafddbeace4

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America: The Story of the USA is a Podcasts by Liam production for ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Mercury⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, in partnership with the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠British Association for American Studies⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: https://america-the-story-of-the-usa.beehiiv.com/

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Carved into the granite spine of the Black Hills, Mount Rushmore is one of the most recognisable images in American culture - four presidential faces staring out across South Dakota, invoked endlessly as a symbol of patriotism, democracy and national pride.

But behind the postcard image lies a far more tangled story: a monument born from economic desperation, shaped by political ambition, sculpted by a man with deep ties to the Ku Klux Klan, and built on land the United States illegally seized from the Lakota Sioux.

In this episode, we trace the mountain’s transformation from a state tourism scheme into a federally funded memorial, explore the complicated legacy of its sculptor Gutzon Borglum, and examine how the monument’s meaning has shifted across a century of American history.

From the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie to the rise of automobile tourism, from the politics of Calvin Coolidge to the unfinished Hall of Records, Mount Rushmore is a story of artistry, myth‑making, erasure and unresolved trauma.

So in this episode, we're asking… what is Mount Rushmore?

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Special Guest:

Matthew Davis is an acclaimed author and journalist whose work explores the intersections of history, culture and contested landscapes. His latest book, A Biography of a Mountain: The Making and Meaning of Mount Rushmore, offers the most comprehensive narrative history of the memorial to date.

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Highlights:

02:13 - The Origin Story

06:58 - Politics and Money

14:33 - Gutzon Borglum

25:37 - Mount Rushmore's Construction

30:05 - How Many Deaths?

38:33 - Native Impact

46:56 - Preservation of the site

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For an extended reading list and to learn more, join our Patreon community now: ⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/cw/americathestoryoftheusa⁠

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America: Study Notes are quickfire explainers for all the things you want to know about the USA, but don't want to ask.

This week, All 50 US States, including their abbreviations and capital cities. It’s the most boring party trick in the world, but super handy for revision!

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This week, we discuss Christopher Columbus statues near the White House, another lawsuit for Bill Cosby, and with increasingly irrational behaviour, we genuinely want to know if the President is ok.

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Stories Mentioned:

• A Christopher Columbus statue is erected next to the White House: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-places-statue-christopher-columbus-white-house-rcna264668
• Bill Cosby liable for $59m in damages following civil trial: https://apnews.com/article/bill-cosby-verdict-sexual-assault-motsinger-83b384df93fd9bf862b553b19b5aa4f9
• Donald Trump's diplomacy: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/trump-s-iran-strategy-showcases-doctrine-of-unpredictability-amid-strike-threats-and-sudden-pause/ar-AA1ZhSzq?ocid=BingNewsSerp
• Hospital squatter: https://apnews.com/article/florida-tallahassee-healthcare-hospital-1722512e3e9b6dc2662bcb6c9097ca1d

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America: The Story of the USA is a Podcasts by Liam production for ⁠⁠⁠⁠Mercury⁠⁠⁠⁠, in partnership with the ⁠⁠⁠⁠British Association for American Studies⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: https://america-the-story-of-the-usa.beehiiv.com/

Join the community: https://www.patreon.com/americathestoryoftheusa

Get in touch: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It began as "a choose your own adventure” that let wildly different gyms wear the same name, and it "grew into one of the most influential and controversial fitness movements in the world."

CrossFit exploded from a scrappy California experiment into a global fitness phenomenon that rewired how people train, belong, and build identity, while also exposing fault lines around leadership, safety, and culture.

In this episode we explore the movement’s internet‑era rise, the low‑barrier licensing model that let thousands of “boxes” proliferate, and the tension between CrossFit’s empowering grassroots community and the toxic, exclusionary practices that later fractured the brand.

We trace how the CrossFit Games and a cult‑like group identity amplified both the movement’s best outcomes - community, strength, accessibility - and its worst: inconsistent standards, competitive excess, and leadership failures.

So in this episode, we're asking… what is CrossFit?

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Special Guest:

Alyssa Royse, is a writer, gym owner, and longtime advocate for inclusive, science‑based fitness. She founded Rocket Community Fitness in Seattle as a CrossFit affiliate and later publicly disassociated from the brand over concerns about culture, leadership, and safety.

Alyssa combines frontline experience running a neighborhood box with marketing expertise and a public record of critique and reform, making her a leading voice on what CrossFit got right, what it broke, and how fitness communities can do better.

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Highlights:

02:09 - The Dot Com Boom

07:20 - What Does CrossFit Stand For?

11:45 - The National Identity of CrossFit

17:58 - The Multimillion Dollar Question

22:14 - Stop Being Assholes

27:38 - Toxic Masculinity and the Cult of CrossFit

34:17 - Materialism

42:41 - Post-Greg

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For an extended reading list and to learn more, join our Patreon community now: ⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/cw/americathestoryoftheusa⁠

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America: Study Notes are quickfire explainers for all the things you want to know about the USA, but don't want to ask.

This week, Every War the USA Has Fought - a handy quickfire timeline of when and who.

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Contact us: [email protected]

Join the community: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/cw/americathestoryoftheusa⁠⁠⁠ - use code USA26 for 50% off your first month

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This week, after another chaotic week in US politics and global affairs, we look at the latest developments in Donald Trump’s escalating war in Iran, his claim that the US “no longer needs NATO,” and the growing international backlash as the conflict spirals beyond Washington’s control.

We discuss the political and economic consequences of Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the resignation of America’s counterterrorism chief, and the domestic fallout as fuel prices surge.

Domestically, extreme weather sweeps across the US - heatwaves in the west and snowstorms in the east - and how climate change, government shutdowns, and TSA staffing crises have collided to create nationwide travel chaos.

And today we expect the confirmation of Markwayne Mullin as the new Secretary of Homeland Security, so we explore what his appointment reveals about Trump’s governing style, loyalty politics, and the future of immigration enforcement.

Plus, we speak with Tom Joseph, founder and treasurer of America's Main Street Party, that promises to reform the electoral process and take the money out of politics.

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Stories Mentioned:

• Trump stands firm as Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz continues: https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cx2lr40g17kt?page=8
• Severe weather sweeps the US: https://apnews.com/article/travel-weather-storms-flights-airports-f485f93852f31ab2fbd0513a117c7e20
• Markwayne Mullin confirmed as new DHS secretary: https://blog.ucs.org/shana-udvardy/if-confirmed-will-senator-markwayne-mullin-will-be-dhss-next-disaster/
• America's Main Street Party: mainstreetparty.org

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America: The Story of the USA is a Podcasts by Liam production for ⁠⁠⁠Mercury⁠⁠⁠, in partnership with the ⁠⁠⁠British Association for American Studies⁠⁠⁠.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter: https://america-the-story-of-the-usa.beehiiv.com/

Join the community: https://www.patreon.com/americathestoryoftheusa

Get in touch: [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New York City, 1984: a subway car rattles beneath Manhattan, four teenagers joke and sway on the poles, and a quiet, bespectacled white man takes a seat directly across from them. What happens next becomes one of the most explosive and racially charged criminal cases in modern American history.

Bernhard Goetz’s shooting of four Black teenagers - an act he claimed was self‑defence - ignited a national firestorm about crime, fear, vigilantism, and the deep racial fault lines shaping American life.

But behind the headlines lies a far more complicated story: a city in crisis, a media machine eager for a narrative, a justice system bending under political pressure, and a man whose own confession revealed far more than the public was ever told.

We will discuss the real events on that subway car, the distorted coverage that followed, and the long shadow the case cast over policing, gun culture, and racial justice in the United States.

In this episode, we're asking… what did Bernie Goetz Do?

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Special Guest:

Heather Thompson, a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian, professor at the University of Michigan, and one of the leading scholars of mass incarceration, policing, and social movements in the United States.

Her latest book, Fear and Fury: The 80s, the Getz Shootings and the Rebirth of America, offers the definitive re‑examination of the case, drawing on extensive archival research, interviews, and newly uncovered evidence to reveal how the Goetz shooting reshaped American attitudes toward crime, race, and justice.

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Highlights:

03:21 - The chain of events

11:23 - Bernie's early life

18:22 - The pro-Goetz narrative

25:22 - Media and racism

33:27 - American history is episodic

41:14 - The cost of injustice

47:08 - A hinge moment in US justice

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For an extended reading list and to learn more, join our Patreon community now: ⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/cw/americathestoryoftheusa⁠

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Contact us: [email protected]

Get the newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠https://america-the-story-of-the-usa.beehiiv.com/⁠⁠⁠

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America: Study Notes are quickfire explainers for all the things you want to know about the USA, but don't want to ask.

This week, A Brief History of the Oscars - when and why the Academy Awards started, how they evolved, why they matter, and a few fun facts to finish.

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Contact us: [email protected]

Join the community: ⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/cw/americathestoryoftheusa⁠⁠ - use code USA26 for 50% off your first month

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