A group of artists explored the back hallways of a mall in Providence, RI, and found the perfect place to build a private hangout. We interviewed the group's leader Michael Townsend a few years back, and he's now the subject of a new documentary called Secret Mall Apartment. Plus, mall history with Alexandra Lange.

For showtimes and more information, visit secretmallapartment.com.

The stories in this episode originally aired in 2018 and 2022.

Secret Mall Apartments

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When global trade reshapes a city, who pays the price—and who fights back?

Alexis Madrigal’s new book is called The Pacific Circuit: A Globalized Account of the Battle for the Soul of an American City.

Beautiful West Oakland, California

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After we finished up The Power Broker, a bunch of people were asking us what other books we’d been reading. A group of us got together and presented some of our recent favorites, and the choices were so good and surprising and charming, we're now sharing it widely.

Here are the books covered in this episode:

• Lasha's book: Usha's Pickle Digest by Usha R Prabakaran
• Chris's books: What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer (and The Power Broker by Robert Caro 😁)
• Vivian's books:  Orbital by Samantha Harvey, Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman, and How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang
• Jayson's books: Hoppity Frog by Emma Parrish (for the kids),  Scattered Snows, to the North: Poems by Carl Philips, and Blackouts by Justin Torres
• Joe's book: Plunkitt of Tammany Hall by George Washington Plunkitt
• Roman's book: The Pine Barrens by John McPhee

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What We're Reading

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A tiny, unremarkable beetle hiding in the caves of Slovenia has an infamously unfortunate name—one that has sparked heated debates in the scientific world.

A Beetle By Any Other Name

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A film about a struggling architect, a style the world loves to hate—The Brutalist and Brutalism itself share more than just a name. Is it bold vision or concrete failure?

The Brutalists

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In the heart of Berlin’s Tempelhof-Schöneberg district sits a hulking, crumbling concrete cylinder—an abandoned relic of a Nazi plan to rebuild the city as a grand imperial capital. But this eerie structure isn’t just a forgotten engineering experiment; it’s a lasting monument to one of the Third Reich’s most colossal architectural failures.

The Nazi Block

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Join Roman and Elliott one last time as they reflect on their journey with you all through The Power Broker, exploring their favorite moments and answering listener questions in this bonus episode.

If you finished The Power Broker with us (or know someone who did), get the 99PI Power Broker challenge coin to commemorate your achievement! Visit 99pi.org/store to get the challenge coin and other 99PI merch.

This event took place in our 99% Invisible Discord server. Join us!

The Power Broker Breakdown Wrap-Up

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How did a simple painting transform into the world's most recognized depiction of Jesus?

Head of Christ

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Last week, we delved into story of how the Tennessee Valley Authority, which started out as a public institution, ended up acting like a private for-profit company, and the lawsuit that attempted to finally bring the TVA to its heel. Today, Montana Public Radio’s podcast The Wide Open tells the story of a different lawsuit against the TVA that had even bigger consequences. In the 1970s, the fight to save a tiny fish called the snail darter turned the Endangered Species Act from a minor bit of federal law into the most powerful and controversial piece of environmental legislation of the past 50 years.

The Wide Open

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What went wrong in Kingston, Tennessee, and what does it reveal about the messy legacy of public utilities turned corporate giants?

Valley So Low

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The Power Broker Breakdown may have concluded, but if you're just tuning in (or if you just want a quick refresher), this episode is a compilation of the summary portions of the The Power Broker Breakdown series.

The Power Broker Breakdown Breakdown

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