Was Mao Zedong’s fourth wife one of history’s most brutal criminals, or was she a scapegoat for a country that needed to preserve the image of its founding father? The answer is complicated, tragic, and involves a surprising amount of high-stakes theater criticism.
This week, we’re starting a multi-part series on the history of one of Japan’s major islands, and its first colonial…
This week, we’re covering the life and career of a poet often overlooked despite her fame in her own lifetime:…
This week, we’re taking a deep dive into a distinctly Japanese literary genre (zuihitsu, or ‘wandering brush’) by looking at…
China’s last emperor ended up becoming one of history’s strangest political pawns, and ended his life as an avowed communist. How did a man born into unimaginable wealth end up penning a memoir about the evils of the landlord class? And was his disavowal of his privileged upbringing genuine, or was he the victim of a justice system that perfected the art of brainwashing prisoners?
This week, we’re talking about one of the most famous stories in Japanese history: the bamboo princess Naotake no Kaguyahime…
This week, we’re talking about one of Japan’s territorial disputes: the bitter debate over ownership of the Senaku Islands/Diaoyu Islands/Pinnacle…
Meet Harry Allen, the sporty gentleman who scandalized Seattle by wooing ladies, biting cops, and making sure to give his side of the story to the press. Harry left an extraordinary legacy in the public record: He was a transgender man who talked directly to newspapers about his gender identity. But was he really the incorrigible hoodlum the papers made him out to be, or was he forced to the margins of society by police harassment?
This week, we cover Sorge’s career in Tokyo, and explore just how he was able to convince so many people…
This week, we begin our exploration of the life and career of Richard Sorge, one of the most famous spies…