Podcasts about afua

What does a country sing about when it can't agree on its own founding? Why has Hollywood, which will film literally anything, never made a great movie about 1776? And when both the Black Lives Matter marchers and the January 6th rioters claim to be the true heirs of the Declaration of Independence, who actually owns the revolution?From Hamilton's founding hustlers to Beyoncé's cowboys to a White House captioning a royal portrait "two kings," Peter and Afua track the Declaration through the culture that keeps remixing it — and a country that still can't agree on what it says.[0:00] Two riots, one document, and everyone insisting they're the real sons of liberty[3:10] How a hip-hop musical about a slaveholding revolution became the biggest thing on Broadway[7:49] The friend Afua had to physically stop from walking out of Hamilton[12:27] An empty thousand-seat cinema, and the one Melania line worth hearing[16:00] The first American cowboys came from West Africa — and Beyoncé knows it[19:14] Why Hollywood will green-light anything except 1776[23:36] The protest movement that refuses to say Trump's name[32:13] The day the White House posted a photo and called it "two kings"Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas:Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why did African Americans spend a century celebrating the Fifth of July instead of the Fourth? Why did a sitting US president personally try to end a journalist's career over one newspaper series? And two hundred and fifty years on, why can't America agree on what its founding document actually means?A 250-year-old promise of equality collides with slavery, revolution and a modern-day tenure battle as Afua and Peter close out their Declaration of Independence series.[1:28] Fifty-six men sign in Philadelphia — many of them slave owners writing "all men are created equal"[8:07] Lafayette's regret: "I would never have drawn my sword..."[11:42] Why a Virginia senator can't stomach Bolívar's revolution[15:20] Why Black Americans spent a century celebrating the Fifth of July instead[17:27] Frederick Douglass asks the question that still stings: "What to the slave is the Fourth of July?"[18:53] The project that says America was really founded in 1619[28:55] A sitting president personally tries to take the story down[30:54] She wins a Pulitzer. Her university refuses her tenure anyway.Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas:Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Who really built American freedom — and why does the answer make so many people so uncomfortable? What happens when an enslaved woman takes the Declaration of Independence more seriously than the man who wrote it? And, when the President of the United States turns the full machinery of government against one young Black woman — why can't he catch her?Belinda Sutton petitioned a court for fifty years of unpaid wages and won. Ona Judge walked out of the President's house while George Washington ate his dinner, and spent the rest of her life free. The founding story you were taught left both of them out entirely.[0:00] The founding myth and its glaring blind spot[3:00] Belinda Sutton — kidnapped at 12, enslaved for 50 years, and why she still fought back[7:50] The petition that became one of the earliest demands for reparations in American history[12:00] John Hancock signs off — and why the estate still refuses to pay[17:00] How Belinda's story spread and why Ta-Nehisi Coates and Harvard both came calling[19:30] Ona Judge — Washington's secret system for keeping his household enslaved in Pennsylvania[24:00] The night she walked out while the President ate dinner[27:30] Washington weaponises the federal government to hunt her down[31:00] She negotiates with the President — and he blinks first[34:00] "I am free" — Ona Judge's answer, fifty years later, says everythingJoin Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas:Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Declaration of Independence said all men are created equal. But what did that mean to the women who heard those words and knew they were being lied to? Who were the women the founding fathers never mentioned — and what did they do about it? And, if America was founded on the idea of freedom, why did it take another century — and a civil war — to even begin to make good on that promise? Afua and Peter turn the founding of America upside down, telling the story of 1776 through the women the Declaration forgot: a teenage poet who became the first Black woman in history to publish a book of poetry in English, and an enslaved woman who walked into a lawyer's office and used the Constitution to abolish slavery in Massachusetts.(0:00) The Declaration of Independence is about to turn 250 — but whose freedom was it really for?(1:43) Legacy Plus — bonus episodes, early access, and fewer ads 2:00 Why enslaved Americans didn't wait to be freed — they were already fighting(5:36) Lord Dunmore's proclamation and the moment thousands of Black men chose their side(7:48) Phillis Wheatley: kidnapped at seven, named after the slave ship that took her(9:59) From chalk letters on a wall to mastering Greek — the making of a prodigy(12:09) The court case where she had to prove she wrote her own poems(14:23) Sent to London as pro-slavery propaganda — and why it spectacularly backfired(16:12) Published in London, ignored in Boston: the first Black woman to publish poetry in English(17:23) The poem she sent to George Washington — and why he actually wrote back(18:47) They met in Cambridge in 1776: the Virginia enslaver and the young woman he couldn't ignore(20:04) How post-revolutionary America still wouldn't publish her — and how she built a subscription model 250 years before Substack(21:50) She reached Washington, Jefferson, Thomas Paine — and died at 30 in a boarding house(23:34) Elizabeth Freeman: the woman who heard the Declaration read aloud and walked straight to a lawyer(25:11) "Where's my freedom?" — the most direct question anyone asked of the founding fathers(27:05) The iron-shaped scar she refused to hide — and how she weaponised it(27:41) Bett v Ashley: the case that abolished slavery in Massachusetts(31:36 She wins not just her freedom but freedom for every enslaved person in the state — then changes her name to Elizabeth FreemanJoin Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fm Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsSubstack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Who wrote "all men are created equal" — and then went home to more than 180 enslaved people? What does a document actually mean when it excludes women, Indigenous peoples, and one in five of the very population it claims to liberate? And, was the Declaration of Independence a genuine statement of universal human rights — or the most successful rebranding exercise in political history?Peter and Afua tear apart the Declaration of Independence: who wrote it, what it actually meant, what was left out on purpose, and why its contradictions still define America 250 years on.(0:00) "All men are created equal" — by men who didn't believe it (9:00) Britain vs the colonies: mistrust, miscalculation, and the slide into war (14:00) Lexington, Concord, and the shot heard around the world (19:00) Lord Dunmore's offer: freedom to the enslaved — and the colonists' outrage (24:00) Thomas Paine's Common Sense and the power of simple ideas (30:00) John Hancock signs big and invents a new word for "signature" (35:00) After independence: debt, fragility, and the problems victory didn't solve (42:00) How the revolution accidentally redirected the British EmpireJoin Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if the Boston Tea Party had less to do with liberty and more to do with a smuggler protecting his profit margins? What if hurricanes tearing through the Caribbean helped light the fuse of revolution? And, what if the men who gave birth to America were not visionary idealists but wealthy merchants who had simply run out of patience with British trade restrictions?Peter and Afua pull back the curtain on the financial machinery behind American independence — the Caribbean slave economy, the smuggling networks, the Bengal famine, and the merchants who dressed their self-interest in the language of liberty.(0:00) It wasn't about democracy. It was about who controlled the money(2:00) Britain's debt doubles after the Seven Years' War — and someone has to pay for it(7:50) The colonists were richer, taller, and paid less tax than anyone in Britain(11:50) Tea, empire, and why the whole system was built on piracy(13:30) The Boston Tea Party: orderly political theatre and a £10,000 act of destruction(17:35) The Boston Massacre and the propaganda machine that turned it into a rallying cry(20:30) The Caribbean cash machine — and how hurricanes made colonial merchants very rich(27:20) John Hancock: celebrated patriot, and according to British customs officials, the head of a massive smuggling operation(30:00) The first Continental Congress: protecting constitutional rights — and profit margins(34:00) The Bengal famine, 10 million dead, and why it became a weapon against British imperialism(38:00) Neither side wanted war — and that's exactly how they stumbled into oneJoin Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas:Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Was Alexander Hamilton the real architect of American capitalism — or just the most self-destructive genius in the room? What does it mean that the man who shaped the nation's finances spent his career surrounded by an economy built on enslaved labour he understood firsthand? And, if the founding fathers were so brilliant, why is America still fighting about what they actually built?Peter and Afua peel back the marble on two of the most mythologised men in history: Hamilton, the penniless Caribbean immigrant who survived a hurricane, built the American financial machine, and then blew up his own career with a 95-page confession; and Washington, the slave-owning Virginia planter who became the face of liberty — and knew exactly when to put the power down.0:00 Hamilton, Washington, and the show that won't let the founders off the hook 1:48 The Caribbean origins of Alexander Hamilton — and what Nevis reveals about colonial violence 5:30 How working at the epicentre of the Atlantic slave economy shaped Hamilton's political thinking 9:10 The outsider who doubled down: Hamilton's ambition, his tongue, and why people feared him 11:36 The Reynolds affair — confessing adultery to defeat a corruption charge 15:50 What Hamilton brought to the revolution that none of the others could 20:10 George Washington: the Virginia planter who had to learn how to be a gentleman 24:00 How marrying Martha Custis transformed Washington's wealth and status overnight 26:40 The land grab Britain tried to block — and why it radicalized Washington 30:30 The fragile coalition: Franklin's joke, the hanging rope, and what really held them together 35:00 Washington's genius was knowing what not to do — and when to walk away 38:40 The American dream was built on free labour — and the dishonesty that disguised itJoin Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Who was the boring lawyer who quietly built the machine that made America work? Was John Adams so relentlessly right that even his allies couldn't stand him? And, how did the man who wrote the most beautiful words on human equality spend decades owning the woman who bore his children?Peter and Afua tear into the contradictions of 1776 — the forgotten architect, the honest man nobody liked, and the wordsmith whose legacy history has never quite known what to do with.0:00 The original Brexit: what 1776 really was 6:00 John Jay — the unsung hero who built the legal framework of a nation 11:00 The Federalist Papers and the Roman Republic obsession 14:00 Jay's reluctant revolution: the man who wanted reconciliation 16:00 Enter Thomas Jefferson: plantation privilege and the Declaration of Independence 18:30 Jefferson at his desk — and the enslaved people outside the window 21:00 Martha, Sally Hemings, and the relationship history tried to bury 25:00 John Adams: the honest man too competent for his own good 31:00 Rome's collapse, checks and balances, and why they feared what they were building 36:00 Jefferson gave the revolution its language, Jay its structure, Adams its urgencyJoin Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What turned America's most famous British loyalist into its most dangerous revolutionary? What does a public humiliation in a Whitehall chamber have to do with the Declaration of Independence? And, if the man who designed the American constitution believed men were angels, would he have bothered?Peter and Afua trace how a candle-maker's son who pulled lightning from the sky and a sickly scholar obsessed with the fall of Rome built the architecture of the most powerful republic in history.0:00 Franklin: the 18th century's global multimedia superstar6:10 Poor Richard's Almanac and the art of building a platform from scratch9:45 From kite and key to the Royal Society — Franklin's lightning moment13:20 A proud Briton in London: the comfortable life that couldn't last16:00 The Hutchinson letters, a Whitehall ambush, and an hour of public savaging18:30 The moment Franklin stopped thinking of himself as British21:00 Enter James Madison: the smallest man in public life and the biggest thinker24:30 Two thousand years of history as a laboratory of political failure28:00 Taxation without representation, the Intolerable Acts, and the radicalisation of Madison31:30 'If men were angels, no government would be necessary'Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How did a collection of desperate survivors, religious outcasts, and petty criminals become the architects of the world's most powerful nation? What does it mean to build a society on the language of liberty when that society is entirely dependent on enslaved labour? And are Americans still reckoning with a founding story that was never quite what it seemed?Peter and Afua go back to the very beginning — from the disaster of Roanoke and the brutal early years at Jamestown, to the transatlantic slave economy that quietly powered the rise of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia.00:00 Introduction — what America actually means03:00 Roanoke and Jamestown — England's catastrophic first attempts08:00 The colonial economy — slavery, sugar, and the triangle trade14:00 New York's hidden history — one in five New Yorkers were enslaved19:00 The contradiction at America's heart — liberty built on unfreedom25:00 Who were the Founding Fathers — and who was left out?32:00 Preview — Franklin and Madison up nextJoin Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How does a Siberian peasant mystic end up controlling the most powerful empire in Europe? Could the rumours that destroyed a dynasty have been entirely false — and did they matter anyway? And, without Rasputin, would there have been no Lenin — and would the 20th century have looked completely different? Peter sits down with Sir Antony Beevor — bestselling author of Stalingrad, Berlin, and D-Day — to dig into his new book on one of history's most mythologised figures: Grigori Rasputin, the Siberian wanderer who charmed the Tsarina, antagonised everyone else, and whose murder was so catastrophically bungled it reads like black farce.0:00 From Siberia to the Imperial court — how a peasant mystic reached the centre of power 5:30 Holy fools, wandering pilgrims, and why Russia was always fertile ground for figures like Rasputin 10:00 The voice, the eyes, and the seduction: how Rasputin actually worked on people 13:00 The Tsarina's obsession — and why Antony Beevor is certain the rumours were fake news 17:30 How Rasputin's ministerial choices set the railways on fire and sparked a revolution 24:00 Rasputin was right about the war — and then made everything worse anyway 27:30 The assassination: poisoned cakes, Yankee Doodle, and a murder plot of spectacular incompetence 32:00 Putin, Nicholas II, and why historians should be wary of historical parallels 36:00 Without Rasputin, no Lenin? The counterfactuals Antony loves but won't fully followJoin Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more. legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy: Instagram: @originallegacypodcast TikTok: @legacy_productions Explore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What did it take for human beings to start controlling what they ate — and why did "health" so quickly become a coverstory for something else? How did a Venetian nobleman's wine-heavy calorie restriction become a blueprint for themodern diet industry? And, when tobacco companies, Hollywood, and the beauty industry all decided women's bodyanxiety was a market opportunity — who, exactly, was the diet really for?Peter and Afua trace the history of the human body as a commercial battleground: from the first diet books in 1558,through the birth of the calorie and the explosion of Weight Watchers, to the heroin chic 90s and the disordered eatingit left behind.0:00 The Venetian nobleman who invented calorie restriction — and still drank 14oz of wine a day7:30 George Cheyne: 32 stone, no meat, no alcohol, and a bestselling book in 174014:00 Empire, refrigeration, and why cheap food created the first diet industry21:30 The discovery of the calorie — the invention Afua still resents25:30 Freud's nephew, cigarettes, and the moment thinness became a product to sell31:00 Weight Watchers, zero-fat yoghurt, and the 80s: cottage cheese as cultural trauma36:30 The 90s: heroin chic, cellulite alerts, and the era that hospitalised a generation40:00 Keto, Atkins, and the diet that keeps reinventing itselfJoin Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A;'s, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas:Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What did Vogue actually recommend women eat in 1977 — and why did it make one food writer cry in thebathroom? How did the Greeks turn a six-pack into a moral argument? And, has the human obsession withcontrolling what we eat ever really been about health at all?Peter and Afua trace the long, strange history of dieting — from ancient Greek athletics and Romanfeast-and-purge excess, to medieval starvation saints who turned self-denial into a radical act of female agency.0:00 Vogue's 1977 Wine and Egg Diet — and what happened when someone actually tried it6:30 The diet industry's dirty secret: it was never about nutrition9:00 Peter on fasting, cranky emails, and what not eating teaches you about your relationship with food14:30 Ancient Greece: when abs were a moral statement, not just an aesthetic one19:30 The manosphere's Spartan fantasy — and what the Greeks would actually make of it23:00 Rome: the inventors of binge and purge culture24:30 When Christianity enters the chat — and fasting becomes holy26:00 Catherine of Siena: the medieval starvation saint who used hunger as protest30:00 Anorexia mirabilis — holy anorexia, and why Peter is wary of projecting modern diagnoses onto the past32:00 Why medieval peasants weren't dieting — they were just trying to stay aliveJoin Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas:Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens when you raise a child telling him he's the Beast — and he decides to prove you right? Could a manwho genuinely repelled everyone around him have quietly shaped the culture we live in today? And, is the world ofsex, drugs, and rock and roll actually the legacy of a repressed Victorian occultist with a god complex?Peter and Afua descend into the dark, theatrical, and genuinely troubling life of Aleister Crowley: English occultist,self-declared Great Beast 666, and the man who may have done more than anyone to wire transgression, desire, andspiritual hunger into the DNA of modern culture.0:00 The wickedest man in the world — and why he owned it6:00 The Exclusive Brethren: the suffocating sect that made Crowley inevitable10:00 Cambridge, cigars, and erotic poetry: the beast is unleashed15:00 Golden Dawn and the occult underground of Victorian London20:00 Mountaineering, meditation, and the spiritual pick-and-mix24:00 Cairo, 666, and the Book of the Law26:00 Rose Kelly: the woman without whom none of it happens33:00 The Abbey of Thelema and a scandal that shocks even the tabloids38:00 How Crowley became the Beatles' and Led Zeppelin's spirit animal42:00 Jack Parsons: the rocket scientist who performed Crowley rituals by night44:00 Was Crowley a feminist? (Afua has thoughts)48:00 The stain that runs through modern culture straight back to himJoin Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmWatch Legacy on YouTube and Spotify video.Stay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas:Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Who invented the spiritual vocabulary of the modern world — karma, reincarnation, yoga studios, the idea that you can be "spiritual but not religious"? What if the hidden masters living in remote Tibetan mountains who inspired her weren't real — but the New Age movement they sparked absolutely was? And can you change the course of Western spirituality forever while being accused of fraud, plagiarism, and dropping fake letters through the ceiling?Peter and Afua explore the extraordinary life of Helena Blavatsky: Russian aristocrat, globe-trotting mystic, chain-smoking occultist and the most polarising spiritual figure of the 19th century — whose Theosophical Society gave us yoga mats, abstraction in art, and the modern wellness industry, all while she battled accusations of being one of history's greatest frauds.0:00 Introduction: The Woman Who Invented New Age Spirituality4:15 Russian Aristocrat: Growing Up Between Two Worlds9:40 The Lost Years: Tibet, Egypt, and the Mysterious Mahatmas16:20 Arriving in New York: Spiritualism, Grief, and the Telegraph23:10 Meeting Henry Steel Olcott: The Partnership That Changed Everything28:35 Isis Unveiled: 1,200 Pages That Sold Out in 10 Days35:50 Moving to India: Strategic Genius or Cultural Appropriation?41:20 The Mahatma Letters: Messages from the Ceiling47:05 The Coulomb Scandal and the Hodgson Report53:30 Vindication? The 1986 Harrison Report58:10 The Secret Doctrine and Her Uncomfortable Nazi Legacy1:03:45 Blavatsky's New Age Legacy: From Mondrian to Matcha Lattes1:09:20 Final Verdict: Genius, Fraud, or Both?Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&As, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas:Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nostradamus has predicted every major disaster in history — or so the internet would have you believe. Peter and Afua get behind the myth to meet the real man: a plague-era apothecary, rejected by the medical establishment, whose greatest invention wasn't prophecy — it was selling certainty to an anxious world.Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Malcolm McLean was a frustrated truck driver who thought there had to be a better way. The metal box he invented now carries 90% of the world's traded goods — and quietly runs the global economy.Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From colliers carrying coal out of Newcastle to Marshall Plan grain crossing the Atlantic, Peter and Afua trace how the movement of goods by sea built the modern world. This is the story of bulk cargo — and why the ships that carried it changed everything.Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The cargo ship didn't just move goods — it moved civilisations. Peter and Afua trace 2,000 years of maritime trade, from Roman grain ships and spice routes to the Hanseatic League, the sugar plantations of Madeira, and the brutal economics of the triangular trade.Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Afua and Peter explore the "undetectable" world of deep plane facelifts, examining why celebrities are finally trading surgical secrecy for viral transparency. They dissect the astronomical costs of modern "tweakments" and the rising pressure to match AI-generated perfection as surgery recipients get younger than ever before.Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peter and Afua delve into the surprising 9,000-year history of facial modification, spanning from ancient trephining rituals in Jericho to the "eerily impressive" modern results seen on Kris Jenner. They analyze how surgical techniques have evolved through a symbiotic relationship between wartime reconstruction and a global, often problematic, pursuit of Eurocentric beauty norms.Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From the formation of OPEC to the Yom Kippur War, Peter and Afua trace how oil-producing nations finally seized control of their most powerful weapon — and how the shock of 1973 sent the entire global economy into freefall, from petrol queues in Europe to coups in Africa.Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From the geology of the Gulf to the CIA-backed coup that toppled Iran's elected prime minister, Peter and Afua trace how oil became the defining force of the 20th century — and why the West's century-long obsession with Iranian oil still shapes the crisis unfolding in 2026.Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this second installment of their series on economic shocks, Peter and Afua dissect the 1956 Suez Crisis, where Gamal Abdel Nasser's bold nationalization of the canal stripped the British Empire of its remaining credibility. They reveal the clandestine "Protocol of Sèvres" conspiracy and explain how a furious President Eisenhower leveraged the International Monetary Fund to bring a bankrupt Britain to its knees.Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Afua and Peter examine the brutal 1915 closure of the Dardanelles, revealing how a single geographic choke point strangled the Russian economy and paved the way for the Bolshevik Revolution. Drawing haunting parallels to modern conflicts in the Strait of Hormuz, they explore how Winston Churchill's over-ambitious naval gambles led to a devastating legacy of human and financial loss.Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Afua and Peter examine the terrifying 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, revealing how a massive geological rupture in Japan unexpectedly triggered a radical energy revolution in Germany and shifted the scales of European geopolitics. From the heroic struggle of the "Fukushima 50" to the strategic vulnerabilities exposed by a reliance on Russian gas, they explore the sobering reality that even our most advanced engineering remains at the mercy of the Earth's shifting platesJoin Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Afua and Peter explore the "Great Famine" of the early 1300s. Triggered by sudden global cooling and torrential rains, Europe's food supply was decimated and up to 70% of its cattle were wiped out through a terrifying bovine plague. This often-overlooked catastrophe didn't just cause mass starvation; it physically "scarred" a generation of children, leaving them uniquely vulnerable to the Black Death when it arrived decades later.Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Afua Bruce explains that public interest tech is about solving complicated problems with real impact for real people, not just fuzzy feelings and philanthropy.      Afua and Kimberly discuss misconceptions about Public Interest Tech (PIT); PIT beyond philanthropy; why tech for good isn't always; purposeful productivity; “solving” non-profits; tech funding traps; PIT design principles; cross-sector career paths; participatory (vacation) design; the messy middle; focusing on impact; responsible investment; and knowing we still have time. Afua Bruce is the founder and CEO of ANB Advisory Group. An author and leading public interest technologist, Afua works with philanthropic institutions, tech companies, and nonprofits to develop and use responsible technology. Additional Resources:The Tech That Comes Next (book):  https://thetechthatcomesnext.com/  Dr. Catherine Nakalembe Ted Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/catherine_nakalembe_why_can_t_we_better_prepare_for_extreme_weather Humane Intelligence (non-profit): https://humane-intelligence.org/ A transcript of this episode is here.

A sudden, catastrophic dimming of the sun in 536 AD triggered the coldest decade in two millennia, launching a "volcanic winter" that saw harvests fail from Ireland to China. Peter and Afua explore this environmental shock that directly facilitated the first global pandemic of Yersinia pestis, shattering the imperial ambitions of Rome and Persia while paving the way for the explosive rise of Buddhism and Norse mythology.Join Legacy Plus for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Afua and Peter launch their new series on environmental catastrophes by revealing how a massive volcanic eruption in Alaska—10,000 kilometers away—secretly orchestrated the downfall of Cleopatra and the birth of the Roman Empire. They trace the "butterfly effect" from Julius Caesar's bloody assassination and "bling" obsession to the failure of the Nile floods, proving that the ancient world was reshaped by climate chaos as much as by political intrigue.Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Iranian history is defined by a fierce sense of exceptionalism rooted in geography, language, and a unique intellectual enlightenment that Western narratives often ignore. This deep-seated identity now fuels an explosive youth rebellion that increasingly prioritizes personal freedom over national sovereignty, setting the stage for a violent final showdown with a millenarian regime that is prepared to kill to survive. Guest Christopher de Bellaigue is a distinguished historian and journalist whose work, including The Islamic Enlightenment, provides an intimate look at the reformers and thinkers who shaped the Middle East's long-standing struggle for modern constitutionalism.Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Afua and Peter explore the seismic shift of 1979, tracing how a single revolutionary year transformed Iran from a U.S.-allied monarchy into a militarised theocracy determined to export its "Black Wave" across the Middle East. They analyse the regime's enduring "besieged mentality"—forged by a decade of war and perceived Western betrayals—and the defiant courage of a younger generation now dancing in the face of brutal suppression. They are joined by Emmy Award-winning journalist and author Kim Ghattas, whose deep reporting on the Saudi-Iran rivalry reveals how the echoes of 1979 continue to drive the proxies and power plays of 2026.Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Afua and Peter dive into the historical psyche of Iran, exploring how a civilization with deep imperial memories navigates a modern reality of global interference and internal revolution. They unpick the "dual structure" of Iranian politics, where a sense of cultural superiority clashes with a narrative of Western betrayal that spans from the 19th century to the 1979 revolution. They are joined by Professor Ali Ansari, a renowned historian from the University of St Andrews, who provides rare insight into the Supreme Leader's absolute authority and the Ponzi scheme currently threatening to implode the Iranian economy.Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.comJoin Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Afua and Peter track Ernest Hemingway's spiral from the peak of his Nobel success into a dark cycle of alcoholism and untreated head trauma. They explore how the 20th century's "Alpha" icon eventually collapsed under the weight of his own performance, leading to a tragic end that mirrored his father's suicide.Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Afua and Peter track Ernest Hemingway's path from a suburban Chicago childhood spent hunting and boxing to the bloody front lines of Italy. They show how a brutal war injury and his newsroom grind birthed the "iceberg theory," revealing a man who hunted Nazis and survived plane crashes but often treated his own life like his best piece of fiction.Join Legacy+ for bonus episodes, early access, Q&A's, fewer adverts and more.legacy.supportingcast.fmStay connected with Legacy:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: peterfrankopan.substack.comafuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this second installment, Peter and Afua examine Stein's boldest move: ghostwriting her partner's "autobiography" to claim the global stardom she felt she deserved. They confront the darkest corners of her history, including her bitter public feuds and her controversial survival as a Jewish woman during the Nazi occupation of France.Stay connected with LegacyFollow us for clips, behind-the-scenes stories, and new episode drops: Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peter and Afua discuss the life of Gertrude Stein, an influential figure in the Parisian art and literature scene. They explore her relationships with artists like Picasso and her complex personality.Stay connected with LegacyFollow us for clips, behind-the-scenes stories, and new episode drops: Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Legacy, Peter and Afua explore the rise and fall of the Samurai, tracing their evolution from elite medieval warriors to a modern-day cultural symbol. They dive into the tensions between the Samurai's disciplined, Zen-influenced ideals and the brutal realities of history, from Mongol invasions to the modernization that led to their eventual disappearance.Stay connected with LegacyFollow us for clips, behind-the-scenes stories, and new episode drops: Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode of Legacy explores the transformation of the Samurai from provincial land enforcers to the ultimate wielders of power in medieval Japan. Peter and Afua trace the rise of this iconic warrior class through centuries of climate instability, religious shifts, and the brutal clan warfare that forever sidelined the Imperial court.Stay connected with LegacyFollow us for clips, behind-the-scenes stories, and new episode drops: Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From shamans and oracles to modern psychics and wellness gurus, humanity has always searched for answers beyond medicine. This episode traces how spiritual healing, prophecy and belief survived — and why they're booming again today.Stay connected with LegacyFollow us for clips, behind-the-scenes stories, and new episode drops:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we get to speak with both mom and dad! We love when we get to chat with a home birth couple and hear both perspectives from the decision-making process to the experience itself. So we're chatting with Jarmar and Jonnelle Dupas.  They live in Austin, Texas with their 4 children. Their switch to home birth happened with their most recent baby, Jase. For them, they were interested in something different and evolving from some of the coldness they noticed in the hospital setting. They had always used midwives with their births, so transitioning into home seemed like the next step.  Jarmar and Jonnelle both described their home birth as much more peaceful. Basically, a thousand times better and something they would've done sooner had they known.  A highlight from their story is that “divine connection” with their midwife Afua. We certainly know the difference that the level of care can make, and how important it was for us to feel connected and have a deep sense of trust with our midwives.  And get this - they are a podcasting couple as well! Their show “Get Your Money Right” is all about financial well-being. We can dig that (since babies aren't cheap!). Listen in and enjoy as we get to know more about Jarmar and Jonnelle, their family and their magical home birth! Links From This Episode:  Birth Without Fear Website - http://birthwithoutfearblog.com/ Birth Without Fear Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/birthwithoutfear/ Ina May's Guide To Childbirth - https://www.amazon.com/Ina-Mays-Guide-Childbirth-Gaskin/dp/0553381156%3FSubscriptionId%3D04FYKDC4BW6PJ6HFG002%26tag%3Dinamaygaskina-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0553381156 Business Of Being Born - http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/ Afua Hassan from The Birthing Place - http://www.thebirthingplace.com/our-team/afua-hassan/ The Get Your Money Right Podcast - https://yourmoneyright.com/ Connect With Us Website: https://diahpodcast.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@diahpodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doingitathome/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/diahpodcast TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@doingitathome Merch: https://doingitathome.dashery.com/ Our Book: https://amzn.to/45Sxyr1 Support DIAH: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=KA3QQRRU58VPL Check Out Our Partners: Needed: https://needed.sjv.io/XY3903 - use code DIAH to get 20% off your first, one-time order Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Women were humanity's first doctors — midwives, herbalists and healers — until fear, religion and power turned care into a crime. This episode explores how women's medical knowledge became witchcraft, and why healing women were systematically erased.Stay connected with LegacyFollow us for clips, behind-the-scenes stories, and new episode drops: Instagram: @originallegacypodcastTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Women were the world's first doctors — mastering plants, childbirth, and healing — until their knowledge became a threat to rising male-dominated medicine and the Church. From ancient shamans to Egyptian surgeons to medieval witch trials and the infamous “penis nest” myth, this is the hidden history of women, power, and healing.Stay connected with LegacyFollow us for clips, behind-the-scenes stories, and new episode drops: Instagram: @originallegacypodcastBlueSky: @legacy-productions.bsky.socialTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why did ancient people believe illness came from spirits — and who had the power to cure it? Peter and Afua explore shamans, oracles, and sacred healing rituals that once shaped health, fate, and meaning. From Mesopotamian demon-healers to modern ayahuasca retreats and Instagram gurus, they ask what happens when ancient spiritual medicine returns in the modern world.Stay connected with LegacyFollow us for clips, behind-the-scenes stories, and new episode drops: Instagram: @originallegacypodcastBlueSky: @legacy-productions.bsky.socialTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Afua makes the case that sleep is sacred — and modern “grind culture” is quietly wrecking us — as Peter and Afua explore how the ancients actually slept, dreamed, and interpreted the night. Then it's the birth of exercise: from survival-strength and ritual dance to wrestling, hunting, and the gymnasium — and how movement became medicine (and status).Stay connected with LegacyFollow us for clips, behind-the-scenes stories, and new episode drops:Instagram: @originallegacypodcastBlueSky: @legacy-productions.bsky.socialTikTok: @legacy_productionsExplore more from Peter and Afua — essays, sources, and ideas: Substack: peterfrankopan.substack.com | afuahirsch.substack.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

OPEN HEAVENSMATALA LE LAGI MO LE ASO LULU 3 TESEMA 2025(tusia e Pastor EA Adeboye) Manatu Autu: Taofi ia te oe (Keep it to yourself)Tauloto Tusi Paia: Failauga 3:7 “o ona po e saei ai ma ona po e su‘i ai, o ona po e fa‘alologo ai ma ona po e tautala ai.”‭‭Faitauga - Tusi Paia:  Faataoto 3:32, Amosa 3:7O le tulaga maoae, e tele matafaioi e manaomia le faatino e aofia ai ma le taofia o mealilo. Aua foi a e ausia se tapulaa i le tulaga maoae, e iai mea e manaomia e taitai ona taofiofi o mealilo, ina ia puipui ai i latou, o e mulimuli iai latou ma le lelei lautele o loo latou taumafai iai. E iai ituaiga faamaumauga faapitoa e maua i lea tulaga, e mafai ona faaaoga faaletatau pe a iloa e le lautele, ma o le mafuaaga lea e tatau ai ona taofiofi ia lilo. E iai foi mealilo a le Atua, ma afai e te latalata ia te ia ma moni lou āva ma lou faaneenee ia te ia, e amata ona ia ta'u atu ia te oe. Peitai, afai e te alu atu ma talai atu i tagata uma mea e fai atu ai le Atua e aunoa ma lou faanoi muamua ia te ia, aua nei e ofo pe a e lē toe faalogo ini mealilo mai ia te ia. A ta'u atu e le Atua ia te oe se mea ma faatonu oe e aua nei e ta'uina i se tagata, ia tapuni lelei lou fofoga, ona ia faatuatuaina lea o oe i nisi mealilo faaopoopo. Ou te tatalo ia e mafuta latalata i le Atua ona amata lea ona ia faasoa atu ia te oe nisi o mealilo, i le suafa o Iesu. O le fanau ma le tausia o Iesu Keriso i lona tuputupu ae na manaomia se tapulaa ia lilo le faatinoina, ma ana faapea e tautalatala Maria, semanu e na te tuua o ia i se tulaga lamatia i le amataga o lona soifua. O soo se kerisiano faatuatua, e lē o mea uma e fai atu ai le Atua ia te oe e te ta'u ma faasoa atu i isi tagata. E iai lava mea e ta'u atu e le Atua ia te oe e mo na o ou taliga lava. Fai mai le Salamo 25:14 “O lo‘o fa‘aali e le ALI‘I lona finagalo i ē matata‘u ‘iā te ia; na te fa‘ailoa atu fo‘i lana feagaiga ‘iā te i latou.”‭‭O se tasi o mafuaaga e iai mealilo a le Atua aua foi e lē manao i le tiapolo e iloa mea o le a ia faia. E pau le mea e mafai e le tiapolo o le mate o mea o loo finagalo le Atua e faia, peitai o le tele o taimi e sesē ana mate ma iu ane ua fesoasoani i le Atua e ausia le faamoemoega. O le mafuaaga lea e faapea mai ai le 1 Korinito 2:8 “O le mea na lē iloa e se ali‘i e tasi o lenei lalolagi; auā ‘ana latou iloa, po ‘ua latou lē fa‘asatauroina le Ali‘i e ona le manuia.”‭‭Afai e fai atu le Atua i se mea e te faia, ae e alu ma talai atu i tagata uma, e leiloa pe ua e faailoa atu i le tiapolo faamaumauga sa lē tatau ona ia iloa. O le mafuaaga lea afai e ta'u atu e le Afua se mea ia te oe, ia e fesili atu ia te ia pe na o oe e tatau ona iloa pe finagalo e te faasoa atu i isi. A fai mai e mo na o ou taliga lava ma aua nei faasoa i isi tagata, faamolemole taofi ia te oe lava. E mafai ona faatuatuaina oe e le Atua i ana mealilo? I le suafa o Iesu, Amene. 

Afua Kyei, Chief Financial Officer at the Bank of England, has been named Britain's most influential black person. She grew up in South London, reading copious numbers of Enid Blyton books and listening to Boyzone, got 6 A levels and went to university a year early. She studied chemistry at Oxford and Princeton, but then had a change of heart . She became a chartered accountant and - in 2019 at the age of just 36 - she was appointed Chief Financial Officer at the Bank of England, the Bank's youngest and first ever black executive officer in its 325 year history. Mark Coles looks back at the life of this year's most influential Black Briton talking to Afua's friends, family and colleagues to discover how she combines parenting four children under the age of nine with balancing the books at the Bank of England. Presenter: Mark Coles Producers: Adele Armstrong and Mhairi MacKenzie Production coordinators: Sabine Schereck and Maria Ogundele Editor: Justine Lang Sound engineer: Gareth JonesPhoto credit: Nick Moorhead

Richie sits down with this year's winner of the Black Powerlist ranking and also talks fashion sustainability and the music industry. Richie is joined by: Bank of England's Chief Financial Officer Afua Kyei, named most influential Black Person in Britain on the Powerlist 2026. Afua speaks about her journey, going from achieving 6 A-Levels to leading financial governance of the £1 trillion balance sheet and everything in between.Giovanna Vieira Co, the founder of The Fashion Blueprint, a London-based consultancy dedicated to dismantling waste-colonialism in fashion and empowering independent, sustainable brands globally. Giovanna shares the work she's doing to reduce the environmental and human cost to having millions of low quality clothing items land in Ghana every week.And finally, Richie sits down with award-winning music executive Sheniece Charway. Known for championing UK Black talent and currently heading up Black music and culture at YouTube, Sheniece discusses the differences in a modern artist's journey now compared to 10-20 years ago and how social media, streaming and radio all fit into that.Produced by Unedited for BBC Radio 1Xtra.

Connect with Afua on LinkedInLearn More about the Leadership LoungeWhat if a shutdown could be your reset button? We sat down with digital strategist and communicator Afua Riverson to explore how a forced pause can surface buried passions, heal old narratives, and point you toward work that actually feels like yours. The conversation starts with a candid check-in on grief, time, and why a week of D'Angelo and 90s R&B can do more for your spirit than another round of headlines. From there, we trace a path many first-gen leaders know too well: the pressure to choose “serious” careers, the habit of overperforming to earn love, and the quiet cost of shelving creative callings.Afua lets us into her turning point - health challenges and the radical question: Who am I without the titles? What she finds looks like a treasure chest: sketchbooks, museums, movement in nature, the old dream of fashion and creative direction. She builds a “joy list,” a simple, repeatable practice that grounds her when anxiety spikes and imposter syndrome knocks. We dig into the leadership skills that emerge from this reset - creative direction, innovation, and culture-building - and how those gifts translate into real value for teams and brands. If you're navigating the prestige treadmill or wrestling with immigrant expectations, this is permission to pivot without apology. If this conversation gave you language for what you're feeling, hit follow, leave a review, and pass it to a friend who needs a hopeful nudge today.Send us a comment!We publish new episodes every other Wednesday. Subscribe to the Leadership Tea Podcast Subscribe to Leadership Tea on YouTube! Follow us on Instagram @Leadership_Tea for more inspiration and insights. Get your FREE copy of our Strategic Change WorkbookLearn more about us at stirringsuccess.com

For this installment of the Redacted History Podcast, I sat down with the ever knowledgeable Afua Atta-Mensah, the Director of Programs at Community Change. In this episode we discuss what an inclusive democracy looks like, how history impacts the present, and how you can get build coalitions and get active in your community going forward.  Community Change is a nonprofit organization founded in 1968 at the height of the civil rights movement by leaders of the civil rights and anti poverty movements. They fight for economic freedom, a care economy that allows families. Providers, and communities to access care, and an immigrant inclusive multiracial democracy. They believe that unless we can find a path toward an immigrant-inclusive multiracial democracy, the number of Americans excluded from basic social and economic protections will continue to increase, and conflicts over rights and resources will tear us apart. You can find more information on Community Change and how to get involved here: https://www.communitychange.org Stay Connected with Me: PATREON: patreon.com/redactedhistory https://www.tiktok.com/@Blackkout___ https://www.instagram.com/redactedhistory_ Contact: thisisredactedhistory@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices