Iran (thread 10), Episode 8: Dean Acheson: The Suit Who Built America’s Global Order

Mormons (thread 11), Episode 6: Mark Twain Roasts Mormonism — And Gets Surprised

Let’s finish this stretch with Twain’s sharpest humor: he tears into the Book of Mormon as "chloroform in print" yet can’t help being fascinated by how the whole thing actually works. It’s funny, a little rude, and oddly admiring — Twain sees Mormonism as a quintessentially American act of reinvention: wildly implausible, stubbornly successful, and totally worth a laugh (and a second look).

Mormons (thread 11), Episode 5: Elizabeth Cady Stanton on Mormon Polygamy Holding a Mirror to America

In episode five we walk with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as she uses Mormon polygamy not as an oddity to be judged, but as a magnifying glass that reveals how patriarchy runs through all of American life. She keeps turning the conversation from Joseph Smith to St. Paul, and from Utah to every institution that concentrates male power. It’s sharp, a little uncomfortable, and oddly freeing — Stanton wants us to see the pattern, not just the exception. You’ll come away thinking about who holds authority and why, and maybe where you see that mirror today.

Mormons (thread 11), Episode 4: When a Senator Saw Mormons as 'Barbarism': Charles Sumner vs. Utah

Charles Sumner wasn’t mad about theology — he was terrified of concentrated power. This short episode digs into how Sumner connected polygamy and slavery as twin threats to republican equality, why Brigham Young looked like a rival sovereign to him, and how that 19th-century debate still echoes today. Come for the history, stay for Sumner’s unmatched ability to turn anything into an existential crisis.

Mormons (thread 11), Episode 3: When the Spanish Inquisition Met Mormonism: A 17th-Century Smackdown

Imagine sitting in a tense 17th-century tribunal as Joseph Smith drops bombshell after bombshell — angels, buried plates, a new scripture, and the idea that the whole church had gone off the rails. The inquisitors are learned, deliberate, and utterly flummoxed; they don’t hate religion, they just hate being told their whole system is obsolete. This episode walks through that slow, increasingly panicked deliberation with a mix of wry humor and close reading of theological stakes. It’s a fun, curious thought experiment that asks: what happens when Christianity 2.0 shows up at the Inquisition’s door?

Mormons (thread 11), Episode 2: If Joseph Smith Faced the Salem Courts: Angels, Evidence, and Endless Questions

Picture this: Joseph Smith in a 1692 Salem courtroom — everyone already believes in angels, but that just means they’ll pick apart his story with a thousand tiny, relentless questions. It’d be equal parts curiosity, suspicion, and paperwork, and honestly, they’d drive him crazier than a room of Harvard professors ever could. It’s wild to think the toughest crowd for a miracle claim might be people who already believe in miracles; they’ve just heard too many false prophets. The real question won’t be whether angels exist, but how anyone can prove they do.