Dat de eerbiedwaardige Malcolm Gladwell zich in zijn oerdegelijke geschiedenispodcast Revisionist History zou inlaten met een ordinaire moordzaak, was nogal verrassend. Zijn zevendelige serie The Alabama Murders begint tamelijk conventioneel, met een dominee die vreemdgaat en de moord op zijn vrouw. Hij spreekt betrokkenen, reist naar de plek des onheils en verdiept zich in de cultuur van het diepe Zuiden van de VS. Maar gaandeweg wordt duidelijk dat Gladwell een veel groter en belangwekkender verhaal wil vertellen. Hij gebruikt deze zaak om inzichtelijk te maken hoe een ogenschijnlijk eenvoudige gebeurtenis een lawine aan onvermoede consequenties kan veroorzaken. Want de moord op de domineesvrouw zou leiden tot een verhit nationaal debat over de doodstraf.
Florence, Alabama. 1988. A preacher has an affair. A woman is murdered. One death cascades into more, stretching across decades and leaving no one untouched — victims, bystanders, perpetrators, and those just trying to help. Eventually, the consequences lead to the center of a hot national debate on who should be allowed to live, who should die, and how the state should kill them.
On The Alabama Murders, Malcolm Gladwell asks: why, in our efforts to alleviate suffering, do we so often make it worse?
Revisionist History is Malcolm Gladwell’s journey through the overlooked and the misunderstood. Every episode re-examines something from the past—an event, a person, an idea, even a song—and asks whether we got it right the first time. From Pushkin Industries. Because sometimes the past deserves a second chance.
To get early access to ad-free episodes and extra content, subscribe to Pushkin+ in Apple Podcasts are pushkin.fm/plus.
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To mark Veterans Day, host J.R. Martinez sits down with producer Ryan Sweikert to talk about what he’s learned from the stories of veterans who have received the Medal of Honor, how to talk to veterans about their service, and the moments that shaped his life, both in the service and afterward.
Medal of Honor Season 3 is coming on May 27th, 2026. In the meantime, we want to hear from you. We’ve put together a listener survey. Tell us what you love about the show. What we can improve on. Stories you think we’ve missed. To take the survey, follow this link: bit.ly/mohsurvey
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