Legacy

A probing look at Ernest Hemingway’s rise and fall, from celebrated public persona to decline fueled by alcohol, head injuries and untreated trauma. They unpack his wartime bravado, risky adventures and intelligence contacts. The conversation critiques his portrayals of women, colonial safari myths and corrosive macho image. They also highlight his craft, including the famed “one true sentence” writing ideal.

They trace a young Midwestern hunter becoming a wartime ambulance driver and the trauma that reshaped him. They unpack his habit of embellishing life and turning personal myth into fiction. They follow his Paris years with the Lost Generation, literary friendships, and the rise of his iceberg theory of writing. They also touch on his anti-fascist reporting and turbulent love life.

They debate Gertrude Stein's experimental 'oozing cubism' style and whether its difficulty masks genius. They unpack her ghostwriting of Alice B. Toklas's autobiography and the shock of its commercial success. They probe Stein's wartime choices, her ties to Vichy figures, and the moral questions that cloud her reputation. They trace salon power, Picasso's rise, and the messy costs of literary fame.

A lively dive into Gertrude Stein's life in early 20th-century Paris. They chart how her salon and art patronage helped shape modern art and supported young painters. The conversation traces her American upbringing, medical studies, and experimental writing. Listeners hear about her controversial personality, household dynamics with Alice Toklas, and the fraught ties with contemporaries like Picasso and Hemingway.

A lively tour of samurai history from medieval warrior rule to cultural icon. They examine Zen's pull on martial life and the clash between idealized honor and brutal reality. The story covers Mongol invasions, firearms and European contact, political upheavals, Meiji-era reforms, and how samurai mythmaking shaped modern media and nostalgia.

A sweeping look at how provincial armed retainers evolved into medieval Japan's warrior elite. They trace climate shocks, religious change, and collapsing court power that empowered local warlords. Stories, rituals, and literature that forged samurai identity get attention. The narrative builds to the Genpei War and the moment samurai moved from enforcers to rulers.

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.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.

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.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.

A hidden history of women as the first healers, from shamanic plant knowledge to ancient surgical practice. The rise of male-dominated medicine, university gatekeeping, and church hostility that pushed women out. The strange “penis nest” myth and its role in demonizing traditional healing. Tensions around witchcraft, reproduction, and the loss of embodied medical knowledge.

Ancient beliefs that illness came from spirits and the rituals used to diagnose and cure them. Roles of shamans, exorcists, oracles and their ritual tools like drums, mirrors and plant medicines. How purification practices became modern spas and why ambiguous prophecy held social power. Conversations about psychics, faith healing risks, and the modern revival of spiritual medicine.