A Polite Word for Liar | Revisionist History | Malcolm Gladwell

An early morning raid, a house-full of Nazis, the world’s greatest harmonica player, and a dashingly handsome undercover spy. What could possibly go wrong?
One early morning in July of 1945, a group of Allied soldiers raided a rooming house full of Nazis in Munich. It ended in a ferocious gun battle. Or maybe this happened April of 1946. And maybe there weren’t Nazis in the house: maybe there were just some old women, knitting. And was there actually a gun battle? For the rest of their lives, two of the men who were there - a dashingly handsome undercover spy, and the world’s most famous harmonica player - argued about what really happened that night. This is part one of two episodes about memory, in which we try to get to the bottom of the mystery.
Season 3 (2018)
#podcast #revisionisthistory #malcolmgladwell
ABOUT REVISIONIST HISTORY
Revisionist History is Malcolm Gladwell’s journey through the overlooked and the misunderstood. Every podcast 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. Because sometimes the past deserves a second chance.
ABOUT MALCOLM GLADWELL
Malcolm Gladwell is president and co-founder of Pushkin Industries. He is a journalist, a speaker, and the author of six New York Times bestsellers including The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, David and Goliath, and Talking to Strangers. He has been a staff writer for the New Yorker since 1996. He is a trustee of the Surgo Foundation and currently serves on the board of the RAND Corporation.
ABOUT PUSHKIN INDUSTRIES
Pushkin Industries is an audio production company dedicated to creating premium content in a collaborative environment. Co-founded by Malcolm Gladwell and Jacob Weisberg in 2018, Pushkin has launched seven new shows into the top 10 on Apple Podcasts (Against the Rules, The Happiness Lab, Solvable, Cautionary Tales, Deep Cover, The Last Archive, and Lost Hills), in addition to producing the hugely successful Revisionist History. Pushkin’s growing audiobook catalogue includes includes the bestselling biography “Fauci,” by Michael Specter, “Hasta La Vista, America,” Kurt Andersen’s parody Trump farewell speech performed by Alec Baldwin, "Takeover" by Noah Feldman, and “Talking to Strangers,” from Pushkin co-founder Malcolm Gladwell. Pushkin is dedicated to producing audio in any format that challenges listeners and inspires curiosity and joy.
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[@PhoebeFayRuthLouise]

8:49 “The evil of two lessers” cracks me up!

[@nancyroth8022]

Loessers

[@donaldjmccann]

How astonishing....I was at that concert at the Royal Albert Hall in May 2001. I had no idea to whom I was listening. I believe that Cleo Lane was the head-liner. I was on holiday with my wife; it was a fabulous concert!

[@lindagarland5223]

I sure enjoyed this back story. Thank you, Malcolm.

[@chilatelover]

Fascinating characters

[@Nigel-McMagmus]

“I checked, he actually died two and a half months later”. Such a brilliant closing 😂

[@CViewer70]

MY FAVORITE OF YOUR PODCASTS….

[@kevinpoole6122]

This was unexpectedly moving. Thank you so very much. 💖

[@steveadams1850]

I think you are wrong about memory not being linked to a person's character. I am a story teller as well, but I find fun in the mundane. The name droppers that tell fantastical stories, that aren't true, reveal a lot about their character.

[@rsavage42]

The polite word for liar is liar.

[@maxheadrom3088]

Toots Thielemans liked this podcast!

[@rubinklein3403]

One is certainly reminded of the tales of the Baron Munchausen...

[@Bino_Means]

History. Subtitle: we still dont know what REALLY happened.

[@maxheadrom3088]

That's true about almost all of History. Also, history is usually built as a narrative and that is usually a construct that is good because makes it easy to understand but bad because we tend to take one narrative as the only one. Here's a narrative about it told by a WWII US army veteran: (it ends on 18:24 - that's the great reveal) kzbin.info/www/bejne/aqnSfmljZriKopY We should always remember the words of those WWII veterans when we read news stories or read history books. Oh ... we should include podcasts, radio shows and documentaries, too. No need to include films because in Cinema everything is fake!

[@MeeCee5204]

And as with most things, we never will. Everybody lies, even if they don't know they're lying.

[@ruthcole909]

Thanks for the tip, I love the Jew’s harp. If that’s actually racist, it’s not my intention. My mom used to say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. However, she is the racist. Not that most people would have known that.

[@_powerbeard]

I read the title and thought "The 45th President"

[@zebontheweb]

An ‘Alternate Truther’

[@ecamp6360]

Raconteur = storyteller. Liar is so subjective. Did Malolm lie when he called Adler "the greatest harmonica player in the world."?

[@EdSuastegui]

No, he was lying, and whether he eventually came to believe his own falsehood does not remove root cause: there was a falsehood.

[@jaihawkins]

Yes, you are right, but to whom are referring?

[@pavanatanaya]

UGH! People who coopt other people's experiences as their own...So boring

[@benhills1340]

Almost as bad as an Oxford meeting

[@plusbonus1165]

I love your programs but not this attempt to justify a person's lies. He could've said why he lied, but lie he did. Sadly , it sullied the genius .