John Green uncovers how the world?s deadliest curable disease still thrives?and why everything, from cowboy hats to colonial borders, traces back to tuberculosis.

Everything Is Tuberculosis

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Take a whirlwind tour of Memphis with the city?s most enthusiastic historian, uncovering duck parades, telecom turf wars, and a street named after a single day in 1934.

A Walking Tour with Mr. Memphis

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In 1991, one of the strangest buildings in America opened ? a 32-storey, stainless steel pyramid in Memphis, Tennessee.

The Great American Pyramid

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A group of artists explored the back hallways of a mall in Providence, RI, and found the perfect place to build a private hangout. We interviewed the group's leader Michael Townsend a few years back, and he's now the subject of a new documentary called Secret Mall Apartment. Plus, mall history with Alexandra Lange.

For showtimes and more information, visit secretmallapartment.com.

The stories in this episode originally aired in 2018 and 2022.

Secret Mall Apartments

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When global trade reshapes a city, who pays the price?and who fights back?

Alexis Madrigal?s new book is called The Pacific Circuit: A Globalized Account of the Battle for the Soul of an American City.

Beautiful West Oakland, California

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After we finished up The Power Broker, a bunch of people were asking us what other books we?d been reading. A group of us got together and presented some of our recent favorites, and the choices were so good and surprising and charming, we're now sharing it widely.

Here are the books covered in this episode:

To hear new 99PI episodes ad-free (and the occasional bonus content), subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+.

What We're Reading

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A tiny, unremarkable beetle hiding in the caves of Slovenia has an infamously unfortunate name?one that has sparked heated debates in the scientific world.

A Beetle By Any Other Name

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A film about a struggling architect, a style the world loves to hate?The Brutalist and Brutalism itself share more than just a name. Is it bold vision or concrete failure?

The Brutalists

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In the heart of Berlin?s Tempelhof-Schöneberg district sits a hulking, crumbling concrete cylinder?an abandoned relic of a Nazi plan to rebuild the city as a grand imperial capital. But this eerie structure isn?t just a forgotten engineering experiment; it?s a lasting monument to one of the Third Reich?s most colossal architectural failures.

The Nazi Block

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Join Roman and Elliott one last time as they reflect on their journey with you all through The Power Broker, exploring their favorite moments and answering listener questions in this bonus episode.

If you finished The Power Broker with us (or know someone who did), get the 99PI Power Broker challenge coin to commemorate your achievement! Visit 99pi.org/store to get the challenge coin and other 99PI merch.

This event took place in our 99% Invisible Discord server. Join us!

The Power Broker Breakdown Wrap-Up

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How did a simple painting transform into the world's most recognized depiction of Jesus?

Head of Christ

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Last week, we delved into story of how the Tennessee Valley Authority, which started out as a public institution, ended up acting like a private for-profit company, and the lawsuit that attempted to finally bring the TVA to its heel. Today, Montana Public Radio?s podcast The Wide Open tells the story of a different lawsuit against the TVA that had even bigger consequences. In the 1970s, the fight to save a tiny fish called the snail darter turned the Endangered Species Act from a minor bit of federal law into the most powerful and controversial piece of environmental legislation of the past 50 years.

The Wide Open

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What went wrong in Kingston, Tennessee, and what does it reveal about the messy legacy of public utilities turned corporate giants?

Valley So Low

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The Power Broker Breakdown may have concluded, but if you're just tuning in (or if you just want a quick refresher), this episode is a compilation of the summary portions of the The Power Broker Breakdown series.

The Power Broker Breakdown Breakdown

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A deadly desert crossing leaves survivors seeking refuge?and sparks a movement that defied the law and redefined the idea of sanctuary in America. This is the story of how faith, courage, and resistance collided with one of the biggest immigration battles in modern history.

Note: This episode originally aired as two episodes in 2017.

Sanctuary

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The story of an 2700 year old archive, its accidental preservation, and the unprecedented?and often funny?glimpse it gives us into the daily life of an ancient king.

Ancient DMs

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Happy New Year! We're starting 2025 with four more mini stories about a sleepy button, electric signs, a very important sticker, and video you can smell.

Mini-Stories: Volume 20

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We've all got problems. Sometimes your problem is a massive roadblock in your life, or maybe it's this little thing that quietly annoys you that you've learned to grudgingly put up with. But regardless of the size of your problem, it would be so great if someone would just fix it for you. Not just fix it, hyperfix it.

Today, we're playing a great story from Alex and his new show, Hyperfixed. Alex investigates why there's no door in a place where there really should be a door. You'll never shop for sour cream or shredded mozzarella the same way again.

Hyperfixed: Dylan's Supermarket Cold Case

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The story of New Year's Eve in Times Square, and how a quiet group of unelected Manhattan property owners used the holiday ? and their own undemocratic municipal power ? to transform the neighborhood from its porn-theater-and-vice-rich past to its flashy, family-friendly present.

New Year, New Neighborhood

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This is the twelfth and final episode breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro.

We?ve waited until the evening to see how splendid the day has been, and for this final installment, there was only one guest truly worthy of the last slot: Robert Caro. This time, he discusses the book?s lasting legacy, parallels to today, and how he decided on the last line of the book.

This week, Elliott and Roman also cover Chapters 47 through 50, discussing the major story beats and themes.

To those of you who turned every page with us: thank you.

If you finished The Power Broker with us (or know someone who did), get the 99PI Power Broker challenge coin to commemorate your achievement! Visit 99pi.org/store to get the challenge coin and other 99PI merch.

The Power Broker #12: Robert Caro

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Cheeky highway signs, Jane Fonda?s surprising side hustle, a dynamite twist on legacy, and the Greeks? ideal foot obsession?expect the unexpected.

Mini-Stories: Volume 19

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Roman Mars and the Flop House team dive into Francis Ford Coppola's intriguing and controversial film, Megalopolis, exploring its chaotic narrative, ambitious ideas, and perplexing execution.

Listen to The Flop House wherever you get your podcasts!

The Flop House: Megalopolis, with Roman Mars

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How did the ?15 Minute City,? a simple urban planning idea, spark protests, conspiracy theories, and death threats? This week, we unravel how a concept for livable cities became a global flashpoint.

The 15 Minute City

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After Toronto unveiled its "raccoon-resistant" compost bins in 2016, some people feared the animals would be starved, but many more celebrated the innovative design. Rolling out this novel locked bin opened a new battlefront in city's ongoing "war on raccoons."

Journalist Amy Dempsey was researching the bins and raccoon behavior when her reporting took an unexpected turn down her own garbage-strewn alleyway. Had local raccoons finally figured out how to defeat the greatest human effort in our ?war? against their kind?

This episode original aired in 2018.

Raccoon Resistance

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What makes The Power Broker endure 50 years on? Roman Mars and Elliott Kalan sit down with legendary author Robert Caro to explore the humanity, drama, and untold stories behind his iconic book. Recorded live from the New York Historical Society.

Roman, Elliott, and Robert Caro: Live in Conversation

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This is the eleventh official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. 

This week, Roman Mars and Elliott Kalan sit down with Brennan Lee Mulligan, a comedian and host with Dropout TV, where he?s the creator of Dimension 20 ? a Dungeons & Dragons show that features incredibly complex and campaigns, with improv actors and special effects. And as the Dungeon Master, Brennan leads these stories. Season three of Dimension 20 takes place in a magical New York City, where the main villain is a fictionalized, undead Robert Moses, who shares the real Robert Moses?s passion for building roads and destroying lives through bureaucracy.

Elliott and Roman also cover the second section of Part 7 (Chapter 42 through Chapter 46), discussing the major story beats and themes.

The Power Broker #11: Brennan Lee Mulligan

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Roman talks with The Memory Palace creator Nate DiMeo, whose new book brings his poetic history podcast to life on the page. They explore how moments of wonder and empathy shape Nate?s stories, turning forgotten history into something intensely personal. Plus, Roman shares two beautifully haunting tales from The Memory Palace that remind us just how close the past really is.

The Memory Palace: True Short Stories of the Past comes out November 19th and will be available everywhere books are sold. We highly recommend you check it out!

The Memory Palace...Book!

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As the last warmth of summer fades, Riis Beach?a hidden queer oasis behind a decaying hospital?faces a new reality. With its shadowy protector demolished, can this haven survive in the open, or will its magic disappear with the ruins?

Meet Me at Riis

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Remember when grocery shelves went bare and cargo ships clogged the California coast? That chaos wasn?t just a pandemic hiccup?it was a symptom of a supply chain stretched to its limits. With insights from Peter Goodman?s new book, discover the unlikely invention that made the modern supply chain possible?and why it?s now at risk of collapsing.

How the World Ran Out of Everything

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Every fall, a vacant Toronto storefront is possessed by Spirit Halloween, the pop-up shop haunting 1,500 empty spaces across North America. What does this seasonal invasion say about the retail apocalypse? And why are people so drawn to its eerie aisles? Explore the spooky rise of Spirit Halloween?where the scares are temporary, but the obsession is real.

Spirit Halloween

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This is the tenth official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. 

This week, Roman Mars and Elliott Kalan sit down with Clara Jeffery, the editor-in-chief of Mother Jones and the Center for Investigative Reporting. She?s had a long and storied career editing works of investigative journalism that speaks truth to power and afflicts the comfortable, including so she brings that perspective to her understanding of The Power Broker. Clara hadn?t read The Power Broker before and this podcast inspired her to pick it up and read along with us.

Elliott and Roman also cover the last section of Part 6 and the first section of Part 7 (Chapter 39 through Chapter 41), discussing the major story beats and themes.

The Power Broker #10: Clara Jeffery

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Today, we have three stories about designs meant to fool you. Camouflage meant to fool U-boats. Highways designed to fool your brain into going way faster than it should want to. And impeccably made fake signs meant to guide you to the right freeway. Three classic, favorite 99PI's completely updated, remixed, and rescored.

Trompe L'oeil

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In this bonus episode, Roman unearths the surprising story behind the 99% Invisible's name and delves into the unnoticed brilliance of everyday design?from the origins of reinforced concrete to the artistry of Japan?s manhole covers. 

This episode is sponsored by PNC Bank, where ?brilliantly boring? means stability that allows you to focus on what truly matters.

Brilliantly Boring

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In the heart of Copenhagen, a former military base transformed into Christiania, a self-proclaimed anarchist commune where residents built a new way of living, free from traditional rules. But as the years passed, external pressures and internal conflicts?especially a growing drug trade?put Christiania?s radical ideals to the test, forcing the community to confront whether it can stay true to its roots or be reshaped by the forces around it.

If you want to learn more about Christiania ? and hear other fascinating stories from around the world ? be sure to check out Scott Gurian?s own podcast, Far From Home.

Christiania

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The unexpected story of how Alfred Nobel?s invention of dynamite?designed to build the world?was co-opted by anarchists to bring about its destruction. From revolutionizing infrastructure to arming political radicals, dynamite shaped the rise of both terrorism and modern law enforcement.

The Infernal Machine

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What started as Emily Nussbaum?s ?guilty pleasure? of watching Big Brother became a deeper dive into the world of reality TV, leading to her book, Cue the Sun: The Invention of Reality TV. From its early, often morally questionable experiments with shows like Candid Microphone, to the strategy and drama of Survivor, Nussbaum traces the history of a genre that?s shaped how we see the world?and even influenced who gets elected. If you think reality TV is all fluff, this episode might just change your mind.

Cue the Sun!

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This is the ninth official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. 

This week, Roman Mars and Elliott Kalan sit down with Majora Carter, an urban revitalization strategist and real estate developer from the South Bronx. Growing up, she always viewed the neighborhood as a place she had to leave in order to find success. But as she got older, she began to undo some of Robert Moses? legacy, like building Hunt?s Point Riverside Park along the Bronx River. She is a champion for bettering neighborhoods like the South Bronx, so that they are places where people want to remain?even when they have been ruined by a tyrant.

Elliott and Roman also cover the third section of Part 6 (Chapter 35 through Chapter 38), discussing the major story beats and themes. 

The Power Broker #09: Majora Carter

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Karen MacDonough had paid her mortgage for years, raised her family, and lived a quiet life in her Quincy, Massachusetts home?until one day, a group of strangers appeared on her lawn, claiming her house was up for foreclosure. What followed was a surreal discovery of ?zombie mortgages,? forgotten second loans from the housing bubble era that have come back to haunt homeowners like Karen. As real estate prices rise, debt collectors are reviving these dormant debts, threatening homes across the country.

This episode is from our friends at Planet Money, a podcast about economics...possibly the biggest thing that we all collectively try not to think about, only to have it greet us at the grocery store, at the gas station, even in our homes. This episode illustrates how massive forces pull at the economy like tides and create ripple effects in our lives, like how a decade-old loan can suddenly come back to life and take everything away.

Subscribe to Planet Money wherever you get your podcasts. They also have a digital piece with further reporting on Zombie Mortgages from NPR?s Investigations Team. You can find that at npr.org/zombie.

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Once considered the most dangerous city in the world due to drug cartel violence, by the early 2000s Medellin had reinvented itself. But gentrification is allowing criminal gangs to reap large profits from a shadow economy powered by the tourist boom.

Medellin, Revisited

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The impacts of climate disasters are often measured in terms of property damage. But in places like Phoenix, Arizona, and in hot places all over the world, climate change is wreaking a very different kind of havoc ? on living things. In the final episode of Not Built for This, we reckon with the biological limits of climate adaptation.

Not Built For This is a 6-part mini-series from 99% Invisible, with new episodes on Tuesdays and Fridays in the 99% Invisible feed. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

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Most of the stories in this series have been about places that are ill-prepared for the extreme weather that is coming their way. But this story is about a place that managed to get the kind of infrastructure that will actually help it survive climate change. How after more than two decades of tireless work, the residents of Hamilton City, California finally got the levee they deserved. 

Not Built For This is a 6-part mini-series from 99% Invisible, with new episodes on Tuesdays and Fridays in the 99% Invisible feed. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

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All across the country thousands of people are living in locations that regularly flood, and many of these places will only get more flood-prone as the climate continues to change. Residents who live in these danger zones are often trapped in a demoralizing loop?flooding, rebuilding, and praying each time that the pattern doesn?t repeat. However in some neighborhoods the government is trying a different approach. They?re buying out flood-prone homes and helping residents relocate to higher ground. But what?s it like for residents to fight like hell for help, and the only help on offer means leaving the place they love?

Not Built For This is a 6-part mini-series from 99% Invisible, with new episodes on Tuesdays and Fridays in the 99% Invisible feed. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

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Insurance companies are not climate activists, but they know more about climate risk than just about anyone. And as storms get more extreme and unpredictable a lot of insurers are running the numbers on Florida and realizing that the math just isn?t working anymore. For decades, low cost insurance helped mask the risks of living in some of the riskiest parts of the country. However a climate correction is now underway. Prices are skyrocketing. And on America?s riskiest peninsula, residents are beginning to feel climate change where it hurts?in their bank accounts.

Not Built For This is a 6-part mini-series from 99% Invisible, with new episodes on Tuesdays and Fridays in the 99% Invisible feed. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

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In disasters where a lot of people lose their homes, the impacts are not confined to a single city or town. They ripple outward, cascading into the surrounding area, as the survivors are forced to go looking for new places to live. This is the story of what happened after the famous fire in Paradise, California, and where many of the survivors ended up. It?s a cautionary tale about a town caught in the cross hairs of both the climate crisis and the housing crisis, and what happened when thousands of displaced people showed up on its doorstep.

Not Built For This is a 6-part mini-series from 99% Invisible, with new episodes on Tuesdays and Fridays in the 99% Invisible feed. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

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Reporter Emmett Fitzgerald was used to hearing people call his home state of Vermont a ?climate haven.? But last summer, he got a wake up call in the form of a devastating flood.

All throughout the United States, people are watching the places they love change in unpredictable and scary ways. Places that once felt safe are starting to feel risky. Places that already felt risky are starting to feel downright dangerous. And as the climate continues to change, people are being forced to make impossible decisions about how to live, and where to live, in an increasingly unstable and unfamiliar world.

This is a series about climate change and how we prepare for the extremely bumpy ride ahead of us. Because right now we?re all living in a world that was just Not Built for This. 

Not Built For This is a 6-part mini-series from 99% Invisible, with new episodes on Tuesdays and Fridays in the 99% Invisible feed. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

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This is the eighth official episode, breaking down the 1974 Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Power Broker by our hero Robert Caro. 

This week, Roman Mars and Elliott Kalan sit down with Shiloh Frederick. Born and raised in New York City, Shiloh is a writer and influencer who shares her love of the city?s history and architecture on Instagram and TikTok. Last year, she chronicled her rather ambitious plan to read The Power Broker in 30 days, and her viral videos about her endeavor ended up making some real change in the city.

Elliott and Roman also cover the second section of Part 6 (Chapter 33 through Chapter 34), discussing the major story beats and themes.

The Power Broker #08: Shiloh Frederick

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This week we're highlighting a couple of series that live inside the 99pi production tent.

We?ve got a preview of a new miniseries for you called Not Built for This, created and hosted by Emmett FitzGerald. It's a show about climate change, but not in the way you might think. It's about how the complex systems that govern our lives are not designed for the tectonic changes that are coming our way. Because right now we?re all living in a world that was just Not Built for This. You can find Not Built for This in the 99% Invisible feed starting August 20th.

We're also announcing the relaunch of Roman's side project What Roman Mars Can Learn About Con Law by featuring a new episode and one from two weeks ago.

Side Projects

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When you?re watching the opening credits to a movie, it?s not just a list of names. What you?re actually seeing is intense negotiations by Hollywood stars and their agents playing out in text form. Title designers have to create something that?s entertaining to watch, while also presenting the names of all the creative people in a very particular order. It?s like a game of Tetris, to make sure everybody gets their due.

Top Billing

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The 2024 Paris Olympics are currently under way, and we thought we?d play two stories from the 99% Invisible archives about the art of the Olympics.

First up, a story about the design and iconography of the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Then, Kurt Kohlstedt tells us about Olympic poetry.

The Art of the Olympics

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From TV commercials and branded soda cans to Emily in Paris spon-con, the Olympics are once again everywhere. In the Olympic spirit, we?re bringing you four stories about the games in all their international, theatrical glory.

In the first story, Christopher Johnson introduces the obscure, non-traditional sports from a forgotten part of Olympic history. The second story, by Chris Berube, offers a glimpse into the financial strain brought about by Montreal?s host venue for the 1976 games. In Vivian Le?s third story, the opening ceremony for Seoul?s 1988 Olympics begins on an unfortunate note. The final story, by Avery Trufelman, proposes a twist on the traditional Olympic host-country format.

The 2024 Olympics Spectacular

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