You're Wrong About
Sarah is a journalist obsessed with the past. Every week she reconsiders a person or event that's been miscast in the public imagination.
Episodes
The Auralyn with Blair Braverman
Are you a survival pessimist or a survival optimist? Blair Braverman surprises Sarah with a harrowing, heartening, and sometimes hilarious tale of love and endurance in the face of certain death, but you’ll have to listen to find out the se…
Samantha Smith vs. the Cold War with Maris Kreizman
Who really ended the Cold War, Ronald Reagan or a ten-year-old girl? Eighties correspondent Maris Kreizman joins us for a heartfelt conversation about America’s Youngest Ambassador, Samantha Smith, a child who wrote a letter to Soviet Gener…
The Insanity Defense with Mackenzie Joy Brennan
What do John Hinckley Jr. and a jazz age tuberculosis patient have in common? Legal correspondent Mackenzie Joy Brennan takes Sarah through some of the strange cases that helped make—and break—the insanity defense in America. Our story in…
Corn Mazes with Chelsey Weber-Smith
Can you find your way out of the maize? The corn maze has become an enduring attraction of the American autumnal experience, seen at touristy family farms next to pumpkin patches and haunted houses. But what are the historical roots of this…
Pee-wee Herman Part 2 with Jamie Loftus
In the second part of our series, pop culture historian Jamie Loftus takes us through the meteoric rise of Pee-wee Herman and the withering of Paul Reubens' world as dubious allegations surface that threaten to turn a beloved children’s cha…
Pee-wee Herman Part 1 with Jamie Loftus
What’s today’s secret word? Paul Reubens spent years bringing to life one of America’s most beloved characters, Pee-wee Herman, an icon of joy for weirdos of all ages. In the first of this two part series, Pee-wee superfan-turned-historian …
The Hitler Diaries with Adrian Daub
What happens when you’re just a little too good at forging the diaries of Adolf Hitler? And why did so many people want to read them? In 1983, the West German news magazine Stern bought sixty volumes of forged journals and held a press conf…
The I Hate to Housekeep Book with Miranda Zickler
For many of us, house cleaning is a daunting, unpleasant affair, but for You’re Wrong About editor Miranda Zickler, it is a love language. Continuing the Peg Bracken Book Club tradition set forth by our I Hate Cookbook episode with Sarah Ar…
Coyotes! with Lulu Miller
Who is out there behind the howling midnight parties in the distance? For generations we have coexisted in varying degrees of rivalry, conflict, and admiration with the North American canine known as the coyote. From pre-colonization to our…
Inventing the Teenager with Harmony Colangelo
Where did all these teens come from? Harmony Colangelo, co-host of This Ends at Prom, is here to explain how, before Americans got to worry about what teenagers were up to, we first had to decide what they were—and how a boom in postwar edu…
Is Your House Too Clean? with Sarah Archer
Have you scrubbed down the top of your fridge lately? Home & garden correspondent Sarah Archer is here to tell us how and when we got so obsessed with the antiseptically clean house as a status symbol, and whether we really need to worry ab…
Hoax Memoir Spectacular!
This week, flim flam correspondent and certified April Fool Chelsey Weber-Smith is here to talk about a fistful of fake memoirs, featuring girls raised by wolves; the chicken pox of James Frey; what poetry can give us that memoir can't; and…
Your Joy and Resilience Stories
At the end of our last episode, we asked you to call in and tell us what has been bringing you joy, connecting you to your community, and where you’ve been finding hope in these last few months. These are some of the responses we wanted to …
The Worst Oscars Ever?? with Michael Schulman
What do Lily Tomlin, Snow White, and Kenny Ortega have in common? They were all part of the 61st Academy Awards, a broadcast now remembered as the worst of all time, and masterminded by Allan Carr (lover of spectacle and producer of Grease)…
Emotional Labor with Rachel Monroe and Ash Compton of Bad Therapist
What is "emotional labor," and why is it probably not what your boyfriend accuses you of making him do when you want him to go to Ikea with you? Psychotherapist Ash Compton and journalist Rachel Monroe are here to tell the tale of how the t…
Alice Kyteler and the First Witchcraft Trial in Ireland with Molly Aitken
In County Kilkenny, Ireland, in an early year of a century not too long before our own, Alice Kyteler was accused of witchcraft. But the story doesn't end there. This week, Molly Aitken—author of BRIGHT I BURN—is here to tell us a tale wher…
Aron Ralston with Blair Braverman
What would you do if you were pinned down by an 800-pound boulder, and no one knew where you were? In 2003, Aron Ralston had to answer that question. Today, our survival correspondent Blair Braverman is here to tell us the tale of the man, …
Singing in the New Year with Carolyn Kendrick and Each Machine
There's one last present at the toe of our stocking, and it's a new album by producer Carolyn Kendrick. We'll be back with a regular episode next week, but for now, come listen to some music, and join us for a conversation about making art …
Santa Claus with Sarah Archer
'Twas (the night before) the night before Christmas/ And all through the show/ We await Sarah Archer with eyes all aglow/ To blow the dust off some old books from the shelf/ And tell us the tale of a jolly old elf.Where did he come from?/ W…
Cola Wars with Miles Klee
Miles Klee can’t take it anymore. This week, a tale of corporate intrigue, world domination, and soda.Read Miles Klee at Rolling Stone.Support You're Wrong About:Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merchWhere else to find us:Sarah's other sho…
Elizabeth Báthory with Princess Weekes
"Our alleged serial killers deserve better than this." Was Elizabeth Báthory the most prolific serial killer of all time, or was she just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Do we even have the tools to know? And what about that bathing i…
Halloween History with Chelsey Weber-Smith
Black cats and goblins and broomsticks and ghosts/ Covens of witches with all of their hosts/ You may think they scare me, you're probably right/ But American Hysteria's Chelsey Weber-Smith is on the show tonight. It's a tale of mischief, m…
A MASSIVE SEANCE Live Show Tour with American Hysteria
What could possibly go wrong when two skeptical podcasters try to summon a ghost? Join Sarah and Chelsey Weber-Smith (of American Hysteria) for a historical, theatrical, ecstatic spectacular for the living and dead. Hold hands with your fav…
Revolutions and Resistance with Kellie Carter Jackson
Kellie Carter Jackson, author of We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance, is here to take us on a trip through American history where we learn about revolutions, change, and joy not from a few white men, but from generations of Bl…
Lawrence v. Texas Part 2 with Marcus McCann
"Times can blind us to certain truths and later generations can see that laws once thought necessary and proper in fact serve only to oppress. As the Constitution endures, persons in every generation can invoke its principles in their own s…
Lawrence v. Texas Part 1 with Marcus McCann
Or, is it legal to have gay sex in your own home? This week, Marcus McCann takes us back to the 2003 Supreme Court case that challenged a Texas anti-sodomy law--with little stops along the way for Mexican food, the endowment of James Dean, …
The Jane Collective with Moira Donegan
"As long as the law is male, women must be outlaws." — Linnea Johnson This week, Moira Donegan takes us back to Chicago in 1969, when an underground feminist collective got fed up with doctors, and started providing abortions themselves. Mo…
Dungeons & Dragons & The Satanic Panic with Adrian Daub
This week we travel back to the 80s, when America’s parents decided to freak out over some kids rolling dice and drawing things on graph paper! Adrian Daub walks Sarah through the history of Dungeons & Dragons, and the panic it inspired. Co…
Rosie Ruiz and the Marathon Women with Maggie Mertens
Maggie Mertens tells us a tale of the first women who fought to run the marathon, and of one woman who decided to cut to the finish line. Find Maggie online here. Find Maggie's book Better Faster Farther: How Running Changed Everything We K…
Has the Supreme Court Always Been This Terrible? with Mackenzie Joy Brennan
What is “originalism,” and what does it have to do with all these bribes? Mackenzie Joy Brennan has some answers.Find Mackenzie online here. You can find Abortion Access Front online here. "Anita Hill" episode of You're Wrong About. The US …
Balloonfest ‘86! with Harmony Colangelo
The city of Cleveland will not be made to apologize for its balloons. Harmony Colangelo defends the mistake on the lake.You can find Harmony on This Ends at Prom. Support You're Wrong About:Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merchWhere else …
Phones Are Good, Actually with Taylor Lorenz
This week, Taylor Lorenz fights our latest moral panic. Are phones really making kids anxious, or are kids just good at noticing what's going on? Listen to Taylor's podcast, Power User Read Taylor in the Washington Post ...and her book, Ext…
Immigration with Alejandra Oliva
Alejandra Oliva, author of Rivermouth, came by to catch us up on the last few decades of American immigration policy--and to talk about how the world as we know it is not the world as it must be.Alejandra's website: olivalejandra.comRead Ri…
The Tradwife Rises with Sarah Archer
Sarah Archer came by to make an episode from scratch. What's the real history of the American housewife? Where did the tradwife come from, and why? Is she okay? Will we be okay? And who is she churning all that butter for? Sarah Archer's ac…
Rosa Parks with Princess Weekes
Today, Princess Weekes takes us to meet the real Rosa Parks.Find Princess on YouTube: Princess’ video, “The 1920s Sex Scandal You’ve Never Heard of” Support You're Wrong About:Bonus Episodes on PatreonBuy cute merchWhere else to find us:Sar…
George Michael Part 2 with Marcus McCann
Let's go outside in the sunshine. An extended cut of this episode is available for Patreon and Apple Plus subscribers.You can buy Marcus McCann's book, Park Cruising: What Happens When We Wander Off the Path, here.Support You're Wrong Abo…
George Michael Part 1 with Marcus McCann
He turned a bright spark into a flame.(Part 1 of 2!)You can buy Marcus McCann's book, Park Cruising: What Happens When We Wander Off the Path, here.Content warning: this episode briefly discusses suicide around minute 13.An extended cut of …
Hoax Spectacular! with Chelsey Weber-Smith
Sarah talks with Chelsey Weber-Smith, host of American Hysteria, about some of their favorite hoaxes—from the Loch Ness Monster to the Taco Liberty Bell—and ponder the value of pranks in a world of misinformation. You can find Chelsey here.…
BONUS Britney Spears Book Club with Eve Lindley
Celebrity correspondent Eve Lindley came by to tell us about Britney Spears' memoir The Woman in Me. This is part one of a four-part saga we're currently releasing on Patreon and Apple Plus, and in this episode we get into Britney's family …
The Oscars Streaker with Michael Schulman
In 1974, Robert Opel ran naked through the Academy Awards telecast, and into American history. Today, Michael Schulman, a staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of Oscar Wars, tells Sarah the story of gay history, art, and tragedy th…