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Episode 5: Stilettos in Moscow

Age of Confusion

Release Date: 04/11/2021

Episode 20: Reagan vs. Kennedy show art Episode 20: Reagan vs. Kennedy

Age of Confusion

With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, the 1972 Presidential election comes down to an epic duel between two charismatic politicians.

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Episode 19: Come to Jesus show art Episode 19: Come to Jesus

Age of Confusion

An explosive political showdown begins for the 1972 Republican Presidential nomination, as the sharks circle to finish off George Romney's wounded administration.

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Episode 18: The Atlanta Doctor show art Episode 18: The Atlanta Doctor

Age of Confusion

Lawrence McEnery, an Atlanta physician and activist in the John Birch Society, begins his meteoric political career after a chance meeting with Ronald Reagan in 1968.

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Episode 17: Summit show art Episode 17: Summit

Age of Confusion

President Romney tries to come to terms with the Soviets in a high-stakes summit meeting with Shelepin. Are the Russians sincere, or is it another trick?

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Episode 16: War Scare show art Episode 16: War Scare

Age of Confusion

The Soviets make an all-out bid to take over West Berlin, pushing the world closer to the brink of nuclear war than it has ever been before.

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Bonus Episode: Mid-Season 2 Recap and Explainer show art Bonus Episode: Mid-Season 2 Recap and Explainer

Age of Confusion

Here is a recap of Episodes 11-15 and some commentary on the real history that it's based on.

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Episode 15: China Bleeds Red show art Episode 15: China Bleeds Red

Age of Confusion

In 1966, Communist China undergoes a political and cultural upheaval as the aging Mao Zedong seeks to ensure his continued relevance, with disastrous results.

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Episode 14: The New Purges show art Episode 14: The New Purges

Age of Confusion

Following the example of his mentor Stalin, new Soviet leader Alexander Shelepin ruthlessly purges the Russian government, military and Communist Party.

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Episode 13: Age of Aquarius show art Episode 13: Age of Aquarius

Age of Confusion

The worlds of music, pop culture and religion in America undergo profound changes in the transition from the hopeful 1960s to the cynical '70s.

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Episode 12: Blood in the Sand show art Episode 12: Blood in the Sand

Age of Confusion

The Middle East erupts in violence between Israel and the Arab states, setting up a tense confrontation between the Cold War superpowers.

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More Episodes

In this episode, the focus shifts to Moscow and a look at changes in the Communist world. Nikita Khrushchev, reviled in the Soviet Communist Party for buckling under to Kennedy in the Cuban Missile Crisis, is blissfully unaware of the threat to his power bubbling up in the ranks of the Party leadership. A coup is clearly afoot, but the competition for which bureaucratic apparatchik will replace him—Brezhnev, Suslov, Malenkov of somebody else—becomes unexpectedly fierce. Waiting in the shadows, Alexander Shelepin, former head of the KGB, is sitting on a “dictatorship coach” and a cache of secret documents that he hopes will give him the edge in the power struggle that breaks out in the Kremlin in the fall of 1964.

Length: 26:02

Show Notes For This Episode

Next Episode (Bonus, Recap & Explainer): April 18, 2021

Next Regular Episode: April 25, 2021