About this season
Did you know that President John F. Kennedy was a bodybuilder, Roman ruler Caligula loved to gamble and drug kingpin Pablo Escobar burned millions in cash to keep warm? The series 10 Things You Don't Know About reveals intriguing and provocative details about some of history’s most fascinating individuals and groups. Tune in to explore the lives of historical figures ranging from Abraham Lincoln to the members of the Rat Pack, discovering what your textbooks never told you.
Episodes (10)
1. The Flag
Aired 16 August 2014 • 30 min
The American Flag is one of the most familiar symbols in the world. Many have sung the National Anthem, pledged allegiance, and waved it proudly... but Henry knows the Stars and Stripes has more stories than you've heard. From its first design to the original pledge, from the Civil War to the Moon, the Flag has taken a journey through American history unlike any other.
2. Texas
Aired 23 August 2014 • 30 min
Texas--there's no state in America like it. Big. Brash. Bold. But Henry's trek through the Lone Star State will completely shatter what you thought you knew. This once independent nation's history is an adventure of epic proportions--there are macabre spectator events, exotic animals, pirates, natural disasters... and an almost inconceivable political secret weapon. After what Henry uncovers, you'll never see Texas the same way again.
3. Civil Rights
Aired 30 August 2014 • 30 min
Henry cracks open the books on one of America's most defining chapters--the Civil Rights movement. On a road not often traveled, he crosses the country in search of the unknown stories that built a generation of heroes. From the little-known actions of iconic pioneers like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Lyndon Johnson to the many courageous deeds of unheralded champions, there's much more to America's fight for equality than you've been taught.
4. Edison vs. Tesla
Aired 6 September 2014 • 30 min
Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla are two of the most famous minds in American History... yet their lives and work are filled with facts you'd never even imagine. There's obscure inventions, eccentric ideas, a proposed duel... not to mention the surprising site where you'll find artifacts from their first collaboration. Henry leaves no bulb unscrewed in finding the most incredible facts surrounding these scientific giants.
5. American Revolution
Aired 13 September 2014 • 30 min
We all know how the 13 Colonies broke from the British Empire and formed the USA, but this bloody conflict brims with incredible accounts that will blow your mind. Henry Rollins unearths tales of overlooked heroes, astonishing innovations and heartbreaking tragedy.
6. The Hoover Dam
Aired 20 September 2014 • 30 min
The Hoover Dam is an iconic American landmark, yet within its massive walls lie tales long buried. From harrowing accounts of the men who built it, to the shocking ways they were kept in danger. There were explosive ideas on how to make a dam so large, and even more incredible ways to protect it. From the Colorado River to California's Salton Sea, Henry's journey to find unknown facts about the Hoover Dam is as colossal as the structure itself.
7. Marijuana
Aired 4 October 2014 • 30 min
Marijuana's plant roots run deep in America and Henry digs up its long and complicated history; from its strange origins, to top-secret government programs.
8. The Almighty Dollar
Aired 11 October 2014 • 30 min
Whether it's in your pocket, in your bank account, or stuffed under your mattress, what most people don't know about the history of their cash can fill Fort Knox. Henry travels the strange and sordid trail of currency in America... from how bills were first printed, to why have coins have ridges on them. There are bizarre stories of wishing wells, the national debt, even the U.S. Government literally setting one state's dollars ablaze. By the end of this trip, your money will never look the same way again.
9. Las Vegas
Aired 18 October 2014 • 30 min
Though it's often defined by gambling, mobsters, and broken dreams, Las Vegas has a background far more diverse--from the Depression's impact on the city, to a President's surprising influence, to its history as a patriotic tourist destination. It attracted the biggest personalities--a famous recluse who helped get rid of the mob, and a larger than life legend that fell victim to the city's vices. What happened in Vegas, won't stay in Vegas... as Henry finds that there's more to Sin City than meets the eye.
10. The Gold Rush
Aired 25 October 2014 • 30 min
The Gold Rush was the largest mass migration in American History--with hundreds of thousands of fortune seekers eager to stake their claim to the billions buried beneath California. Henry mines for little-known nuggets of truth about untold greed, vigilante justice, dangerous and destructive practices.... even secret societies still in existence today. See the far-out history of how Gold Fever REALLY panned out for Americans attempting to make their wildest dreams come true.