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A brief overview of how American nuclear weapons strategy ran parallel to the story in our main narrative. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

JFK outmuscles Richard Nixon on Cuba and into the White House. The CIA begins training Cuban exiles in Central America for an invasion. And Fidel pays a visit to Harlem. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest Luna Olavarria-Gallegos explains how the US government infiltrated and co-opted the hip-hop scene in Cuba. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Cuban Revolution takes power and the counter-revolution begins. The U.S. government, organized crime, and Cuban exiles carry out a campaign of terrorism, assassination, sabotage and psy-ops to turn back the clock. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We talk to activists and historians about Cuba, black radicalism, and how the Revolution attacked the problem of racism. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A long short history of Cuba’s relationship with the United States, climaxing with the Cuban revolutionaries’ war to liberate the island from the dictator Batista and his backers in the United States. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Interviews with history professor Michelle Chase and Cuban scholar Marta Nuñez Sarmiento. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guatemala: an origin story, inspiration, and cautionary tale just a few hundred miles from our main story. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After the Kennedy assassination, US-Cuba diplomacy wanes and the embargo continues. To this day. Our story ends. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Castro, Khrushchev, and Kennedy take tentative steps toward the path of peace post-Crisis. Cuban exile groups, and their CIA sponsors, are not pleased. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The USA announces to the world there are missiles in Cuba. Fidel prepares for war. Khrushchev secretly haggles with Kennedy. Americans enjoy Betty Crocker Super Moist Cake Mix. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fearing another American invasion — "the big one" — Soviet and Cuban leaders plot a secret response. Camelot never sees it coming. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Smarting from failure at the Bay of Pigs, the White House sets in motion a new plan to thwart the Cuban Revolution: Operation Mongoose. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The CIA and the Cuban exiles get their long-awaited shot at taking out Castro and the Revolution. The subsequent battle in Cuba sends shockwaves around the world. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome back. Brendan and Noah reveal this season’s subject, explore the USA’s unrelenting Cuba mania, and introduce the cast of characters. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New episodes drop on April 19. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Invading Iraq means never having to say you’re sorry. The end of Bush, the broken promise of Obama, and the rise of ISIS and Donald Trump. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The empire strikes back. As Iraq deteriorates into civil war, the Bush administration taps a new man to lead a new American strategy. Which means saying goodbye to an old friend. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The American public votes to give Bush another term, right before a big dose of buyers’ remorse. In Iraq, the new "democracy" struggles to get elections off the ground as the situation careens toward civil war. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Somehow not expecting it, the Americans now face an insurgency problem, as both Sunni and Shi'a militants emerge to kick us out. War crimes and atrocities in Fallujah, Sadr City and Abu Ghraib fuel the flames of anti-American resistance. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.