Hey everyone, Joel here.

Guys, thank you so much for listening to the Let's Read podcast.

But now, I've got something really special to announce, something that I've been waiting to tell you all about for quite a while.

So, I've teamed up with Ballin Studios, the home of Mr. Ballin, you might know him, and the best storytelling on the internet.

And together, we've created a brand new podcast that I know that you're going to love.

I'm hosting it, of course, and it's got that signature storytelling that you know and love from this show,

and anything from Ballin Studios.

But this time, it's not true crime or horror, it's history. It's called a twist of history, and I'm about

to play you a clip. But first, I want to tell you that this isn't going to be a traditional

history podcast. It's not going to be a dry history lesson filled with names and dates. These are

going to be fascinating, riveting, and fully immersive, character-driven stories,

all with a twist, which is to say that they'll all have a clear connection to the things

in our everyday lives.

For example, why are we so obsessed with true crime stories anyways?

But wait till you hear the story from more than 100 years ago.

It's not just the grisly murder, the daring escape, and the thrilling manhunt that'll suck you in.

It's the way the stories sparked our cultural obsession with true crime that makes it so much more fascinating.

And that's just episode one.

Do you know how Hollywood became the movie Mecca, or why we don't use the metric system,

or even why bananas are in all of our supermarkets.

These stories will not only answer these questions, but actually blow your mind.

Just those examples I just gave, they involve pirates, the CIA, political assassinations, and, oh yeah,

...