Welcome to the history tricks, where any resemblance to a boring old history lesson is purely coincidental.

Hello and welcome to the show. This is the second of our summer gone fishing, new to you episodes.

We decided to continue the back-to-school theme with one of my absolute favorites. This is a person

that I had wanted to cover for years before we finally did it. Maria Montessori is very important

to my own child's education. I'm sure I talk about that a lot in this episode, but she took a new philosophy in education and turned it into a global phenomenon.

And I just really thank her. I think she has been the reason that my son is such a open-minded and creative learner.

I am perhaps a member of a cult in that regard. But I really would like to say

thank you to her. And thank you to you for understanding about the need for a summer vacation.

And we're so thankful for you and your presence in our lives as well.

On with the show.

And here's your 30 second summary.

What did Julia Child, John Cusack, and Frank, Jackie Kennedy, Taylor Swift,

Yo-Yo Ma, Beckett Graham, and the founders of Google all have in common? Each of them went to a Montessori school, a child-centered educational system that was founded by Maria Montessori, the first woman doctor in Italy who hoped her efforts with children would one day lead to world peace. The end. Let's talk about Maria Montessori. But first, let's drop her into

history. In 1870, construction of the Brooklyn Bridge began and the first section of Atlantic

City's boardwalk opened. The modern soda fountain and asphalt were both patented. The donkey was

first used as a symbol of the U.S. Democratic Party,

the U.S. Army, established National Weather Service. The U.S. government established the Department

of Justice, and the final Confederate states were added back into the union. Compulsory education

was first introduced into legislation in England, Charles Dickens, Robert E. Lee, and Alexandra Dumas died, and in 1870, future doctor and education pioneer Maria Montessori began her own early childhood education.

Maria Montessori was born on August 31st, 1870 in Chiara Valle, Italy, the only child of

Alessandra Montessori and Rinalda Stepani Montessori. Maria was born the year before modern Italy was.

You know what Italy's shaped like. It's a boot, kicking a thing. Probably the easiest country to pick out on a map of

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