The Thread

If The Catcher in the Rye resonates with people in dark places like Mark David Chapman, then it may be because the novel, and its author, passed through hell itself on the way to publication.

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Considered by many to be “America’s Shakespeare,” Eugene O’Neill revolutionized American drama. But O’Neill suffered greatly for his art, battling alcoholism and depression for decades, and many, including his daughter, suffered for it as well. 

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We chronicle the life and times of Louise Bryant and her husband, John Reed, two Greenwich Village Bohemians who ended up at ground zero for the greatest revolution the world has ever known. 

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In this final episode of the season, host Sean Braswell ties up some of our thread's loose ends, explores some more surprising connections between our characters and reflects on the nature of art, life, fate and redemption. 

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In this bonus episode, OZY brings you our first mini-Thread which begins with one of William Shakespeare's characters uttering a single word in 1597 and ends as a passenger plane plunges into the waters outside Boston almost four centuries later. 

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A century before his grandson, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, rose to power, Warren Delano grew very rich from trafficking a highly addictive drug. 

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A writer, activist and co-founder of Ms. Magazine, Gloria Steinem has played a pivotal role in the women's movement. But she first garnered national attention in 1963 when she went undercover as a Playboy Bunny and wrote a damning expose about her experiences inside the famous men's club. 

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Marilyn Monroe was larger than life. But beneath the soft-spoken movie star and sex goddess was another woman, one far bolder than most people realize. Monroe was an actress ahead of her time, one who was not afraid to stand up to some of the most powerful men in Hollywood - the men she called "wolves". 

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