{"podcast":{"title":"Explaining History","slug":"explaining-history-524006","podcast_index_feed_id":524006,"rss_url":"https://rss.acast.com/explaininghistory","website_url":"http://www.explaininghistory.org","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/60f6d9ac4a4aff65190f9c27/1767646091904-a5aed489-f452-4f74-af70-c7f8364b8d92.jpeg","author":"Nick Shepley","episode_count":943,"summary":"How do we make sense of the modern world? We find the answers in the history of the 20th Century. For over a decade, The Explaining History Podcast has been the guide for curious minds. Host Nick Shepley and expert guests break down the world wars, the Cold War, and the rise and fall of ideologies into concise, 25-minute episodes. This isn't a dry lecture. It's a critical, narrative-driven conversation that connects the past to your present. Perfect for students, history buffs, and anyone who wants to understand how we got here. Hit subscribe and start exploring. Join us at Explaining History for daily modern history articles and news. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-02T06:17:05.993018+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/explaining-history-524006"},"episode":{"title":"Quebec's secret biological warfare history","slug":"quebec-s-secret-biological-warfare-history","published_at":"2026-06-25T09:29:16+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/explaining-history-524006/quebec-s-secret-biological-warfare-history","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/explaining-history-524006","url":"http://explaininghistory.org","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/acast/s/explaininghistory/e/6a3cf4ec7d8ca33e7e7c7099/media.mp3","summary":"In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we are joined by award-winning French Canadian author Mireille Gagné to discuss her acclaimed novel, *Horsefly* – a powerful, genre-defying work inspired by a top‑secret biological warfare laboratory that operated on Québec's Grosse Île during the Second World War. The novel draws on a forgotten chapter of shared Allied history. In 1942, British, American, and Canadian forces established a clandestine facility on Grosse Île – an island in the St. Lawrence River that had previously served as a quarantine station for European immigrants. Their mission: to develop anthrax as a weapon of mass destruction, producing enough to kill the world's population thirty times over. The operation, known as Project M, was part of a broader effort that included the infamous Gruinard Island tests in Scotland – where anthrax spores rendered the island uninhabitable for decades. But Mireille's story is not primarily about scientists and generals. It is about the ordinary people – the residents of neighbouring islands, many of them French Canadian, who were recruited as labourers, caretakers, and assistants. They slaughtered cattle, handled organs, washed themselves with harsh red soap, and transported dangerous materials – often without understanding the full extent of the risks. They worked in silence, bound by military secrecy, and carried a heavy burden that they never fully spoke about. Mireille grew up on Île‑aux‑Grues, part of the same archipelago as Grosse Île. She heard fragments of these stories as a child – whispered, half‑remembered, dismissed by some as dementia. Her mother, who arrived on the island in the 1970s, tried to ask questions but was met with silence. It was only when Mireille began interviewing grandchildren that th…","meta_description":"In this episode of the Explaining History Podcast, we are joined by award-winning French Canadian author Mireille Gagné to discuss her acclaimed novel, *H…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2018,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/explaining-history-524006/episodes/quebec-s-secret-biological-warfare-history/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/explaining-history-524006/quebec-s-secret-biological-warfare-history.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}