Borat Before Borat (1970) w/ Jill Lepore

This Day in Esoteric Political History

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It’s June 15th. This day in 1970, Russian television reporter Valentin Zorin aired an episode of his series “Masters Without Masks.” For decades, Zorin was the primary source by which Russians understood what life in America was like.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by historian Jill Lepore to discuss Zorin’s influence and his mix of truth-telling and propaganda — and whether there are any voices like his today.

Zorin’s story is the subject of an episode in the latest season of Jill Lepore’s excellent podcast “The Last Archive.” Check it out here: http://podcasts.pushkin.fm/thisday

Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Julie Shapiro, Executive Producer at Radiotopia