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The final hours of Titanic

The rise and fall of Enron

The Cuban Missile Crisis

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How Nvidia became the centre of the AI boom

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  1. 01

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    The Fall of Lehman Brothers

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Script

Sunday, September 14, 2008.

In a conference room at the New York Fed,

the most powerful bankers in America ran out of options.

Research

FCIC report · Fed transcripts · Examiner's report

Direction

pauselower voiceincrease tension

Voice

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Phones ringingRain on Liberty StreetDoor closes

Finished documentary

The weekend that almost broke Wall Street

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Because you listened

Monday, 13 October

07:42

Esode

2 h ago

You listened to Enron.

Want to hear how Wirecard fooled investors, regulators and banks for years?

Current events

Tuesday, 14 October

09:41

Esode

now

In the news today.

A landmark AI ruling was just announced. Hear the story of how we got here.

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Saturday, 9 November

21:07

Esode

Yesterday

On this day in 1989.

The Berlin Wall fell 36 years ago today. Hear the story of the night it happened.

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You're standing next to a monument Paris once wanted to tear down.

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The Eiffel Tower seen from the street

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now

You're standing next to a monument Paris once wanted to tear down.

Your documentary. Truly yours.

Two people can explore the same story and get two different documentaries.

Documentary · 35 min

The fall of Lehman Brothers

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Finished

The fall of Lehman Brothers

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The Collapse of Enron

Documentary · 4:52 left

Aa

On a Sunday late in October 2001, the board of directors sits down to create a committee. They give the chair to William Powers, a law school dean from Austin.

The job is simple. Look at the books. Look at the partnerships hiding inside the company.

What Powers finds is not an accounting mistake. It is an architecture. Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Skilling have spent years building a network of off-balance-sheet entities.

On paper, these entities absorb Enron's losses. In reality, they are controlled by the very executives running the company.

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The Wirecard hole

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The tower Paris wanted to tear down

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Paris once wanted to tear it down.

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On a Sunday late in October 2001, the board of directors sits down to create a committee. They give the chair to William Powers, a law school dean from Austin.

The job is simple. Look at the books. Look at the partnerships hiding inside the company.

0:00−0:16

Follow along

Read the documentary as it plays, synchronized word by word.

Questions

What is Esode?+

An app that creates complete audio documentaries about whatever you're curious about.

Can I choose any topic?+

Yes. A person, a company, an event, a place or a question.

Is this an AI podcast?+

No. Esode produces a documentary, with script, direction, narration, music and sound design.

How does Esode create a documentary?+

It researches the topic, writes the script, directs the story and produces the sound.

Are the documentaries fact-checked?+

Esode builds documentaries from research, and you can explore the sources yourself.

What is Nearby?+

Nearby tells you the stories behind the places around you.

Is Esode free?+

You can start for free. Premium gives you more documentaries and more control.