Alcatraz is remembered as one of history's most hardline prisons, known for its ingenious escape attempts, gruelling regime, barren location and dangerous inmates. Speaking to Rebecca Franks, historian Ashley Rubin answers listener questions on 'The Rock', from how it withstood the corruption of the gangster era to its famous 'birdman'.
The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.
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How to live like a Roman emperor
How has fear shaped history?
The Battle of Britain: everything you wanted to know
Rocket women: America’s first female astronauts
Great Reputations: Napoleon
Chaos & violence in country houses
The shoemaker who helped slaves escape the South
Scandals that shocked Georgian Britain
British parliament: everything you wanted to know
When poison pen letters caused chaos
Great Reputations: Cleopatra
Secrets of the Anglo-Saxon bone chests
Jane Austen’s passion for fashion
The brain behind the Dambusters raid
Spanish flu: everything you wanted to know
Women who shaped the Roman empire
Great Reputations: Oliver Cromwell
The secret club for radical New York women
Margaret Cavendish: scandalous 17th-century writer
The triumph of Joan of Arc
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