Author Sarah Vowell explains why we're all swooning over a musical about a treasury secretary, how she finds the most interesting people in the footnotes of history, and recounts the most American 90 seconds of her life.

We also discuss her latest book: Lafayette in the Somewhat United States.

Plus: Yes, Nerdette has been on hiatus for a suspiciously long time. So we turned to podcast hosts and super sleuths Mike Pesca, Lulu Miller and Peter Sagal for their conspiracy theories to explain why Tricia and Greta disappeared.

We're so glad to be back, nerds! We missed you.