I need a good podcast to listen to (informative or entertaining audio, not really looking for a story at the moment). Do you have any recommendations?
But honestly, it depends on what youâre interested in?
So, like, historical lectures (in increasing order of my impression of obscurity)-
Mike Duncanâs Revolutions. Decent chance youâve already heard of/listened to it, heâs one of the more commonly interviewed semi-intellectual pop historians at the moment (..that might come off as derogatory. Not intended. Just in terms of where he gets interviewed). A series on the great political revolutions of modernity, starting with England, though America, France, Haiti, Spanish America (told as an extended biography of Simon Bolivar), the July Revolution in France, 1848, the Paris Commune, Mexico, and Russia (currently ongoing, to be the last). The first two arenât...bad, but no great either. Haiti is amazing and a topic thatâs basically never covered in mainstream historical surveys. Honestly a better historical survey of the long 19th century in Europe and Latin America period than youâre likely to have gotten in school. The first dozen episodes of the Russia series are also a generally decent explanation of the development of marxist and anarchist thought in the 19th century.
Partick Wymanâs Fall of Rome and Tides of History. Fall of Rome is what you would expect from the name, though rather than trying to do any sort of general survey after the introduction he focuses episodes on specific regions or themes rather than just a slice of time, generally. Tides of History is the same for the period from 1250-1550 (I think? might be a century off there), which he considers Europe to have developed the necessary conditions for the creation of the modern world. More recently, still under the Tides of History title, heâs moved on to early humanity, with the most recent episode being on predynastic Egypt. Found of, like, hypothetical case studies/explaining events and situations by describing what the biography of someone unexceptional living through it would have looked like. Spices things up with interviews with other academics and book club discussions with his producer on occasion
Sharyn Eastaughâs History of the Crusades and Reconquista. On the opposite end, these very much are chronological narrative histories of the periods and subjects (including the Albigensian and Baltic crusades). If youâre the sort of person whose eyes glaze over at lots of names and places or zones out after fifteen minutes spent on one battle, youâll bounce off of this, but she does an excellent job of getting into/trying to describe the personalities involved, and digs up plenty of interesting anecdotes to spice things up. First part of HotC excellent to listen to as you read Foucaultâs Pendulum.
(Okay, Iâm too lazy to write out descriptions of all of them, but History of Japan, Egypt and Byzantium, Age of Napoleon and Fall of Civilizations are all also good)
----------------------------------
Still history, but more conversational
Robert Evansâ Behind The Bastards. Which, again, decent chance youâve heard of. Biographies of the worst people in history interspersed with comedic banter with a rotating cast of guests. Early episodes are more comedic and obvious, stuff about Hitlerâs attempts at painting or Saddam Huesseinâs poetry and such. After that focuses on digging into terrible people and horrifying things that you probably wouldnât have heard of, though! (also gets significantly more openly political).
Isaac Meyer and Demetria Spinradâs Criminal Records. A true crime podcast but instead of serial killers its about digging up really weird of interesting crimes or court cases - âthe oldest court case in ancient mesopotamia for which any record still existsâ is probably my favorite example. The hosts are a couple with a solid rhythm to their banter, and in between episodes on like the Stonewall riots or Jack Johnson or William Calley, they really do dig up some wonderfully obscure and bizarre bits of history.
Anthony Kaldellisâ Byzantium and Friends, an interview series with various experts in the study of byzantine/eastern roman history and related fields. Far more than any of the others listed, this is academics talking to academics for a presumed audience of academics, so neither a great introduction if you donât know the field at all nor very snappy or highly produced or polished and often more than a bit dry. Still, really interesting and extremely current in terms of the state of the field.
-------------------------------
Pale Reflections is the unofficial-official Pale read-along podcast, analyzing a weekâs updates at a time as they release. Useful substitute for having any friends irl you can actually talk to about new updates! Also good for pointing out the obvious things you missed and letting you feel smart for noticing things the hosts didnât.
Pale in Comparison is a recently started Pact live read podcast where one of the hosts has read Pact and the other hasnât but has read Pale, trying to figure out what Blakeâs in for and understand the setting with that accurate-but-incomplete grounding. Doing an excellent job so far of making me want to reread Pact!
Beyond that mostly scripted fiction which you donât want, various politics/current events/opinion shows whose value basically depends on if thereâs an ideological niche you wanted to fill in your news diet, and a couple Canadian investigative journalism shows which are probably a bit parochial. So hopefully one of those appeals!
