I prefer YouTube as the platform but I’m also open to suggestions elsewhere.
Basically I’m looking for long-ish format episodes I can listen to while doing something else. Ideally the host isn’t just a voice reading a text, but someone relatable or that shows enthusiasm and/or has a personal take/ humor about the topic they’re talking about.
I sometimes listen to Simon Whistler’s videos on a variety of topics, in case you know him, I find he’s entertaining enough and his writers are usually good but I’m looking for some more variety.
I’ve tried Stuff You Should Know and the Oologies series and while the content seems well researched, I found them a bit boring for me.
Got any recommendations?
At the risk of being super obvious… Give Hardcore History a try. It’s long, highly subjective, and the subject matter tends toward intense subjects.
This is my pick too.
Also, if you’re into the history of Rome, give “The History of Rome” by Mike Duncan a listen. It’s old, so the first few episodes are of a questionable audio quality. But he gets a new microphone pretty early on, and it gets easier to listen to. He talks about the entire history of Rome, starting with Romulus and Remus and going pasthrough the republic, then the empire and up to the 5th century. The episodes are nice and short, and mistakes are always rectified if need be one or two episodes later.
And once you’ve finished History of Rome, move right on to Mike Duncan’s next podcast, Revolutions.
It’s a similar format as HoR, except each ‘season’ follows a different historical revolution with the overall series roughly tracking large-scale wester political history from the 18th century to the early 20th century. He’s covered the English Civil War, American Revolution, French Revolution, Haitian Revolution, Spanish-American Independence, July Revolution, 1848 Revolutions, Mexican Revolution, and Russian Revolution.
He then officially ended the podcast, but a couple of years later he restarted it with a fictional Martian Revolution set in the 24th century. Again, same format as above, but entirely fictional and heavily informed by his study of various world revolution. This is currently ongoing with 6ish episodes left.
He’s also said that once the Martian Revolution is done he plans on starting back up with the historical revolutions, picking right back up after the Russian Revolution.
Blueprint for Armageddon, King of Kings, and Destroyer of Worlds are absolutely fantastic episodes.
Let’s be real, they’re audiobooks
The only reason I’d say they aren’t is because Dan Carlin doesn’t use a fully written script. A lot of history podcasters write out a full script and read it out, basically the same thing as an audiobook. Dan Carlin just has an outline with a bunch of notes and quotes he wants to use. When he records he does it off the top of his head.
I noticed a big difference a few years ago when he released an actual book, The End is Always Near. He recorded an official audiobook of it. You can really tell the difference in his style between the podcast and the audiobook.
Yes, so much. I listened to that book and his writing voice is a lot less natural, almost stilted. I’m so used to his style of highly refined extemporising that hearing him read aloud weirds me out. Dan if you’re in danger blink twice! Help is on the way just do whatever they ask!
I’m also so accustomed to his normal podcasting voice that when he does interviews where he’s just having a conversation with someone else it really weirds me out. Like, dude, you’re not supposed to be talking like a normal person just having a conversation. You’re supposed to be describing the most extreme examples of the human condition in poetic terms.
It’s really jarring. Especially when someone makes him laugh? It’s like hearing Bob Ross shriek. You don’t do that.