I love podcasts that are journalistic and leave me having learned something new or thinking deeply after an episode. Gradually over the course of my first semester of college with an online class that I dreaded each week, I have compiled a small list of interesting podcasts that I look forward to enough to set aside time for the weekly episodes to encourage me to do my homework. When I was initially writing this article, I was going to include all of my favorites in an extensive “Top 10 List”, but I found myself listing way beyond ten very quickly. Instead, I have decided to write about five podcasts that fall under a singular umbrella, so there will be more compilations on other topics in the future! This article will list some favorites about history. Spotify has an extensive gallery of podcasts for varying interests that are all expertly and tastefully done. You can search for podcasts by subject by scrolling through the “Podcasts” tab in the “Browse” section on the mobile app or the web player. I hope you find my choices intriguing and will check some of them out!
1. Revolutions
This is a weekly podcast that explains in detail one great political revolution in history per episode, beginning with King Charles Stuart of England in the 1600s. Each episode builds upon the last as the creator of the podcast, Mike Duncan, guides the listener through the events that fashioned our current global political state. If you enjoy learning about history, wars, petty disputes among royals, and the interconnectedness of our modern world with the days lost, these twenty-minute to half-an-hour episodes are for you!
http://www.revolutionspodcast.com/
2. SpyCast
I personally adore learning about spies so when this podcast popped up on a search, I immediately picked it up. It is brought to you by Dr. Vince Houghton, curator and historian for the International Spy Museum in Washington D.C. (which I also highly recommend). Each one hour episode proficiently discusses spy-craft, codes, diplomacy, intelligence, and military history through World War 2 to the Cold War, in which Dr. Houghton specializes. If you enjoy debunking misconceptions of espionage, learning about little known spies, and how the (sometimes distasteful) inner-workings of our government are related to innovations made by spies decades earlier like I do, this podcast is for you!
https://www.spymuseum.org/multimedia/spycast/
3. Historically Black
This podcast is brought to you by a collaboration of journalists through the Washington Post and the Smithsonian’s new National Museum of African American History and Culture. Each episode takes an object in the museum, such as a photograph or personal belongings, and tells the story behind it. Through using archived music, sound, and interviews, the stories of resilience, innovation, and beauty are retold. I love this podcast because it tells the stories of the atrocities and the stunning tales that must never be erased from history. These twenty-minute episodes are simultaneously inspiring, heartbreaking, and infuriating as the injustices of the past that are tributaries to the injustices in our modern world are expertly relayed. I hope you listen to this podcast so that these stories continue to live on in our hearts and minds.
https://www.apmreports.org/historically-black
4. In Our Time
Brought to you by the BBC’s Radio 4, In Our Time is a ten-year-old podcast that elaborates upon a person, story, invention, event, and more to discuss “the history of ideas” that shape our day and age. Episodes from 2010 and on can be found on Spotify, while the older episodes are on BBC Radio 4’s website linked below. These forty to fifty-minute episodes are fascinatingly detailed accounts about well-known stories such as the Aeneid and Aesop’s Fables, and not-so-well-known topics such as the Kuiper Ice Belt that separates Neptune and Pluto. If you enjoy learning extensively about odd, revolutionary, and random, yet foundational pieces of history that will make your friends and family wonder how you are so good at Jeopardy, this podcast is for you!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qykl/episodes/a-z/a
5. Myths and Legends
This final podcast, created by Jason and Carissa Weiser, retells folklore, myths, and legends from cultures all over the world, and gives context and insight into how the oral traditions all over the world have influenced each other and our modern stories. Each forty to sixty-minute episode details the history behind a myth or legend, the spiritual or cultural significance of the different elements of the story, and the results of the collision of some oral traditions. If you enjoy hearing the enthralling stories from the peoples all over the world in an around-the-campfire feel, this podcast is for you!
I hope you enjoyed finding out about new podcasts to broaden your mind during your daily commute or for making dreaded homework assignments more interesting! This is the first in a series so if these were not quite up your alley, another of these compilations might be!
