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Historiansplaining – A Podcast

A historian tells you why everything you know is wrong

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    • Myths of the Month Playlist
    • Doorways in Time Playlist – The Great Archaeological Discoveries
    • History of the U.S. in 100 Objects Playlist
    • Becoming Modern Playlist
    • Roots of Religion Playlist
    • The Middle Ages Playlist – A Vibrant Time
    • Special-Topic Episodes Playlist
    • 4 More Playlists: Guests Conversations & Interviews – History as it Happens – Books, Film & TV – Hot of the Presses
      • Special Guest Conversations and Interviews Playlist
      • History as It Happens – The News in Historical Context Playlist
      • Books, Film, and Television Playlist
      • Hot Off the Presses!
    • A Simple List of All Episodes
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The Ethos of Historiansplaining

So much of what we learn in a standard history class, and in the culture around us, are just cliff-note narratives, written to explain how things appear, rather than how things actually came to be.

Peel back the layers of time and place with this thoroughly researched, deep-dive podcast with over 175 episodes that uncover the forgotten forces that shaped – and that are still shaping – our world today.

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There’s so much to explore with Samuel Biagetti, PhD, in these conversational lectures and interviews, each one presenting the hidden landscapes from the past that put the moments and movements of today’s world in a tangible and thought-provoking light.

Press play for the joy of a great college-level survey in history, without any of the homework!

The best way to get started:

explore the Primary Playlists + episode Samples
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What Fans Are Saying

Supremely well researched with the rigour of an academic historian
& woven into a compelling narrative. I cannot stop listening!

CGGrady21

In-depth, well organized and easily consumable…I didn’t realized how much I enjoyed and missed these lectures until Sam allowed me to revisit my passion from an earlier life.

Mstepheng

Biagetti does a great job with this series. He manages to make it all interesting while covering a huge sweep of history with a focus on the key factors driving the story.  Have really enjoyed the ride!

 Doug_e

Primary Playlists

Installments of Historiansplaining are divided up into 7 main playlists, each with its own Quick Sample of a featured episode:

Myths of the Month

These are deep-dive installments into the largest misnomers that make up western history, from the myth of Anglo-Saxonism, to misconception of secularization, to perception of the modern state – to the myth of “the West” itself – accompanied by explorations of what we actually know about the larger then-life characters of Shakespeare, Robin Hood, King Arthur, and more…
Explore the Playlist
Listen to a Quick Sample


Doorways in Time:
The Great Archaeological Discoveries

The unexpected-but-stupendously-meaningful archeological discoveries that have changed our understanding of the past, and reveal long ago civilizations that otherwise have been almost completely forgotten to time…
Explore the Playlist
Listen to a Quick Sample


History of the United States
in 100 Objects

In this series centered around serendipitously found objects, Dr. Sam dives into the unwritten record of land today we call the United States, painting a picture of the people and places that came before, and still shape it today, as best as we can determine…
Explore the Playlist
Listen to a Quick Sample


Becoming Modern

An in-depth exploration of the forgotten forces and underlying events that shaped the ‘western’ world of today, from the rapid rise of new political systems and social orders in Europe to their immediate counter-reactions and lasting legacies…
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Listen to a Quick Sample


Roots of Religion

Trace the origins of some of the worlds largest religions and sacred texts, examining what we know about how they came to be, and how they spread – and, most importantly, examining what they are not…
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Listen to a Quick Sample


The Middle Ages:
a Vibrant Time

While it’s easy to think of the Middle Ages as just the time between the fall of western Rome and flourishing of the Renaissance – a commonly perceived age of ignorance and isolation in Europe – But in fact the Middle Ages were a dynamic time, which saw cultures migrate, interact, and grow…
Explore the Playlist
Listen to a Quick Sample


Special Topic Episodes

Episodes on specific events, places and peoples – too unique for any other playlist, and too special that they need their own home here; Expertly researched deep-dives in to unique worlds, old and new…
Explore the Playlist
Listen to a Quick Sample


Explore Episodes Hot off the Presses



And Wait, There’s More…

In addition to the 7 main playlists, Historiansplaining boasts guests interviews, commentary on current events, and critiques of recent books, film & television, plus our Hot Off the Presses list – all with Quick Samples of featured episodes:

  • Special Guest Conversations and Interviews
  • History As It Happens: The News in Historical Context
  • Books, Film, and Television
  • Hot Off the Presses

Things You Don’t Know

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Did Columbus really think that he was going to reach Asia?
Find out
What little do we actually know about Shakespeare, the person?
Find out
Why is it misleading to apply the word “religion” to Judaism and Hinduism?
Find out
How did Tisquantum (popularly known as Squanto) already know how to speak English before the Pilgrims had ever arrived?
Find out
Ever heard that Florida has no history? Dr. Sam wants you to know how incorrect that common perception actually is…
Find out
How did so much of the Epic of Gilgamesh remain hidden and forgotten – but preserved – for over 2,000 years until being rediscovered in modern times?
Find out
What did Netflix’s movie “The Dig” miss about the most dramatic part of the whole Sutton Hoo discovery?
Find out
What does the English Civil War of the 1640s tell us about the American Civil War, and about the present?
Find out
What can we know about enslaved Africans who were held in a specific New England house, even without written records?
Find out
Who were the Freemasons of the 1700s? How did they grow from a local Scottish fraternity to a global network?
Find out
How can one mid-sized U.S. city – Tulsa, Oklahoma – serve as a microcosm of so much of the triumphalism and tragedy of American history?
Find out
Why can no one agree on what “capitalism” actually is? And why does a lack of clear definition call into question so many other myths of the modern world?
Find out
How – and why – did universities begin in the Middle Ages, long before the scientific revolution and the “Enlightenment”?
Find out
Was there really an Exodus from Egypt like the one described in the Bible?
Find out
How did accusing people of witchcraft further several political agendas of the time?
Find out
Why did every Renaissance-era ruler in Europe have a court astrologer?
Find out
Does a single coin prove that Vikings came all the way to what’s now the United States?
Find out
Why is the dramatic 2019 fire at Paris’ Notre Dame actually a common occurrence for cathedrals around Europe?
Find out
Why don’t US citizens directly elect their President? Or have a more proportional Senate?
Find out
Are people really becoming less religious than they used to be?
Find out
What did followers of the ancient and secretive branch of Christianity, Gnosticism, actually believe?
Find out
How did changes in the climate in the 1600s lead people to think they were living in the Apocalypse? How did this help spur the creation of institutions and forces that still shape the world today?
Find out
Could all of British history have turned out differently if the winds on the English channel had shifted direction on just one day in 1066?
Find out

Hot Off the Presses

Hot off the presses – First Full-Video Lecture!

A Survey of Western Architecture, part 1:
Antiquity & the Early Middle Ages

Dr. Sam explores the methods that builders, from Egypt to Rome to medieval Europe, have used to create grand structures and to enclose beautiful spaces, whether by reaching outward across the landscape or upwards toward the sky, in order to enthrall the senses and to inspire emotions from terror to tranquility…

EXPLORE & Video Quick Sample >

Hot off the presses

History of the United States in 100 Objects #21:
The Braddock/Washington Pistol

We consider the complex history and symbolism of an elaborately decorated sidearm weapon, originally made in Bristol, England, possibly intended as a dueling pistol, which came across the ocean to America with General Edward Braddock, witnessed the catastrophic events in the Ohio valley that sparked the Seven Years’ War, and which then became a prized possession of George Washington, symbolizing his relationship with the ill-starred general as well as America’s fraught relationship with Britain.

Special thanks to the Bristol Archives and to Eric Gabbitas, a direct descendant of the gunsmith William Gabbitas.

EXPLORE & Quick Sample >

Hot off the presses

The Vikings, pt. 2
Into Distant Realms

They rained terror and destruction on Christian lands across Europe as far as Spain and Constantinople, before turning their attention away from raiding towards permanent settlement and the founding of new societies, from Ukraine to Normandy to Greenland. There has never been an explosion of exploration and aggression quite like the Viking expansion of the early Middle Ages…

EXPLORE & Quick Sample >

Hot off the presses

Doorways in Time:
The Great Archaeological Discoveries #6:
Early Audio Recordings

In the second half of the nineteenth century, many of the most brilliant and ambitious minds in both Europe and America were bent upon solving the problem of capturing sound waves from the air and playing them back. Most of their efforts, including the earliest “phonautograms” from more than a decade before Edison’s invention of the phonograph, were either forgotten or lost to decay and degradation. In the past fifteen years, however, scientists and engineers, including the First Sounds collective, have located the surviving remnants…revealing much of the auditory world of the nineteenth century and the pathways by which the now-ubiquitous technology of audio recording came into being.

Currently available to patrons only. Become a patron at any amount to keep commercial free.

EXPLORE & Quick Sample >

Unlocked:

History of the United States in 100 Objects # 18:
Jesuit Brass Medallion with Image of Ignatius Loyola

A small brass religious medallion found in the house of a French fur trader inside a fortress on the remote Straits of Mackinac shows the immense power of small numbers of merchants and missionaries to control sprawling networks of diplomacy and trade, stretching from Europe all the way into the deep interior of North America, and to sway the course of wars and imperial power struggles…

EXPLORE & Quick Sample >

Hot off the presses

The Vikings, pt. 1 –
In the Norsemen’s World

We have all seen images of axe-wielding Vikings raining destruction upon the shores of medieval Europe — but who were these berserking Norsemen and where did they come from? What society produced them? How did the Scandinavians of the Viking age understand the world and their place in it? We examine the Norsemen’s complex and mysterious cosmos described in the poems and prophesies of the Eddas, and compare it to the realities of survival, trade, kingship, politics, warfare, art, gender, and the family in Scandinavia from the eight to eleventh centuries, as reconstructed from surviving documents and the latest archaeology.

EXPLORE & Quick Sample >

Hot off the presses

2022 in Historical Context –
How Do You Like Your New Gilded Age?

We consider some of the major events of this year in light of their historical roots, from the abortion ruling to the Ukraine war; in particular, we consider the Twitter controversy in light of the history of media monopolies beginning with the telegraph, and the crisis over railroad labor in light of the railways strike of 1922, exactly one century ago.

First video segment of my appearance on the Katie Halper Show.

EXPLORE & Quick Sample >

Hot off the presses

Myth of the Month 21:
The Old West

“Cowboys and Indians.” For most Americans, the words evoke a sinister game, representing a timeless enmity between the forces of civilization and savagery. In actual historical fact, cowboys and Indians were symbiotic trading partners, and many cowboys were Indians themselves; but the image of the cowboy as a conqueror and as the bearer of civilization into the “Wild West” has become central to the American national myth…

EXPLORE & Quick Sample >

Hot off the presses

Monarchy, Honours, and the Molding of Modern Society – A Conversation with Tobias Harper

I speak with historian Tobias Harper about about the evolving and growing role of the British crown as the head of the voluntary sector in a neoliberal, atomizing, and celebrity-driven society. We examine both the “magic of the royal touch” and the hard-nosed bureaucratic calculations that it can serve to obscure, as captured in Toby’s book, “From Servants of the Empire to Everyday Heroes: The British Honours System in the Twentieth Century”…

EXPLORE & Quick Sample >

Hot off the presses

History of the United States in 100 Objects:
Silver Beaker with Devil & Pope Figures, 1750

A silver beaker engraved with figures of Satan, the Pope, and the “Young Pretender” (also known as “Bonnie Prince Charlie”) shows how French, Dutch, German, and English colonists in colonial New York united around fear of Catholicism and the Jacobite menace…

Currently available to patrons only. Become a patron at any amount to keep commercial free.

EXPLORE & Quick Sample >

Unlocked:

Myth of the Month 18: Robin Hood – pt. 2: Capturing the Fugitive

Released to the public after one year for patrons only on Nov 4: What is the significance of Robin Hood as an outlaw – a person declared legally dead – who lives in the greenwood, where life is constantly renewed? Why does Shakespeare heavily allude to Robin in his Henry IV plays? And most significantly, was there a real Robin Hood, or is he a pure creation of myth and folklore? We consider the possibilities and scrutinize the evidence…

EXPLORE & Quick Sample >

Hot off the presses

James II and the “Glorious Revolution” 1685-88

James II was Britain’s shortest-reigning monarch of the entire early modern age – yet his brief rule caused a dramatic rupture, which in turn opened the door to the transformation of the kingdom into the constitutional, commercial, imperial state that we know as modern Britain… We consider the complex life and personality of the ill-fated king, as well as the class conflicts and ideological shifts that let to the so-called “Glorious Revolution” and the beginnings of the modern state…

Also see Imbalances of Power: 10 Episodes on English Political Revolution and Evolution

EXPLORE + Quick Sample >

Hot off the presses

Doorways in Time:
Gobekli Tepe

We examine the so-called “zero point of history,” the “first temple,” the “world’s oldest building,” the massive and deeply ancient complex of stone-age megalithic monuments on a hilltop in Turkey, which since being uncovered in the 1990s, has dramatically overturned received ideas about the beginnings of civilization…

EXPLORE + Quick Sample >

Hot off the presses

Myth of the Month: Conspiracy Theories

Where do conspiracy theories come from? Why do people believe them?…We consider the merits and pitfalls of conspiracy theories, trace the history and evolution of the conspiratorial tradition from rumors about lepers in the 1300s to Alex Jones and Q-Anon, and examine the biases and double standards built into the very concept of “conspiracy theories.”

Currently available to patrons only. Become a patron at any amount to keep commercial free.

EXPLORE & Quick Sample >


Special Guest Conversations:

Beyond Plymouth Rock: The Deep Beginnings of
New England

A Conversation with
Michael J. Simpson
The long history of contact, exchange, violence, disease, and acculturation among indigenous and European peoples…that created a complex creolized world before any Puritans were even on the scene…

EXPLORE + Quick Sample >

Uncovering the Medieval Slave Trade

A conversation with
Hannah Barker
Before Columbus had even set foot in America, medieval Europe and the Islamic Middle East already had a long history in trading and exploiting slaves…

EXPLORE + Quick Sample >

See all
Special Guest Conversations & Interviews


Some of the Most Popular Episodes of All Time

  • Apple
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  • Patreon
  • YouTube

History of the British and Irish Travellers

Travellers, Tinkers, Gypsies, Kale, Scottish Travellers, Gypsy Travellers, Romani Gypsies, Romanichal, Pavee, Showmen, Van People, Boat People, Bargers - All of these multivarious peoples, with different ancestries, religions, and traditions, their different languages, dialects, and "cants," share in common a longstanding itinerant lifestyle and the distinct identity that stems from it. Roving all around the British Isles and sometimes settling down, the various tribes of Travellers have provided metal goods, horses, music, and entertainment to British and Irish markets for centuries, but have become the flashpoint of political fury and even of violence in the twenty-first century.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Full Episode Details

Doorways in Time: The Great Archaeological Finds #1: The Sutton Hoo Treasure

Quick Sample:

Why was the excavation depicted in Netflix's "The Dig" the most important archaeological discovery ever made in Britain, or arguably in all of Europe? How did some artifacts found in a mound near an English widow's garden in Suffolk on the eve of World War II revolutionize our understanding of the Dark Age? Why would they come to serve as symbols of the ancient roots of the English nation, and how did Sutton Hoo vindicate the new science of archaeology? The story that Netflix did not tell you.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Full Episode Details

Also see:

  • The Middle Ages: Anglo-Saxon England and the Vikings, 757-1066
  • Imbalances of Power: 10 Episodes on English Political Revolution and Evolution

Myth of the Month 2: The Exodus

We examine the origins and the political and theological meanings of the myth of the Israelites' exodus from Egypt. We consider the possible real historical events that might underly the exodus story, including the argument put forward in Richard Elliot Friedman's new book, The Exodus. Finally, we trace some of the many ways that peoples around the world, from the early Christians to Rastafaris, have adopted the exodus myth and cast themselves as the new Israelites.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Full Episode Details
Also see all 7 episodes On Judaism and Jewish History

The Myths We Make: Using the past as an ideological tool

Quick Sample:

All of history is, to one degree or another, mythology -- the weaving of a coherent, usable narrative out of the chaos of people's lives. We consider how societies all over the world, since before the beginning of civilization, have developed myths to explain the world that they experience. We also trace some of the major schools of academic history, which have tried to fashion overarching storylines to give meaning to human struggles -- from Biblical providential history to Marxism to postmodernism. We begin by examining the most central myth of the origins of American society: the "first Thanksgiving."

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Full Episode Details

Myth of the Month 20: Conspiracy Theories

Myth of the Month 20: Conspiracy Theories
Currently available to Patrons only, on the Patreon App and website:
Become a supporter at any amount to listen >
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Quick Sample:

Where do conspiracy theories come from? Why do people believe them? What do they mean? Did the CIA drug people with LSD against their will? Is Queen Elizabeth a reptilian? We consider the merits and pitfalls of conspiracy theories, trace the history and evolution of the conspiratorial tradition from rumors about lepers in the 1300s to Alex Jones and Q-Anon, and examine the biases and double standards built into the very concept of "conspiracy theories." This is it: the most thorough, fair, and impartial examination of conspiracy theories that you will ever find anywhere.

Listen on Patreon Full Episode Details

Myth of the Month 5: Capitalism

There is no such thing as capitalism. With debates over the relative meanings and merits of socialism and capitalism currently flaring up in the United States, we examine why "capitalism" is an undefinable and meaningless concept, and how it came nevertheless to hold a mythic and almost magical power over the minds of academics and ordinary citizens alike.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Full Episode Details

Back to the Dark Age - How People Adapted to the Fall of the Roman Empire

Quick Sample:

What did people do when the Roman empire fall apart around them? Recent scholarship, based on new archeological discoveries and techniques, argues that in the "dark" centuries between 450 and 750 AD, the people of western Europe, from conquering kings to ordinary peasants, improvised new political alliances, maintained law and order, improved the productivity of their land, and invented new crafts and art forms, building a resilient and inventive society on the foundations (often literally) of the old.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Full Episode Details

The Middle Ages: History of Universities, Part 1 - Flower of the Middle Ages

Universities are unique -- a quintessential product of the High Middle Ages that has miraculously survived and even flourished in the modern world. In the first part of the history of universities, we examine the origins of the first universities in the power struggles of Popes and emperors; the ways that medieval students learned, lived, and annoyed their elders; and the ways that universities adapted to and withstood serious challenges from Renaissance humanism and the republic of letters. Next will be the rise of universities in America, the modern research university, and the current crisis of academia.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Full Episode Details
Also see The Middle Ages: History of Universities, Part 2 - A Crumbling Tower?

Myth of the Month 1: The Enlightenment

Quick Sample:

There was no Enlightenment. Steven Pinker's new book, "Enlightenment Now," is a classic re-statement of the myth of the Enlightenment which holds that in the 1600s and 1700s, Europeans threw off the tired dogmas of the Middle Ages and embraced a new philosophy of Reason, Progress, Science, and Humanism. In fact, the 1700s were a period of confusion, with no clear unifying ideas or trends: occultism, mysticism, and absolute monarchy flourished alongside experiments in democracy and chemistry. "The Enlightenment" forms one of the central pillars of Whig history, serving to re-affirm the notion that our present-day beliefs and values are rational and coherent.

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Full Episode Details

Becoming Modern: Witchcraft and the Great Witch-Hunt, 1484-1700

We trace the roots of the idea of witchcraft in the "cunning folk" of the Middle Ages. We consider how the church and state began to fuel fear of witchcraft and persecute witches in the tens of thousands during the age of the Renaissance and the Reformation. We consider theories of why witch-hunting arose so dramatically in this age, including economic strain and political agendas. Finally, we examine evidence for an enduring shamanic belief system centering on ecstatic night journeys that may have provided the inspiration for the mythical witches' sabbath.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Full Episode Details

Becoming Modern: Age of Ice and Fire: The General Crisis Of The Seventeenth Century

Quick Sample:

We trace the waves of crop failure, famine, pestilence, and war that swept over Europe in the 1600s as the climate sunk into a "Little Ice Age" and armies literally marched across frozen seas. In the midst of unimaginable crisis, alchemists, astrologers, and apocalypticists scoured the Bible for prophecies to explain the disasters around them as part of the approaching End Times. Many of the defining institutions of the modern world we know today - such as overseas colonization, investor-owned corporations, public education, religious toleration, and scientific academies - have their origins as attempts to cope with the crisis of the seventeenth century and prepare the way for the Second Coming.

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Full Episode Details

Unlocked: Myth of the Month 14: Astrology

Quick Sample:

Released to the public after one year for patrons only: Why do we divide history into epochs separated by "revolutions"? Astrology. How did Magellan chart his course around the globe? Astrology. How did Ronald Reagan schedule his acts of state? Astrology. We trace how the highest of the occult arts evolved from interpreting omens in ancient Babylonia, to containing medieval epidemics, to providing fodder for middle-brow magazines. Whether you are a believer or not, astrology is the secret rhythm of our lives.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Full Episode Details

In Search of the Dawn: Human Prehistory

Most of the human story is so-called "pre-history," which in fact is inseparable from history and still going on today. We trace the origins of the human species around 300,000 years ago in Africa, including our early adaptation into long-distance hunters. We examine our long and awkward co-existence with other human-like species such as Neanderthals and Ebu Gogo, as well as our slow development of critical technologies like sewing and pottery that allowed us to out-compete them. We trace the dangerous and improbable journey across sea channels and deserts that a small band of our distant ancestors had to make in order to populate the entire world beyond Africa. Finally, we consider the mysterious roots of the technology that eventually allowed for the rise of urban civilization -- agriculture.

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Myth of the Month 9: The US Constitution and the Origins of the Senate and Electoral College

Why does our government work the way it does? Is it supposed to represents citizens, or states? We consider the origins of the U. S. Constitution, particularly the creation of the controversial bodies (Senate and Electoral College) that represent the public in skewed and disproportionate ways. We dispel the false notion that these bodies were created in order to protect small states, tracing instead the Framers' quest to tamp down the "excess of democracy" of the 1780s, wrest control over monetary policy away from the poor majority, and strike a careful balance between slave and non-slave states.

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Full Episode Details

Myth of the Month 18: Robin Hood -- pt. 1: The Master of the Forest

Quick Sample:

In the first installment on the Robin Hood mythos, we consider how the legend of Robin Hood has evolved from a series of brutal tales of a medieval outlaw bandit in the fifteenth century to that of the swashbuckling champion of the poor of modern pop culture, and how he picked up sidekicks like Friar Tuck and Maid Marion along the way; we consider the literary significance of the early stories as as an expression of the frustrations and aspirations of the yeoman class.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Full Episode Details
Also see UNLOCKED: Myth of the Month 18: Robin Hood - pt. 2: Capturing the Fugitive

The Middle Ages: Freemasonry - Its Origins, Its Myths, and Its Rituals

Freemasonry: What is it? Where does it come from? What is one taught as a Freemason? What do they do in their closed-door rituals -- and why? Freemasonry in the 1700s is my own field of research, and as a thank-you for reaching 50 patrons, I give a deep illumination of this unusual Society's roots in the gatherings of stonemasons in the late Middle Ages, its mythical connections to Solomon's Temple and the Crusades, and its elaborate system of symbols and initiatory rituals, which cast the Masons as a quasi-priestly caste with a shamanic connection to the world of the dead.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Full Episode Details
Also see Freemasonry -- Its Growth and Spread Before 1789

Book Review: "Why Liberalism Failed" -- Part 1

In the first half of my discussion of Patrick Deneen's "Why Liberalism Failed," I examine the structure of Deneen's argument, tracing his effort to connect present-day crises in education, science, culture, and morality to the fundamental flaws in "liberalism," which he calls the "operating system" of modern Western society, and which he claims has left us isolated, lonely, and afraid, with our social system possibly on the brink of collapse into a totalitarian nightmare. Cheers! I will not charge patrons for this commentary until I post the second part.

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Full Episode Details
Also see Book Review: "Why Liberalism Failed" -- Part 2

Becoming Modern: Scientific Revolution, Part 1 -- Alchemy and Apocalypse, 1500-1660

We unearth the tangled roots of the earliest forms of modern science, beginning with the radical alchemical theories of the rabble-rousing healer called Paracelsus, and running through the heated debates over Galileo's astronomy, which broke down the distinction between the earth and the heavens. Due to these shocks, the old teleological, or purpose-driven, scheme of the world broke down, giving way to a free-for-all of speculation and apocalyptic excitement.We question the historical meaning of the concept of "science," and consider how modern-day pop scientists like Neil DeGrasse Tyson portray the past selectively in order to build the myth of reason and science as beacons of light amidst superstition.

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Full Episode Details
Also see Becoming Modern: Scientific Revolution, Part 2 -- The New Powers, 1660-1800

Becoming Modern: Spanish and Portuguese Expansion and the Conquest of the Americas

We trace how Portugal and Spain, two previously marginal European kingdoms, rapidly and unexpectedly exploded onto the world scene, building a chain of fortified colonies stretching from North Africa to China, and conquering the larger and richer empires of Mexico and Peru. The early Iberian colonizers sought to continue the tradition of the Crusades and the Reconquista, and saw their foreign conquests as steps towards retaking Jerusalem; the benefited not only from superior weaponry and navigation, but from cataclysmic disease epidemics that brought the Pre-Columbian empires to their knees.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Full Episode DetailsRelated content: 8 episodes On the History of Christianity

Roots of Religion: Islam 1 - Muhammad, the first Caliphate, and the core teachings

We trace the shocking and rapid rise of Islam in the 600s, as a confederation of desert towns and tribes unite around Muhammad and his prophesies from the Abrahamic god, then swiftly launch a stunning campaign of conquests against the major empires of the age. We consider the roots of the basic teachings and practices of the new religion, including the Qur'an, the hadiths, the Five Pillars, jihad, shariah, the divide between Sunni and Shiah, and Islamic laws regarding the status of women and of Jews and Christians or "people of the Book."

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Full Episode Details
Also see Becoming Modern: Islam 2 - From the "Golden Age" to the Fundamentalist Reaction

Land of Vital Blood: Pre-Columbian America

The Americas before Columbus were not an idyll frozen in time. They were a world of struggle and ambition, with a history just as complex and tumultuous as Europe's. We trace how hunting-gathering peoples invented agriculture and built cities and empires that rose and fell across the centuries, all depending on human power, without the benefit of pack animals. We consider the shared norms and practices that seem to unite the diverse and far-flung peoples of the Americas, such as intensive multi-crop agriculture, fascination with astronomy and the calendar, and a highly formalized diplomatic language governing war and peace.

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Full Episode Details

The Middle Ages: The Jews of Europe, from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution

The Middle Ages: The Jews of Europe, from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution
Currently available to Patrons only, on the Patreon App and website:
Become a supporter at any amount to listen >
What do I get as a supporter?
I'm already a supporter

We trace the winding paths by which Jews, after the diaspora, sought out social and economic niches in which they were able to survive within European Christian society. We uncover the origins of the two main Jewish groups in Europe -- the Sephardic and Ashkenazi -- and consider how they adapted to changing conditions, including the increasing assimilation of German Jews in the 1700s, which led on the one hand to the beginnings of Jewish reform and on the other to the appearance of Hasidism, a mystical renewal movement. Most importantly, we consider the deep and long-denied influence of the messianic fervor that swept over Europe in the 1660s surrounding the mercurial and mischievous Greek rabbi, Sabbatai Zvi.

Listen on Patreon Full Episode Details
Also see all 7 episodes On Judaism and Jewish History

Roots of Religion: Who Wrote the Bible? - Hebrew Scriptures

Quick Sample:

We dissect the origins of the Hebrew Bible (also called the Old Testament by Christians), excavating the deepest layers of the collection of holy books, including the very ancient songs and prayers that were likely passed on orally for centuries before being written down, the scholarly theories of the lost documents that were stitched together to form Genesis and Exodus, and the differing points of view of the various prophets, scribes, and propagandists whose books made their way into the Hebrew canon...

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Full Episode Details

Also see:

  • All 7 episodes On Judaism and Jewish History
  • Related content: 8 episodes On the History of Christianity
  • Related content: Muhammad, the first Caliphate, and the core teachings

Roots of Religion: Judaism - What Is It and Where Did It Come From?

We consider how best to understand the origins of the laws and customs of the Jewish people, or what we call "Judaism." We begin by dispelling the notion that Judaism (or any other belief system apart from Christianity) can properly be called a "religion" -- a category that derives originally from Christian practice and does not make sense anywhere else. We further examine the roots of the idea of "Judaism" as a concept for the Jewish way of life, concluding with a careful analysis of the meaning of the ancient Greek word "ioudaismos," which originates in the Book of Maccabees. Finally, we trace the best possible explanation for the origins of the Jewish people in the Bronze-Age Near East, using archaeological evidence including an ancient Egyptian monument and the vandalized ruins of Canaanite temples. Ultimately, we should be able to understand Judaism and its God as the creations of a particular Middle Eastern people not entirely unlike their ancient neighbors.

Special thanks to Daniel Boyarin for his help and inspiration.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Full Episode Details
Also see all 7 episodes On Judaism and Jewish History

Taking Stock of Money in Politics: The Powell Memo Fifty Years Later

At a time of intensifying hope and anxiety over the direction of the Supreme Court, we take stock of how the lawmaking process and the judiciary have changed over the past fifty years with the mobilization and funneling of large amounts of money into the political realm; we focus especially on the little-known but pivotal "Powell Memo" of 1971, in which a lawyer for the Tobacco Institute decried the rising tide of attacks on the "free enterprise system" and proposed a coordinated counter-offensive by the business class that sounds uncannily close to our present reality. The Powell Memo forms a critical moment for understanding the intense politicization of judicial appointments, the ubiquity of paid political advertising on the airwaves and in print, and ironically, the rise of a new "anti-capitalist" radicalism.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Full Episode Details

India -- pt. 1: Creating Civilization in South Asia

We discuss the complex geography of the Indian Subcontinent, and how early societies in India, beginning with the mysterious Indus Valley Civilization, developed cities, technology, art, and literature, giving rise eventually to the flourishing Maurya and Gupta empires and the inventions of the Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu religions.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Full Episode Details
Also see Roots of Religion: India - pt. 2 - Foundations of Hinduism

History of the Roma ("Gypsies"), part 1 -- From Ancient Origins to the Eighteenth Century

Who are the Roma -- also colloquially called "Gypsies"? Where did they come from, and how did they end up all over Europe? How have they endured through persecution, expulsions, and political upheaval, without a state or country of their own? We trace the path of this remarkable and resilient people from their mysterious origins in India to their arrival in Constantinople and medieval Europe and through the wave of persecution and ethnic cleansing in the 1600s.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Full Episode Details
Also see History of the Roma ("Gypsies"), part 2 -- A Stateless People in Modern Europe

In the Ocean of Land: The History of Central Asia -- pt. 1

We consider the vast sweep of Central Asian history, from the first nomads to tame the horse and gain mastery of the steppes, to the splendrous cities of the first Silk Road, to the rise of Ghenghis Khan. Few Westerners learn the dizzyingly complex and tumultuous history of Central Asia, even though it forms the linchpin connecting all the major civilizations of the Old World, from Europe to Persia to China. Finally, we consider the unsettling paradox of the Mongol empire, which fostered a vibrant cosmopolitanism at the same time that it brutally repressed subject peoples.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Full Episode Details
Also see In the Ocean of Land: The History of Central Asia -- pt. 2

Roots of Religion: The Historical Jesus

We join in the ongoing quest for the historical Jesus -- the struggle to unearth and understand who Jesus really was, what he said and did, and how he inspired a movement. We trace the basic bare-bones facts that can be deduced from early Christian writings and brief references in other texts, including Jesus' baptism and crucifixion. We throw out the flimsy theories of hacks like Reza Aslan and Bill O'Reilly, as well as the junk theory that no Jesus existed at all, and instead examine the new archeological evidence that helps to account for some of the strangest passages in the Gospels.

Listen on Apple Podcasts

Full Episode Details
Also see all 8 episodes On the History of Christianity

Roots of Religion: Who Wrote the Bible? - New Testament

Roots of Religion: Who Wrote the Bible? - New Testament
Currently available to Patrons only, on the Patreon App and website:
Become a supporter at any amount to listen >
What do I get as a supporter?
I'm already a supporter

We consider the long ideological struggles in the early church that led to the gradual collection of a canon of Christian writings that we now call the New Testament. We trace when, where, and why the various gospels and letters in the New Testament were written (hint: Matthew was not the first, not even close) and how they present different theological views. All in all, though, the New Testament writings were created to respond to the dilemma that as the years dragged on and Jesus' disciples died off, the Second Coming that early Christians anticipated simply wasn't happening.

Listen on Patreon Full Episode Details
Also see all 8 episodes On the History of Christianity

History of the British and Irish Travellers

Travellers, Tinkers, Gypsies, Kale, Scottish Travellers, Gypsy Travellers, Romani Gypsies, Romanichal, Pavee, Showmen, Van People, Boat People, Bargers - All of these multivarious peoples, with different ancestries, religions, and traditions, their different languages, dialects, and "cants," share in common a longstanding itinerant lifestyle and the distinct identity that stems from it. Roving all around the British Isles and sometimes settling down, the various tribes of Travellers have provided metal goods, horses, music, and entertainment to British and Irish markets for centuries, but have become the flashpoint of political fury and even of violence in the twenty-first century.

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details

Doorways in Time: The Great Archaeological Finds #1: The Sutton Hoo Treasure

Quick Sample:

Why was the excavation depicted in Netflix's "The Dig" the most important archaeological discovery ever made in Britain, or arguably in all of Europe? How did some artifacts found in a mound near an English widow's garden in Suffolk on the eve of World War II revolutionize our understanding of the Dark Age? Why would they come to serve as symbols of the ancient roots of the English nation, and how did Sutton Hoo vindicate the new science of archaeology? The story that Netflix did not tell you.

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details

Also see:

  • The Middle Ages: Anglo-Saxon England and the Vikings, 757-1066
  • Imbalances of Power: 10 Episodes on English Political Revolution and Evolution

Myth of the Month 2: The Exodus

We examine the origins and the political and theological meanings of the myth of the Israelites' exodus from Egypt. We consider the possible real historical events that might underly the exodus story, including the argument put forward in Richard Elliot Friedman's new book, The Exodus. Finally, we trace some of the many ways that peoples around the world, from the early Christians to Rastafaris, have adopted the exodus myth and cast themselves as the new Israelites.

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details
Also see all 7 episodes On Judaism and Jewish History

The Myths We Make: Using the past as an ideological tool

Quick Sample:

All of history is, to one degree or another, mythology -- the weaving of a coherent, usable narrative out of the chaos of people's lives. We consider how societies all over the world, since before the beginning of civilization, have developed myths to explain the world that they experience. We also trace some of the major schools of academic history, which have tried to fashion overarching storylines to give meaning to human struggles -- from Biblical providential history to Marxism to postmodernism. We begin by examining the most central myth of the origins of American society: the "first Thanksgiving."

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details

Myth of the Month 20: Conspiracy Theories

Myth of the Month 20: Conspiracy Theories
Currently available to Patrons only, on the Patreon App and website:
Become a supporter at any amount to listen >
What do I get as a supporter?
I'm already a supporter
Quick Sample:

Where do conspiracy theories come from? Why do people believe them? What do they mean? Did the CIA drug people with LSD against their will? Is Queen Elizabeth a reptilian? We consider the merits and pitfalls of conspiracy theories, trace the history and evolution of the conspiratorial tradition from rumors about lepers in the 1300s to Alex Jones and Q-Anon, and examine the biases and double standards built into the very concept of "conspiracy theories." This is it: the most thorough, fair, and impartial examination of conspiracy theories that you will ever find anywhere.

Listen on Patreon Full Episode Details

Myth of the Month 5: Capitalism

There is no such thing as capitalism. With debates over the relative meanings and merits of socialism and capitalism currently flaring up in the United States, we examine why "capitalism" is an undefinable and meaningless concept, and how it came nevertheless to hold a mythic and almost magical power over the minds of academics and ordinary citizens alike.

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details

Back to the Dark Age - How People Adapted to the Fall of the Roman Empire

Quick Sample:

What did people do when the Roman empire fall apart around them? Recent scholarship, based on new archeological discoveries and techniques, argues that in the "dark" centuries between 450 and 750 AD, the people of western Europe, from conquering kings to ordinary peasants, improvised new political alliances, maintained law and order, improved the productivity of their land, and invented new crafts and art forms, building a resilient and inventive society on the foundations (often literally) of the old.

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details

The Middle Ages: History of Universities, Part 1 - Flower of the Middle Ages

Universities are unique -- a quintessential product of the High Middle Ages that has miraculously survived and even flourished in the modern world. In the first part of the history of universities, we examine the origins of the first universities in the power struggles of Popes and emperors; the ways that medieval students learned, lived, and annoyed their elders; and the ways that universities adapted to and withstood serious challenges from Renaissance humanism and the republic of letters. Next will be the rise of universities in America, the modern research university, and the current crisis of academia.

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details
Also see The Middle Ages: History of Universities, Part 2 - A Crumbling Tower?

Myth of the Month 1: The Enlightenment

Quick Sample:

There was no Enlightenment. Steven Pinker's new book, "Enlightenment Now," is a classic re-statement of the myth of the Enlightenment which holds that in the 1600s and 1700s, Europeans threw off the tired dogmas of the Middle Ages and embraced a new philosophy of Reason, Progress, Science, and Humanism. In fact, the 1700s were a period of confusion, with no clear unifying ideas or trends: occultism, mysticism, and absolute monarchy flourished alongside experiments in democracy and chemistry. "The Enlightenment" forms one of the central pillars of Whig history, serving to re-affirm the notion that our present-day beliefs and values are rational and coherent.

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details

Becoming Modern: Witchcraft and the Great Witch-Hunt, 1484-1700

We trace the roots of the idea of witchcraft in the "cunning folk" of the Middle Ages. We consider how the church and state began to fuel fear of witchcraft and persecute witches in the tens of thousands during the age of the Renaissance and the Reformation. We consider theories of why witch-hunting arose so dramatically in this age, including economic strain and political agendas. Finally, we examine evidence for an enduring shamanic belief system centering on ecstatic night journeys that may have provided the inspiration for the mythical witches' sabbath.

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details

Becoming Modern: Age of Ice and Fire: The General Crisis Of The Seventeenth Century

Quick Sample:

We trace the waves of crop failure, famine, pestilence, and war that swept over Europe in the 1600s as the climate sunk into a "Little Ice Age" and armies literally marched across frozen seas. In the midst of unimaginable crisis, alchemists, astrologers, and apocalypticists scoured the Bible for prophecies to explain the disasters around them as part of the approaching End Times. Many of the defining institutions of the modern world we know today - such as overseas colonization, investor-owned corporations, public education, religious toleration, and scientific academies - have their origins as attempts to cope with the crisis of the seventeenth century and prepare the way for the Second Coming.

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details

Unlocked: Myth of the Month 14: Astrology

Quick Sample:

Released to the public after one year for patrons only: Why do we divide history into epochs separated by "revolutions"? Astrology. How did Magellan chart his course around the globe? Astrology. How did Ronald Reagan schedule his acts of state? Astrology. We trace how the highest of the occult arts evolved from interpreting omens in ancient Babylonia, to containing medieval epidemics, to providing fodder for middle-brow magazines. Whether you are a believer or not, astrology is the secret rhythm of our lives.

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Full Episode Details

In Search of the Dawn: Human Prehistory

Most of the human story is so-called "pre-history," which in fact is inseparable from history and still going on today. We trace the origins of the human species around 300,000 years ago in Africa, including our early adaptation into long-distance hunters. We examine our long and awkward co-existence with other human-like species such as Neanderthals and Ebu Gogo, as well as our slow development of critical technologies like sewing and pottery that allowed us to out-compete them. We trace the dangerous and improbable journey across sea channels and deserts that a small band of our distant ancestors had to make in order to populate the entire world beyond Africa. Finally, we consider the mysterious roots of the technology that eventually allowed for the rise of urban civilization -- agriculture.

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details

Myth of the Month 9: The US Constitution and the Origins of the Senate and Electoral College

Why does our government work the way it does? Is it supposed to represents citizens, or states? We consider the origins of the U. S. Constitution, particularly the creation of the controversial bodies (Senate and Electoral College) that represent the public in skewed and disproportionate ways. We dispel the false notion that these bodies were created in order to protect small states, tracing instead the Framers' quest to tamp down the "excess of democracy" of the 1780s, wrest control over monetary policy away from the poor majority, and strike a careful balance between slave and non-slave states.

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details

Myth of the Month 18: Robin Hood -- pt. 1: The Master of the Forest

Quick Sample:

In the first installment on the Robin Hood mythos, we consider how the legend of Robin Hood has evolved from a series of brutal tales of a medieval outlaw bandit in the fifteenth century to that of the swashbuckling champion of the poor of modern pop culture, and how he picked up sidekicks like Friar Tuck and Maid Marion along the way; we consider the literary significance of the early stories as as an expression of the frustrations and aspirations of the yeoman class.

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details
Also see UNLOCKED: Myth of the Month 18: Robin Hood - pt. 2: Capturing the Fugitive

The Middle Ages: Freemasonry - Its Origins, Its Myths, and Its Rituals

Freemasonry: What is it? Where does it come from? What is one taught as a Freemason? What do they do in their closed-door rituals -- and why? Freemasonry in the 1700s is my own field of research, and as a thank-you for reaching 50 patrons, I give a deep illumination of this unusual Society's roots in the gatherings of stonemasons in the late Middle Ages, its mythical connections to Solomon's Temple and the Crusades, and its elaborate system of symbols and initiatory rituals, which cast the Masons as a quasi-priestly caste with a shamanic connection to the world of the dead.

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details
Also see Freemasonry -- Its Growth and Spread Before 1789

Book Review: "Why Liberalism Failed" -- Part 1

In the first half of my discussion of Patrick Deneen's "Why Liberalism Failed," I examine the structure of Deneen's argument, tracing his effort to connect present-day crises in education, science, culture, and morality to the fundamental flaws in "liberalism," which he calls the "operating system" of modern Western society, and which he claims has left us isolated, lonely, and afraid, with our social system possibly on the brink of collapse into a totalitarian nightmare. Cheers! I will not charge patrons for this commentary until I post the second part.

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details
Also see Book Review: "Why Liberalism Failed" -- Part 2

Becoming Modern: Scientific Revolution, Part 1 -- Alchemy and Apocalypse, 1500-1660

We unearth the tangled roots of the earliest forms of modern science, beginning with the radical alchemical theories of the rabble-rousing healer called Paracelsus, and running through the heated debates over Galileo's astronomy, which broke down the distinction between the earth and the heavens. Due to these shocks, the old teleological, or purpose-driven, scheme of the world broke down, giving way to a free-for-all of speculation and apocalyptic excitement.We question the historical meaning of the concept of "science," and consider how modern-day pop scientists like Neil DeGrasse Tyson portray the past selectively in order to build the myth of reason and science as beacons of light amidst superstition.

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details
Also see Becoming Modern: Scientific Revolution, Part 2 -- The New Powers, 1660-1800

Becoming Modern: Spanish and Portuguese Expansion and the Conquest of the Americas

We trace how Portugal and Spain, two previously marginal European kingdoms, rapidly and unexpectedly exploded onto the world scene, building a chain of fortified colonies stretching from North Africa to China, and conquering the larger and richer empires of Mexico and Peru. The early Iberian colonizers sought to continue the tradition of the Crusades and the Reconquista, and saw their foreign conquests as steps towards retaking Jerusalem; the benefited not only from superior weaponry and navigation, but from cataclysmic disease epidemics that brought the Pre-Columbian empires to their knees.

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode DetailsRelated content: 8 episodes On the History of Christianity

Roots of Religion: Islam 1 - Muhammad, the first Caliphate, and the core teachings

We trace the shocking and rapid rise of Islam in the 600s, as a confederation of desert towns and tribes unite around Muhammad and his prophesies from the Abrahamic god, then swiftly launch a stunning campaign of conquests against the major empires of the age. We consider the roots of the basic teachings and practices of the new religion, including the Qur'an, the hadiths, the Five Pillars, jihad, shariah, the divide between Sunni and Shiah, and Islamic laws regarding the status of women and of Jews and Christians or "people of the Book."

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details
Also see Becoming Modern: Islam 2 - From the "Golden Age" to the Fundamentalist Reaction

Land of Vital Blood: Pre-Columbian America

The Americas before Columbus were not an idyll frozen in time. They were a world of struggle and ambition, with a history just as complex and tumultuous as Europe's. We trace how hunting-gathering peoples invented agriculture and built cities and empires that rose and fell across the centuries, all depending on human power, without the benefit of pack animals. We consider the shared norms and practices that seem to unite the diverse and far-flung peoples of the Americas, such as intensive multi-crop agriculture, fascination with astronomy and the calendar, and a highly formalized diplomatic language governing war and peace.

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details

The Middle Ages: The Jews of Europe, from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution

The Middle Ages: The Jews of Europe, from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution
Currently available to Patrons only, on the Patreon App and website:
Become a supporter at any amount to listen >
What do I get as a supporter?
I'm already a supporter

We trace the winding paths by which Jews, after the diaspora, sought out social and economic niches in which they were able to survive within European Christian society. We uncover the origins of the two main Jewish groups in Europe -- the Sephardic and Ashkenazi -- and consider how they adapted to changing conditions, including the increasing assimilation of German Jews in the 1700s, which led on the one hand to the beginnings of Jewish reform and on the other to the appearance of Hasidism, a mystical renewal movement. Most importantly, we consider the deep and long-denied influence of the messianic fervor that swept over Europe in the 1660s surrounding the mercurial and mischievous Greek rabbi, Sabbatai Zvi.

Listen on Patreon Full Episode Details
Also see all 7 episodes On Judaism and Jewish History

Roots of Religion: Who Wrote the Bible? - Hebrew Scriptures

Quick Sample:

We dissect the origins of the Hebrew Bible (also called the Old Testament by Christians), excavating the deepest layers of the collection of holy books, including the very ancient songs and prayers that were likely passed on orally for centuries before being written down, the scholarly theories of the lost documents that were stitched together to form Genesis and Exodus, and the differing points of view of the various prophets, scribes, and propagandists whose books made their way into the Hebrew canon...

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details

Also see:

  • All 7 episodes On Judaism and Jewish History
  • Related content: 8 episodes On the History of Christianity
  • Related content: Muhammad, the first Caliphate, and the core teachings

Roots of Religion: Judaism - What Is It and Where Did It Come From?

We consider how best to understand the origins of the laws and customs of the Jewish people, or what we call "Judaism." We begin by dispelling the notion that Judaism (or any other belief system apart from Christianity) can properly be called a "religion" -- a category that derives originally from Christian practice and does not make sense anywhere else. We further examine the roots of the idea of "Judaism" as a concept for the Jewish way of life, concluding with a careful analysis of the meaning of the ancient Greek word "ioudaismos," which originates in the Book of Maccabees. Finally, we trace the best possible explanation for the origins of the Jewish people in the Bronze-Age Near East, using archaeological evidence including an ancient Egyptian monument and the vandalized ruins of Canaanite temples. Ultimately, we should be able to understand Judaism and its God as the creations of a particular Middle Eastern people not entirely unlike their ancient neighbors.

Special thanks to Daniel Boyarin for his help and inspiration.

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details
Also see all 7 episodes On Judaism and Jewish History

Taking Stock of Money in Politics: The Powell Memo Fifty Years Later

At a time of intensifying hope and anxiety over the direction of the Supreme Court, we take stock of how the lawmaking process and the judiciary have changed over the past fifty years with the mobilization and funneling of large amounts of money into the political realm; we focus especially on the little-known but pivotal "Powell Memo" of 1971, in which a lawyer for the Tobacco Institute decried the rising tide of attacks on the "free enterprise system" and proposed a coordinated counter-offensive by the business class that sounds uncannily close to our present reality. The Powell Memo forms a critical moment for understanding the intense politicization of judicial appointments, the ubiquity of paid political advertising on the airwaves and in print, and ironically, the rise of a new "anti-capitalist" radicalism.

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details

India -- pt. 1: Creating Civilization in South Asia

We discuss the complex geography of the Indian Subcontinent, and how early societies in India, beginning with the mysterious Indus Valley Civilization, developed cities, technology, art, and literature, giving rise eventually to the flourishing Maurya and Gupta empires and the inventions of the Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu religions.

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details
Also see Roots of Religion: India - pt. 2 - Foundations of Hinduism

History of the Roma ("Gypsies"), part 1 -- From Ancient Origins to the Eighteenth Century

Who are the Roma -- also colloquially called "Gypsies"? Where did they come from, and how did they end up all over Europe? How have they endured through persecution, expulsions, and political upheaval, without a state or country of their own? We trace the path of this remarkable and resilient people from their mysterious origins in India to their arrival in Constantinople and medieval Europe and through the wave of persecution and ethnic cleansing in the 1600s.

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details
Also see History of the Roma ("Gypsies"), part 2 -- A Stateless People in Modern Europe

In the Ocean of Land: The History of Central Asia -- pt. 1

We consider the vast sweep of Central Asian history, from the first nomads to tame the horse and gain mastery of the steppes, to the splendrous cities of the first Silk Road, to the rise of Ghenghis Khan. Few Westerners learn the dizzyingly complex and tumultuous history of Central Asia, even though it forms the linchpin connecting all the major civilizations of the Old World, from Europe to Persia to China. Finally, we consider the unsettling paradox of the Mongol empire, which fostered a vibrant cosmopolitanism at the same time that it brutally repressed subject peoples.

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details
Also see In the Ocean of Land: The History of Central Asia -- pt. 2

Roots of Religion: The Historical Jesus

We join in the ongoing quest for the historical Jesus -- the struggle to unearth and understand who Jesus really was, what he said and did, and how he inspired a movement. We trace the basic bare-bones facts that can be deduced from early Christian writings and brief references in other texts, including Jesus' baptism and crucifixion. We throw out the flimsy theories of hacks like Reza Aslan and Bill O'Reilly, as well as the junk theory that no Jesus existed at all, and instead examine the new archeological evidence that helps to account for some of the strangest passages in the Gospels.

Listen on SoundCloud

Full Episode Details
Also see all 8 episodes On the History of Christianity

Roots of Religion: Who Wrote the Bible? - New Testament

Roots of Religion: Who Wrote the Bible? - New Testament
Currently available to Patrons only, on the Patreon App and website:
Become a supporter at any amount to listen >
What do I get as a supporter?
I'm already a supporter

We consider the long ideological struggles in the early church that led to the gradual collection of a canon of Christian writings that we now call the New Testament. We trace when, where, and why the various gospels and letters in the New Testament were written (hint: Matthew was not the first, not even close) and how they present different theological views. All in all, though, the New Testament writings were created to respond to the dilemma that as the years dragged on and Jesus' disciples died off, the Second Coming that early Christians anticipated simply wasn't happening.

Listen on Patreon Full Episode Details
Also see all 8 episodes On the History of Christianity

History of the British and Irish Travellers

Travellers, Tinkers, Gypsies, Kale, Scottish Travellers, Gypsy Travellers, Romani Gypsies, Romanichal, Pavee, Showmen, Van People, Boat People, Bargers - All of these multivarious peoples, with different ancestries, religions, and traditions, their different languages, dialects, and "cants," share in common a longstanding itinerant lifestyle and the distinct identity that stems from it. Roving all around the British Isles and sometimes settling down, the various tribes of Travellers have provided metal goods, horses, music, and entertainment to British and Irish markets for centuries, but have become the flashpoint of political fury and even of violence in the twenty-first century.

Listen on Patreon
Full Episode Details

Doorways in Time: The Great Archaeological Finds #1: The Sutton Hoo Treasure

Why was the excavation depicted in Netflix's "The Dig" the most important archaeological discovery ever made in Britain, or arguably in all of Europe? How did some artifacts found in a mound near an English widow's garden in Suffolk on the eve of World War II revolutionize our understanding of the Dark Age? Why would they come to serve as symbols of the ancient roots of the English nation, and how did Sutton Hoo vindicate the new science of archaeology? The story that Netflix did not tell you.

Quick Sample:
Listen on Patreon

Also see:

  • The Middle Ages: Anglo-Saxon England and the Vikings, 757-1066
  • Imbalances of Power: 10 Episodes on English Political Revolution and Evolution
    Full Episode Details

Myth of the Month 2: The Exodus

We examine the origins and the political and theological meanings of the myth of the Israelites' exodus from Egypt. We consider the possible real historical events that might underly the exodus story, including the argument put forward in Richard Elliot Friedman's new book, The Exodus. Finally, we trace some of the many ways that peoples around the world, from the early Christians to Rastafaris, have adopted the exodus myth and cast themselves as the new Israelites.

Listen on Patreon

Also see all 7 episodes On Judaism and Jewish History
Full Episode Details

The Myths We Make: Using the past as an ideological tool

All of history is, to one degree or another, mythology -- the weaving of a coherent, usable narrative out of the chaos of people's lives. We consider how societies all over the world, since before the beginning of civilization, have developed myths to explain the world that they experience. We also trace some of the major schools of academic history, which have tried to fashion overarching storylines to give meaning to human struggles -- from Biblical providential history to Marxism to postmodernism. We begin by examining the most central myth of the origins of American society: the "first Thanksgiving."

Quick Sample:
Listen on Patreon
Full Episode Details

Myth of the Month 20: Conspiracy Theories

Myth of the Month 20: Conspiracy Theories
Currently available to Patrons only, on the Patreon App and website:
Become a supporter at any amount to listen >
What do I get as a supporter?
I'm already a supporter
Quick Sample:

Where do conspiracy theories come from? Why do people believe them? What do they mean? Did the CIA drug people with LSD against their will? Is Queen Elizabeth a reptilian? We consider the merits and pitfalls of conspiracy theories, trace the history and evolution of the conspiratorial tradition from rumors about lepers in the 1300s to Alex Jones and Q-Anon, and examine the biases and double standards built into the very concept of "conspiracy theories." This is it: the most thorough, fair, and impartial examination of conspiracy theories that you will ever find anywhere.

Listen on Patreon Full Episode Details

Myth of the Month 5: Capitalism

There is no such thing as capitalism. With debates over the relative meanings and merits of socialism and capitalism currently flaring up in the United States, we examine why "capitalism" is an undefinable and meaningless concept, and how it came nevertheless to hold a mythic and almost magical power over the minds of academics and ordinary citizens alike.

Listen on Patreon
Full Episode Details

Back to the Dark Age - How People Adapted to the Fall of the Roman Empire

What did people do when the Roman empire fall apart around them? Recent scholarship, based on new archeological discoveries and techniques, argues that in the "dark" centuries between 450 and 750 AD, the people of western Europe, from conquering kings to ordinary peasants, improvised new political alliances, maintained law and order, improved the productivity of their land, and invented new crafts and art forms, building a resilient and inventive society on the foundations (often literally) of the old.

Quick Sample:
Listen on Patreon
Full Episode Details

The Middle Ages: History of Universities, Part 1 - Flower of the Middle Ages

Universities are unique -- a quintessential product of the High Middle Ages that has miraculously survived and even flourished in the modern world. In the first part of the history of universities, we examine the origins of the first universities in the power struggles of Popes and emperors; the ways that medieval students learned, lived, and annoyed their elders; and the ways that universities adapted to and withstood serious challenges from Renaissance humanism and the republic of letters. Next will be the rise of universities in America, the modern research university, and the current crisis of academia.

Listen on Patreon

Also see The Middle Ages: History of Universities, Part 2 - A Crumbling Tower?
Full Episode Details

Myth of the Month 1: The Enlightenment

There was no Enlightenment. Steven Pinker's new book, "Enlightenment Now," is a classic re-statement of the myth of the Enlightenment which holds that in the 1600s and 1700s, Europeans threw off the tired dogmas of the Middle Ages and embraced a new philosophy of Reason, Progress, Science, and Humanism. In fact, the 1700s were a period of confusion, with no clear unifying ideas or trends: occultism, mysticism, and absolute monarchy flourished alongside experiments in democracy and chemistry. "The Enlightenment" forms one of the central pillars of Whig history, serving to re-affirm the notion that our present-day beliefs and values are rational and coherent.

Quick Sample:
Listen on Patreon
Full Episode Details

Becoming Modern: Witchcraft and the Great Witch-Hunt, 1484-1700

We trace the roots of the idea of witchcraft in the "cunning folk" of the Middle Ages. We consider how the church and state began to fuel fear of witchcraft and persecute witches in the tens of thousands during the age of the Renaissance and the Reformation. We consider theories of why witch-hunting arose so dramatically in this age, including economic strain and political agendas. Finally, we examine evidence for an enduring shamanic belief system centering on ecstatic night journeys that may have provided the inspiration for the mythical witches' sabbath.

Listen on Patreon
Full Episode Details

Becoming Modern: Age of Ice and Fire: The General Crisis Of The Seventeenth Century

We trace the waves of crop failure, famine, pestilence, and war that swept over Europe in the 1600s as the climate sunk into a "Little Ice Age" and armies literally marched across frozen seas. In the midst of unimaginable crisis, alchemists, astrologers, and apocalypticists scoured the Bible for prophecies to explain the disasters around them as part of the approaching End Times. Many of the defining institutions of the modern world we know today - such as overseas colonization, investor-owned corporations, public education, religious toleration, and scientific academies - have their origins as attempts to cope with the crisis of the seventeenth century and prepare the way for the Second Coming.

Quick Sample:
Listen on Patreon
Full Episode Details

Unlocked: Myth of the Month 14: Astrology

Released to the public after one year for patrons only: Why do we divide history into epochs separated by "revolutions"? Astrology. How did Magellan chart his course around the globe? Astrology. How did Ronald Reagan schedule his acts of state? Astrology. We trace how the highest of the occult arts evolved from interpreting omens in ancient Babylonia, to containing medieval epidemics, to providing fodder for middle-brow magazines. Whether you are a believer or not, astrology is the secret rhythm of our lives.

Quick Sample:
Listen on Patreon
Full Episode Details

In Search of the Dawn: Human Prehistory

Most of the human story is so-called "pre-history," which in fact is inseparable from history and still going on today. We trace the origins of the human species around 300,000 years ago in Africa, including our early adaptation into long-distance hunters. We examine our long and awkward co-existence with other human-like species such as Neanderthals and Ebu Gogo, as well as our slow development of critical technologies like sewing and pottery that allowed us to out-compete them. We trace the dangerous and improbable journey across sea channels and deserts that a small band of our distant ancestors had to make in order to populate the entire world beyond Africa. Finally, we consider the mysterious roots of the technology that eventually allowed for the rise of urban civilization -- agriculture.

Listen on Patreon
Full Episode Details

Myth of the Month 9: The US Constitution and the Origins of the Senate and Electoral College

Why does our government work the way it does? Is it supposed to represents citizens, or states? We consider the origins of the U. S. Constitution, particularly the creation of the controversial bodies (Senate and Electoral College) that represent the public in skewed and disproportionate ways. We dispel the false notion that these bodies were created in order to protect small states, tracing instead the Framers' quest to tamp down the "excess of democracy" of the 1780s, wrest control over monetary policy away from the poor majority, and strike a careful balance between slave and non-slave states.

Listen on Patreon
Full Episode Details

Myth of the Month 18: Robin Hood -- pt. 1: The Master of the Forest

In the first installment on the Robin Hood mythos, we consider how the legend of Robin Hood has evolved from a series of brutal tales of a medieval outlaw bandit in the fifteenth century to that of the swashbuckling champion of the poor of modern pop culture, and how he picked up sidekicks like Friar Tuck and Maid Marion along the way; we consider the literary significance of the early stories as as an expression of the frustrations and aspirations of the yeoman class.

Quick Sample:
Listen on Patreon

Also see UNLOCKED: Myth of the Month 18: Robin Hood - pt. 2: Capturing the Fugitive
Full Episode Details

The Middle Ages: Freemasonry - Its Origins, Its Myths, and Its Rituals

Freemasonry: What is it? Where does it come from? What is one taught as a Freemason? What do they do in their closed-door rituals -- and why? Freemasonry in the 1700s is my own field of research, and as a thank-you for reaching 50 patrons, I give a deep illumination of this unusual Society's roots in the gatherings of stonemasons in the late Middle Ages, its mythical connections to Solomon's Temple and the Crusades, and its elaborate system of symbols and initiatory rituals, which cast the Masons as a quasi-priestly caste with a shamanic connection to the world of the dead.

Listen on Patreon

Also see Freemasonry -- Its Growth and Spread Before 1789
Full Episode Details

Book Review: "Why Liberalism Failed" -- Part 1

In the first half of my discussion of Patrick Deneen's "Why Liberalism Failed," I examine the structure of Deneen's argument, tracing his effort to connect present-day crises in education, science, culture, and morality to the fundamental flaws in "liberalism," which he calls the "operating system" of modern Western society, and which he claims has left us isolated, lonely, and afraid, with our social system possibly on the brink of collapse into a totalitarian nightmare. Cheers! I will not charge patrons for this commentary until I post the second part.

Listen on Patreon

Also see Book Review: "Why Liberalism Failed" -- Part 2
Full Episode Details

Becoming Modern: Scientific Revolution, Part 1 -- Alchemy and Apocalypse, 1500-1660

We unearth the tangled roots of the earliest forms of modern science, beginning with the radical alchemical theories of the rabble-rousing healer called Paracelsus, and running through the heated debates over Galileo's astronomy, which broke down the distinction between the earth and the heavens. Due to these shocks, the old teleological, or purpose-driven, scheme of the world broke down, giving way to a free-for-all of speculation and apocalyptic excitement.We question the historical meaning of the concept of "science," and consider how modern-day pop scientists like Neil DeGrasse Tyson portray the past selectively in order to build the myth of reason and science as beacons of light amidst superstition.

Listen on Patreon

Also see Becoming Modern: Scientific Revolution, Part 2 -- The New Powers, 1660-1800
Full Episode Details

Becoming Modern: Spanish and Portuguese Expansion and the Conquest of the Americas

We trace how Portugal and Spain, two previously marginal European kingdoms, rapidly and unexpectedly exploded onto the world scene, building a chain of fortified colonies stretching from North Africa to China, and conquering the larger and richer empires of Mexico and Peru. The early Iberian colonizers sought to continue the tradition of the Crusades and the Reconquista, and saw their foreign conquests as steps towards retaking Jerusalem; the benefited not only from superior weaponry and navigation, but from cataclysmic disease epidemics that brought the Pre-Columbian empires to their knees.

Listen on Patreon
Related content: 8 episodes On the History of Christianity
Full Episode Details

Roots of Religion: Islam 1 - Muhammad, the first Caliphate, and the core teachings

We trace the shocking and rapid rise of Islam in the 600s, as a confederation of desert towns and tribes unite around Muhammad and his prophesies from the Abrahamic god, then swiftly launch a stunning campaign of conquests against the major empires of the age. We consider the roots of the basic teachings and practices of the new religion, including the Qur'an, the hadiths, the Five Pillars, jihad, shariah, the divide between Sunni and Shiah, and Islamic laws regarding the status of women and of Jews and Christians or "people of the Book."

Listen on Patreon

Also see Becoming Modern: Islam 2 - From the "Golden Age" to the Fundamentalist Reaction
Full Episode Details

Land of Vital Blood: Pre-Columbian America

The Americas before Columbus were not an idyll frozen in time. They were a world of struggle and ambition, with a history just as complex and tumultuous as Europe's. We trace how hunting-gathering peoples invented agriculture and built cities and empires that rose and fell across the centuries, all depending on human power, without the benefit of pack animals. We consider the shared norms and practices that seem to unite the diverse and far-flung peoples of the Americas, such as intensive multi-crop agriculture, fascination with astronomy and the calendar, and a highly formalized diplomatic language governing war and peace.

Listen on Patreon
Full Episode Details

The Middle Ages: The Jews of Europe, from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution

The Middle Ages: The Jews of Europe, from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution
Currently available to Patrons only, on the Patreon App and website:
Become a supporter at any amount to listen >
What do I get as a supporter?
I'm already a supporter

We trace the winding paths by which Jews, after the diaspora, sought out social and economic niches in which they were able to survive within European Christian society. We uncover the origins of the two main Jewish groups in Europe -- the Sephardic and Ashkenazi -- and consider how they adapted to changing conditions, including the increasing assimilation of German Jews in the 1700s, which led on the one hand to the beginnings of Jewish reform and on the other to the appearance of Hasidism, a mystical renewal movement. Most importantly, we consider the deep and long-denied influence of the messianic fervor that swept over Europe in the 1660s surrounding the mercurial and mischievous Greek rabbi, Sabbatai Zvi.

Listen on Patreon Full Episode Details
Also see all 7 episodes On Judaism and Jewish History

Roots of Religion: Who Wrote the Bible? - Hebrew Scriptures

We dissect the origins of the Hebrew Bible (also called the Old Testament by Christians), excavating the deepest layers of the collection of holy books, including the very ancient songs and prayers that were likely passed on orally for centuries before being written down, the scholarly theories of the lost documents that were stitched together to form Genesis and Exodus, and the differing points of view of the various prophets, scribes, and propagandists whose books made their way into the Hebrew canon...

Quick Sample:
Listen on Patreon

Also see:

  • All 7 episodes On Judaism and Jewish History
  • Related content: 8 episodes On the History of Christianity
  • Related content: Muhammad, the first Caliphate, and the core teachings
Full Episode Details

Roots of Religion: Judaism - What Is It and Where Did It Come From?

We consider how best to understand the origins of the laws and customs of the Jewish people, or what we call "Judaism." We begin by dispelling the notion that Judaism (or any other belief system apart from Christianity) can properly be called a "religion" -- a category that derives originally from Christian practice and does not make sense anywhere else. We further examine the roots of the idea of "Judaism" as a concept for the Jewish way of life, concluding with a careful analysis of the meaning of the ancient Greek word "ioudaismos," which originates in the Book of Maccabees. Finally, we trace the best possible explanation for the origins of the Jewish people in the Bronze-Age Near East, using archaeological evidence including an ancient Egyptian monument and the vandalized ruins of Canaanite temples. Ultimately, we should be able to understand Judaism and its God as the creations of a particular Middle Eastern people not entirely unlike their ancient neighbors.

Special thanks to Daniel Boyarin for his help and inspiration.

Listen on Patreon

Also see all 7 episodes On Judaism and Jewish History
Full Episode Details

Taking Stock of Money in Politics: The Powell Memo Fifty Years Later

At a time of intensifying hope and anxiety over the direction of the Supreme Court, we take stock of how the lawmaking process and the judiciary have changed over the past fifty years with the mobilization and funneling of large amounts of money into the political realm; we focus especially on the little-known but pivotal "Powell Memo" of 1971, in which a lawyer for the Tobacco Institute decried the rising tide of attacks on the "free enterprise system" and proposed a coordinated counter-offensive by the business class that sounds uncannily close to our present reality. The Powell Memo forms a critical moment for understanding the intense politicization of judicial appointments, the ubiquity of paid political advertising on the airwaves and in print, and ironically, the rise of a new "anti-capitalist" radicalism.

Listen on Patreon
Full Episode Details

India -- pt. 1: Creating Civilization in South Asia

We discuss the complex geography of the Indian Subcontinent, and how early societies in India, beginning with the mysterious Indus Valley Civilization, developed cities, technology, art, and literature, giving rise eventually to the flourishing Maurya and Gupta empires and the inventions of the Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu religions.

Listen on Patreon

Also see Roots of Religion: India - pt. 2 - Foundations of Hinduism
Full Episode Details

History of the Roma ("Gypsies"), part 1 -- From Ancient Origins to the Eighteenth Century

Who are the Roma -- also colloquially called "Gypsies"? Where did they come from, and how did they end up all over Europe? How have they endured through persecution, expulsions, and political upheaval, without a state or country of their own? We trace the path of this remarkable and resilient people from their mysterious origins in India to their arrival in Constantinople and medieval Europe and through the wave of persecution and ethnic cleansing in the 1600s.

Listen on Patreon

Also see History of the Roma ("Gypsies"), part 2 -- A Stateless People in Modern Europe
Full Episode Details

In the Ocean of Land: The History of Central Asia -- pt. 1

We consider the vast sweep of Central Asian history, from the first nomads to tame the horse and gain mastery of the steppes, to the splendrous cities of the first Silk Road, to the rise of Ghenghis Khan. Few Westerners learn the dizzyingly complex and tumultuous history of Central Asia, even though it forms the linchpin connecting all the major civilizations of the Old World, from Europe to Persia to China. Finally, we consider the unsettling paradox of the Mongol empire, which fostered a vibrant cosmopolitanism at the same time that it brutally repressed subject peoples.

Listen on Patreon

Also see In the Ocean of Land: The History of Central Asia -- pt. 2
Full Episode Details

Roots of Religion: The Historical Jesus

We join in the ongoing quest for the historical Jesus -- the struggle to unearth and understand who Jesus really was, what he said and did, and how he inspired a movement. We trace the basic bare-bones facts that can be deduced from early Christian writings and brief references in other texts, including Jesus' baptism and crucifixion. We throw out the flimsy theories of hacks like Reza Aslan and Bill O'Reilly, as well as the junk theory that no Jesus existed at all, and instead examine the new archeological evidence that helps to account for some of the strangest passages in the Gospels.

Listen on Patreon

Also see all 8 episodes On the History of Christianity
Full Episode Details

Roots of Religion: Who Wrote the Bible? - New Testament

Roots of Religion: Who Wrote the Bible? - New Testament
Currently available to Patrons only, on the Patreon App and website:
Become a supporter at any amount to listen >
What do I get as a supporter?
I'm already a supporter

We consider the long ideological struggles in the early church that led to the gradual collection of a canon of Christian writings that we now call the New Testament. We trace when, where, and why the various gospels and letters in the New Testament were written (hint: Matthew was not the first, not even close) and how they present different theological views. All in all, though, the New Testament writings were created to respond to the dilemma that as the years dragged on and Jesus' disciples died off, the Second Coming that early Christians anticipated simply wasn't happening.

Listen on Patreon Full Episode Details
Also see all 8 episodes On the History of Christianity

History of the British and Irish Travellers

Travellers, Tinkers, Gypsies, Kale, Scottish Travellers, Gypsy Travellers, Romani Gypsies, Romanichal, Pavee, Showmen, Van People, Boat People, Bargers - All of these multivarious peoples, with different ancestries, religions, and traditions, their different languages, dialects, and "cants," share in common a longstanding itinerant lifestyle and the distinct identity that stems from it. Roving all around the British Isles and sometimes settling down, the various tribes of Travellers have provided metal goods, horses, music, and entertainment to British and Irish markets for centuries, but have become the flashpoint of political fury and even of violence in the twenty-first century.

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode Details

Doorways in Time: The Great Archaeological Finds #1: The Sutton Hoo Treasure

Quick Sample:

Why was the excavation depicted in Netflix's "The Dig" the most important archaeological discovery ever made in Britain, or arguably in all of Europe? How did some artifacts found in a mound near an English widow's garden in Suffolk on the eve of World War II revolutionize our understanding of the Dark Age? Why would they come to serve as symbols of the ancient roots of the English nation, and how did Sutton Hoo vindicate the new science of archaeology? The story that Netflix did not tell you.

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode Details

Also see:

  • The Middle Ages: Anglo-Saxon England and the Vikings, 757-1066
  • Imbalances of Power: 10 Episodes on English Political Revolution and Evolution

Myth of the Month 2: The Exodus

We examine the origins and the political and theological meanings of the myth of the Israelites' exodus from Egypt. We consider the possible real historical events that might underly the exodus story, including the argument put forward in Richard Elliot Friedman's new book, The Exodus. Finally, we trace some of the many ways that peoples around the world, from the early Christians to Rastafaris, have adopted the exodus myth and cast themselves as the new Israelites.

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode Details
Also see all 7 episodes On Judaism and Jewish History

The Myths We Make: Using the past as an ideological tool

Quick Sample:

All of history is, to one degree or another, mythology -- the weaving of a coherent, usable narrative out of the chaos of people's lives. We consider how societies all over the world, since before the beginning of civilization, have developed myths to explain the world that they experience. We also trace some of the major schools of academic history, which have tried to fashion overarching storylines to give meaning to human struggles -- from Biblical providential history to Marxism to postmodernism. We begin by examining the most central myth of the origins of American society: the "first Thanksgiving."

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode Details

Myth of the Month 20: Conspiracy Theories

Myth of the Month 20: Conspiracy Theories
Currently available to Patrons only, on the Patreon App and website:
Become a supporter at any amount to listen >
What do I get as a supporter?
I'm already a supporter
Quick Sample:

Where do conspiracy theories come from? Why do people believe them? What do they mean? Did the CIA drug people with LSD against their will? Is Queen Elizabeth a reptilian? We consider the merits and pitfalls of conspiracy theories, trace the history and evolution of the conspiratorial tradition from rumors about lepers in the 1300s to Alex Jones and Q-Anon, and examine the biases and double standards built into the very concept of "conspiracy theories." This is it: the most thorough, fair, and impartial examination of conspiracy theories that you will ever find anywhere.

Listen on Patreon Full Episode Details

Myth of the Month 5: Capitalism

There is no such thing as capitalism. With debates over the relative meanings and merits of socialism and capitalism currently flaring up in the United States, we examine why "capitalism" is an undefinable and meaningless concept, and how it came nevertheless to hold a mythic and almost magical power over the minds of academics and ordinary citizens alike.

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode Details

Back to the Dark Age - How People Adapted to the Fall of the Roman Empire

Quick Sample:

What did people do when the Roman empire fall apart around them? Recent scholarship, based on new archeological discoveries and techniques, argues that in the "dark" centuries between 450 and 750 AD, the people of western Europe, from conquering kings to ordinary peasants, improvised new political alliances, maintained law and order, improved the productivity of their land, and invented new crafts and art forms, building a resilient and inventive society on the foundations (often literally) of the old.

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode Details

The Middle Ages: History of Universities, Part 1 - Flower of the Middle Ages

Universities are unique -- a quintessential product of the High Middle Ages that has miraculously survived and even flourished in the modern world. In the first part of the history of universities, we examine the origins of the first universities in the power struggles of Popes and emperors; the ways that medieval students learned, lived, and annoyed their elders; and the ways that universities adapted to and withstood serious challenges from Renaissance humanism and the republic of letters. Next will be the rise of universities in America, the modern research university, and the current crisis of academia.

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode Details
Also see The Middle Ages: History of Universities, Part 2 - A Crumbling Tower?

Myth of the Month 1: The Enlightenment

Quick Sample:

There was no Enlightenment. Steven Pinker's new book, "Enlightenment Now," is a classic re-statement of the myth of the Enlightenment which holds that in the 1600s and 1700s, Europeans threw off the tired dogmas of the Middle Ages and embraced a new philosophy of Reason, Progress, Science, and Humanism. In fact, the 1700s were a period of confusion, with no clear unifying ideas or trends: occultism, mysticism, and absolute monarchy flourished alongside experiments in democracy and chemistry. "The Enlightenment" forms one of the central pillars of Whig history, serving to re-affirm the notion that our present-day beliefs and values are rational and coherent.

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode Details

Becoming Modern: Witchcraft and the Great Witch-Hunt, 1484-1700

We trace the roots of the idea of witchcraft in the "cunning folk" of the Middle Ages. We consider how the church and state began to fuel fear of witchcraft and persecute witches in the tens of thousands during the age of the Renaissance and the Reformation. We consider theories of why witch-hunting arose so dramatically in this age, including economic strain and political agendas. Finally, we examine evidence for an enduring shamanic belief system centering on ecstatic night journeys that may have provided the inspiration for the mythical witches' sabbath.

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode Details

Becoming Modern: Age of Ice and Fire: The General Crisis Of The Seventeenth Century

Quick Sample:

We trace the waves of crop failure, famine, pestilence, and war that swept over Europe in the 1600s as the climate sunk into a "Little Ice Age" and armies literally marched across frozen seas. In the midst of unimaginable crisis, alchemists, astrologers, and apocalypticists scoured the Bible for prophecies to explain the disasters around them as part of the approaching End Times. Many of the defining institutions of the modern world we know today - such as overseas colonization, investor-owned corporations, public education, religious toleration, and scientific academies - have their origins as attempts to cope with the crisis of the seventeenth century and prepare the way for the Second Coming.

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode Details

Unlocked: Myth of the Month 14: Astrology

Quick Sample:

Released to the public after one year for patrons only: Why do we divide history into epochs separated by "revolutions"? Astrology. How did Magellan chart his course around the globe? Astrology. How did Ronald Reagan schedule his acts of state? Astrology. We trace how the highest of the occult arts evolved from interpreting omens in ancient Babylonia, to containing medieval epidemics, to providing fodder for middle-brow magazines. Whether you are a believer or not, astrology is the secret rhythm of our lives.

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode Details

In Search of the Dawn: Human Prehistory

Most of the human story is so-called "pre-history," which in fact is inseparable from history and still going on today. We trace the origins of the human species around 300,000 years ago in Africa, including our early adaptation into long-distance hunters. We examine our long and awkward co-existence with other human-like species such as Neanderthals and Ebu Gogo, as well as our slow development of critical technologies like sewing and pottery that allowed us to out-compete them. We trace the dangerous and improbable journey across sea channels and deserts that a small band of our distant ancestors had to make in order to populate the entire world beyond Africa. Finally, we consider the mysterious roots of the technology that eventually allowed for the rise of urban civilization -- agriculture.

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode Details

Myth of the Month 9: The US Constitution and the Origins of the Senate and Electoral College

Why does our government work the way it does? Is it supposed to represents citizens, or states? We consider the origins of the U. S. Constitution, particularly the creation of the controversial bodies (Senate and Electoral College) that represent the public in skewed and disproportionate ways. We dispel the false notion that these bodies were created in order to protect small states, tracing instead the Framers' quest to tamp down the "excess of democracy" of the 1780s, wrest control over monetary policy away from the poor majority, and strike a careful balance between slave and non-slave states.

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode Details

Myth of the Month 18: Robin Hood -- pt. 1: The Master of the Forest

Quick Sample:

In the first installment on the Robin Hood mythos, we consider how the legend of Robin Hood has evolved from a series of brutal tales of a medieval outlaw bandit in the fifteenth century to that of the swashbuckling champion of the poor of modern pop culture, and how he picked up sidekicks like Friar Tuck and Maid Marion along the way; we consider the literary significance of the early stories as as an expression of the frustrations and aspirations of the yeoman class.

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode Details
Also see UNLOCKED: Myth of the Month 18: Robin Hood - pt. 2: Capturing the Fugitive

The Middle Ages: Freemasonry - Its Origins, Its Myths, and Its Rituals

Freemasonry: What is it? Where does it come from? What is one taught as a Freemason? What do they do in their closed-door rituals -- and why? Freemasonry in the 1700s is my own field of research, and as a thank-you for reaching 50 patrons, I give a deep illumination of this unusual Society's roots in the gatherings of stonemasons in the late Middle Ages, its mythical connections to Solomon's Temple and the Crusades, and its elaborate system of symbols and initiatory rituals, which cast the Masons as a quasi-priestly caste with a shamanic connection to the world of the dead.

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode Details
Also see Freemasonry -- Its Growth and Spread Before 1789

Book Review: "Why Liberalism Failed" -- Part 1

In the first half of my discussion of Patrick Deneen's "Why Liberalism Failed," I examine the structure of Deneen's argument, tracing his effort to connect present-day crises in education, science, culture, and morality to the fundamental flaws in "liberalism," which he calls the "operating system" of modern Western society, and which he claims has left us isolated, lonely, and afraid, with our social system possibly on the brink of collapse into a totalitarian nightmare. Cheers! I will not charge patrons for this commentary until I post the second part.

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode Details
Also see Book Review: "Why Liberalism Failed" -- Part 2

Becoming Modern: Scientific Revolution, Part 1 -- Alchemy and Apocalypse, 1500-1660

We unearth the tangled roots of the earliest forms of modern science, beginning with the radical alchemical theories of the rabble-rousing healer called Paracelsus, and running through the heated debates over Galileo's astronomy, which broke down the distinction between the earth and the heavens. Due to these shocks, the old teleological, or purpose-driven, scheme of the world broke down, giving way to a free-for-all of speculation and apocalyptic excitement.We question the historical meaning of the concept of "science," and consider how modern-day pop scientists like Neil DeGrasse Tyson portray the past selectively in order to build the myth of reason and science as beacons of light amidst superstition.

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode Details
Also see Becoming Modern: Scientific Revolution, Part 2 -- The New Powers, 1660-1800

Becoming Modern: Spanish and Portuguese Expansion and the Conquest of the Americas

We trace how Portugal and Spain, two previously marginal European kingdoms, rapidly and unexpectedly exploded onto the world scene, building a chain of fortified colonies stretching from North Africa to China, and conquering the larger and richer empires of Mexico and Peru. The early Iberian colonizers sought to continue the tradition of the Crusades and the Reconquista, and saw their foreign conquests as steps towards retaking Jerusalem; the benefited not only from superior weaponry and navigation, but from cataclysmic disease epidemics that brought the Pre-Columbian empires to their knees.

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode DetailsRelated content: 8 episodes On the History of Christianity

Roots of Religion: Islam 1 - Muhammad, the first Caliphate, and the core teachings

We trace the shocking and rapid rise of Islam in the 600s, as a confederation of desert towns and tribes unite around Muhammad and his prophesies from the Abrahamic god, then swiftly launch a stunning campaign of conquests against the major empires of the age. We consider the roots of the basic teachings and practices of the new religion, including the Qur'an, the hadiths, the Five Pillars, jihad, shariah, the divide between Sunni and Shiah, and Islamic laws regarding the status of women and of Jews and Christians or "people of the Book."

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode Details
Also see Becoming Modern: Islam 2 - From the "Golden Age" to the Fundamentalist Reaction

Land of Vital Blood: Pre-Columbian America

The Americas before Columbus were not an idyll frozen in time. They were a world of struggle and ambition, with a history just as complex and tumultuous as Europe's. We trace how hunting-gathering peoples invented agriculture and built cities and empires that rose and fell across the centuries, all depending on human power, without the benefit of pack animals. We consider the shared norms and practices that seem to unite the diverse and far-flung peoples of the Americas, such as intensive multi-crop agriculture, fascination with astronomy and the calendar, and a highly formalized diplomatic language governing war and peace.

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode Details

The Middle Ages: The Jews of Europe, from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution

The Middle Ages: The Jews of Europe, from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution
Currently available to Patrons only, on the Patreon App and website:
Become a supporter at any amount to listen >
What do I get as a supporter?
I'm already a supporter

We trace the winding paths by which Jews, after the diaspora, sought out social and economic niches in which they were able to survive within European Christian society. We uncover the origins of the two main Jewish groups in Europe -- the Sephardic and Ashkenazi -- and consider how they adapted to changing conditions, including the increasing assimilation of German Jews in the 1700s, which led on the one hand to the beginnings of Jewish reform and on the other to the appearance of Hasidism, a mystical renewal movement. Most importantly, we consider the deep and long-denied influence of the messianic fervor that swept over Europe in the 1660s surrounding the mercurial and mischievous Greek rabbi, Sabbatai Zvi.

Listen on Patreon Full Episode Details
Also see all 7 episodes On Judaism and Jewish History

Roots of Religion: Who Wrote the Bible? - Hebrew Scriptures

Quick Sample:

We dissect the origins of the Hebrew Bible (also called the Old Testament by Christians), excavating the deepest layers of the collection of holy books, including the very ancient songs and prayers that were likely passed on orally for centuries before being written down, the scholarly theories of the lost documents that were stitched together to form Genesis and Exodus, and the differing points of view of the various prophets, scribes, and propagandists whose books made their way into the Hebrew canon...

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode Details

Also see:

  • All 7 episodes On Judaism and Jewish History
  • Related content: 8 episodes On the History of Christianity
  • Related content: Muhammad, the first Caliphate, and the core teachings

Roots of Religion: Judaism - What Is It and Where Did It Come From?

We consider how best to understand the origins of the laws and customs of the Jewish people, or what we call "Judaism." We begin by dispelling the notion that Judaism (or any other belief system apart from Christianity) can properly be called a "religion" -- a category that derives originally from Christian practice and does not make sense anywhere else. We further examine the roots of the idea of "Judaism" as a concept for the Jewish way of life, concluding with a careful analysis of the meaning of the ancient Greek word "ioudaismos," which originates in the Book of Maccabees. Finally, we trace the best possible explanation for the origins of the Jewish people in the Bronze-Age Near East, using archaeological evidence including an ancient Egyptian monument and the vandalized ruins of Canaanite temples. Ultimately, we should be able to understand Judaism and its God as the creations of a particular Middle Eastern people not entirely unlike their ancient neighbors.

Special thanks to Daniel Boyarin for his help and inspiration.

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode Details
Also see all 7 episodes On Judaism and Jewish History

Taking Stock of Money in Politics: The Powell Memo Fifty Years Later

At a time of intensifying hope and anxiety over the direction of the Supreme Court, we take stock of how the lawmaking process and the judiciary have changed over the past fifty years with the mobilization and funneling of large amounts of money into the political realm; we focus especially on the little-known but pivotal "Powell Memo" of 1971, in which a lawyer for the Tobacco Institute decried the rising tide of attacks on the "free enterprise system" and proposed a coordinated counter-offensive by the business class that sounds uncannily close to our present reality. The Powell Memo forms a critical moment for understanding the intense politicization of judicial appointments, the ubiquity of paid political advertising on the airwaves and in print, and ironically, the rise of a new "anti-capitalist" radicalism.

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode Details

India -- pt. 1: Creating Civilization in South Asia

We discuss the complex geography of the Indian Subcontinent, and how early societies in India, beginning with the mysterious Indus Valley Civilization, developed cities, technology, art, and literature, giving rise eventually to the flourishing Maurya and Gupta empires and the inventions of the Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu religions.

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode Details
Also see Roots of Religion: India - pt. 2 - Foundations of Hinduism

History of the Roma ("Gypsies"), part 1 -- From Ancient Origins to the Eighteenth Century

Who are the Roma -- also colloquially called "Gypsies"? Where did they come from, and how did they end up all over Europe? How have they endured through persecution, expulsions, and political upheaval, without a state or country of their own? We trace the path of this remarkable and resilient people from their mysterious origins in India to their arrival in Constantinople and medieval Europe and through the wave of persecution and ethnic cleansing in the 1600s.

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Full Episode Details
Also see History of the Roma ("Gypsies"), part 2 -- A Stateless People in Modern Europe

In the Ocean of Land: The History of Central Asia -- pt. 1

We consider the vast sweep of Central Asian history, from the first nomads to tame the horse and gain mastery of the steppes, to the splendrous cities of the first Silk Road, to the rise of Ghenghis Khan. Few Westerners learn the dizzyingly complex and tumultuous history of Central Asia, even though it forms the linchpin connecting all the major civilizations of the Old World, from Europe to Persia to China. Finally, we consider the unsettling paradox of the Mongol empire, which fostered a vibrant cosmopolitanism at the same time that it brutally repressed subject peoples.

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Full Episode Details
Also see In the Ocean of Land: The History of Central Asia -- pt. 2

Roots of Religion: The Historical Jesus

We join in the ongoing quest for the historical Jesus -- the struggle to unearth and understand who Jesus really was, what he said and did, and how he inspired a movement. We trace the basic bare-bones facts that can be deduced from early Christian writings and brief references in other texts, including Jesus' baptism and crucifixion. We throw out the flimsy theories of hacks like Reza Aslan and Bill O'Reilly, as well as the junk theory that no Jesus existed at all, and instead examine the new archeological evidence that helps to account for some of the strangest passages in the Gospels.

Listen on YouTube

Full Episode Details
Also see all 8 episodes On the History of Christianity

Roots of Religion: Who Wrote the Bible? - New Testament

Roots of Religion: Who Wrote the Bible? - New Testament
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We consider the long ideological struggles in the early church that led to the gradual collection of a canon of Christian writings that we now call the New Testament. We trace when, where, and why the various gospels and letters in the New Testament were written (hint: Matthew was not the first, not even close) and how they present different theological views. All in all, though, the New Testament writings were created to respond to the dilemma that as the years dragged on and Jesus' disciples died off, the Second Coming that early Christians anticipated simply wasn't happening.

Listen on Patreon Full Episode Details
Also see all 8 episodes On the History of Christianity

Things You Don’t Know

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Did Columbus really think that he was going to reach Asia?
Find out
What little do we actually know about Shakespeare, the person?
Find out
Why is it misleading to apply the word “religion” to Judaism and Hinduism?
Find out
How did Tisquantum (popularly known as Squanto) already know how to speak English before the Pilgrims had ever arrived?
Find out
Ever heard that Florida has no history? Dr. Sam wants you to know how incorrect that common perception actually is…
Find out
How did so much of the Epic of Gilgamesh remain hidden and forgotten – but preserved – for over 2,000 years until being rediscovered in modern times?
Find out
What did Netflix’s movie “The Dig” miss about the most dramatic part of the whole Sutton Hoo discovery?
Find out
What does the English Civil War of the 1640s tell us about the American Civil War, and about the present?
Find out
What can we know about enslaved Africans who were held in a specific New England house, even without written records?
Find out
Who were the Freemasons of the 1700s? How did they grow from a local Scottish fraternity to a global network?
Find out
How can one mid-sized U.S. city – Tulsa, Oklahoma – serve as a microcosm of so much of the triumphalism and tragedy of American history?
Find out
Why can no one agree on what “capitalism” actually is? And why does a lack of clear definition call into question so many other myths of the modern world?
Find out
How – and why – did universities begin in the Middle Ages, long before the scientific revolution and the “Enlightenment”?
Find out
Was there really an Exodus from Egypt like the one described in the Bible?
Find out
How did accusing people of witchcraft further several political agendas of the time?
Find out
Why did every Renaissance-era ruler in Europe have a court astrologer?
Find out
Does a single coin prove that Vikings came all the way to what’s now the United States?
Find out
Why is the dramatic 2019 fire at Paris’ Notre Dame actually a common occurrence for cathedrals around Europe?
Find out
Why don’t US citizens directly elect their President? Or have a more proportional Senate?
Find out
Are people really becoming less religious than they used to be?
Find out
What did followers of the ancient and secretive branch of Christianity, Gnosticism, actually believe?
Find out
How did changes in the climate in the 1600s lead people to think they were living in the Apocalypse? How did this help spur the creation of institutions and forces that still shape the world today?
Find out
Could all of British history have turned out differently if the winds on the English channel had shifted direction on just one day in 1066?
Find out

Watch Dr. Sam’s Appearance on The Katie Halper Show
– A Year in Review

Katie and Sam look back on 2022, bringing a historical perspective to the year that was – from the tumult at Twitter and its echoes of the private-enterprise telegraphs of the 1800’s, to the government’s intervention into railroad-labor relations that continues a century-long pattern of dictating to railway workers what they must accept, to the war in Ukraine, the death of Queen Elizabeth II, and much more…

Watch on YouTube
Listen on Apple Podcasts
Listen on SoundCloud

And explore the companion Historiansplaining episode:
“2022 in Historical Context – How Do You Like Your New Gilded Age?”

Special Guest Conversations:

Beyond Plymouth Rock: The Deep Beginnings of
New England

A Conversation with
Michael J. Simpson
The long history of contact, exchange, violence, disease, and acculturation among indigenous and European peoples…that created a complex creolized world before any Puritans were even on the scene…

EXPLORE + Quick Sample >

Uncovering the Medieval Slave Trade

A conversation with
Hannah Barker
Before Columbus had even set foot in America, medieval Europe and the Islamic Middle East already had a long history in trading and exploiting slaves…

EXPLORE + Quick Sample >

See all
Special Guest Conversations & Interviews

Appearances from around the Internet

Sam's in-depth interview on researching the Shakespeare authorship controversy and on creating Historiansplaining on the "Don't Quill the Messenger" Podcast episode "Historiansplaining The Bard", hosted by Steven Sabel

Sam's appearance on The Kattie Halper Show for a 2022 Year In Review with a historical perspective.

NPR Morning Edition excerpt with Sam

Sam on "Xai, How Are You," the queer Talmud podcast

Sam on the social commentary podcast "ex.haust"

All Playlists inside the Podcast

  • 7 Main Playlists
    • Myths of the Month
    • Doorways in Time: The Great Archaeological Discoveries
    • History of the United States in 100 Objects
    • Becoming Modern
    • Roots of Religion Playlist
    • The Middle Ages – A Vibrant Time
    • Special-Topic Episodes Playlist
  • History as It Happens – The News in Historical Context
  • Special Guest Conversations and Interviews
  • Books, Film, and Television
  • Hot Off the Presses!
  • A Simple List of All Episodes
  • Home
  • Playlists & Episodes
    • Myths of the Month Playlist
    • Doorways in Time Playlist – The Great Archaeological Discoveries
    • History of the U.S. in 100 Objects Playlist
    • Becoming Modern Playlist
    • Roots of Religion Playlist
    • The Middle Ages Playlist – A Vibrant Time
    • Special-Topic Episodes Playlist
    • 4 More Playlists: Guests Conversations & Interviews – History as it Happens – Books, Film & TV – Hot of the Presses
      • Special Guest Conversations and Interviews Playlist
      • History as It Happens – The News in Historical Context Playlist
      • Books, Film, and Television Playlist
      • Hot Off the Presses!
    • A Simple List of All Episodes
  • The Map
  • How to listen
  • Bio of Dr. Sam
  • Support to Keep Commercial Free
  • Contact & News
  • 🔍
Historiansplaining – A Podcast
 

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