Shows / History Unplugged Podcast
History Unplugged Podcast
For history lovers who listen to podcasts, History Unplugged is the most comprehensive show of its kind. It's the only show that dedicates episodes to both interviewing experts and answering questions from its audience. First, it features a call-in show where you can ask our resident historian (Scott Rank, PhD) absolutely anything (What was it like to be a Turkish sultan with four wives and twelve concubines? If you were sent back in time, how would you kill Hitler?). Second, it features…
Episodes
History Unplugged PodcastWhen States Rights Were Emancipatory and Federalism was Restrictive: The Interbellum Constitution of 1812-1865
Today, the words “federalism” and “originalism” are bandied about in the news almost daily, but to get at the underpinnings of these modern interpretations of…
History Unplugged PodcastIs America Going Through a Late Roman Moment of Its Own?
Every citizen of every state for the last two thousand years has compared his nation to Rome at some point. Americans considered Geroge Washington their…
History Unplugged PodcastHow Five Castaways Survived After Being Left for Dead on the Falklands in 1812
Charles H. Barnard, captain of the American sealing brig Nanina, had only the best of intentions. His aim was to ensure the survival of the people under his…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Capetians: The Dynasty That Made Medieval France and Gave Us the Fleur-De-Lys
If Gothic cathedrals, troubadours, and the Crusades evoke a certain picture of medieval Europe, you might be surprised that these foundations of a shared…
History Unplugged PodcastWhy the Book is Humanity’s Most Important Invention
Even in our increasingly digitized world, the print book endures as a technology at the heart of human culture. Throughout its 550-yearhistory, the book has…
History Unplugged PodcastHow and Why Humans Started Speaking
Most people know at least 50,000 words and speak around 16,000 per day. We speak between 120 and 200 words per minute and read them at twice that speed. We…
History Unplugged PodcastThe American Detective Who Fought the Kaiser’s Spy Ring and an Anarchist Bombing Syndicate
America in the early twentieth century was rife with threats. Organized crime groups like the Mafia, German spies embedded behind enemy lines ahead of World…
History Unplugged PodcastPatton’s Tactician: Geoffrey Keys, “The Best Tactical Mind” of WWII
Nineteen months after Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor and forced the United States to enter World War II, boats carrying the 7th US Army landed on the…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Seven Cleopatras Who Ruled Egypt
Behind the legendary, singular figure of Cleopatra stood six other women who bore her name. The infamous Cleopatra we think we know was actually the seventh…
History Unplugged PodcastModern Black Ops Warfare Began with a British WW2 Operation to Steal Boats Off Africa’s Coast
When France fell to the Nazis in 1940, Churchill declared that Britain would resist the advance of the German army--alone if necessary. Churchill commanded the…
History Unplugged PodcastThe 7 Wonders of the Ancient World Were Colossal, Prone to Destruction, and Not All May Have Existed
For millennia, the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World have been known for their aesthetic sublimity, ingenious engineering, and sheer, audacious magnitude: The…
History Unplugged PodcastBeing the Ultimate Constitutional Originalist in 2024 Means Donning a Tricorn Hat and Applying to Practice Piracy
Many decisions impacting the lives of Americans today adhere to a set of rules established over 200 years ago. The Constitution is in the news more than ever…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Last Time Humanity Believed in Unstoppable Progress: Paris in the Belle Époque (1871-1914)
Many of the specific features we associate with Paris today – impressive sites like the Eiffel Tower and Sacré Coeur, French cinemas, and even the…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Silk Road Travel Adventures of a 16th Century Mughal Princess and Her Massive Royal Retinue
To most Westerners, the Mughal Empire is a forgotten stepchild of world history. Even though it produced the Taj Mahal and controlled nearly all modern-day…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Months Leading up to the Civil War That Inflamed North-South Tensions from Animosity to Murderous Hatred
On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the fluky victor in a tight race for president. The country was bitterly at odds; Southern radicals were moving…
History Unplugged PodcastLSD’s Origins in Nazi Germany Brain-Washing Experiments, the CIA’s MKUltra Program, and the Dawn of the Psychedelic Age
LSD has been banned in the United States for decades and became a Schedule 1 Controlled Substance in 1970, but it has experienced a resurgence among Silicon…
History Unplugged PodcastHow Duke Ellington and Other Jazzmen Became America’s First Globally Famous Musicians
The first globally famous American musicians weren’t part of the 50s rock wave that included Elvis Pressly or Chuck Berry. They were three 3 jazzmen who…
History Unplugged PodcastWhy America Could Have a Presidential Succession Crisis
America has an unmatched record when it comes to the peaceful transfer of power. According to legal scholar Roy E. Brownell II, however, our country is not…
History Unplugged PodcastDunkirk from the German Perspective
The British evacuation from the beaches of the small French port town of Dunkirk is one of the iconic moments of military history. The battle has captured the…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Global Manhunt For The Confederate Ship That Sunk Union Supply Vessels, From the Caribbean to the South Pacific
Naval warfare is an overlooked factor of the Civil War, but it was a vitally important part of overall strategy for North and South, especially from the…
History Unplugged PodcastWhich Statues Should We Take Down? How To Fairly Judge Historical Figures by Today’s Standards
In the United States, questions of how we celebrate – or condemn – leaders in the past have never been more contentious. In 2017, a statue of Robert E. Lee was…
History Unplugged PodcastThe 160-Minute Race to Save the Titanic
One hundred and sixty minutes. That is all the time rescuers would have before the largest ship in the world slipped beneath the icy Atlantic. There was…
History Unplugged PodcastVikings Went Everywhere in the Middle Ages, From Baghdad to Constantinople to….. Oklahoma?
Scandinavia has always been a world apart. For millennia Norwegians, Danes, Finns, and Swedes lived a remote and rugged existence among the fjords and peaks of…
History Unplugged PodcastThe 15-Hour Work Week Was Standard For Nearly All of History. What Happened?
There’s nothing in human DNA that makes the 40-hour workweek a biological necessity. In fact, for much of human history, 15 hours of work a week was the…
History Unplugged PodcastPancho Villa’s 1916 Raid on New Mexico: The Pearl Harbor Bombing of Its Time
Before 9/11, before Pearl Harbor, another unsuspected foreign attack on the United States shocked the nation and forever altered the course of history. In…
History Unplugged PodcastA Radical Abolitionist Youth Movement Consumed America in 1860, Elected Lincoln, Then Disappeared Completely
At the start of the 1860 presidential campaign, a handful of fired-up young Northerners appeared as bodyguards to defend anti-slavery stump speakers from…
History Unplugged PodcastSocrates May Have Been Executed For Revealing Secrets of Athens’ Religious Rituals
The influence of the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates has been profound. Even today, over two thousand years after his death, he remains one of the most…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Age of Discovery Through American-Indian Eyes
A millennium ago, North American cities rivaled urban centers around the world in size. So, when Europeans arrived in the sixteenth century, they encountered…
History Unplugged PodcastA Short History of the Sioux Wars (1862-1890)
War, Conflict, Victory & Defeat. These are all aspects of life that some may have to face. This was true for the various groups of the Sioux Tribes. On today's…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Deerfield Massacre: The Infamous 1704 Indian Raid That Left Hundreds Dead and More Captured
In an obscure village in western Massachusetts, there lies what once was the most revered but now totally forgotten relic from the history of early New…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Dangerous and Thrilling Life of a 19th-Century Whaler
In mid-nineteenth century New England, Robert Armstrong was a young man with the world at his feet. His family was wealthy and gave him the opportunity to…
History Unplugged PodcastFiorello LaGuardia: Immigrant Son and Ellis Island Interpreter Who Became America’s Mayor
Fiorello LaGuardia was one of the twentieth century’s most colorful politicians―a 5’2’’ ball of energy who led New York as major during the Depression and…
History Unplugged PodcastHow the West Tried and Failed to Stop the Russian Revolution
The Allied Intervention into the Russian Civil War remains one of the most ambitious yet least talked about military ventures of the 20th century. Coinciding…
History Unplugged PodcastKings Were Inevitable and Untouchable Until They Suddenly Weren’t After a Few 1700s Revolutions
At the turn of the nineteenth century, two waves of revolutions swept the Atlantic world, disrupting the social order and ushering in a new…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Fall Of Japanese-held Hong Kong in January 1945
Commander John Lamade started the war in 1941 a nervous pilot of an antiquated biplane. Just over three years later he was in the cockpit of a cutting-edge…
History Unplugged PodcastWW1 German Spies Infiltrated America and Attempted to Start a Race War
On January 30, 1918, a young man “with the appearance of a well-educated, debonair foreigner” arrived at the U.S. customs station in Nogales, Arizona, located…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Air Battles of the 1945 Eastern Front Forged Air Force Doctrines of the Cold War
The last months of World War II on the Eastern Front saw a ferocious fight between two very different air forces. Soviet Air Force (VVS) Commander-in-Chief…
History Unplugged PodcastThe First Pre-Columbian Explorers to Reach North America
Have you ever wondered if there was a group to reach North America before Christopher Columbus? Find out more in today's bonus episode from another Parthenon…
History Unplugged PodcastA Classicist Believes that Homer Directly Dictated the Iliad, and Was Also an Excellent Horseman
The Iliad is the world’s greatest epic poem—heroic battle and divine fate set against the Trojan War. Its beauty and profound bleakness are intensely moving…
History Unplugged PodcastIn 1860, Damascus Nearly Committed Genocide Against Christians. How Did it Pull Back?
On July 9, 1860, a violent mob swept through the Christian quarters of Damascus. For eight days, violence raged, leaving 5,000 Christians dead, thousands of…
History Unplugged PodcastSilk: The History of a Fabric That Was Civilization’s First Burial Cloth, Body Armor, and Much More
Silk—prized for its lightness, luminosity, and beauty—is also one of the strongest biological materials ever known. More than a century ago, it was used to…
History Unplugged PodcastFrank Lloyd Wrong – When America’s Greatest Architect Created His Masterpiece While Written-Off as a Has-Been
Nobody blossomed late in life like Frank Lloyd Wright. He was written off as a has-been by middle age after a promising start. Between 1909 and 1929, Wright’s…
History Unplugged PodcastFrederick Rutland, Britain’s Most Beloved WW1 Pilot, Became a Spy for Imperial Japan
Frederick Rutland was an accomplished aviator, British WWI war hero, and real-life James Bond. He was the first pilot to take off and land a plane on a ship, a…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Rise and Fall of the Global Age of Piracy (17-19th Centuries)
Piracy didn’t spring into existence in the 18th century Caribbean. It has existed as long as there has been commercial shipping and people to steal the goods…
History Unplugged PodcastA WW2 Polish Diplomat Forged Thousands of Paraguayan Passports to Save Jews from the Holocaust
Between 1940 and 1943, Polish diplomats based in Bern, Switzerland, engaged in a remarkable – and until now, almost completely untold – humanitarian operation…
History Unplugged PodcastStories From Captives on The Last Slave Ship to America
The Clotilda was the last slave ship to land on American soil, docked in Mobile Bay, Alabama, in July 1860—more than half a century after the passage of a…
History Unplugged PodcastWas Union Support in the Confederacy Actually Widespread? The Alabamans Who Fought for Sherman Say 'Yes'
As the popular narrative goes, the Civil War was won when courageous Yankees triumphed over the South. But an aspect of the war that has remained little-known…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Heroes, Legends, and Liars Who Fought in WW2
Veterans of World War 2 are called the Greatest Generation for their uncommon courage and self-determination. Whether this descriptor is true or part of…
History Unplugged PodcastTurning Okies Into New Dealers: How 1930s Technocrats Pushed Progressivism on Dust Bowl Refugees in Federal Farm Camps
In the midst of the Great Depression, punished by crippling drought and deepening poverty, hundreds of thousands of families left the Great Plains and the…
History Unplugged PodcastWhistle-Stop Tours: When Trains Ruled American Presidential Elections
For nearly two centuries, the beating heart of electoral politics was on the back of a train. William Jennings Bryan spoke to an estimated 5 million people…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Jewish Bankers Who Built Wall Street, Financed the American Century, and Spawned Countless Conspiracy Theories
Joseph Seligman arrived in the United States in 1837, with the equivalent of $100 sewn into the lining of his pants. Then came the Lehman brothers, who would…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Ghost Army of World War 2
In the summer of 1944, a handpicked group of young GIs—including such future luminaries such as Bill Blass, Ellsworth Kelly, Arthur Singer, Victor Dowd, Art…
History Unplugged PodcastHow Free Time Transformed From Strolls Through Aristocratic Gardens to Doomscrolling on TikTok
Free time, one of life’s most important commodities, often feels unfulfilling. But why? And how did leisure activities transition from strolling in the park…
History Unplugged PodcastEveryday Life In a War Zone: How To Live For Years With Air Raid Sirens and Tanks in the Street
What goes through the mind of a mother who must send her child to school across a minefield or the men who belong to groups of volunteer body collectors? When…
History Unplugged PodcastBehind the Bulldog: Winston Churchill's Public Image vs. Private Reality, Based on Those Who Knew Him
Winston Churchill remains one of the most revered figures of the twentieth century, his name a byword for courageous leadership. But the Churchill we know…
History Unplugged PodcastAmerican Anarchy of the Early 1900s and The First U.S. War Against Domestic Extremists
In the early twentieth century, anarchists like Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman championed a radical vision of a world without states, laws, or private…
History Unplugged PodcastWhy Armies Stopped Burning Libraries and Weaponized Them Instead
Books are often seen as “victims” of combat. When the flames of warfare turn libraries to ashes, we grieve this loss as an immense human and cultural tragedy…
History Unplugged PodcastShining Light on the British Dark Ages: Anglo-Saxon Warfare, 400-1070
In a country fragmented by Roman withdrawal during the 5th century, the employment of Germanic mercenaries by local rulers in Anglo-Saxon Britain was…
History Unplugged PodcastThe Last Ship From Hamburg: How Russian Jews Escaped Death on the Eve of World War I
For a 30-year period, from the 1880s to World War I, 2.5 million Jews, fleeing discrimination and violence in their homelands of Eastern Europe, arrived in the…
History Unplugged PodcastJames Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied The South And Was Scapegoated for Its Loss
During the Civil War, Gen. James Longstreet was one of the Confederacy’s most beloved generals. Southerners called him “Lee’s Warhorse” and considered him a…