Podcasts · History · Society & Culture

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

300 episodes

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 long-form interviews with best-selling authors who have written about everything. Topics include gruff World War II generals who flew with airmen on bombing raids, a war horse who gained the rank of sergeant, and presidents who gave their best speeches while drunk.

Episodes page 6 of 6

  1. Being the Ultimate Constitutional Originalist in 2024 Means Donning a Tricorn Hat and Applying to Practice Piracy

    · 46 min

    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 as politicians and Supreme Court justices battle over how…

  2. The Last Time Humanity Believed in Unstoppable Progress: Paris in the Belle Époque (1871-1914)

    · 47 min

    Many of the specific features we associate with Paris today – impressive sites like the Eiffel Tower and Sacré Coeur, French cinemas, and even the distinguished Art Nouveau Metro entrances – were born out the period of…

  3. The Silk Road Travel Adventures of a 16th Century Mughal Princess and Her Massive Royal Retinue

    · 42 min

    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 India, the Mughal Dynasty’s accomplishments are crowded out by…

  4. The Months Leading up to the Civil War That Inflamed North-South Tensions from Animosity to Murderous Hatred

    · 37 min

    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 ever closer to dividing the Union, with one state after…

  5. LSD’s Origins in Nazi Germany Brain-Washing Experiments, the CIA’s MKUltra Program, and the Dawn of the Psychedelic Age

    · 44 min

    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 Valley entrepreneurs to overcome mental roadblocks and…

  6. How Duke Ellington and Other Jazzmen Became America’s First Globally Famous Musicians

    · 43 min

    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 orchestrated the chords that throb at the soul of…

  7. Why America Could Have a Presidential Succession Crisis

    · 21 min

    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 that far off from a presidential succession crisis. In this…

  8. Dunkirk from the German Perspective

    · 39 min

    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 popular imagination through LIFE magazine photo spreads,…

  9. The Global Manhunt For The Confederate Ship That Sunk Union Supply Vessels, From the Caribbean to the South Pacific

    · 39 min

    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 perspective of the Union, which used naval blockages from the…

  10. Which Statues Should We Take Down? How To Fairly Judge Historical Figures by Today’s Standards

    · 39 min

    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 removed – leading to a race riot and terrorist attack. But…

  11. The 160-Minute Race to Save the Titanic

    · 49 min

    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 amazing heroism and astounding incompetence against the backdrop…

  12. Vikings Went Everywhere in the Middle Ages, From Baghdad to Constantinople to….. Oklahoma?

    · 43 min

    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 the land of the midnight sun. But when they finally left…

  13. The 15-Hour Work Week Was Standard For Nearly All of History. What Happened?

    · 35 min

    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 standard, followed by leisure time with family and fellow tribe…

  14. Pancho Villa’s 1916 Raid on New Mexico: The Pearl Harbor Bombing of Its Time

    · 51 min

    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 1916, Pancho Villa, a guerrilla fighter who commanded an…

  15. A Radical Abolitionist Youth Movement Consumed America in 1860, Elected Lincoln, Then Disappeared Completely

    · 44 min

    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 frequent attacks. The group called themselves the Wide Awakes.…

  16. Socrates May Have Been Executed For Revealing Secrets of Athens’ Religious Rituals

    · 43 min

    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 renowned humans to have ever lived—and his death remains one of…

  17. The Age of Discovery Through American-Indian Eyes

    · 44 min

    A millennium ago, North American cities rivaled urban centers around the world in size. So, when Europeans arrived in the sixteenth century, they encountered societies they did not understand, having developed…

  18. A Short History of the Sioux Wars (1862-1890)

    · 25 min

    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 bonus episode from "Key Battles of American History" join…

  19. The Deerfield Massacre: The Infamous 1704 Indian Raid That Left Hundreds Dead and More Captured

    · 39 min

    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 England—the massive, tomahawk-scarred door that came to symbolize…

  20. The Dangerous and Thrilling Life of a 19th-Century Whaler

    · 47 min

    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 attend the nation’s first dental school. But Armstrong threw…

  21. Fiorello LaGuardia: Immigrant Son and Ellis Island Interpreter Who Became America’s Mayor

    · 41 min

    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 World War Two, charming the media during press conference and…

  22. How the West Tried and Failed to Stop the Russian Revolution

    · 42 min

    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 with the end of the first World War, some 180,000 troops…

  23. Kings Were Inevitable and Untouchable Until They Suddenly Weren’t After a Few 1700s Revolutions

    · 43 min

    At the turn of the nineteenth century, two waves of revolutions swept the Atlantic world, disrupting the social order and ushering in a new democratic-republican experiment whose effects rippled across continents and…

  24. The Fall Of Japanese-held Hong Kong in January 1945

    · 39 min

    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 Hellcat about to lead a strike force of 80 aircraft through…

  25. WW1 German Spies Infiltrated America and Attempted to Start a Race War

    · 35 min

    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 on the border with Mexico. After politely informing the…

  26. The Air Battles of the 1945 Eastern Front Forged Air Force Doctrines of the Cold War

    · 38 min

    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 Alexander Novikov assembled 7,500 aircraft in three powerful…

  27. The First Pre-Columbian Explorers to Reach North America

    · 11 min

    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 podcast "History of North America." Join host Mark Vinet as…

  28. A Classicist Believes that Homer Directly Dictated the Iliad, and Was Also an Excellent Horseman

    · 53 min

    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, but great questions remain: Where, how, and when was it…

  29. In 1860, Damascus Nearly Committed Genocide Against Christians. How Did it Pull Back?

    · 53 min

    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 shops looted, and churches, houses, and monasteries razed.…

  30. Silk: The History of a Fabric That Was Civilization’s First Burial Cloth, Body Armor, and Much More

    · 42 min

    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 make the first bulletproof vest, and yet science has barely…

  31. Frank Lloyd Wrong – When America’s Greatest Architect Created His Masterpiece While Written-Off as a Has-Been

    · 47 min

    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 career was marked by personal turmoil and a roller coaster…

  32. Frederick Rutland, Britain’s Most Beloved WW1 Pilot, Became a Spy for Imperial Japan

    · 37 min

    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 decorated warrior for his feats of bravery and rescue, was…

  33. The Rise and Fall of the Global Age of Piracy (17-19th Centuries)

    · 44 min

    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. There were medieval pirates. Vikings loved robbing ships in…

  34. A WW2 Polish Diplomat Forged Thousands of Paraguayan Passports to Save Jews from the Holocaust

    · 48 min

    Between 1940 and 1943, Polish diplomats based in Bern, Switzerland, engaged in a remarkable – and until now, almost completely untold – humanitarian operation. This operation was one of the largest actions to aid Jews…

  35. Stories From Captives on The Last Slave Ship to America

    · 30 min

    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 federal law banning the importation of slaves, and nine months…

  36. Was Union Support in the Confederacy Actually Widespread? The Alabamans Who Fought for Sherman Say 'Yes'

    · 49 min

    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 for 160 years is the Alabamian Union soldiers who played a…

  37. The Heroes, Legends, and Liars Who Fought in WW2

    · 36 min

    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 America’s self-mythologizing during the 20th century is a…

  38. Turning Okies Into New Dealers: How 1930s Technocrats Pushed Progressivism on Dust Bowl Refugees in Federal Farm Camps

    · 39 min

    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 Southwest to look for work in California’s rich agricultural…

  39. Whistle-Stop Tours: When Trains Ruled American Presidential Elections

    · 37 min

    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 from a train car in his 1896 presidential campaign. Yet…

  40. The Jewish Bankers Who Built Wall Street, Financed the American Century, and Spawned Countless Conspiracy Theories

    · 43 min

    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 open a general store in Montgomery, Alabama. Not far behind…

  41. The Ghost Army of World War 2

    · 42 min

    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 Kane, and Jack Masey—landed in France to conduct a secret…

  42. How Free Time Transformed From Strolls Through Aristocratic Gardens to Doomscrolling on TikTok

    · 31 min

    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 for hours to “doomscrolling” on social media for thirty…

  43. Everyday Life In a War Zone: How To Live For Years With Air Raid Sirens and Tanks in the Street

    · 36 min

    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 living in a warzone, such questions become part of the…

  44. Behind the Bulldog: Winston Churchill's Public Image vs. Private Reality, Based on Those Who Knew Him

    · 38 min

    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 today is a mixture of history and myth, authored by the man…

  45. American Anarchy of the Early 1900s and The First U.S. War Against Domestic Extremists

    · 41 min

    In the early twentieth century, anarchists like Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman championed a radical vision of a world without states, laws, or private property. Militant and sometimes violent, anarchists were…

  46. Why Armies Stopped Burning Libraries and Weaponized Them Instead

    · 40 min

    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. But that’s not the complete picture. Books were used in war…

  47. Shining Light on the British Dark Ages: Anglo-Saxon Warfare, 400-1070

    · 42 min

    In a country fragmented by Roman withdrawal during the 5th century, the employment of Germanic mercenaries by local rulers in Anglo-Saxon Britain was commonplace. These mercenaries became settlers, forcing…

  48. The Last Ship From Hamburg: How Russian Jews Escaped Death on the Eve of World War I

    · 48 min

    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 United States. Many sailed on steamships from Hamburg.…

  49. James Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied The South And Was Scapegoated for Its Loss

    · 47 min

    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 pillar of the war effort, largely responsible for victories…

  50. The Septuagint – It Really is Greek to Me

    · 18 min

    The Septuagint is the most important translations you’ve never heard of. In this episode of the 10th Anniversary of the History of the Papacy series, Steve Guerra and his special guest Garry Stevens lay out the basics…

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them. Explicit shows are for adult profiles only, and children’s profiles hear only children’s shows. More about this list.