If the last two years have done anything for us, it’s demonstrated that if you are not going to the movies regularly, or spending your time strolling around the fading glories of retail America, you can listen to a lot … and I mean, a lot … of podcasts. It’s little wonder that some of those who were moderately successful newbies before the pandemic are now getting signed to deals at Hollywood-level prices. 

Like millions of other Americans, I have indulged in listening to the podcast equivalents of murder shows. I like the banter between the Morbid sisters, and I sometimes find myself holding my breath until I hear “And I’m Brit.” But I do sometimes—or all the time—feel guilty about the evident joy these shows have in dragging out the most grotesque details of crimes. Also, I refuse to feel sadder about the puppy of the month, than the five children hacked up in the episode’s opening act.

Shows on various bits of weirdness have also caught my ear. Ghost stories, cryptozoology, the five hundredth retelling of the story of the Bell Witch. I’ve listened to them all. I even made a go at creating my own podcast on the subject, before it became clear that the last thing that people wanted out of their podcast on UFOs and poltergeists, was a logical explanation.

But if there’s one type of podcast that has consumed more of my hours than any other—whether playing in the background as I write, going along with me on daily drives to nowhere in particular, or acting as an alternative to white noise on a sleepless night—it’s history podcasts. From ancient Sumeria to the Second World War, here are a few of my favorites.

The History of Rome—Mike Duncan

Duncan started this podcast in 2007, presumably with the top technology of the time—empty tomato juice cans and string. In the process, he practically created the whole history podcast genre, as well as demonstrating that a dedicated amateur, through dent of seemingly endless research and a knack for editing, could deliver a topic with more sticking power than the best professors. In 179 episodes, Duncan follows Rome from its founding (in myth and in history) through the fall of the western empire and does so while providing the kind of insights into both the character of the players, and the world they live in, that paint an incredibly vivid picture of history we all sorta-kinda know. Except we don’t. How good is this? I’ve listened to every episode. Twice.

Hardcore History—Dan Carlin

Where Duncan’s Roman proceeds in neat 15-30 minute installments that can span decades at a pass, Carlin does the deepest of deep dives, sometimes spinning out six-hour installments concentrated on just a few days packed with critical events. Hardcore History jumps around, going from the ancient world to the modern, and does a terrific job of making it seem that Carlin is just constantly talking off the cuff from a boundless well of historical knowledge. The series can sometimes take some strange directions, but it has also earned some big fans. If you’ve watched any of Jordan Peele’s new take on the Twilight Zone, you may have noticed an episode with a podcast running in the background. It’s always Dan Carlin.

Fall of Civilizations—Paul Cooper

A podcast that, in every episode, invites you to try to get in touch with what it would be like to live in a crumbling city, in the last days of a fading civilization, may not seem like a winning play when that description all too often appears aligned with the latest news. But from its lovely, melancholy theme to Cooper’s sonorous delivery, everything about the Fall of Civilizations podcast just works to suck you in. By the time the classical Maya are fleeing their cities, or later travelers are stumbling across the ruins of ancient Sumer, you’ll practically feel the dust in your hair. As with Carlin’s podcast, this one comes out in long episodes separated by long intervals. So savor what’s out there, and ponder whether you’ll get another one before … well, you know.

The Explorers Podcast—Matt Breen

The theme of this podcast lends itself to jumping around to a lot of fun topics. Apollo 11 and semi-legendary Chinese admiral Zheng He both get their series of episodes. Breen’s delivery is good, the tone is generally cheery, and the focus of multi-part episodes tends to be on accomplishments made and hardships endured. This makes for a really delightful sequence on topics the expeditions of Ernest Shackleton, or the round the world trip of Nelly Bly. It can also leave the podcast feeling a little too shy of offending when dealing with characters like Christopher Columbus, or even Lewis and Clark. On the other hand, you also get episodes dealing with people like former slave turned mountain man James Beckwourth, and “runner of the woods” Étienne Brûlé who rarely make an appearance in standard accounts of U.S. history.

The History of English—Kevin Stroud

Large parts of this podcast are only for the true word-nerd. But if you’re fascinated with how the language of the ancient Indo-European people, split, spread, and altered, how English peeled away from Germanic cousins, and how agglomerations and all those shifty vowels turned the language of Saxon invaders into the language of Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Hamilton … this is your podcast. Just go in knowing that the details are going to be detailed. How detailed? 154 episodes only get you up to the 1500s. That’s how detailed.

Over the last two years, I’ve listened to episodes from numerous podcasts, taken a lot of Great Courses, and done my share of documentaries. But these are the ones that have stuck with me, and gotten me to stick with them over the course of their episode list.

How about you?