History Unplugged Podcast 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 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.

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.

 

#1042

The Great Mathematicians of the Early 1900s Ran into an Unsolvable Problem. They Realized Math Made...

In the 1800s, it seemed like mathematics was a solved problem. The paradoxes in the field ... more

9 hrs Ago

45 MINS

45:38

9 hrs Ago


#1041

The American Revolution was a World War in All but Name

The Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, known as the "shot heard round the wor... more

11 Dec 2025

56 MINS

56:43

11 Dec 2025


#1040

How Napoleon and Churchill Used Neuroscience to Make a Better Soldier and More Loyal Public

The brain acts in strange ways during wartime. Even in active combat situations, when sold... more

09 Dec 2025

45 MINS

45:23

09 Dec 2025


#1039

William F. Buckley JR.'s Guide to Friendship in a Polarized Era

William F. Buckley Jr., the charismatic intellectual who defined modern American conservat... more

04 Dec 2025

39 MINS

39:43

04 Dec 2025


#1038

What it Was Like Living Through the USSR’s Collapse

The Collapse of the Soviet Union was twice as devastating as the Great Depression for thos... more

02 Dec 2025

55 MINS

55:37

02 Dec 2025


#1037

The Battle of Agincourt, 1415: Longbowmen, Bands of Brothers, and Henry V’s Triumph

From Shakespeare's 'band of brothers' speech to its appearances in numerous films, Agincou... more

27 Nov 2025

53 MINS

53:15

27 Nov 2025


#1036

Clarence Dillon: The Roaring 20s Wall Street Baron Who Wrote the Rules for Corporate Takeovers, Junk...

J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Charles E. Mitchell are names that come to mind when... more

25 Nov 2025

45 MINS

45:11

25 Nov 2025


#1035

A Utah Indian Chief Controlled the 1800s Mountain West Through Slave Trading, Building Pioneer Trail...

The American Indian leader Wakara was among the most influential and feared men in the nin... more

20 Nov 2025

1 HR 00 MINS

1:00:05

20 Nov 2025


#1034

Why Did Rome Fall? Wrong Question. How Did it Last 2,000 Years Despite Changing its Religion, Langua...

Rome began as a pagan, Latin-speaking city state in central Italy during the early Iron Ag... more

18 Nov 2025

53 MINS

53:46

18 Nov 2025


#1033

The Real Deadwood: A Gold Rush Town Built in a War Zone but Obliterated in an Inferno

Gunslinging, gold-panning, stagecoach robbing, whiskey guzzling – the myth and infam... more

13 Nov 2025

37 MINS

37:30

13 Nov 2025


#1032

America's Pacific Dawn: The Spanish-American War Ushered In Global Reach and Savage Conflict

Clara Barton, the founder of the Red Cross, was in Havana in 1898, investigating the terri... more

11 Nov 2025

55 MINS

55:59

11 Nov 2025


#1031

The Unhealed Wounds of WW2 POWs and Combat Veterans

Nearly 16.4 million Americans served in the U.S. Armed Forces in World War II, and for mil... more

06 Nov 2025

50 MINS

50:10

06 Nov 2025


#1030

Robert McNamara Thought Enough Data Could Win Any War. Instead, It Led America to the Vietnam Quagmi...

Robert S. McNamara, who was Secretary of Defense during JFK and LBJ’s administration... more

04 Nov 2025

1 HR 00 MINS

1:00:21

04 Nov 2025


#1029

The Philistine Connection: Do the Roots of October 7 Go Back 3,000 Years?

The October 7th attacks of Hamas on Israel were an unprecedented, surprise incursion by la... more

30 Oct 2025

36 MINS

36:24

30 Oct 2025


#1028

The Thucydides Trap: How A Rising Athens Made The Peloponnesian War Inevitable

The Peloponnesian War is considered one of the most famous wars of the ancient world not o... more

28 Oct 2025

46 MINS

46:29

28 Oct 2025


#1027

The Free French Army in North Africa, 1940-1945

One of the principal architects of Allied Victory in North Africa during World War Two was... more

23 Oct 2025

49 MINS

49:37

23 Oct 2025


#1026

An Inventor’s Quest to Build a Pneumatic Subway System in 1870s New York

Alfred Beach built America’s first operational subway in secret beneath 1860s Manhat... more

21 Oct 2025

45 MINS

45:11

21 Oct 2025


#1025

Spirited Rivalry: Did Ireland or Scotland Invent Whisky?

There’s a divide between Scotland and Ireland as fierce as the Protestant/Catholic s... more

16 Oct 2025

48 MINS

48:53

16 Oct 2025


#1024

The Horse That Ate the Legion: Rome’s Cavalry's Triumph Over the Infantry

The cavalry 'wings' that probed ahead of the Roman Army played a key role in its campaigns... more

14 Oct 2025

41 MINS

41:21

14 Oct 2025


#1023

Beyond Joan of Arc and Agincourt: How the 100 Years War Crushed Medieval Europe and Launched its Glo...

Modern France and Britain were forged in the fires of the Hundred Years War, a century-lon... more

09 Oct 2025

58 MINS

58:41

09 Oct 2025


#1022

Reverse Ellis Island: American Migrants Who Fought for Mussolini and Built Stalin’s USSR

America saw a significant reverse-migration in the 1800s and 1900s, with 20–50% of I... more

07 Oct 2025

38 MINS

38:33

07 Oct 2025


#1021

Don’t Use Rome as a Model of Why Societies Collapse; Use Crime Syndicates and Somalia Instead

12,000 years ago, human history changed forever when the egalitarian groups of hunter-gath... more

02 Oct 2025

49 MINS

49:42

02 Oct 2025