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.

 

#1058

Thomas Willing: The Revolutionary War Arms Dealer Who Led the First Bank of the United States

America’s revolutionary war would have almost certainly been lost if not for the col... more

Yesterday

54 MINS

54:46

Yesterday


#1057

The Man Who Sold the War: Tom Paine's Journey from Common Sense to Global Firebrand

Most of us only know Thomas Paine for one thing: writing Common Sense in 1776, which helpe... more

05 Feb 2026

44 MINS

44:00

05 Feb 2026


#1056

The Original Body Builders: How Greek Halteres and Celtic Gabal Stone Lifts Built the World's First ...

Fad workouts have been with us for decades, but they go back much further than we realize.... more

03 Feb 2026

48 MINS

48:28

03 Feb 2026


#1055

Truman’s Deep Regret at the Atomic Age He Created

In the eight decades since the United States deployedthe mostdestructive weapon ever used,... more

29 Jan 2026

57 MINS

57:16

29 Jan 2026


#1054

How Soccer Created African and Latin American Nations

National pride often comes from shared heritage—like a common language or ethnic bac... more

27 Jan 2026

46 MINS

46:32

27 Jan 2026


#1053

The Sawmill – Along With Gunpowder and the Printing Press – Created the Modern World

The wind-powered sawmill was invented around 1592 in the Netherlands, immediately transfor... more

22 Jan 2026

34 MINS

34:13

22 Jan 2026


#1052

Gears, Gold, and Global Peace: A Steampunk Bitcoin Journey Through an Alternate 20th Century

We have paper money today because it functioned as an IOU, certifying that the holder coul... more

20 Jan 2026

1 HR 05 MINS

1:05:18

20 Jan 2026


#1051

Before the Cold War, Russia and America Were the Closest of Distant Friends

Nearly a century of Cold War tensions between the United States and Russia hide the incred... more

15 Jan 2026

46 MINS

46:31

15 Jan 2026


#1050

The Horrifying Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the Titanic of the Great Lakes

One of the worst nautical disasters in recent American history is the sinking of the SS Ed... more

13 Jan 2026

48 MINS

48:16

13 Jan 2026


#1049

Inside the Deadly German U-Boats That Brought Britain to Its Knees (But Were Deadlier for Their Own ...

Over the course of World War II, Germany’s submariners sank over three thousand Alli... more

08 Jan 2026

41 MINS

41:19

08 Jan 2026


#1048

Manifest Destiny, Powered by Coal: How “Black Gold” Conquered the American Continent

America’s growth from a rugged frontier nation to the globe’s industrial super... more

06 Jan 2026

49 MINS

49:05

06 Jan 2026


#1047

Ancient Athens Picked Its Leaders by Lottery for Over 200 Years. Some Think This System Should Repla...

For almost two centuries, Ancient Athens—the most successful democracy in history&md... more

01 Jan 2026

51 MINS

51:51

01 Jan 2026


#1046

How Would Nixon Have Handled the Cuban Missile Crisis?

The "Madman Theory" was Richard Nixon's foreign policy strategy during the Vietnam War era... more

30 Dec 2025

28 MINS

28:39

30 Dec 2025


#1045

Diogenes, the Father of Ancient Greek Stoicism, Loving Trolling His Audience and Could Out-Shock Bor...

The famous street artist Banksy shocked the art world in 2018 when his painting, Girl with... more

25 Dec 2025

49 MINS

49:18

25 Dec 2025


#1044

Blown Off Course: How History’s Windy Turning Points Sank the Armada and Saved Japan from the Mongol...

The greatest energy source for civilization before the steam engine was wind. It powered t... more

23 Dec 2025

46 MINS

46:23

23 Dec 2025


#1043

Maps Have Bigger Problems Than the Mercator Projection. They Invent Mountain Ranges and Usually Elim...

Maps have always had problems. Five hundred years ago, maps were wildly inaccurate simply ... more

18 Dec 2025

45 MINS

45:39

18 Dec 2025


#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

16 Dec 2025

45 MINS

45:38

16 Dec 2025


#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