Top History Podcasts

Reconstruction begins where, for most Americans, the story of the Civil War ends: The North is victorious and slavery is abolished. But what happened next was one of the most important decades in American history, a moment when our country grappled with its original sin and imagined — and briefly enacted — a more perfect union. 

Drawing from archives, letters, diaries, court records, eyewitness testimonies and some of America’s most accomplished scholars and storytellers, Reconstruction: The Unfinished Promise explores this unprecedented historical moment in rich, kaleidoscopic detail. The series unpacks a time when a determined band of reformers attempted to radically reimagine American society — from the Constitution to the roots of its economy to the very nature of citizenship itself.

Reconstruction was a time when Americans struggled over fundamental questions about our country. Who gets to be a citizen? Who has the right to vote? Who can own property? In short, who belongs? Reconstruction: The Unfinished Promise explores what America might have looked like if Reconstruction had truly succeeded, and how the ultimate backlash to Reconstruction prevented our country from becoming a truly multiracial democracy. 

Guiding us through this extraordinary moment in American history is best-selling author and host of Revisionist History Malcolm Gladwell. He’ll have help from luminaries, historians, and storytellers such as President Barack Obama, Jelani Cobb, Wyatt Cenac, David Blight, Kai Wright, Kellie Carter Jackson, Ashley C. Ford, Manisha Sinha, Kidada Williams, and Eric Foner. This is a series about why America has yet to make good on the promise of Reconstruction, and how it still might.

An Audible Original in partnership with History Channel. Produced by Higher Ground and Pushkin Industries.

For those who sense the cracks in the official story, who know the past is stranger than we have been told, The H-Files offers a place to think clearly about how power actually works and what modern life has obscured. Same host, same archive, new name. This was The Midnight Academy.

Hosted by Dr. Heather Lynn, author, historian, and renegade archaeologist tracing the occult architecture beneath the maxodern world. The show investigates hidden history, esoteric symbolism, religion, and the long broker-class structures that run from the temple economies of ancient Sumer through to the institutions of the present, alongside interviews with researchers, scientists, and writers willing to follow the evidence past polite consensus.

Because in an age of chaos, remembering our history is a revolutionary act.

The Vikings terrified the medieval world. Yet they beguile us today. Who were they really?

Join Dame Julie Andrews as she reads Jane Austen's original, unabridged classics, brought to life with original music and immersive sound design.

Season One begins with Julie's narration of the timeless Pride and Prejudice. Season Two sees her bring Austen's beloved Emma to life.

Once a week, step into Austen's world: stroll through grand estates, take tea with well dressed gentlewomen, and enter ballrooms to dance with the great and good of the county. Along the way you'll meet some of literature's most unforgettable characters, brought vividly to life through Dame Julie Andrews' iconic narration.

Whether you're discovering these timeless novels for the first time or returning to them once more, Jane Austen Stories offers a beautifully atmospheric way to experience Austen's enduring wit, romance, and sharp observations of the society in which she lived.

Hit follow to get new episodes of Jane Austen Stories every Tuesday.

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The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind?
 
Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies.
 
Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.

Why do so many people believe things that aren’t true? In an era when claims of “fake news” come as natural as breathing, and social media allows lies to spread and multiply like viruses, the question feels more relevant than ever. From the teenage girls who convinced Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that fairies were real in the 19th century to “Balloon boy” in 2009, Hoax! will explore the most audacious and ambitious tricks in history. And along the way, we’ll uncover the reasons people let themselves be fooled, and how we can live our lives and engage with the media with a more critical eye. Co-hosted by Noble Blood’s Dana Schwartz and pop culture writer Lizzie Logan, we’ll bring you stories of pranks and grifts throughout history so big and bold they make us question why we believe what we believe in the first place.

**New episodes every other week**

United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts George Civeris and Julia Claire go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.

In 1920, a broke immigrant in Boston became one of America’s richest, most infamous men—practically overnight. In just nine months, he swindled the modern equivalent of a quarter billion dollars, upended the world of finance, and etched his name into history as the mastermind behind one of the most notorious scams ever: the Ponzi scheme.

Hosted by Maya Lau and featuring award-winning comedian and actor Sebastian Maniscalco, Easy Money: The Charles Ponzi Story is a docudrama that captures the rise and fall—both outrageous and tragic—of the con artist who fooled the world and paid the price.

Easy Money: The Charles Ponzi Story is an Apple Original podcast, produced by AT WILL MEDIA. Follow and listen on Apple Podcasts.

http://apple.co/EasyMoney

Author Bryan Burrough exhumes the gritty history of Old West gunfighters. From Billy the Kid to Wyatt Earp to John Wesley Hardin and dozens more, this collection of stories proves how very violent America's nineteenth century frontier actually was, and traces the blood-soaked history of the troubled men who made it that way.

Follow now on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, and YouTube.

A show that proves no matter how long you've been dead, it's never too late to have haters. Join historian Dr. Claire Aubin and a new expert every week to pull back the scholarly curtain on the world’s worst guys and gals. From the widely beloved to the relatively unknown, no historical figure is safe, and every episode reminds listeners that the best part of understanding the past is criticizing it.

New episodes every Thursday — free episodes bi-weekly, and access to all episodes (ad-free!) at patreon.com/thisguysucked

OBSCURUM is an investigative podcast series hosted by Gabe Lenners that explores an obscure side of rural America. In Season One, “Invasion of the Drones,” listeners are thrust into the chilling origins of mysterious drone sightings over the Midwest. Episodes unravel a wave of unexplained aircraft that rattled Nebraska and Colorado starting in 2019—sparking conspiracy theories, lies and shocking truths. The full story has remained untold—until now.

Tales for Wales is an inaccurate Welsh history lesson brought to you by two boozy mates. New episodes every Sunday.p> Read More

The history of 19th century and 20th century China, leading up to the Chinese Revolutions, the Republic of China and then the People's Republic of China.

This podcast was inspired by Mike Duncan's Revolutions. This podcast follows him by telling the stories leading to the Chinese Revolutions.

The episodes cover the Opium Wars, Taiping Rebellion, foreign treaties and concessions bringing trade and Christianity to China, the Boxer Rebellion, China's 1911 Revolution, the Warlord Period, the KMT and the rise of the Communist Party of China. The Chinese United Fronts are discussed. Personalities like the Empress Dowager Cixi, the Qing emperors, Earl Li Hongzhang, Kang Youwei, Sun Yat-sen, Yuan Shikai, Wu Peifu, Wang Jingwei, Chiang Kai-shek, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and Mao Zedong are featured. The experiences of Chinese working overseas, including in Australia, Canada, Malaysia, South Africa and the United States of America are also brought to life. We have looked at stories from the late Qing Dynasty. Now we are looking at the stories of the Republic of China, the Communist International (Comintern)'s interest in exporting world revolution to China and the United Fronts, including the Second Sino-Japanese War.

For more information, sources and content see: https://chineserevolution.substack.com

Or enjoy The Chinese Revolution YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCOjBYMNC_3xjQXKv6ab9YA?sub_confirmation=1

The Chinese Revolution podcast has charted as a top history podcast in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Ghana, Great Britain, Hungary, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Norway, Poland, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.

The Chinese Revolution is also listed #15 in a Top 100 Military History all time podcast chart and is also listed in a Top 100 China podcasts, the Top 100 Biography podcasts and the Top 100 Historical podcasts charts.

The Chinese Revolution podcast has been listened to in around125 countries.

You can support this show through Buy me a coffee. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thechineserevolution

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