Top History Podcasts

Reign of Blood is a multi-episode podcast about the epic clash between the Aztec and Spanish empires - the seminal drama of the modern world. August 13th, 2021 marked the 500th anniversary to the day of its culmination. Written and hosted by Peter Mellado.

A limited podcast series about the politics of immigration, faith as radical hospitality, and the borders between church and state.

In the spring of 1982, six faith communities in Arizona and California declared themselves places of safe harbor for hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans and Guatemalans that had been denied legal proceedings for political asylum in the U.S. Alleging that immigration officials had intentionally miscategorized Central Americans as ‘economic migrants’ in order to accelerate their deportation, humanitarian organizations, legal advocates, and religious bodies sought alternatives for aid within their faiths’ scriptural teachings and the juridical parameters offered by international and national human rights and refugee law. Known as the Sanctuary Movement, this decade-long interfaith mobilization spurred congressional action in support of Central American asylees by the 1990s and served as the model for a renewed movement for sanctuary in support of undocumented Americans in the twenty-first century.

Every episode in the series draws upon extensive archival data from across the country in order to offer new interpretations of the Sanctuary Movement and introduce public audiences to the primary voices and sources within the faith communities and grassroots organizations at its core. To date, there is no resource that provides a reliable and relevant examination of the movement from the 1980s to the present. “Sanctuary: On the Border Between Church and State” proposes to do exactly this and thus chart new directions for one of the nation’s most confrontational religious movements. 

Produced by the Institute for Religion, Media, and Civic Engagement. Generous support provided by the Henry Luce Foundation. Additional support was given by the American Academy of Religion and Amherst College.

Creators: Dr. Lloyd Barba (Faculty, Amherst College) and Dr. Sergio Gonzalez (Faculty, Marquette University)

Executive Producer: Dr. Bradley Onishi

Sound Engineer and Score: Scott Okamoto

Production Assistance: Kari Onishi

Distributed by Axis Mundi Media

Never Mind The Dambusters…It’s The Bomber Command Podcast!

Join historians and authors Jane Gulliford Lowes and James Jefferies as they delve into the world of RAF Bomber Command during the Second World War. In this weekly podcast  (episodes released every Wednesday), Jane and James explore strategy, policy, and the events which shaped one of the most controversial campaigns of the war.  

Despite their iconic status, Bomber Command's history extends far beyond the famed Dambusters raid of 1943 and the Avro Lancaster. Through insightful discussions, expert analysis of the strategic bombing campaign and first hand accounts by veterans and civilians on the ground, Never Mind the Dambusters offers listeners a comprehensive exploration of Bomber Command's operations and the diverse aircraft it employed, as well as tackling some tough topics.

Jane and James will be joined by leading academics, historians, aircraft enthusiasts, technicians and engineers and veterans' family members. Expect  discussions on relevant books and films and  a spotlight on a different aircraft in each episode. Please send in your questions to us on X (twitter) at @RAFBomber_Pod and on Instagram at @NeverMindTheDambusters. You can email the show at nmtdambusters@gmail.com.

They've seen an interstate cut their once-thriving neighborhood in half. They've seen their community cut off from the commercial and cultural engines of the city. They've seen racialized terror visited on their own backyards. But through it all, they've fought to hold onto the place they love.

We Are North Nashville: The Podcast is about the lives of elders who call North Nashville home, in their own words. It's about the ways the elders have kept joy alive in their neighborhood in spite of all the challenges it has faced. It's about the history that newcomers to the city don't always know, or even think to ask about. It's about walking the streets and still seeing the way people held this place together, even when city planners set about ripping it apart.

This is a show about North Nashville. It's also a story about the United States, where Black communities have been cut apart, razed and deprived for generations in the name of progress that does not include them. More importantly, We Are North Nashville is what happens when the people who live history get to tell it.

• Hosted by M. Simone Boyd and Andrea Tudhope
• Produced, edited and mixed by Andrea Tudhope
• Original music by S-Wrap
• Additional production by Steve Haruch

3,000 miles of ocean separate Ireland from the USA, but both countries share a deep and intertwined history. Links between North America and Ireland predate Columbus, stretching back over 1,000 years. Since then, Irish people have shaped the history of the United States. From Ann 'Goody' Glover, who was hanged as a witch in Boston in the 17th century, to JFK, the story of the Irish in the US is fascinating. Join historians Damian Sheils and Fin Dwyer as they join forces to explore the good, the bad, and the ugly of Irish American history.

In Season 1 Fin and Damian explore fascinating topics including

• Who was the first Irish person to cross the Atlantic?
• The Story of Goody Glover who was hanged as a witch in Boston.
• What was it like to emigrate during the Great Famine of the 1840s?
• How Irish people shaped the US Civil War?

And much more...

Subscribe and join Fin and Damian on this fascinating journey through our history.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The police tell us they are here to protect us. But what if their original purpose was something else altogether? Peabody Award-winning host Chenjerai Kumanyika takes listeners on a journey to uncover the hidden history of the largest police force in the world – from its roots in slavery, to rival police gangs battling across the city, to everyday people who resisted every step of the way. As our society debates where policing is going, Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD explores where the police came from.

From Wondery, Crooked Media and PushBlack.

Follow Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD on the Wondery App or wherever you listen to your podcasts. You can binge all episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/empire-city/ now. 

Welcome along to Half-Arsed History! It's a weekly podcast highlighting absurd and entertaining stories from history. Three times a week, it helps host Riley Knight feel as though his useless history degree has some kind of real-world relevance.

Get in touch: halfarsedhistory@gmail.com

Support the show on Patreon: https://patreon.com/halfarsedhistory

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/halfarsedhistory

Buy Half-Arsed History merch: https://halfarsedhistory.theprintbar.com

If you've just discovered the show and aren't sure which of the 350+ episodes to start with, here are some suggestions:

Episode 139: The History of the Toilet - https://sptfy.com/PK3J • https://apple.co/3Giftt3

Episode 75: The Great Emu War - https://sptfy.com/PK3K • https://apple.co/4jKCvr7

Episode 197: The History of Nuclear Weapons - https://sptfy.com/PK3L • https://apple.co/4jygYlc

Episode 233: The 1930 FIFA World Cup - https://sptfy.com/PK3M • https://apple.co/4iltL9P

Episode 106: The First Circumnavigation - https://sptfy.com/PK3N • https://apple.co/4jewsLj

Half-Arsed History acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the unceded Gubbi Gubbi (Kabi Kabi) Land on which the podcast is written and recorded, and pays respect to First Nations Elders past, present, and emerging. Indigenous sovereignty was never ceded. This continent always was, and always will be, Aboriginal Land.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oh, la especie humana, tan civilizada, tan avanzada. ¿Puedes creer que sea capaz de poner en el poder a un hombre que consulta a una bruja antes de tomar decisiones? ¿O a un teniente coronel con inclinación por bañarse en sangre de tigre? ¿O incluso a uno con un odio particular por el rock y los jóvenes y que quiere prohibirlo?

Todopoderosos es un podcast de Wondery que descubre los secretos detrás de los líderes más carismáticos del mundo, llevándote de la risa al llanto, y por eso te va a gustar tanto. Presentado por José Rafael Guzmán, en este podcast entenderemos cómo titanes del poder forjaron sus imperios y destruyeron naciones con sus ambiciones desmedidas, todo mientras lucían de punta en blanco.

Es una mirada irreverente a la vida de aquellos cuya sed de poder los llevó al límite. ¡No te pierdas nuevos episodios todos los miércoles donde sea que escuches tus podcasts!

The Move, a four-part narrative podcast series from the Colts Audio Network exploring the Colts' move from Baltimore to Indianapolis 40 years ago.

Host JJ Stankevitz takes a deep dive into the reasons why the Colts picked up and moved in the middle of the night on March 28, 1984, from how Baltimore lost the team to how Indianapolis made it to the NFL – and how the lives of residents in two major American cities were forever changed in the process.