Top History Podcasts

History is shaped by extraordinary people.

Visionary writers like Agatha Christie. Fearless pioneers such as Amelia Earhart. Ruthless rulers including Henry VIII and Cleopatra. Groundbreaking musicians, inventors, revolutionaries, explorers and leaders whose ambition, talent and influence transformed the course of history.

Welcome to Noiser’s Biography series, where immersive storytelling, powerful narration and richly crafted sound transport you into the lives, rivalries, triumphs and downfalls of the figures who shaped our world, one story at a time.

A Noiser production, narrated by Paul McGann and John Hopkins.

As featured on Short History Of....

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No part of this podcast may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems. In accordance with Article 4(3) of the DSM Directive 2019/790, Noiser Ltd expressly reserves this work from the text and data mining exception.

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Here you’ll find mysterious deaths, morbid fascinations, disturbing stories, and otherwise spooky events from the Victorian Era. For ad-free listening, witchy content, Victorian True Crime Extras and Dark Poetry, join The Patreon!

And check out my new podcast series, The Death of Edgar Allan Poe!

The WallBuilders Show is a daily journey to examine today's issues from a Biblical, Historical and Constitutional perspective. Featured guests include elected officials, experts, activists, authors, and commentators.

Slow Burn illuminates America’s most consequential moments, making sense of the past to better understand the present. Through archival tape and first-person interviews, the series uncovers the surprising events and little-known characters lurking within the biggest stories of our time.

Join Slate Plus to unlock full, ad-free access to Slow Burn and your other favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe from the Slow Burn show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or visit slate.com/slowburnplus to get access wherever you listen.

Season 11: Becoming Justice Gorsuch

How Neil Gorsuch laid the foundation for a SCOTUS supermajority and then became its most unexpected wild card.

Season 10: The Rise of Fox News

How a cable news channel became a cultural and political force—and how a whole bunch of people rose up to try and stop it.

Season 9: Gays Against Briggs

A nationwide moral panic, a California legislator who rode the anti-gay wave, and the LGBTQ+ people who stepped up and came out to try and stop him.

Season 8: Becoming Justice Thomas

Where Clarence Thomas came from, how he rose to power, and how he’s brought the rest of us along with him, whether we like it or not. Winner of the Podcast of the Year at the 2024 Ambies Awards.

Season 7: Roe v. Wade

The women who fought for legal abortion, the activists who pushed back, and the justices who thought they could solve the issue for good. Winner of Apple Podcasts Show of the Year in 2022.

Season 6: The L.A. Riots

How decades of police brutality, a broken justice system, and a video tape set off six days of unrest in Los Angeles.

Season 5: The Road to the Iraq War

Eighteen months after 9/11, the United States invaded a country that had nothing to do with the attacks. Who’s to blame? And was there any way to stop it?

Season 4: David Duke

America’s most famous white supremacist came within a runoff of controlling Louisiana. How did David Duke rise to power? And what did it take to stop him?

Season 3: Biggie and Tupac

How is it that two of the most famous performers in the world were murdered within a year of each other—and their killings were never solved?

Season 2: The Clinton Impeachment

A reexamination of the scandals that nearly destroyed the 42nd president and forever changed the life of a former White House intern.

Season 1: Watergate

What did it feel like to live through the scandal that brought down President Nixon?

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The most entertaining and enraging stories from 'Classical' mythology (and, often, ancient history of the wider Mediterranean!) told casually, contemporarily, and (more often than not) sarcastically. The world of Greek mythology and the history of the wider ancient Mediterranean is full of wonder, horror, and utter hilarity. These myths and stories are timeless for a reason, they're just as relevant today as they were 2500+ years ago. With over 700 episodes and counting, we dive deep into the realm of gods, goddesses, heroes, monsters, and everything in between.

Scripted myth and history episodes every Tuesday, conversations with authors and scholars or readings of ancient epics every Friday. LTAMB: The Oracle Edition has ad-free episodes and so much more. Learn more about the podcast, and Liv's work at mythsbaby.com.

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No Ordinary Life is a cinematic history podcast series. Each season brings one legendary figure back to life.

To get every episode of No Ordinary Life now, ad-free, go to: noordinarylife.supercast.com This is a production from Story One.

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“This is a town where there are three pastimes: politics, sports and revenge.” The town is Boston.

Seemingly dry topics become gripping political dramas in this Peabody Award winning show from creator Ian Coss and GBH News. Each season of “The Big Dig” uncovers a different facet of society – infrastructure, gambling, food, healthcare – together the pieces connect to tell the story of modern America. 

Season 1: "The Big Dig" 

The highway project known as “The Big Dig” is infamous – a shorthand for government failure – but it all started as one engineer’s dream to correct the wrongs of the past, and its legacy is far from simple.

Season 2: "Scratch & Win" 

America’s most successful state lottery – and its greatest innovation, the scratch ticket – all starts with mafia bookmakers and state bureaucrats going toe to toe in a battle to own the future of gambling. 

Season 3: "Catching The Codfather"

A fishing tycoon is arrested in an elaborate sting operation, but claims he’s the real hero fighting back against the state.

Season 4: "Mitt & Ted, a healthcare story" 

Mitt Romney and Ted Kennedy began their political journeys on opposite sides of the healthcare issue, and they ended once again on opposite sides, but for a brief period in the middle they worked together to pass a groundbreaking law – one that promised to finally transform the politics of American healthcare – the law known as Romneycare. So what brought this odd couple together, and what ultimately pulled Mitt and Ted apart?

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CREDITS:

Host & Creator: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producer: Isabel Hibbard

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts 

Contact us as thebigdig@wgbh.org

As long as there’s been oppression, there’ve been people fighting it. This weekly podcast dives into history to drag up the wildest rebels, the most beautiful revolts, and all the people who long to be—and fight to be—free. It explores complex stories of resistance that offer lessons and inspiration for us today, focusing on the ensemble casts that make up each act of history. That is to say, this podcast focuses on Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff.

Did you know that a woman once survived a 30,000-foot fall by crash-landing into a nest of angry fire ants? Or that a 13th century pope declared war on satanic cats? How about the lumberjack who survived near-decapitation by way of his own chainsaw? Each episode opens our cabinet of curiosities to uncover the strangest-but-true stories in human history. These aren’t tall tales--they actually happened! We dig into the historical record to show you how and why it happened. What follows is a barrage of strange people, odd places, and peculiar events that prove one thing beyond doubt: The world is even weirder than you think.

The UnBelievable is a History Channel original podcast brought to you by Rewind Studios. New episodes every Friday. Follow wherever you get your podcasts.

For a century, Harry Houdini has been safely filed away in the public imagination as a nostalgic variety act: a man in monochrome film escaping handcuffs, water tanks, and straightjackets.

This series smashes that myth.

Hosted by “psychological illusionist” Derren Brown, How Houdini Made Magic reframes a penniless immigrant refugee named Erik Weisz as a prophetic, hyper-modern visionary. Long before the birth of Silicon Valley, modern political spin rooms, or algorithmic social media, Houdini cracked the code of modern fame. He didn't just escape physical boxes; he manipulated suspense, pioneered viral guerrilla marketing, employed the legal system to protect his brand, and mastered the dark arts of post-truth media. He created magic in far more ways than you think.

Against a backdrop of vaudeville and societal revolution, Derren explores the lesser-known identities of a magician who continues to inspire him and countless other magicians: Houdini as an advertising guru, a new media innovator, a sceptic… a spy?

We’ll come to realise that today’s world actually closely mirrors the ‘sepia-tinted’ world Houdini operated in: a time of rapid industrialisation, intense social change, massive wealth inequality, widespread social activism, global conflict, cultural revolutions, and immense technological advancement. We are living in an attention economy running on the exact behavioural hacks, artificial friction, and narrative illusions engineered by Harry Houdini over a century ago.

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The Unauthorized History of the Pacific War Podcast is the creation of Seth Paridon, Bill Toti and Jon Parshall. Seth is a World War II historian with over 20 years experience whose many roles in his career have been serving as historian for The National WWII Museum for 15 years, as well as museum deputy director and historian for the US Army. Jon is a world-renowned author and speaker. Jon brings his authority on the Pacific theater as well as his expertise and personality to every episode in which he is involved. Bill is not a historian, but a retired submarine commodore and military planner with a unique perspective as one who spent more than a decade sailing the same waters where these Pacific Battles took place.

Together, the trio, or duo, bring World War II's Pacific Theater to their audience in a unique and relatable way every week. Make sure you subscribe to get notifications of every fresh upload and new show!

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