I prefer YouTube as the platform but I’m also open to suggestions elsewhere.
Basically I’m looking for long-ish format episodes I can listen to while doing something else. Ideally the host isn’t just a voice reading a text, but someone relatable or that shows enthusiasm and/or has a personal take/ humor about the topic they’re talking about.
I sometimes listen to Simon Whistler’s videos on a variety of topics, in case you know him, I find he’s entertaining enough and his writers are usually good but I’m looking for some more variety.
I’ve tried Stuff You Should Know and the Oologies series and while the content seems well researched, I found them a bit boring for me.
Got any recommendations?
Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History.
He tries to look at history through the eyes of people at that time and not from a distance. E.g. instead of talking about great strategies etc he focuses on what it meant to be raided by Ghengis Khan.
Three Arrows on Youtube for history for the first half of the last century. Has strong emphasis of the comparison of pre- and interwar politics and contemporary events.
If you go this Youtube channel, you’ll first be greeted by videos about Jordan Peterson and the likes (and how they misrepresent historical events), but the guy behind the channel also has a podcast that is purely about history without analysis of current reception of historical events.
I know you said no voice-reading-text and wanted personality, but for my money nothing is better background listening than History of English. You can listen to the whole narrative of an episode or just pick up some cool etymology here and there.
Milo Rossi, aka Miniminuteman, if you’re looking for personality and enthusiasm.
- Fall of Civilizations
- Dan Carlin
- The Rest is History
- Cautionary Tales
- The Delicious Legacy
