Hardcore History - The Best Podcast You'll Ever Listen To

iTunes Feed

I don't expect to get a huge response to this, but regardless;

I've discovered this podcast recently, and without a doubt, it is the greatest podcast I'll ever listen to. I don't even have a particularly large interest in history, but this thing really is superb.

In "Hardcore History" the very unconventional Dan Carlin takes his "Martian", outside-the-box way of thinking and applies it to the past. Was Alexander the Great as bad a person as Adolf Hitler? What would Apaches with modern weapons be like? Will our modern civilization ever fall like civilizations from past eras? This is a difficult-to-classify show that has a rather sharp edge. It's not for everyone. But the innovative style and approach has made "Dan Carlin's Hardcore History" a New Media hit.

As a start, I'd recommend the following episode:

Show 42 - (BLITZ) Logical Insanity

DOWNLOAD LINK
Sat, 31 Mar 2012 - 02:28:49 minutes - 107.58mb
After many listener requests, Dan examines the issue of the morality of dropping the Atomic Bombs in the Second World War. As usual, he does so in his own unique, unexpected way.

It might seem long, but if you give it a listen for 10-15 minutes, I can almost guarantee you'll be hooked. It has completely changed the way I look at Hiroshima/Nagasaki.

Give it a listen.

I shall give this a go in a sec.

Cheers for the recommendation. I've been looking for a new podcast. This fits the bill perfectly.

I would recommend "Stuff you should know" though these are only about 20 mins each, as a bit of the end of their shows are taken up by ads and letters.

aayl1 wrote:Cheers for the recommendation. I've been looking for a new podcast. This fits the bill perfectly.

I would recommend "Stuff you should know" though these are only about 20 mins each, as a bit of the end of their shows are taken up by ads and letters.

Yeah, being a BBC podcast connoisseur, the adverts are really irritating. I've downloaded this and will give it a listen on the way to London this afternoon!

One American podcast (without ads) and is strawberry floating hilarious, is Doodie Calls with Doug Mand. "Comedian and writer Doug Mand (How I Met Your Mother, UCB Theater) talks other comedians about their most embarrassing and horrifying bathroom attacks and other unflattering experiences." http://doodiecallswithdougmand.libsyn.com/ Best one so far has been Anthony Atamanuik.

I have been listening to this for years. He takes forever to release them, but they are worth the wait. His series are amazing; the Punic wars, The Russian and German WW2 one, the fall of the republic :wub:

He was just about going to release a new one, but canned the whole thing and started from the beginning :fp:

Thanks for the recommendation - shall have a listen

I'm interested in anything to do with history!

Is it a history podcast about porn?

This is a very good, thought-provoking podcast. Thank you for finding it.

Edit: His voice reminds me of Charlie Sheen's voice.

I like how he completely demolishes the entire rationale behind the mass bombings of cities and civilian centers. "The people will overthrow their governments!" lolno

I was hoping this would be happy hardcore.

Listening now.

I've subscribed and I'll give this a go. I like nice, long, informative podcasts so this should help while away the time while I'm working. Who knows, I might even learn something. Thanks for the heads-up.

Has anyone got any other episode recommendations? Just saw one on his site that's over 5 hours long. :dread:

Alvin Flummux wrote:Has anyone got any other episode recommendations? Just saw one on his site that's over 5 hours long.

Those are awesome. If you are into Rome, listen to the first one in that series.

Otherwise just listen to the ones that aren't in a series. If you want older ones, i am sure you could pirate them. Just to see if you like them.

Whilst we're on the subject, does anyone listen to any weekly news podcasts? I am looking for recommendations. Maybe someone should make a podcast thread...

Zerudaaaaa! wrote:Whilst we're on the subject, does anyone listen to any weekly news podcasts? I am looking for recommendations. Maybe someone should make a podcast thread...

I was thinking of just turning this into a general podcast thread.

For news, I listen to NPR's Talk of the Nation. For those of you not familiar with it, NPR is America's National Public Radio. Their programming is generally excellent.

Talk of the Nation puts three of it's segments out every day as podcasts. They range from about 10 to 20 minutes and are each based on current events. It's very good, and as a non-American, provides rather interesting insights into the way Americans look at things. They've also got Morning Edition (better if you just want news), The Diane Rehm Show (good but can be a bit dry) and All Things Considered, which is also very good.

Another of their programmes/podcasts is Car Talk, which is basically two mechanics (brothers who both happened to go to MIT) who answer questions on cars (and generally problems to do with them). It's very funny and just generally excellent. The show is 50 minutes a week and is easily one of my favourite podcasts.

In general, NPR is just superb and I'd rather listen to it than anything the BBC has to offer in terms of radio.

Great, thanks for the recommendation, I'll probably try it out in the next days.

Cool, shall give it a listen to later

Listened to Show 40 - (BLITZ) Radical Thoughts today, very good. Reminded me of the fear that engulfed America following 9/11.

I've just started Fall of the Republic and so far it seems excellent. Incredibly broad topic to cover.

Logical Insanity was brilliant. I had no idea of the extent of damage the fire bombings did. I thought it was excellent how he read the account of a firebombing and then told you after the fact that it wasn't an account of Hiroshima/Nagasaki. The ones in that German guy's book were absolutely horrific as well.

One thing I did feel he sort of missed out was how Truman went from saying you can't drop this thing on civilians to them dropping it on such huge numbers of them. I know he covered the idea that these targets were in fact military targets according to the rules of play at the time, but it seems like a completely pointless order to have been given if that was what they were going to do.

The bit about the UK essentially acknowledging that they were targeting civilians was pretty eye opening, too.

Hardcore History - The Best Podcast You'll Ever Listen To

Who is online

Affiliates