The Best History Podcasts To Cram Some Knowledge Through Your Headphones

Since the beginning of time, oral tradition has been one of the primary means of passing history from one generation to the next. Sure, Gutenberg rolling out the printing press kind of stole oral history’s thunder a bit, but there’s a reason history class still isn’t just taught by a textbook or Wikipedia page.

The truth is, there’s nothing quite like learning about the history of humanity from the most human form of communication there is. Not only is humanity filled with natural-born storytellers, but there is also a whole lot of history to be told that our texts have completely missed or, rather, “missed.”

Luckily, we now live in an age where we can encounter storytelling that rivals the likes of Homer’s epics, but on our morning commute. Even better, they can be paused and resumed as we please. These podcasts not only revisit history in entertaining and innovative ways, they restructure our perception of history as we’ve known it.

So, pop in your earbuds, or dial up your home speaker system to give your neighbors a free crash course. (We don’t recommend the latter.) It’s time to let some podcasters repeat history to us so that it doesn’t repeat itself.