The other day I spotted this post on Facebook: “I’ve never ever listened to a podcast, I don’t understand why anyone does.” I immediately felt sorry for this person. I’ve had so MANY hours of entertainment, diversion, education, enlightenment, and amusement via podcasts.
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This engrossing podcast will take your mind off everything else--I promise! |
All day I’m reading, writing, and
editing, working on both novels and on a nonprofit website. After this, at
night my eyes are shot; I can’t read anymore. Yes, there’s watching TV or
listening to music. (I’m enjoying my latest mystery series discovery, the Sicilian “Detective Montalbano" on amazon.) But a quality podcast really diverts and restores me. I have a hunch many of you like listening to shows about history too, so I’m eager to
share my list:
These are my Top Six Choices:
1. “In Our Time.” Hosted by Melvyn Bragg;
BBC. The list of topics covered in this podcast is breathtaking. It’s very hard
for me to pick my favorites, but among the standouts are shows on the Gin Craze,
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Coffee, Agrippina the Younger, Holbein at the
Court of Henry VIII, The Waste Land, Macbeth, King Tut, and Beethoven.
2. “You Must Remember This.” Written,
produced, and narrated by Karina Longworth. I’ve had a challenging year, as many
of you know. But I’ve been pulled through a stressful night more than
once by these engrossing podcasts on the secret and/or forgotten history of
Hollywood's first century. I particularly enjoyed her series on MGM History, Fact
Checking Kenneth Anger’s Hollywood Babylon, and Six Degrees of Joan Crawford.
3. “Revolutions.” Written and narrated by Michael
Duncan. I like the perspective and edge of these podcasts on history’s most
significant revolutions, particularly the Russian one.
4. “The Bowery Boys.” Hosted by Greg Young
and Tom Meyers. This lively podcast brings New York City history to life. The
Gilded Age and Coney Island episodes were of course pretty relevant to my novel
Dreamland. Really fun!
5. “Hardcore History.” Hosted by Dan Carlin.
Dan is an emotional podcaster, and his programs go longer than most, but I found
both his World War I series and his Japan series unforgettable.
6 “Our Fake History.” Produced by Sebastian
Major. These shows uncover the “real” stories behind everyone from Cleopatra to Richard the Lionhearted to Nostradamus. Great debunking!
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