Podcast Recommendations #1

The first in my series of podcast recommendations

HISTORY

The really good (the podcasts that, when they come out, I drop everything):

Hardcore History (subscribe): Range from 40 to 60 minute episodes. Just really well produced and structured monologues on historical topics. Dan Carlin is the guy's name. He would never do something like "The Civil War" and go through events of the war, but he would go through how that war fits in to history as a whole and in relation to all recorded wars, for example, and how it affects us today. He has an entire hour long monologue on horses and guns and how they revolutionized warfare, and somehow, it's completely engrossing. He stays out of modern (post WWII) history for the most part.

My History Can Beat Up Your Politics (subscribe): Range from 10 to 30 minute episodes. A fanstastic podcast having to do with American Political History and how it's repeated, used and misused in the present day. All of the episodes have been fascinating thus far. Topics like "Women Voters," "Third Parties," and "The Iowa Caucus" have been especially fascinating. He covers things as they bubble up in current events, like the history of stimulus packages and where The Fed came from. By far the highlights are when he says things like "President Bush and other politicians have said that never in our history has our country . . ." and then he'll spend some time explaing why that's not true, using, what some like to call, "history."

The mediocre (podcasts that I listen to if I have nothing else.):

The Military History Podcast: It would be awesome, except the dude that gives it has no ability to sound like he's not reading. The content is fantastic (my favorite episode thus far: "The John McCains"), but the monotone delivery almost made me crash my car my once. I keep it around, but only when I'm hard up for some military history and Dan Carlin isn't producing fast enough.

History According to Bob: "Bob" doesn't "dumb down" his podcast for those who don't already know all of Napolean's top generals middle names and favorite cookies. I feel like he's expecting some pre-reading for each episode. This one is always about to get the axe from my lineup, but I keep giving it a chance in case some day I'm smart enough.