Podcasts to Paint by

Jon recently posted about his discovery of Dan Carlin's Hardcore History and added a request for other history podcasts.   I tend to post on this every two years  or so .  Why not provide an update?  I am am huge fan of Podcasts, both to accompany my daily commute across the Palouse, and to entertain me while I paint.  All of these podcasts can be found on Itunes, Podbean or similar Podcast aggregators.

Revolutions  Mike Duncan continues to serve it up.  Following the 12 week stints on the ECW and American revolution, he discarded his 12-show/revolution format and served up 55 episodes on the French Revolution.  He just concluded 19 Episodes on the Haitian Revolution and is planning on tackling South America next.  Following that will be Mexico.  He does outstanding and engaging work, and I look forward to every section.  I just hopes it lasts long enough to get to Russia.


I have been delving heavily into East Asian history of late, so I found some Podcasts that help to inspire:

History of Japan Podcast  I have listened to several Japanese history podcasts, and this is by-far my favorite.  This is not a sequential history, but rather "topics of interest."  His series on the "The Fall of the Samurai" stretched through 21 episodes, and he is currently just getting into the Rise of the Samurai, after doing a multi-parter on the Yakuza.    What I like most about this Podcast is that it doesn't end up as the slog through leaders and palace intrigues that you tend to get with many of these nation specific casts. Speaking of which:

The History of China  This is a great sequential history of China.  It goes ruler by ruler, so it tends to get repetitive if you like to binge listen.  Here is a precis:  "Ruler X exterminates the entire family lines of his opponents until he dies leaving behind an underage replacement.  Said replacement leads to a leadership struggle where a new leader takes over and exterminates entire family lines.  Wash, rinse and repeat"

The China History Podcast  This one is similar to the History of Japan, where the subjects vary back and forth with a greater emphasis on the history of the people rather than the leadership.  He also does more about modern China.

Topics in Korean History Podcast  Similar to The History of China with a sequential history of the Korean peoples.  His 10 part series on the Imjin War was outstanding.  The Podcast seems to have ended abruptly in January 2015, but he managed to get to about 1890.


One I just discovered this evening is History on Fire  I just listened the episode on the Tyrolian Ice Man, and I would classify the author as the Italian Dan Carlin.  He has a similar intensity with the story, plus a thick accent that makes the story more engaging.  Give him a lesson.  I plan to listen to the Hamilton/Burr episode "The Duel" next.

For the weirder/more eclectic set:

I am not really into role playing games, however a friend turned me onto this "real play" game done by professional comedians called Crit Juice If you enjoy base humor extolled by comedians as they descend into drunkeness while pretending to be fantasy characters, then check it out.  I think what I like most about them is that approach games with an attitude of entertainment > rules.

Also for flights of fancy there is the Podcast at Ground Zero.  Two guys (sometimes with guests) discuss various topics about life after the fall of civilization.  I have gotten some pretty good book recommendations from this (and some terrible movie recommendations...)


I will refrain from reposting the same  stuff from last time, but suffice to say that if you havn't at least checked out The History of Rome, Meeples and Miniatures or Hardcore History, you aren't doing yourself any favors.

Any other suggestions?