The 27 Best History Podcasts (2026)

Holly Frey and Tracy Wilson have turned history class into something you might actually look forward to. Stuff You Missed in History Class picks up the stories your textbook either skipped entirely or crammed into a single paragraph, then gives them the full treatment. Episodes cover the weird, the wild, and the genuinely important: WWII stimulant use among soldiers, FBI counterintelligence operations, the story of abolitionist Anthony Burns, early female Olympians, the discovery of phosphorus, and hundreds more.

The show has been running since the mid-2000s and has accumulated over 2,000 episodes, making the back catalog a genuine treasure chest for anyone who likes history. Frey and Wilson present in a conversational style that feels like listening to two well-read friends share what they learned this week. The research is solid, the storytelling is clear, and the topics are chosen with an eye for stories that surprise or challenge what you thought you knew.

New episodes drop twice a week, typically running 30 to 50 minutes each. The show holds a 4.2 star average from over 23,000 Apple reviews. For high school students, this is the perfect supplement to whatever your AP History class is covering. It fills in the gaps your curriculum leaves behind and makes the people and events of the past feel vivid and real rather than flat and distant.

Malcolm Gladwell built his career on making you reconsider things you thought you understood, and Revisionist History is that instinct turned into a podcast. Each episode (or sometimes a multi-part series) takes something from the past -- an event, a person, an idea -- and asks whether we got the story right the first time. The answer, almost always, is no. And Gladwell is remarkably good at showing you why.

With 196 episodes across 14 seasons and a staggering 58,000+ ratings averaging 4.7 stars, this is one of the most popular history-adjacent podcasts ever made. Recent seasons have included a seven-part investigation into unsolved Alabama murders and a deep look at the disputed authorship of "Twas the Night Before Christmas." The range is enormous, and Gladwell's curiosity keeps the show from ever settling into a predictable groove.

Produced by Pushkin Industries (Gladwell's own company), the production quality is exactly what you'd expect -- clean, well-paced, with excellent use of interviews and archival material. Gladwell's voice is distinctive and divisive; some people find his narrative style captivating, others find it a bit too pleased with itself. But love him or not, the man knows how to construct a compelling argument. If you enjoy having your assumptions challenged and don't mind the occasional intellectual detour, Revisionist History delivers that consistently.

Dan Carlin does not release episodes often — sometimes months pass between them — but when one drops, it commands your attention for four to six hours straight. Hardcore History is a solo show where Carlin narrates sweeping historical events with the intensity of a dramatic performance and the sourcing of a graduate seminar. His series on World War I, the Mongol Empire, the Atlantic slave trade, and the fall of the Roman Republic are genuinely riveting, the kind of content that makes a long road trip feel too short. The archive holds just 73 episodes because each one is the length of an audiobook. Carlin builds tension, reads primary sources aloud, and constantly asks listeners to imagine themselves inside historical moments — what it felt like to be a soldier at the Somme or a citizen watching the Republic crumble. His 4.8-star rating from over 63,000 reviews makes it one of the most beloved podcasts ever produced. The approach is unorthodox by academic standards — Carlin is a journalist and commentator, not a historian, and he is upfront about that. He prioritizes narrative and emotional truth over exhaustive historiography. That means professional historians sometimes quibble with his framing, but for most listeners the trade-off is worth it. Nothing else in podcasting sounds like this.

Wondery knows how to produce a polished history show, and American History Tellers is one of their best. Hosted by Lindsay Graham (not the senator -- the podcast world's favorite disclaimer), this one takes big chapters of American history and turns them into multi-episode seasons with full dramatic production. Think Prohibition, the Cold War, the Gold Rush, the Space Race. Each season runs several episodes deep, giving you time to really absorb the era.

With 476 episodes across 93 seasons, Graham has covered an enormous amount of ground since 2017. The show pulls a 4.6 rating from over 18,500 reviewers, which is impressive at that scale. Episodes typically clock in around 36 to 39 minutes, and the production includes voice acting and sound effects that bring historical moments to life without veering into audiobook territory.

What makes this show work is Graham's narration style. He's warm and authoritative without being preachy, and the Wondery production team backs him up with research that holds up to scrutiny. The seasonal format means you can jump into whatever topic interests you -- you don't need to start from episode one. If you liked American Scandal (also Wondery, also Graham), this is the companion piece that focuses on the broader sweep of national history rather than individual scandals. It's history as prestige audio, and it earned that reputation honestly.

Robert Evans hosts Behind the Bastards, one of the most popular history-meets-true-crime podcasts running, with over 1,100 episodes and more than 15,000 ratings (4.4 stars) on Apple Podcasts. The show profiles the worst people in history and the systems that enabled them, and Keith Raniere has gotten the treatment. Evans brings in guest experts and comedians for each episode, creating a format that mixes serious historical research with genuine humor. The Keith Raniere and NXIVM episodes are worth searching out specifically. Evans’s reporting style is thorough, pulling from court documents, news archives, and academic sources, but he delivers it all in a conversational tone with a rotating cast of guests who react in real time. Episodes run anywhere from 50 minutes to over three hours depending on the topic. The show has been running since 2018 and streams on Apple Podcasts, Netflix, and YouTube. It is not exclusively about cults, and that is actually an advantage for the NXIVM episodes, because Evans places Raniere in the broader context of manipulative leaders and power structures rather than treating him as an isolated case. If you want to understand how someone like Raniere compares to other figures who exploited people’s trust, this show draws those connections clearly. The production is solid through Cool Zone Media and iHeartPodcasts.

Slow Burn has become the gold standard for deep-dive political history podcasts, and the awards shelf proves it. Season 8 won Podcast of the Year at the 2024 Ambies, Season 7 took Apple Podcasts Show of the Year in 2022, and the show consistently lands on every "best of" list for good reason. Each season picks one massive American story -- Watergate, the Clinton impeachment, the L.A. Riots, Roe v. Wade, the rise of Fox News -- and spends six or more episodes pulling it apart with archival tape, original interviews, and meticulous reporting.

The host rotates by season, with Josh Levin, Christina Cauterucci, and Joel Anderson among those who have steered different runs. Across 319 episodes and 10 seasons, Slate has built a documentary franchise that treats American political history with the seriousness it deserves while keeping things genuinely compelling. Episodes vary in length but usually land around 40 to 50 minutes.

What makes Slow Burn hit differently than other history shows is its focus on the people and details that got lost in the bigger narrative. You'll learn about the Watergate break-in, sure, but also about the minor characters and weird coincidences that shaped how events actually unfolded. The show trusts its listeners to handle complexity, and it rewards that trust with some of the best audio journalism being made right now. A 4.6 rating from nearly 24,000 reviewers says it all.

Narrated by actor Paul McGann (yes, the Eighth Doctor), Real Dictators is a production-heavy history podcast that dedicates multi-episode arcs to individual authoritarian leaders. The Kim dynasty episodes are the reason this show earns a spot on a North Korea list -- the series traces the rise of Kim Il-sung, the consolidation of power under Kim Jong-il, and the mechanisms that keep the regime functioning across generations. Each arc typically runs 3 to 10 episodes, drawing on eyewitness testimony and expert historian commentary.

The production values are noticeably higher than your average history podcast. Sound design, music, and McGann’s theatrical narration give it almost audiobook quality. With 156 episodes total, a 4.7-star rating from over 5,000 reviewers, and arcs covering everyone from Stalin to Bokassa to Castro, the show has serious range. The North Korea episodes specifically benefit from the format because the Kim dynasty story genuinely lends itself to dramatic storytelling -- the guerrilla mythology, the personality cult construction, the palace intrigue. Some purists may prefer a drier academic approach, and fair enough. But if you want to understand the founding myths and power structures of the DPRK told in a way that keeps you hooked, this is remarkably effective. Just know this is a broader dictators show, not exclusively North Korea focused.

The podcast arm of BBC History Magazine, and it shows. Proper historians discussing proper history, but without the stuffiness you'd expect. Episodes cover everything from ancient Egypt to Cold War espionage, usually featuring authors promoting new books - which sounds dry but actually means you get genuine experts who are passionate about their specific niche. Episodes run 30-50 minutes. The British perspective dominates naturally, but they cast their net wide. Solid, reliable, well-researched history content that respects your intelligence.

Jamie Jeffers walks you through British history from the very beginning - and he means the very beginning, like pre-Roman Celtic tribes beginning. The chronological approach means you build context naturally. What makes this different from textbook stuff is Jamie's conversational tone and his willingness to say "we actually don't know" when the evidence is thin. It's incredibly detailed without being boring. Fair warning though: the early medieval episodes might permanently change your pub quiz performance. Community is fantastic too.

If you've ever wanted to know how horses ran the medieval world or what really happened at the Black Dinner that inspired Game of Thrones, Gone Medieval is your show. Hosted by Matt Lewis with regular co-host Dr. Eleanor Janega, a medieval historian at the London School of Economics, the podcast has racked up nearly 500 episodes covering everything from Viking longships to Plantagenet power struggles.

The format is mostly interview-based — Lewis brings on expert guests to unpack specific topics, and the conversations strike a solid balance between academic rigor and genuine accessibility. You don't need a history degree to follow along, but if you have one, you'll still pick up plenty of new angles. Episodes on Saladin, the Tower of London, and the Parliament of Bats give you a sense of the range. Two episodes drop each week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, so there's always something fresh.

Part of the History Hit network founded by Dan Snow, Gone Medieval has a 4.6-star rating from over 1,600 reviews. The show fills a gap that broader history podcasts often skip over — the Middle Ages get treated as a footnote between Rome and the Renaissance elsewhere, but here they get the full treatment. Lewis has a knack for asking the questions a curious non-specialist would actually want answered, and the guest roster includes some of the best working medievalists in the UK. It's the kind of show that makes you reconsider how much you thought you knew about a thousand years of human history.

Dirk Hoffmann-Becking started this podcast as a pandemic project and somehow turned it into one of the most respected chronological history shows running today. Now in its ninth season with 240 episodes, History of the Germans traces German-speaking Europe from the early medieval period through reunification in 1991 — and he's still going.

The format follows the tradition set by Mike Duncan's History of Rome and Lars Brownworth's Norman Centuries: one narrator, chronological order, roughly 25-35 minute episodes released weekly on Thursdays. But Hoffmann-Becking brings his own flavor. He's got a dry, wry sense of humor that keeps the material from ever feeling like a textbook reading. When he covers the Investiture Controversy or the Hanseatic League, you get the political maneuvering and the human absurdity in equal measure.

The show is completely ad-free, which is increasingly rare. Hoffmann-Becking provides full transcripts and supplementary materials on his website for listeners who want to go deeper. His coverage of the Ottonian emperors, the Hohenstaufen dynasty, the Teutonic Knights, and the rise of the Habsburgs has won over a loyal audience — the podcast holds a near-perfect 4.9-star rating from over 460 reviews. If you enjoyed History of Rome or History of Byzantium and want another long-form chronological series to commit to, this fills that exact spot. It's the kind of show where you start with episode one and genuinely look forward to the next 239.

Daniele Bolelli brings an Italian accent and genuine passion to some of history's most dramatic stories. If Dan Carlin's your thing but you want more frequent episodes, this scratches that itch. Bolelli's background in martial arts and philosophy gives his history a unique physical dimension - when he describes battles, you feel them. His series on the Comanche empire and the Apache wars are standouts. Production has gotten progressively better over the years. Real storytelling with academic rigor underneath.

After wrapping up The Fall of Rome, Patrick Wyman expanded his scope dramatically with Tides of History. This show covers, well, basically everything -- from ancient civilizations through the medieval period and into early modernity, spanning continents and millennia. Wyman mixes solo narrative episodes with expert interviews and listener Q&A sessions, which keeps the format feeling fresh even after 400+ episodes. Each episode runs 30 to 55 minutes, hitting that sweet spot where you learn something substantial without needing to block out half your day. Wyman's PhD background gives him the academic credibility to handle complex topics, but his real strength is making those topics feel urgent and relevant. He draws connections between historical patterns and modern life in ways that feel earned rather than forced. The show airs weekly on the Wondery network, with a paid tier available for ad-free listening. Some listeners find Wyman's delivery style high-energy, which is either a plus or a minus depending on your preference -- he is genuinely enthusiastic about this material in a way that comes through in his voice. With a 4.7 star rating from over 6,000 reviews, the audience clearly appreciates the approach. While this is technically a broader history podcast, the ancient history episodes are among the show's strongest, and Wyman's ability to connect ancient events to their long-term consequences makes those episodes particularly rewarding.

Ray Harris Jr. set out to cover every aspect of World War II, and he meant every aspect. This is exhaustively detailed, episode-by-episode coverage of the entire conflict from multiple angles. Military buffs will love the tactical breakdowns, but there's plenty of social and political context too. It's a massive undertaking and Harris treats it with the seriousness it deserves. Not casual listening exactly - more like an audio course you'll return to repeatedly. If WWII is your thing, nothing else comes close.

Scott Rank holds a PhD in history and hosts what might be the most prolific history podcast out there, with over 1,100 episodes since 2017. The show has a dual format that sets it apart: some episodes are long-form interviews with bestselling history authors, while others are call-in Q&A sessions where listeners ask Scott absolutely anything about the past.

The call-in episodes are where the Q&A magic happens. Listeners submit questions like "Could the Roman Empire have survived if it adopted gunpowder?" or "What was daily life actually like on a pirate ship?" and Scott treats each one with genuine scholarly enthusiasm. He does not just give the quick Wikipedia answer -- he provides context, brings in lesser-known primary sources, and is honest about what historians still argue over.

The interview episodes are equally strong, featuring authors who have spent years researching specific topics like the Spanish treasure fleet, Soviet Olympic doping programs, or the financial maneuvering of the American founding fathers. Scott asks good follow-up questions and is clearly well-read enough to push back when a guest oversimplifies. The show has built an audience of nearly 4,000 raters on Apple Podcasts, and the weekly release schedule means there is always something new in the feed. It is the rare history podcast that works both as entertainment and as genuine education.

Dan Snow runs what's essentially a history media empire, and this podcast is the flagship. Daily episodes featuring interviews with leading historians make it feel like a never-ending university lecture series - but the good kind, where the professor actually cares. Snow's enthusiasm is infectious and he asks genuinely smart questions. The sheer volume of content means quality varies, but the best episodes are exceptional. Think of it as a buffet: you won't love everything, but you'll always find something worth your time.

Prof. Greg Jackson has built something special here. History That Doesn't Suck is a bi-weekly American history podcast that genuinely lives up to its name, delivering seriously researched stories with the kind of energy you'd want from a favorite college professor. Jackson uses character voices, background music, and sound effects to dramatize events from the Revolutionary War through modern times, and it never feels cheesy. Each episode runs between 37 minutes and just over an hour, giving him room to really unpack the context around major events.

With over 210 episodes and a 4.7-star rating from more than 6,000 listeners, HTDS has earned a dedicated following since launching in 2017. Jackson covers everything from Pearl Harbor to the Civil War to lesser-known political turning points, and he does it with the kind of detail that makes you realize how much your high school textbook left out. The narrative style means you're getting actual storytelling, not just a dry recitation of facts and dates.

What sets this apart from other history shows is Jackson's commitment to primary sources combined with his natural ability to make those sources interesting. He'll spend weeks researching a single topic, and you can tell. The production quality through Audacy has gotten better over the years, but the core appeal has always been Jackson himself -- a guy who clearly loves this stuff and knows how to make you love it too. If you've ever said "I wish history class had been more like this," well, someone finally made that podcast.

Melvyn Bragg has been hosting In Our Time since 1998, and the history episodes are arguably the crown jewels. Three academic experts sit down and discuss a topic for 45 minutes with zero dumbing down. This is intellectual BBC radio at its finest - challenging, rich, occasionally heated. Bragg's no pushover either; he'll interrupt experts who get too jargon-heavy. The archive alone is worth exploring for months. Not easy listening, but incredibly rewarding if you want history with real depth.

Robin Pierson picked up exactly where Mike Duncan's History of Rome left off - with the Eastern Roman Empire. It's the same chronological, episode-by-episode approach, and it works beautifully for a civilization most Western education ignores completely. Pierson clearly loves his subject and communicates that passion without overselling it. The show fills a massive gap in popular history content. If you've ever wondered what happened after Rome "fell" (spoiler: half of it kept going for another thousand years), this is essential.

David Crowther delivers English history with the kind of dry wit you'd expect from, well, an Englishman talking about England. Starting from the Anglo-Saxons and working forward chronologically, it's thorough without being overwhelming. Crowther's a hobbyist rather than an academic, and somehow that makes the show more relatable. He'll freely admit his biases and uncertainties. The community around this show is wonderfully engaged too. Perfect for Anglophiles and anyone curious about how a small island shaped so much of the world.

Greg Jenner from BBC pulls off something genuinely clever here - pairing a comedian with a historian to explore different periods and figures. The result is educational comedy that actually teaches you something, which is harder than it sounds. Some episodes are hilarious, others merely entertaining, but you always walk away knowing more than before. It's aimed at people who think they hate history, and it converts them consistently. The comedian pairings can be hit or miss, but the format just works.

Mike Duncan started with Roman history, now he's covered every major revolution you can name. The format is simple: him talking, no fancy production. Don't let that fool you. He builds these narratives that pull you through complex events without dumbing them down. The French Revolution series is ridiculously long. Also ridiculously good. He's got a dry sense of humor that sneaks up on you. Sometimes I wish he'd argue a thesis more explicitly. Mostly I'm just grateful someone made this content.

Two British guys arguing about whether Henry VIII was actually that bad. That's the show, basically. Tom and Dominic have great chemistry - they genuinely seem to enjoy each other's company. The topics range from ancient Rome to last century, always with an angle you didn't expect. Their banter can go on too long sometimes. But when they lock into a story? Time flies. The listener questions episodes are skippable. The deep dives on specific moments? Essential.

Throughline is NPR's answer to the question "how did we get here?" and it's one of the most creatively produced history podcasts out there. Hosted by Peabody Award-winning journalists Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouei, each episode works like a time machine, tracing a modern issue back through its historical roots. The sound design is genuinely immersive -- layered audio, archival tape, expert interviews woven together in ways that feel more like a documentary film than a standard podcast.

Since 2019, Abdelfatah and Arablouei have built up 443 episodes covering everything from the history of American policing to the Iranian Revolution to how immigration detention became what it is today. They pull a 4.6 rating from nearly 16,000 reviewers, which puts them in elite company for the history genre. Episodes run 40 to 50 minutes and drop twice a week.

The real strength here is how the hosts connect past and present without being heavy-handed about it. They'll start with a headline from this week's news, then spend the episode peeling back layers of history you probably didn't know about. The research is rigorous -- this is NPR, after all -- but the storytelling keeps it from feeling academic. Abdelfatah and Arablouei have genuine chemistry, and their curiosity comes through in every episode. It's the kind of show that makes you smarter about the world without ever feeling like homework.

Paul Cooper has created something closer to a documentary film than a traditional podcast. Each episode of Fall of Civilizations examines the collapse of a single civilization, and these are not quick overviews -- episodes routinely run three to five hours, with production values that rival anything from the BBC. Cooper uses multiple voice actors to perform readings from primary sources in their original languages, including Arabic, Old Persian, reconstructed Egyptian, and Mongolian. The ambient sound design and period-appropriate music create an immersive experience that is genuinely unlike anything else in the podcast space. With only 22 episodes and a 4.9 star rating from over 5,000 reviews, every installment clearly represents months of research and production work. The civilizations covered range from the Aztecs and Inca to the Byzantine Empire, the Khmer, and ancient Sumerians. Cooper finds the human stories within each collapse -- what it actually felt like to watch your world end -- and that emotional grounding keeps the show from feeling like an abstract academic exercise. New episodes come out infrequently, but each one becomes an event. Cooper maintains detailed source documentation on his Patreon, so you can follow up on anything that catches your attention. The trade-off for this level of quality is patience: you might wait months between episodes. But when a new one drops, clear your schedule. This is the kind of show that makes you sit in your car after arriving somewhere because you cannot bring yourself to press pause.