History of Germany - Geschichte der Deutschen

This review must start with the podcaster, before the podcast: Travis Dow. He is a most prolific podcaster, involved in more than just the two podcasts I listen to and review here: History of Germany and its German version Geschichte der Deutschen. He is also involved in Bohemican, The secret Cabinet, History of Alchemy and Americana für euch. Travis Dow makes more podcasts than Anne is a Man can listen to - is that telling or what?

I cannot even keep up with all the installments of History of Germany, but I pick and choose with great excitement from the episodes. Of course I had to listen to the episode about the Frisians - with my Frisian roots (and name!), about the Olle DDR (the GDR) the one about the Reinheitsgebot (a must for the beer purists) and the one that explains why Dutch is not Deutsch (German) although it is the same word - ever wondered? Travis gets you the answer and he gives it both in English (feed) and German (feed). Right now I am engaged in his episodes about the Franks and Karl der Große.

What makes the podcast pay off the most, is that Travis delivers history with the same questions and search for connections and explanations that have me hooked on history in general. His delivery is very conversational, that is, he is not following any apparent script but rather engaging in a natural monologue (or dialogue with his guests) which makes for engaged listening even if it turns into rambling here and there.

Since Travis is an American, I was very curious to try the German version of his podcast expecting he'd be less conversational and free-flowing when not using his mother-tongue, but that is not the case, his German is completely fluent and his German podcast is just as conversational. Hence it is also not a one on one translation. The two feeds follow the same path, but Travis is conscious of talking to a different audience with different general knowledge and different reference points. This I find brilliant.

The Bulgarian History Podcast

It is quite exceptional what brought me to the Bulgarian History Podcast (site, feed). Usually I am getting a recommendation or I hit a subject that I would love to know more about and discover the podcast that covers it. With this podcast, the country and the people made it happen.

Last year's Passover vacation I spent in Bulgaria and although the rental car broke down twice, winter hit in mid-April for which we had no clothes on us and we got booked in a hotel in Bansko that we hated so much we left it as soon as we arrived, I had the best time I hadn't had in a vacation of this kind ever. I fell in love with the landscape, the people and the history. This history was revealed to us by a student who spoke excellent English and gave us a free tour of Sofia on the first day of our stay. I decided that as soon as I got back home, I'd go look for a podcast on Bulgarian history, not knowing that the best was still to come.

The Bulgarian History podcast is an excellent podcast by Eric Halsey, an American who has been living in and around Bulgaria for quite some time and has been studying its history even longer. He combines his his great rendering of the history with a very professionally produced podcast. I have been recommending this podcast to my friends and as a sign of how good this podcast is, they all got hooked.

We learn from the earliest Bulgarian history mostly from Byzantine sources and so in any case you are getting some of the more well-known Byzantine history, but with a refreshing new angle. That is not all however; despite its rugged terrain, Bulgaria forms a crossroads where several mighty neighbors meet. It begins with the Thracians, Proto-Bulgarians and Slavs, which deliver the mix from which the population stems and it continues with the Bulgarian nation performing their balancing act between Romans, Byzantines, Hungarians, Serbs, Macedonians, Franks even and later on Turks, Russians, Germans and on and on. This just has to make for fascinating history and Eric Halsey makes it all happen. And for me personally, with every episode I hear, I get to be reminded again of Sofia, Koprivshtitsa and the journey to Rilski Manastir (and more).

When diplomacy fails

The new highlight on my playlist is When Diplomacy Fails (WDF in short blog, feed). There are many reasons why I stopped blogging, but a refreshing history podcast such as WDF was sorely missing and had me feeling there was nothing new to write about. Now that it exists and has come to fruition (it has been around for four years and I am still catching up), it is certainly one of the reasons I came back to history podcast reviewing. Fortunately there are more - I have some 12 podcast review drafts in the pipeline!

WDF episodes come in three types. There are the single subject episodes. In these the host Zack Twamley tackles a subject and finishes dealing with it. Just as the others these are very good: well studied and well prepared. Although they are more superficial than the second type I will come to in the next paragraph, they are well written, well presented and give just what you need (perhaps with the exception of the episode about The First Italo-Ethiopian War, but that is the only one off I have encountered so far). In fact, if you are new to this podcast, as I was a couple of months ago, these are the ones to start with. You might even want to consider to line them up chronologically and let Zack work you to the second type of episodes he has for you in store: the specials. You can take the 19th century subjects leading up to the First World War and then take on the brilliant, massive, fascinating and surprising special about the 1914 July Crisis. Or you could take the 15th and 16th century episodes and line them up to the special about the Thirty Years War.

So there you have it: the second type: Zack's specials, where he has a subject spread out over several episodes. These are the tremendously thorough and well-studied podcasts. The ones that stick out for me are the Thirty Years War - a monument in the podcasting landscape, and the July Crisis of 1914. Did Gavrilo Princip cause the First World War? Is Wilhelm the second to blame? We have had more podcasts revising the standard take that Germany is to blame. Zack however does this to his own surprise. He had made a single subject episode on the First World War and fed us this frame of mind, but then during his special honestly come to another conclusion and tell us about it. You must hear it.

Then there is the third kind of episode: TALK episodes. In these podcasts, Zack is joined by his friend Sean and they discuss the latest podcast subject in a free-flowing conversation. Obviously these episodes are much more casual and light which leads Zack to be a bit apologetic about them. He really should not be; among conversational podcasts, many of which derail in insufferable rambling or otherwise in unnaturally scripted unconvincing pseudo-dialogue, WDF's Talk episodes stand out as truly interesting. I am still not sure what is the right balance between banter and disciplined discussion that makes for a good conversation podcast, but when Zack and Sean hit the spot, they surely show the way.

Taken all the three types together in one podcast, makes WDF a new standard and shining example in history podcasts. Fortunately, again, he is not alone, a whole wave of new history podcasts with similar qualities has sprung up and revived the podcasting genre. Thanks Zack.

UPDATE 8 May 2016: I noticed that I used an outdated link for the podcast and repaired that

The podcast backlog - Ancient History Podcasts

The last podcast review I wrote is about two and a half years old. In the mean time lots of new podcasts have been added to the collection and many worth mentioning - where to start?

Let's start with a collection. Some two years ago I embarked on a quest for sources on ancient history, attempting to fill the gaps and dig up the roots of the more familiar eras. And not to forget as a continuation of my everlasting search for sources on my favorite ancient civilization: The Indus Valley Civ. No luck, there, but on the whole, a lot was found.

The History of Europe Podcast (feed)
Unfortunately podfaded, but the chapters can still be found in the feed. This podcast never really got to tell the history of Europe, really, but what it did manage to do is tell really ancient history - Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age. So, as far as ancient history is concerned- this is where to start.

Rob Monaco's The Podcast History of our World (feed) also starts way back in the dawn of man. Yet he moves more quickly through the era's. A huge added value of this podcast is the quality of the narration. We are taking huge steps through history and it could have turned out superficial and sketchy and worst of all, what always seems to hurt exposes of ancient history, disconnected and fragmented. Yet, Rob manages to turn the pieces into a mesmerizing flowing tale of real people.

Another podcast that has this quality is Scott C.'s The Ancient World (feed). The collection has a part A, which is the 'true' history part and this is the one I have listened to on my quest for old old history with great joy. In part B, Scott has gone on a path that is very worthwhile and befitting his talents and a history podcast, but which did not serve my listening goal; he has forged the history bits in lively tales, making the podcast less a history and more a story-telling podcast.

Although I had no luck finding a podcast about the Indus Valley Civilization. Others civs are there to be had: The Chinese in Laszlo Montgomery's excellent The China History Podcast (feed) which you know already if you follow this blog. Add to this the Japanese in Cameron Foster's A Short History of Japan (feed) which I also should have mentioned before.

There are also new ones I found: Dominic Perry's The Egyptian History Podcast (feed). Excellent and detailed.

Another fantastic find: Khodadad Rezakhani's The History of Iran Podcast (feed) Very professional. Waiting eagerly for new episodes

Lastly, a podcast that can not be found in iTunes: History of Armenia Podcast Series (feed)

Lost in space - Anne is a Man tentatively renewed

I have just changed the title of this blog. No more podcast reviews you may ask - well you have not had any in two years, so what good would be an answer any which way? If I am to get back to posting, podcast reviews are likely to be among them. And recipes and I think I might write about language learning.

First of all I changed the title to take away the pretense that this is still and could ever be a hub for podcast finding. That is probably not going to be the case. And all those podcasters that were hoping I'd plug their work, should seek exposure elsewhere.

Yet, the blog still exists and I frequently feel the urge to write - something, anything. And so, the change of title is first of all an opening of the gates. It allows me to start posting again.

I have some backlog of posts. The podcast reviews in them are past their due date. There are recipes I have jotted down in notebooks lying about the house and I'd hate for them to get lost. I have been using my blog as reference while cooking. Like when I took my son to Holland for his Bar Mitzva and I promised my sister I would cook her a meal. The same happens at home when I can't find the notebook with the recipe I am looking for.

My Profile in Duolingo

Lastly, ever since I came to Israel and had to urgently learn Hebrew I am extremely conscious about language learning. While the blog was still active I used to write about learning languages with the help of podcasts, but there is so much more these days. For example I am heavily using the app Duolingo. Around this I find myself telling and writing so much that it seems much could be focused here.

So why "lost in space"? Well, this blog is lost in space. It exists on the Web and it still attracts traffic, whether helpful for finding podcasts or not (probably not any more). I myself feel lost in space - being a Dutchman in Israel, a legal professional in a computer job and generally feeling like a stranger in a strange land. The blog is inevitably about how I keep my sanity in this insane life.

Only a slightly different perspective - History of Oil

We have gone through this history in quite a number of podcasts: Sarajevo 1914, Pearl Harbor 1941 and even the fall of Mossadegh 1953, haven't we? How is it that I was glued to my iPod with these narratives all over again? I was listening to A History of Oil an amateur podcast by Peter Doran. (feed)

Any new history podcast should reveal a fact about history that was not that clear until now. A History of Oil does that even where you hardly expect to be surprised. Take for instance Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi Invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. We already knew the Germans over-stretched themselves. We knew they had fuel shortages. We knew they had to capture the oil fields on the Caspian Sea around Baku and failed to do so. We knew that no matter how long they could hold out in Soviet territory, this was a turning point in the Second World War, but still A History of Oil's perspective gives something new.

A History of Oil effectively starts in the middle of the nineteenth century when crude oil began to enter the markets as a commodity and before long we approach the First World War. The British are the first to let their navy switch from coal to oil, but others are soon to follow, so that we are more than normally aware how oil has become a vital strategic resource by the time the Second World War comes around. Then, in 1941, as the Nazis invade the Soviet Union and have one success after another, oil became a problem. The Germans had used many times more fuel than planned. In fact operation Barbarossa rapidly depleted the oil reserves and no source was at hand that could meet the increased demand. So, if we thought that the defeat at Stalingrad was the turning point, A History of Oil, makes it clear that the defeat was inherent. Not a radically new point, but still a new support for the thesis that Barbarossa was a decisive Nazi mistake from the get go.

This is only one example of what the slightly altered perspective of A History of Oil brings to familiar data. Another refreshing experience is to go through the era not by means of national histories, but by means of the history of corporations; Standard Oil, Royal Dutch, Shell, British Petroleum and so on. It makes John D. Rockefeller more prominent than Theodore Roosevelt. It makes the Japanese invasion of Borneo more prominent than their attack on Pearl Harbor. It places Mexico, Venezuela and Indonesia in the center of attention what rarely happens and so on.

In short, A History of Oil is a remarkable enrichment to the library of history podcasts and highly recommended listening.