Historical Blindness
Historical Blindness is a podcast about history’s myths, mysteries, and misconceptions. By examining cases of outrageous hoaxes, pernicious conspiracy theory, mass delusion, baffling mysteries and unreliable historiography, host Nathaniel Lloyd searches for insights into modern religious belief and political culture.
1
Town and Gown: Academic Freedom in Crisis
The Trump administration's war on higher education
58 min
2
License to Discriminate: LGBTQ Rights, Religiou...
The long, bigoted history and false scriptural basis of religious opposition to LGBTQ rights
45 min
3
Scapegoated! A History of American Nativism
The long, racist history behind immigration crackdowns in the US
46 min
4
Inalienable: Alien Enemies, the Great Writ, and...
A history of the controversial wartime power Trump has invoked to justify his mass deportations and a discussion of the inalienable rights of due process and habeas corpus
59 min
5
Gaslighter! Trump's Historical Distortions
The many ways Trump and his handlers/enablers distort and whitewash history and "sanewash" his administration
41 min
6
Tariff Men: A History of the US in Tariff Contr...
A history of the US through the history of controversial tariff policies
44 min
7
Darkness Came: the Myths of Easter and Good Friday
I explode all kinds of myths related to Easter in this holiday special.
49 min
8
The Legend of Joan, Popess of Rome
39 min
9
Empress Elagabalus
53 min
10
The Erasure of Aspasia
Aspasia, a woman influential in politics and philosophy in ancient Athens, depicted as a harlot or a sage.
54 min
11
The Lincoln Legends - Part Four: Smoke and Fire
A look at the false urban legend that John Wilkes Booth escaped.
48 min
12
The Lincoln Legends - Part Three: Puppet Master...
Further conspiracy theories suggesting the plot to assassinate was much larger, involving some of the favorite culprits of conspiracists: the government, the Catholic Church, the Freemasons, and Jews.
50 min
13
The Lincoln Legends - Part Two: A Conspiracy, S...
A look at the plot to assassinate Lincoln, and the claims that it was a much larger conspiracy than history suggests.
50 min
14
The Lincoln Legends - Part One: Larger Than Life
A look at the misconceptions and legends that surround Lincoln.
42 min
15
The Roots of the Christmas Tree (Another Very H...
The Christmas tree custom, its origins and whether it is a pagan survival
44 min
16
Patreon Release: A Very Shroomy Xmas!
The false claims of the "mushroom theory" of Christmas
20 min
17
Special Presentation: Plodding Through the Pres...
A special presentation of Plodding Through the Presidents
67 min
18
The Thanksgiving Union (Holiday Bonus Minisode)
Thoughts in the wake of the election reflecting on the origin of the upcoming holiday during the Civil War.
14 min
19
Jack the Ripper - Part Two: Ripperology
A look the many claims and theories purporting to solve the Ripper murders
51 min
20
Jack the Ripper - Part One: The Canonical Five
A look at the Jack the Ripper crimes and the mystery surrounding them.
46 min
21
Devil Books and Murder Ballads: The Myth of the...
The legends of 16th-century arch-killers like Sawney Bean and Christman Genipperteinga
45 min
22
Special Presentation: Southern Gothic--The Forb...
Special Presentation: Southern Gothic--The Forbidden Love of Annabel Lee
46 min
23
Anthropophagi: The Myth of Cannibalism
The appalling act of cannibalism may be mostly myth.
46 min
24
Slow-Motion Coup: Trump's Fake Electors Scheme
What history reveals about Trump's fake electors scheme.
51 min
25
The Looming Threat of Fascism - Part Two: The B...
Further legitimate comparisons between the rise of fascist regimes in the 1920s and modern American politics
66 min