Slate History
A feed with the best history coverage from Slate’s wide range of podcasts. From narrative shows like Slow Burn, One Year, and Decoder Ring, to timely analysis from ICYMI and What Next, you’ll get the fascinating stories and vital context you need to understand where we came from and where we're going.
101
One Year: 1990 - Pizzastroika
As the Cold War reached its climax, Pizza Hut got tangled up in geopolitics—and made a lot of dough.
53 min
102
What Next: Moms for Liberty Tanked at the Polls...
Parental-Rights groups tend to burn brightly but briefly.
20 min
103
A Word: Rebirth of a Nation
Reconstruction was supposed to usher in a multi-racial democracy. What happened?
35 min
104
Decoder Ring: The Forgotten Video Game About Sl...
In 1992, the company behind The Oregon Trail tried to simulate Black history. It did not go well.
43 min
105
Hear Me Out: It’s Time To Sunset Social Security
It’s a transfer of wealth, and not to the people who need it.
43 min
106
Decoder Ring: The Dating Manual Unlike Any Other
The Rules became a controversial bestseller and sparked instant debate. But was the advice any good?
33 min
107
What Next: Can Hamas Actually Be Destroyed?
What Hamas’s history tells us about Gaza’s future.
25 min
108
Decoder Ring: Mailbag - The Recorder, Limos, an...
We answer your questions about the ubiquitous musical instrument, ‘80s automotive luxury, and more.
36 min
109
Decoder Ring: When Art Pranksters Invaded Melro...
In the mid-1990s, an artist collective smuggled its provocative work onto the set of the hit TV show.
37 min
110
Decoder Ring: The Fast Decline of the Slow Dance
The rise and fall of an awkward rite of passage.
41 min
111
Hear Me Out: Teaching Civics Can’t Save Democracy
We’re already struggling to give students basic skills.
40 min
112
Hear Me Out: Columbus Day Is Worth Celebrating
It’s an important date in history — whatever you choose to call it.
35 min
113
One Year: 1955 - The Hiroshima Maidens
A decade after the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb, 25 Japanese women put their lives in the hands of American surgeons.
50 min
114
A Word: Black Grief, White Grievance
Why white feelings often seem to matter more than Black lives.
24 min
115
The Waves: The Afghan Women Left Behind - Gende...
What one family’s experience trying to get from Afghanistan to America says about the nation’s gender politics.
45 min
116
What Next: Can Marriage Fix America?
Why is this institution being touted as an economic cure-all?
20 min
117
One Year: 1955 - The Cutter Incident
In 1955, the polio vaccine was rightly heralded as a miracle. A medical mystery threatened to derail it.
32 min
118
What Next: Wait, China’s Taking Our Pandas Back?
A story of soft (and cuddly) power.
27 min
119
Gabfest Reads: Zadie Smith Knows You're a Fraud
Zadie Smith’s new book The Fraud goes deep into a 19th century criminal trial whose politics speak to modern times.
27 min
120
A Word: School of Destruction
How one southern university’s history is a bitter lesson in race and power.
25 min
121
One Year: 1955 - Siberia, USA
The Communist-hunting housewives who spawned a far-right conspiracy theory about an American gulag.
51 min
122
Hear Me Out: Bring Back The Draft
It’s the best way to compensate for faltering recruitment.
33 min
123
A Word: Wrong from the Beginning
Writer Michael Harriot says white-washing Black history is a desperate effort that’s bound to fail.
31 min
124
One Year: 1955 - The Weather Girls
In the 1950s, women weathercasters were idolized and lusted over. They were also seen as a major threat.
41 min
125
One Year: 1955 - The Crockett Craze
How Walt Disney created the first baby-boom phenomenon totally by accident.
53 min