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.
151
A Word: Send In the Clowns?
Black Republicans, white supremacy, and the politics of grift.
44 min
152
Outward: The Outing of Bubba Copeland
The story of how an Alabama mayor’s outing became national news
31 min
153
A Word: A Black Power Radical’s Rise and Fall
Did a civil rights rebel become a murderer, or a scapegoat?
24 min
154
One Year: 1990 - The Angry Death of Kimberly Be...
A young woman claimed she got HIV from her dentist. Was she right?
52 min
155
Hear Me Out: The Holidays Are Tacky. Embrace It
Stop trying to class it up.
34 min
156
One Year: 1990 - Art on Trial
Inside the Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition that sparked a First Amendment showdown in Cincinnati.
54 min
157
Hear Me Out: Race Isn’t Real. The Census Should...
Checking a box is oversimplifying.
39 min
158
One Year: 1990 - Bush vs. Broccoli
When the president declared war on a vegetable, the country lost its mind.
36 min
159
Hear Me Out: The Oppressed Still Have Moral Duties
Fighting fire with fire has its limits.
30 min
160
One Year: 1990 - Mandrake the Magician
How a single dad with a secret identity took on Big Tobacco.
46 min
161
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
162
What Next: Moms for Liberty Tanked at the Polls...
Parental-Rights groups tend to burn brightly but briefly.
20 min
163
A Word: Rebirth of a Nation
Reconstruction was supposed to usher in a multi-racial democracy. What happened?
35 min
164
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
165
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
166
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
167
What Next: Can Hamas Actually Be Destroyed?
What Hamas’s history tells us about Gaza’s future.
25 min
168
Decoder Ring: Mailbag - The Recorder, Limos, an...
We answer your questions about the ubiquitous musical instrument, ‘80s automotive luxury, and more.
36 min
169
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
170
Decoder Ring: The Fast Decline of the Slow Dance
The rise and fall of an awkward rite of passage.
41 min
171
Hear Me Out: Teaching Civics Can’t Save Democracy
We’re already struggling to give students basic skills.
40 min
172
Hear Me Out: Columbus Day Is Worth Celebrating
It’s an important date in history — whatever you choose to call it.
35 min
173
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
174
A Word: Black Grief, White Grievance
Why white feelings often seem to matter more than Black lives.
24 min
175
What Next: Can Marriage Fix America?
Why is this institution being touted as an economic cure-all?
20 min