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