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.
Episodes
September 23, 2023 • 29 mins
Emily Bazelon talks with author Zadie Smith about her new book, The Fraud. They discuss what happens when justice comes through an unjust symbol, how much Zadie does and doesn’t know about her characters, and more.
Tweet us your questions @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages could be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)
Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.
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September 22, 2023 • 28 mins
Against the odds, a tight-knit group of Black families created the community of Shoe Lane in Newport News, Virginia in the early 20th century. Residents bought land, and often built their homes, expecting to hand down a thriving African American neighborhood to future generations. Then Christopher Newport University systematically took the land over, pushing out all but a handful of now-elderly residents. On today’s episode of A Wo...
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September 21, 2023 • 55 mins
When Alaskans wanted their own mental-health facility, a rumor took hold all over America. This week, Evan Chung traces the origins of that far-right conspiracy theory: that the government was building a concentration camp where Americans would get imprisoned for their political beliefs. Get ready for a strange tale that involves a brainwashing manual, Scientology, and a vast network of Communist-hunting housewives.
Josh Levin is ...
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September 19, 2023 • 36 mins
On today’s episode of Hear Me Out… the conscription question.
The U.S. military is having trouble meeting recruitment goals — and for the first time in recent history, the Army has actually failed to meet its minimum.
Joe Plenzler, a writer, consultant and Marine Corps veteran, joins us to argue that it’s time to bring back the draft; more specifically, a partial one. It’d help address recruiting shortfalls, but more importantly...
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September 15, 2023 • 34 mins
The teaching of Black history has been under increasing political attack in recent years. But the version of African American history taught –even to Black people– has always been incomplete. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by columnist Michael Harriot to discuss his new book, Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America. They discuss the inspiration for the book, the most persistent myths of race and...
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September 14, 2023 • 45 mins
In the early days of television, women struggled to find their place. In 1955, they got it: forecasting the weather, on stations all across the country. But as these “weather girls” transformed the airwaves, a group of powerful men hatched a plan—one that had the potential to push women weathercasters off the air forever.
Josh Levin is One Year’s editorial director. One Year’s senior producer is Evan Chung.
This episode was produ...
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September 7, 2023 • 57 mins
In 1955, the frontiersman Davy Crockett became the most famous man in America, more than a century after his death at the Alamo. This week, Evan Chung dives into a cultural phenomenon nobody saw coming. Not the kids in coonskin caps who started the craze, not the parents whose money fueled it, and least of all Walt Disney, the legendary studio head who created it totally by accident.
Josh Levin is One Year’s editorial director. On...
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September 5, 2023 • 39 mins
On today’s episode of Hear Me Out… supreme hubris.
The Supreme Court is currently unpopular to a historic degree. That popularity is, of course, contingent on political opinion – and whether the court has bucked it recently. But most people agree that something’s wrong with the Supreme Court as an institution.
And, according to Aaron Tang, it’s not partisanship… even though that’s a popular scapegoat. It’s overconfidence and egos...
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August 31, 2023 • 57 mins
The Cannon Street All-Stars dreamed of playing in the 1955 Little League World Series. Their biggest obstacle didn’t come on the field. In the year that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a public bus, these Black 12-year-olds became unlikely civil rights pioneers—and faced the wrath of a white society that wasn’t ready to change.
Josh Levin is One Year’s editorial director. One Year’s senior producer is Evan Chung.
This e...
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August 26, 2023 • 56 mins
In Amicus’ summer series of conversations about books that expanded our thinking about justice and the courts, beyond the churn of headlines, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Judge Margaret M. McKeown of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth CIrcuit, to discuss her book Citizen Justice: The Environmental Legacy of William O. Douglas―Public Advocate and Conservation Champion
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August 21, 2023 • 1 min
Coming Thursday, August 31st, the fifth season of One Year covers 1955. A year when a team of 12-year-olds tried to integrate Little League, “weather girls” took the country by storm, and a conspiracy theory about Communist brainwashing infected the nation’s politics.
One Year is history like you’ve never heard it before. In each season, host Josh Levin brings you the weirdest, wildest, and most captivating moments from a single ye...
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August 9, 2023 • 40 mins
Once you start listening for catchphrases in everyday life—you can’t stop hearing them. From the radio era’s “Holy mackerel!” to Fonzie’s “Ayyy!” to Urkel’s multiple go-to lines on Family Matters, we explore the irresistible quotables from sitcoms, movies and social media that have burrowed into our collective lexicon. Oh, just one more thing… bazinga! (Did I do that?)
This episode was written by Willa Paskin, who produces Decoder...
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August 8, 2023 • 35 mins
On today’s episode of Hear Me Out… almost affirmative.
We don’t yet know what the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action is going to do, tangibly, to college admissions — or how long those impacts will last. But, based on past experiments, we have a decent idea. And many advocates say the implications here are urgent and dire.
But affirmative action might not have been the great equalizing force that a lot of people believ...
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August 7, 2023 • 26 mins
In July, Florida approved the use of Prager U materials in its classrooms. The organization claims its videos offer an alternative to the prevailing left-wing ideology in the classroom. Its founder told a sympathetic audience that what they offer is indoctrination. What impact could these videos have in public schools? And where could they be heading next?
Guest: John Knefel, senior writer for Media Matters for America.
If you en...
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August 3, 2023 • 25 mins
The temperature is going up, but the number of open, public pools isn’t. It’s not just a summer bummer; it’s turning into a public health crisis.
Guest: Mara Gay, member of the New York Times editorial board, focused on New York State and local affairs.
If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and D...
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August 2, 2023 • 42 mins
When Slate’s Evan Chung was a kid, he was obsessed with a mysterious advertisement that ran for decades in the scouting magazine Boys’ Life. Under the enticing headline “You Can Float on Air,” the ad assured Evan—and generations of scouts—that a personal hovercraft could be theirs for just a few bucks.
In this episode, the adult version of Evan journeys halfway across the country to wield power tools, summon his latent scouting s...
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July 26, 2023 • 36 mins
Kissing—the romantic, sexual, steamy kind—is so ingrained in us that it just seems like a fact of life. Like breathing or eating, we just do it. But what if it’s not like that at all?
In this episode, we’re going to look at passionate kissing, well, dispassionately, not as something instinctual and innate but as a cultural practice. We’re going to backtrack through history in search of the origins of the kiss, with some surprises...
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July 22, 2023 • 28 mins
David Plotz talks with author David Grann about his new book, The Wager. The non-fiction book tells the harrowing story of a shipwreck off the coast of Patagonia in 1742. They discuss how the British Empire twisted fact and fiction, the process of digging through 280-year-old documents, and why you should always have citrus at sea.
Tweet us your questions @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages could be quoted by...
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July 21, 2023 • 28 mins
Oklahoma’s legendary “Black Wall Street” was destroyed in the Tulsa Massacre of 1921. Hundreds of victims were murdered and dumped in mass graves, and dozens of homes and businesses were burned to the ground. More than a century later, three survivors remain, fighting for justice. But their lawsuit seeking reparations was recently dealt a blow in court. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by attorney Damario Solom...
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July 20, 2023 • 32 mins
On this week’s episode of The Waves, it’s all about Barbie. Slate senior producer Cheyna Roth sits down with M.G. Lord, author of Forever Barbie and co-host of “LA Made: The Barbie Tapes” from LAist and So Cal Public Radio. They discuss the history of the Barbie doll and how she’s managed to endure, how Barbie might actually be feminist, and what the new Greta Gerwig movie gets right about Barbie.
In Slate Plus: Episode 6 of our...
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