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
June 27, 2025 • 65 mins
Little Richard was rock ‘n’ roll’s flamboyant architect. Lesley Gore sang that no one owned her. Sylvester was a gender-fluid icon who helped define disco. Freddie Mercury made rock operatic, and George Michael demanded freedom.
What all of these LGBTQ artists had in common was bold hitmaking—and fear of being fully out of the closet. For decades, queer acts topped the charts while cloaking their true identities and paving the way...
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June 13, 2025 • 63 mins
Little Richard was rock ‘n’ roll’s flamboyant architect. Lesley Gore sang that no one owned her. Sylvester was a gender-fluid icon who helped define disco. Freddie Mercury made rock operatic, and George Michael demanded freedom.
What all of these LGBTQ artists had in common was bold hitmaking—and fear of being fully out of the closet. For decades, queer acts topped the charts while cloaking their true identities and paving the way...
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May 30, 2025 • 63 mins
The story of Nevermind, Nirvana’s genre-defining breakthrough, is a familiar one. Less well known is the saga of Billboard’s Modern Rock chart—and how college-rock staples of the 1980s like R.E.M. and The Cure gave way to heavier, more commercially dominant groups of the ‘90s like Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and The Smashing Pumpkins. What sparked the grungification of the charts? How did Modern Rock become the new Top...
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May 21, 2025 • 38 mins
Kate Lindsay and Candice Lim are joined by Slate staff writer Molly Olmstead to talk all things Pope Leo XIV, who made the internet go wild following a highly-covered conclave, strong Chicago ties, and a digital footprint that keeps unfurling. But another reason the Pope has seemed more exposed than ever before is because for some groups online, it’s becoming trendy to be Catholic. They break down the first days of our new pope and...
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May 16, 2025 • 68 mins
The story of Nevermind, Nirvana’s genre-defining breakthrough, is a familiar one. Less well known is the saga of Billboard’s Modern Rock chart—and how college-rock staples of the 1980s like R.E.M. and The Cure gave way to heavier, more commercially dominant groups of the ‘90s like Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and The Smashing Pumpkins. What sparked the grungification of the charts? How did Modern Rock become the new Top...
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April 25, 2025 • 58 mins
It’s been nearly a decade since Rihanna released a studio album—and fans and critics alike have wondered when, if ever, a follow-up to 2016’s Anti might arrive. Which is ironic, because in her heyday, Rihanna was the most productive hitmaker on the charts.
Churning out at least one album a year in the late aughts and early ‘10s, Rihanna’s approach to the charts was closer to early Motown or the Beatles than Beyoncé or Taylor. The...
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April 16, 2025 • 40 mins
In this episode, Christina Cauterucci speaks with Zein Murib, Fordham professor and author of Terms of Exclusion: Rightful Citizenship Claims and the Construction of LGBT Political Identity, about the historical roots of the marginalization of trans and bi people in the gay rights movement. Zein, who recently wrote the Slate piece "Why Are Trans People Such an Easy Political Target? " breaks down how the movement’s focus on a narro...
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April 14, 2025 • 60 mins
It’s been nearly a decade since Rihanna released a studio album—and fans and critics alike have wondered when, if ever, a follow-up to 2016’s Anti might arrive. Which is ironic, because in her heyday, Rihanna was the most productive hitmaker on the charts.
Churning out at least one album a year in the late aughts and early ‘10s, Rihanna’s approach to the charts was closer to early Motown or the Beatles than Beyoncé or Taylor. The...
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March 28, 2025 • 60 mins
When you think of music in the 1960s, some groundbreaking artists probably come to mind: Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and the Jefferson Airplane, for example. But the pop charts paint a very different picture of that decade, which embraced easy listening, groovy bubblegum, novelty and instrumental records—even a guitar-strumming Belgian nun.
In other words, the soundtrack of the era was more like Mad Men and less like Forrest Gump.
Joi...
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March 26, 2025 • 42 mins
In this episode of Outward, Jules Gill-Peterson sits down with Colby Gordon to talk about his new book, Glorious Bodies: Trans Theology and Renaissance Literature. Gordon digs into early modern religious texts that, instead of rejecting trans existence, actually provided ways to think about gender transformation—socially, surgically, and theologically. They explore what Shakespeare, Milton, and other writers had to say about gender...
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March 15, 2025 • 39 mins
David Plotz talks with author Adam Higginbotham about his new book, Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space. They discuss the feats of engineering that took place, the political cynicism and cost-cutting that played a role in the tragedy, the heroism and tragic loss of the people on board the shuttle, and more.
Tweet us your questions @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages could ...
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March 14, 2025 • 53 mins
When you think of music in the 1960s, some groundbreaking artists probably come to mind: Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and the Jefferson Airplane, for example. But the pop charts paint a very different picture of that decade, which embraced easy listening, groovy bubblegum, novelty and instrumental records—even a guitar-strumming Belgian nun.
In other words, the soundtrack of the era was more like Mad Men and less like Forrest Gump.
Joi...
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March 12, 2025 • 74 mins
On this week’s show, we throw a flower-sprinkled dinner party for a space clone (personal beehive not included).
Slate culture staff writer Nadira Goffe sits in for Dana, and the hosts discuss the new Bong Joon Ho film Mickey 17, followed by Meghan Markle's uncanny homemaking show With Love, Meghan on Netflix.
Finally, we invite Slate writer Dan Kois to discuss his new cover story “How Giant White Houses Took Over America.”
Endors...
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March 5, 2025 • 70 mins
On this week’s show, no amount of star power can save a “screamingly stupid show.” (Sorry, Robert De Niro et al.)
With Sam Adams—Slate Senior Editor and Staff Writer—sitting in for Dana, the team talks about the Netflix political thriller series Zero Day. Then they remember the career of Gene Hackman and end with their thoughts about this Atlantic article on navigating optimism during times of crisis.
Endorsements:
Julia: Moist Pe...
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March 5, 2025 • 42 mins
This week on Outward, host Christina Cauterucci talks to historian Rebecca Scofield about the new book, Slapping Leather: Queer Cowfolx at the Gay Rodeo. From rhinestone-studded chaps to the hard-won battles for inclusion, they explore how queer cowboys and cowgirls carved out space in the rodeo circuit, the gender politics at play in this community, and how the AIDS crisis shaped its trajectory. Plus, they dig into the current res...
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February 28, 2025 • 46 mins
In the late 1980s, the English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys dominated the U.K. pop charts and staged an invasion of the American charts. Years later, founding member Neil Tennant dubbed this streak of creative and commercial supremacy the group’s “imperial phase”—a term that eventually caught on among music critics and pop fans.
So, what does it take for an artist to achieve imperial dominance? Why might Fleetwood Mac in the 1970s ...
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February 26, 2025 • 72 mins
On this week’s show, we preview the Oscars and Trump’s demolition throughout renowned institutions of art.
Isaac Butler — author of The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act and host of the new Criterion Channel series, The Craft of Acting — sits in for Stephen Metcalf.
First, the hosts discuss I’m Still Here and the continued addition of non-English speaking films getting some of the biggest Oscar buzz. Then we tackle t...
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February 20, 2025 • 53 mins
On this episode: Elizabeth, Lucy and Zak answer a listener’s voicemail about planning a field trip to DC — and trying to avoid politics. The parents at this school have very different politics than our listener, and the listener’s already gotten her 10-year-old to agree to skip the White House… but is that the right call? And can you even avoid politics on a history lover’s tour of DC?
And after that discussion, we’ll of course ci...
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February 15, 2025 • 36 mins
Emily Bazelon talks with author Rich Benjamin about his new book, Talk to Me: Lessons From a Family Forged by History. They delve into Rich’s complex family history— particularly the experiences of his grandfather, Daniel Fignolé. Fignolé was the president of Hatti in 1957 before being ousted by a coup that involved American influence. Rich and Emily discuss how the political upheaval had a lasting impact on Rich and his family, th...
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February 14, 2025 • 67 mins
In the late 1980s, the English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys dominated the U.K. pop charts and staged an invasion of the American charts. Years later, founding member Neil Tennant dubbed this streak of creative and commercial supremacy the group’s “imperial phase”—a term that eventually caught on among music critics and pop fans.
So, what does it take for an artist to achieve imperial dominance? Why might Fleetwood Mac in the 1970s ...
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