Podcast Episodes

Trapped in Ice: The Paleolithic World

Season 4 Episode 4

Twenty thousand years ago, the world was locked in ice. The glaciers advanced from the poles and mountain ranges, swallowing huge portions of the planet's surface and making the rest colder and drier…

Published on 5 years, 5 months ago

Ancient DNA and the Human Story: Interview with Geneticist Eske Willerslev

Season 4 Episode 3

Ancient DNA is the key that's unlocking the deep history of humanity, allowing us to answer questions about our collective past that we never dreamed of addressing even 20 years ago. Eske Willerslev …

Published on 5 years, 5 months ago

The Ghosts of Archaic Humans

Season 4 Episode 2

Until very recently, Homo sapiens - our species - was only one of several varieties of humans on this planet. As our ancestors spread outward from Africa in their great migration, they encountered th…

Published on 5 years, 5 months ago

Bone, Stone, and Genome: Understanding Humanity's Deep Past

Season 4 Episode 1

Welcome to a new season of Tides of History! Over the next year, we'll be traveling from the very origins of our species through the peopling of the planet, the Ice Age, and then to the beginnings of…

Published on 5 years, 5 months ago

Did I End My Early Modern Series in the Right Place? Interview with Keith Pluymers

Season 3 Episode 58

How do we tell when one period ends and another begins? What are the fundamental characteristics of the early modern period? My dear friend (and friend of the show!) Keith Pluymers, assistant profess…

Published on 5 years, 6 months ago

The Globalization of the Year 1000: Interview with Professor Valerie Hansen

Season 3 Episode 57

Around the year 1000, merchants, explorers, and missionaries linked the world together from Newfoundland to China. Trade goods, people, and above all ideas flowed across a rich assortment of routes, …

Published on 5 years, 6 months ago

Alaric, the Goths, and the Sack of Rome: Interview with Professor Douglas Boin

Season 3 Episode 56

Alaric was one of the most famous barbarians of antiquity, and yet we know little about him - or at least, we knew very little, until Douglas Boin's excellent new book came out. It's entitled Alaric …

Published on 5 years, 6 months ago

John Maynard Keynes and His Legacies: Interview with Author and Journalist Zach Carter

Season 3 Episode 55

John Maynard Keynes was one of the most important figures of the 20th century, creating the economic structures and ideas that defined the Second World War and its aftermath. I spoke with Zach Carter…

Published on 5 years, 7 months ago

Malta, Lepanto, and the End of an Era

Season 3 Episode 54

We reach the epic conclusion of our series on the early modern period with the Great Siege of Malta and the Battle of Lepanto.

Listen ad-free on Wondery+ here

Support us by supporting our sponsors!

See …

Published on 5 years, 7 months ago

The Battle for the Mediterranean

Season 3 Episode 53

For much of the 16th century, the Habsburgs of Spain and the Ottoman Empire waged an epic conflict for control over the Mediterranean. Follow along with two composite characters, a Barbary corsair an…

Published on 5 years, 7 months ago