167 episodes

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. 

Slate History Slate Podcasts

    • History
    • 3.8 • 436 Ratings

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. 

    John Dickerson’s Navel Gazing: The Meaning Behind All This Navel Gazing

    John Dickerson’s Navel Gazing: The Meaning Behind All This Navel Gazing

    In this week’s essay, John discusses instinct versus obligation, his daughter’s wit, how he has changed since episode one, and more.
     
    Notebook Entries:
    Notebook 58, page 10. September 16, 2021
    “You don’t measure your life the way you measure your writing.” - Nan

    Notebook 75, page 46-47. September 2021
    When your dog dies and son goes to college and you are confronted with your life’s work it all boils down to one alarm: the clock is ticking. If a scream is better than a thesis, I was hearing some kind of scream, but what was the thesis?

    References:
    Everything Is Copy – HBODocs 
     The Power of Regret – Daniel Pink

    The Mezzanine – Nicholson Baker 
    “The Creative Process” – James Baldwin
    Slouching Towards Bethlehem – Joan Didion
    “Three Paths Toward the Meaning of Life” - Arthur Brooks for The Atlantic

    Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.
    Email us at navelgazingpodcast@gmail.com
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 38 min
    Hit Parade: Be My Baby-Baby-Baby Edition Part 2

    Hit Parade: Be My Baby-Baby-Baby Edition Part 2

    Girl groups have long been underestimated—even by the producers and managers who created them.

    For women listeners, girl groups narrated profound emotions and expressed personal freedom—even when the singers were not so free themselves. For male listeners, girl groups provided inspiration, and a way to express matters of the heart.

    And for all listeners across rock and soul history, girl groups pushed music forward. In the ’60s, the Shirelles, Marvelettes, Ronettes and Shangri-Las kept rock afloat between Elvis Presley and the Beatles. In the ’70s and ’80s, girl groups from the Emotions to Exposé rebooted dance music. In the ’90s, En Vogue, TLC and Destiny’s Child fused hip-hop style with old-school soul—and the Spice Girls fired up a new generation through Girl Power.

    Join Chris Molanphy as we shimmy and strut through decades of bops to give girl groups the respect they deserve. You’ll love them tomorrow, because friendship never ends.

    Podcast production by Kevin Bendis.

    Want more Hit Parade? Join Slate Plus to unlock monthly early-access episodes. Plus, you’ll get ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/hitparadeplus to get access wherever you listen.
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 52 min
    Outward: The Trans History of the 1936 Olympics with Michael Waters

    Outward: The Trans History of the 1936 Olympics with Michael Waters

    This week, Bryan dives into the world of sports to talk about the often obscured queer history of the Olympics with writer Michael Waters. Michael’s new book ‘The Other Olympians: Fascism, Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports’ highlights the gripping true stories of pioneering trans and intersex athletes from the 1936 Olympics.
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 34 min
    Slow Burn: Gays Against Briggs - Ep. 2: Defend Our Children

    Slow Burn: Gays Against Briggs - Ep. 2: Defend Our Children

    In 1977, John Briggs was a small-time state senator with big dreams. But Briggs’ plan to ban gay and lesbian teachers from California schools changed the arc of his life and career. Suddenly, he was a right-wing hero, and a villain of the gay rights movement. And his message seemed to be catching on all over the country.

    Season 9 of Slow Burn was written and produced by Christina Cauterucci. Slow Burn is produced by Kelly Jones, Joel Meyer, and Sophie Summergrad. 

    Josh Levin is the editorial director of Slow Burn.

    Derek John is Slate’s executive producer of narrative podcasts.

    Susan Matthews is Slate’s executive editor.

    Merritt Jacob is our senior technical director. We had engineering help from Patrick Fort and Madeline Ducharme.

    Our theme music is composed by Alexis Cuadrado. Artwork by Ivylise Simones, based on an image of Silvana Nova and a poster designed by Larry Hermsen and the Too Much Graphics Collective.
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 53 min
    John Dickerson’s Navel Gazing: Time Travel Via an Assortment of Journal Entries

    John Dickerson’s Navel Gazing: Time Travel Via an Assortment of Journal Entries

    In this week’s essay, John discusses Mothers’s Day, playing tennis with the Attorney General, medical scares, and more
     
    Notebook Entries:
    Notebook 19, page 16. April 2011
    Is it possible, through applied thought, to become systematic in an approach to life? If you were to do that how would you proceed? 

    Notebook 16, page 6. July 26, 2005
    “I’m here with a bunch of midshipmen and wondering what there is to do around here.” - Boy trying to hit on a girl working @ The Reef in Castine, ME.

    Notebook 15, page 30. September 2004
    Head problems:
    Sunday 9/5 morning
    Tuesday 9/7 evening
    Wednesday 9/8 before lunch

    Notebook 22, page 22. April 24, 2014
    Question: 
    What did you want to be when you were a kid? 

    What do you want to be now?

    Why the difference?


    Notebook 9. 1995
    “That’s just the ticket the doctor ordered”

    Notebook 13. 2001
    “Free as a clam”

    Notebook 17, page 67. December 2006
    The man sitting next to me has a face on the boil and garlic and old booze on his breath. When he sleeps, he sighs. For this leg of the flight I am wrapped in his breathy gumbo.

    Notebook 15, page 7. April 2004
    “In all these there are messages for those who use their reason.” - Quran quotation

    Notebook 15, page 80. 2005
    Would like to meet her.

    Notebook 54. July 26, 2020
    “Writing requires a reader. You can’t do it alone.” - John Cheever

    Notebook 15, page 71. 2005
    In the light of sobriety not sure what this means

    Notebook 13. March 2001
    Yesterday I played tennis with John Ashcroft the atty. general of the U.S.

    Notebook 13, page 108. December 11, 2001
    Anne just called. There is one little heartbeat beating in her today. Everything is okay for this hurdle. I must say, I was really worried.

    Notebook 20, page 10. December 24, 2013
    “Sometimes Dad says weird stuff, just ignore him” - Anne to kids about me

    Notebook 15, page 84.
    “Life goes on,” Hayawi says. “We are in the middle of a war [in Iraq] and we still smoke the water pipe.”

    Notebook 45, page 24. April 16, 2019
    Our savior lives by the manner in which we live.

    Notebook 19, page 23. 2011
    People on their mobile phones in England say goodbye a lot: “Cheers, alright then, speak to you soon, ta.” (That’s four ways of saying goodbye). Amelia tells the story of a man who thanked a ticket-taker by saying “Ta, magical, cheers.”

    References:
    Disaster on the Penobscot - John Henry Fay for Naval History Magazine
    One Man’s Meat by E.B. White
    The House at Allen Cove I E.B. White House Tour - New England Magazine
    Little Plastic Castle - Ani Defranco
    “Two Years of War: Taking Stock” - Anthony Shadid for the Washington Post
     
    Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.
    Email us at navelgazingpodcast@gmail.com
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 29 min
    Outward: Behind the Scenes of ‘Gays Against Briggs’ with Christina Cauterucci

    Outward: Behind the Scenes of ‘Gays Against Briggs’ with Christina Cauterucci

    This week Christina Cauterucci returns to Outward to talk with Bryan about her experience making ‘Slow Burn: Gays Against Briggs’ and diving into one of the most consequential civil rights battles in American history: the first-ever statewide vote on gay rights.
    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    • 41 min

Customer Reviews

3.8 out of 5
436 Ratings

436 Ratings

Himnish Jindal ,

Good but random laughing

It is a good show but I am confused why they are randomly laughing when discussing such a serious topic

Joe's View ,

Too many commercials

Feels like cable news in terms of the interruptions for ads. At least none of them seem to be for prescription drugs!

John G. Adam ,

Lousy content

Slate is now a right wing race-fixated media. Slate downplays slavery and its harm and repercussions today. Slate ignores the plight of transkids.

Top Podcasts In History

The Rest Is History
Goalhanger Podcasts
Everything Everywhere Daily
Gary Arndt | Glassbox Media
The Big Dig
GBH
American Scandal
Wondery
Paul Giamatti’s CHINWAG with Stephen Asma
Treefort Media & Touchy Feely Films
You're Wrong About
Sarah Marshall

You Might Also Like

Throughline
NPR
Code Switch
NPR
1619
The New York Times
On the Media
WNYC Studios
The Weeds
Vox
Fresh Air
NPR

More by Slate Magazine

Slow Burn
Slate Podcasts
Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts
Slate Podcasts
What Next | Daily News and Analysis
Slate Podcasts
Decoder Ring
Slate Podcasts
Political Gabfest
Slate Podcasts
One Year
Slate Podcasts