First set of lectures deals with Bubonic Plague as an intro, other topics include Smallpox, Cholera, Malaria, TB, Syphilis, Influenza, AIDS, various medical and public health strategies and advancements (quarantine, innocculation, vaccination, germ theory, sanitation campaigns), medical ethics (the Tuskegee Experiments), and recent pandemic candidates (SARS, avian flu, etc).

Seems like an interesting course thus far. Speaker is a little dry, but knows his stuff for sure, and there are a lot of illustrative examples.

I'm surprised to find these three in a course titled "Epidemics in Western Society Since 1600". Wasn't Bubonic Plague minor after the 14th century, except in India, which isn't "Western"? And cholera and malaria, while present in Western Society, were mostly epidemics of other parts of the world. Finally if it goes back to 1600, how could they miss out the "camp fever" (Typhus) epidemic of the 17th century?

Please give us a summary of unexpected things you learn.

great bubonic plague of London was 1665-66

Death toll was < 1% of that of the Black Death and < 1% of Typhus deaths in 17th century Europe.

Given the course is epidemics in western society since 1600 comparing it to epidemics or pandemics before that time doesn't make a lot of sense. It makes more sense to compare it to other epidemics during that same time period to see whether it warrants being on the course. Given that it wiped out 25% of one of Europe's largest capital cities I don't really have an objection to it being on the course. Also TP did say it dealt with it as an intro which could either be as an example of Europe wide pandemics before the period in question or as a relatively minor epidemic during the period in question.

Which is why I mentioned 17th century typhus. I mentioned the Black Death because that was the significant instance of bubonic plague in Western society.

More like 15%. Still not minor for London, but minor in total deaths compared to other contemporary diseases.

I don't have an objection. I expressed surprise.

Yes, could be either, both or neither.

Wow, great thread! Lots of stuff for me to go through.

Just discovered his podcasts through another thread in this forum, and started listening to one of his free ones. This was one of the questions I had; whether it was worth paying for his others. Is this still true, a few years later? In other words, is there anything else out there now that is close to his quality? I'll probably go through all of his whatever the answer is as I'm enjoying "Kings of Kings" thus far; just trying to prioritize.

I paid for Ghosts of the Ostfront and thought it was well worth it. Have listened to it several times.

Kings of Kings was good, but I'm enjoying Blueprint for Armageddon even more.

I can see myself buying the rest.

Listening to some Early American podcasts now; gone through two suggestions so far:
Mike Duncan covers multiple revolutions in this series; American Revolution is one of them.

While they both cover the same topic, they take a little different approach. Leading up to the revolution, I'd say Mike Duncan focuses a little more on the events, Joanne Freeman more on the mindset of the people. Duncan spends a lot more time on the war itself than Freeman, while Freeman goes a lot deeper into the aftermath, creating the constitution, etc. I enjoy Duncan's style more, found Freeman a little much at times, but that's just a personal preference. It also might have something to do with:

So Duncan's podcasts are well-rehearsed, may have used multiple takes, etc., while Freeman's are a class lecture so are presented differently.

Still, I would say listening to both is quite worthwhile, and I'd listen to both again (and very well might at some point).

Doing this next:

Note for those searching - it's actually Jack Rakove.

Then I'll probably give this a try:

And in the car, I'm in a totally different time and place, listening to Mike Duncan's French Revolution.

Finished the Jack Rakove Colonial and Revolutionary America podcasts, and enjoyed them as well. Very little coverage of the actual revolutionary war, but lots of good discussion of the lead-up and the constitutional wrangling afterwards.

Also tried my first BBC In Our Time podcast - Thomas Paine's Common Sense. Really enjoy that format where he (Melvyn Bragg) has a few historian guests that discuss the topic together, but in a very organized manner. IE they don't jump in or debate; Bragg asks each of them to take up part of the story in turn - I would assume they have it planned out in advance.

Just wish the shows were either organized clearly or more easily searchable!

Holy crap, yes. I'm a masochist, and also don't know the colony period that well, so I've started from the very beginning. Mostly sticks to the facts and events, but every once in a while I feel like I've stepped into an audiobook by Ayn Rand (the parallel probably isn't perfect, but it's what came to mind first). Still, as a beginner in this period, I'm finding it very informative.

Also, listening to Mike Duncan's Revolutions (French at the moment), I was tipped off to the fact that both he and Dan Carlin had contributed to 10 American Presidents (Roifield Brown), and searching for that led me to historypodcasters.com, and...I'm going to be listening to podcasts for years.

So I've listened to a bunch of podcasts since I've last posted in here; I'll have to go back and figure out what I listened to so I can post some feedback. For now, my most recent consumption...

The History of WWII by Ray Harris - listening to this currently in the car. I'm only 25 episodes in so far - yes, I said only, because this series is now at episode 199 and counting. Ray definitely isn't as polished as Dan Carlin or Mike Duncan - I found him a little jarring at first and honestly wasn't certain I would continue. But it's a lot of great content, and I've been able to get past his unusual style.

BBC Radio World War One - Lots of different stuff here, as they've been doing a lot of programming for the WWI centenary, although nothing new since 2015. I started with the Woman's Hour podcasts, which were pretty good. There's a 20 episode WW1 at Home series which was all right, but a little hit and miss for me. They're ~15 minute episodes that each tell 3 very short stories about different ways the war affected Brits, both directly and indirectly. I'm now listening to The War That Changed The World series when I'm out for walks, and these are excellent. They're all 50 minutes, each one is recorded in a different city around the world in a theatre/lecture hall/other venue with a live audience and a panel of (typically) 2 or 3 local historians. Each episode is about a different topic viewed through the lens of the location, and they discuss it in the context of WWI, and how it impacted that area, and the world, through to this day. Really well done; I'm sad to be on the last one.

10 American Presidents by Roifield Brown - listened to these a little while ago. Roifield takes a different approach by bringing in other podcasters that have expertise on each president, some of whom many history podcast listeners will be familiar with. The production style might not be for everyone - lots of long bits of music interspersed throughout the podcasts, for example - but they are well done overall.

I'm now past 50 episodes. Lots of detail in these, which unfortunately is a bit of a downside right now, as I'm finding the blow-by-blow of the Battle of Britain to be a bit dull, but that might be a me thing, because of what I prefer to hear. I *am* looking forward to the detail he'll likely bring to other parts of the war, so I'm willing to slog through this part. Can't bring myself to skip any episodes yet, though. There's usually a few things I get out of even the more tedious (to me) episodes.

I've listened to a few of the "Minds At War" series now, and they didn't interest me much - it's a "Series exploring how great artists and thinkers responded to World War I in individual works of art".

My reading has taken a turn recently to the history of Palestine and Israel, and so I've been scouring for some matching podcasts. Currently really enjoying MartyrMade by Darryl Cooper, specifically Fear & Loathing in the New Jerusalem, a 6 episode series - and they're long episodes, à la Dan Carlin. Quite enjoyed the first one, and I've now started the second. He spends a lot of time painting mental pictures for the audience, pushing you to consider how you would react to the different situations people found themselves in.

If anyone knows of other good Israel/Palestine podcasts, please let me know. Really focusing on what led us to where we are now, looking at the 20th century and back (right to the beginning if possible), but I'm sure I'll eventually also get into more recent events.