Best history podcast

I love history, I love history podcasts, I love history presented in an new interesting way. But not this way. They sound too much like Valley Girls by way of Austrailia? England?? Neither?? Giggle. But these 2 hosts constantly speak over each other, halt their speech, then speak over each other again. Are they not in the same room recording this? becuase it certainly sounds like it!! Too much laughting at not jokes, too many side bars/tangents. Their history is thin on details, felt like they were just reading the Wikipedia page. Not very deep.

Sorry, but this sounds like two sophomore university students discussing the world from the point of view of 20 year olds. Sometimes it's amusing, but don't rely on this for factual information. There are way too many blatant errors and the podcasters definitely exhibit a serious level of anti-American, anti-western bias. Lord, I hope that nobody actually relies on them for a valid view of history.

Some interesting topics - unfortunately the filler words make their conversations genuinely hard to follow.

Pros: Wide range of topics, amusingly breezy synopses of various historical moments, lots of personal asides but they blend pretty well with the flow of the show. The podcast avoids droning academic recitations of historical events and keeps things engaging. Cons: Some glaring factual inaccuracies, and a weird vibe between the hosts. Emma, the historian, has a lot of…self-regard? She’s subtly condescending to her non-historian partner, and over time this becomes quite grating. A PhD does not mean you are automatically smarter—and I say this as someone with a PhD. Sometimes I felt badly for her co-host. Additionally, they’re both very much of a Skeptical Inquirer bent; anyone across time and culture who doesn’t subscribe to a scientific materialist worldview is skewered as a complete moron. This probably resonates with a lot of people, but the meanness doesn’t add to the show. Finally, hearing Emma declare that disabled dogs should just be euthanized sent me over the edge. (She was specifically wanting to euthanize all overbred Frenchies, although I’m assuming this stance would apply to other dogs with disabilities.) I understand she says stuff like this for shock value, but…meh. I’ve listened to about 35 episodes (not in order) and although there is good pacing and some genuinely informative and funny moments, the ick factor with this show is just too high.

🩷 these gals and the content! I’d give 5 stars, but the “ummm,” makes it difficult to binge.

Straight up - don’t listen to this at work! Even with a headset on because I’m so busy trying not to burst out laughing. This is the way history should be told - with a great sense of humor, an eye for the ridiculousness of human nature and lots of historical analysis. Love it!

… where can you find both? Humorous and yet very good about sharing important info. Love it.

Amazing hosts, really fun and relaxing history podcast with interesting topics. Began listening after reading “A fatal thing happened on the way to the forum,” by Dr. Emma Southon (one of the hosts) and have found it is a similarly refreshing and entertaining take on history. Highly recommend!

Love the personality of the hosts! Great fun!

I’m late to the show, but History of Sexy quickly became one of my favorite podcasts!

A great podcast, covering interesting historical topics with humor and insight. And Emma’s books rock.

I love this show and would give it five stars except that one of the hosts says “um” every five to ten words. My husband pointed it out in the car today and once you notice it it’s impossible not to hear!

I am a history buff but so often it’s men droning on and on about things that could be fascinating but somehow get dulled based off how they are presented. The hosts talk about these topics in an exciting and relevant way. They also assume the audience are history buffs and so they keep it appropriately academic thus presenting the information in an engaging and critical way.

Couldn’t recommend this podcast highly enough! Engaging, skeptical, and informative. Many thanks!

Love it!

Sex me

I love this podcast, I love the hosts, I love it all. I even bought all their books and I love those too! NEVER STOP.

I absolutely love this podcast, I listen to it almost everyday! I’m currently listening to the whole podcast over again, I play reruns in the background while I clean it’s that interesting! Their banter is great and funny. They make history fun and sexy! Definitely a recommend to people interested in history!

How prevalent was gas lighting before electricity became the norm? Were regular folks just lighting candles like the old days? I was saving my 5-star review for when I thought of a question that I truly couldn't be bothered to research myself. Excellent podcast, big fan of the subtitle of the show: "well actually, it's a lot more complicated than that". 100% recommend!

These ladies take an interesting topic and talk for an hour, presenting less depth than you’d find even on Wikipedia. Only one host presents real information and it could be condensed to 20 minutes; the rest of the hour is off-topic chit-chat and irrelevant comments by the second gal. Not interesting and definitely not “sexy”.

I’m only two episodes in but I’m already hooked. I was surprisingly delighted when you mentioned the Pliny the Elder beer in the first episode because that’s made in my home town! So funny. Anyways, loving this so far. Can’t wait to binge this podcast further while social distancing and surviving covid-19.

These gals have such great topics and manage to snatch defeat from jaws of victory. They wander off topic and tackle topics without adequate preparation.... it’s so disappointing.

Emma and Janina makes boring history so interesting to listen! Emma is very good at citing actual evidence for the things she talks about yet still make them sexy. ’ve exhausted all the episodes in about two weeks while listening on my commute. I feel I’ve learned so much about so many different subjects.

Emma and Janina are a delight to listen to. They tell it like it is, the good and the bad, serious interspersed with some absolute Laugh Out Loud moments. Respectful, and yet often more than a little irreverent, they make every subject they tackle truly interesting to listen to. Bonus points for their judicious and unapologetic use of swear words when called for ;)

Beside the fact that these women have a very obvious anti-American and anti skeptical bias (puncuated by their tendency to lump all Americans as the same), they spout way too many opinions as fact. What is further upsetting is that many of their "facts" have been, previously, debunked and shown to be simply a product of a specific point of view, without reference to verifiable sources. Frankly, I'm not sure how Emma got past her oral defence of a PhD thesis. OTOH, if you have a very good grounding in history and can get past a desire to vomit, each episode (so far, I've struggled through about 20) provides one or two interesting gems.

Very engaging and fun show! Keep it up!!

With their accents, their knowledge, and their wit, Emma and Janina never fail to delight me.

These ladies... a. Have delightful voices B. Don’t simply rehash the Wikipedia page on the topic being discussed C. Make me laugh and keep me distracted while cleaning the house Thank you two! I love your show!!! Rachel

A podcast hosted by one trained historian and a novice. With so many well-informed historical podcasts available, I would not recommend this for those with a serious interest. However, for those who have a mere passing interest in historical subjects and enjoy light banter between two female friends (with the expected biases) perhaps this is worth a try. Personally I don’t appreciate having to listen to 5 to 10 minutes of banter before the subject matter begins. Like many listeners, I subscribe to numerous podcasts so prefer those that respect its listeners time.

I love this podcast so much! Emma and Janina are both so smart and funny! I learn so much from them! This is one of my favorite podcasts to listen to during long days at work...I feel like I'm hanging out with my super cool, incredibly intelligent friends!

Smart, well-informed, and fun, these Aussie hosts are at home in their field here. It is much more of a conversation, with laughter and authenticity, than your typical lecture-like history show. This is a good one to enjoy over a pint.

Great chemistry, content, knowledge, perspectives, and sense of humor!

I listen to a lot of podcasts and I stopped subscribing as I found I would have so many not listened to episodes that I would just end up mass deleting them. I also like being able to choose individual episodes as even some of my fav podcasts have some really rubbish offerings from time to tine. On the other hand I stumbled across History is Sexy right after the 9th episode was released and I immediately binged listened to all of them while painting 2 rooms in our apartment. I hit the subscribe button right after episode 4, love those anti-popes, and have been rewarded with the music episode, which is fn amazballs, best offering yet. Thank you Emma and Janina for an intelligent, adult, and highly entertaining look at history! Anna from episode 10 is full bore & kick arse, fantastic first guest. I also have to agree that harpsichords are bloody rubbish, sound like bastard offspring of a cheap synthesizer, bagpipes and the 3am wailings of a soon to be fixed tomcat! All the best, Aussiearn, Mill Valley, California. Yes I am an Aussie, now leaving in the states, although I lived in the South Island of New Zealand (Christchurch, Dunedin, Invercargill) for 6 years 😀 My pick for a topic: what are some of the biggest natural/ man made disasters in history and there impact on the rise and fall of civilizations. What could the world looked like today if some of these civilizations had not fallen.