The Dark Ages Podcast

I wish I could be as sharp and witty as Mr. Bushman. My son shared this with me, and it’s my new favorite. I appreciate the dedication to the history- to the story- to the audience and to the craft of podcasting. It just keeps getting better and I found the Instagram today and now feel like the book has pictures- thank you so much for this wonderful tour of a time and people I knew nothing of. I know I’m going to get it wrong but when you say “Gondor called” I got chills. And my favorite is the one with the letters and the music that your friends helped with. I just listen all the way through- and start over again. I think these prove that life can be barbarous and unexpected, but light will shine through the ages. Many thanks.

Most histories of the Early Medieval Period (Dark Ages is a popular but outdated term) focus solely on "hairy barbarians, bloodthirsty Vikings, and human misery". That's a completely outdated view of a period of history covering almost 700 years, and this podcast does an excellent job of helping dispel that myth. Yes, you will be presented with a dizzying variety of names, tribes, and places. However, Herbert Bushman is able to bring all of this together in a coherent fashion, where you can follow along and understand what is going on. Even better, Bushman also is very careful to let the listener know when what he's saying is well-documented fact, when it's somewhat hazy, and when a lot is left open to conjecture. It's also highly detailed; as of the time I write this, it's still in the Migration Period not long after the "fall of Rome". I look forward to seeing how this podcast evolves in the future!

I’m on episode 18 so just getting started but I enjoy the approach and level of detail provided. Still tough to keep up with the various peoples discussed but this pod is doing the best possible job out there…that I’ve heard at least.

Generally less covered ancient groups, done well with goodly amount of detail. One star off because audio and volume mixing is subpar. (Hard to hear even outside of the shower 😒.) And can’t tell if podcast is still alive as there are no dates indicating when episodes were dropped.