Explaining History

Nick Shepley
  • 4.6 (72)
  • HISTORY
  • UPDATED SEMIWEEKLY

The Explaining History Podcast, created and hosted by Nick Shepley, offers a comprehensive exploration of 20th-century history through weekly episodes. For over a decade, this podcast has been providing students and history enthusiasts with in-depth analyses of key events, processes, and debates that shaped the modern world. The podcast covers a wide range of topics within 20th-century history, including: - Major historical events like World Wars I and II, The rise and fall of communism, fascism and imperialism - Political movements and ideologies - Economic developments and crises - Social and cultural changes Episodes typically run for about 25 minutes, offering concise yet informative discussions on specific subjects. The podcast invites listeners to engage with complex historical topics in manageable segments, making it ideal for students and busy history enthusiasts. Expert Insights Nick frequently invites expert guests to contribute their knowledge and perspectives, enriching the podcast with diverse viewpoints and specialized expertise. This approach helps listeners understand the competing debates and interpretations surrounding historical events and processes. Educational Focus The podcast is particularly valuable for students, especially those studying A-level history. It offers targeted content aligned with specific curricula, such as the AQA syllabus for Russian history. This educational focus makes it an excellent supplementary resource for formal history studies. Chronological Approach While the podcast primarily focuses on the 20th century, it adopts a chronological approach to storytelling. This method allows listeners to follow the progression of events and understand how different historical moments are interconnected Engaging Presentation Nick's presentation style combines rigorous historical analysis with an engaging narrative approach. The podcast aims to not only inform but also captivate listeners, making complex historical topics accessible and interesting to a broad audience By offering this mix of comprehensive content, expert insights, and engaging presentation, the Explaining History Podcast serves as a valuable resource for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of 20th-century history. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 3D AGO

    What Plato can teach us about the crises of the 21st Century

    What Plato Can Teach Us About the Crises of the 21st Century — with Professor Angie Hobbs In this special episode of Explaining History, I’m joined by Professor Angie Hobbs to discuss her new book Why Plato Matters Now. Together we explore Plato’s life and thought, and the urgent relevance of his ideas in today’s world. From the dangers of oligarchy and the corruption of language, to the decline of truth, the rise of the demagogue, and the path to tyranny, we trace Plato’s insights into politics, war, and human nature. We also consider Plato’s view of conflict and how, even amidst division, he believed our better selves could prevail. This is a conversation about philosophy as a living guide to confronting the crises of the 21st century. Newsflash: You can find everything Explaining History on Substack, join free hereHelp the podcast to continue bringing you history each week If you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways: If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership here Or You can support the podcast via Patreon here Or you can just say some nice things about it here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    37 min

  2. 3D AGO

    War Reporting in Vietnam

    In this episode of Explaining History, we explore the fraught world of war reporting in Vietnam during the decade before full-scale U.S. involvement. Drawing on Philip Knightley’s classic study The First Casualty, we examine how embedded American correspondents were constrained by censorship, official manipulation, and the Pentagon’s control over information. We also highlight the surprising advantage held by some British reporters, who—operating outside the U.S. military’s embedded framework—were often able to uncover truths their American colleagues could not. Finally, we consider the striking indifference of the U.S. media to Vietnam before 1964, and what this meant for public awareness of America’s growing commitment to the conflict. Newsflash: You can find everything Explaining History on Substack, join free hereHelp the podcast to continue bringing you history each week If you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways: If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership here Or You can support the podcast via Patreon here Or you can just say some nice things about it here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    26 min

  3. AUG 22

    Fascist Yoga: The far right and its intersections with the wellness movement

    In this episode I speak with writer and cultural critic Stewart Home about his new book Fascist Yoga. Our conversation traces the modern origins of yoga and the surprising, often disturbing ways it has intersected with the history of ideas—from early twentieth-century Aryanist fantasies and far-right esotericism to today’s conspiracy-laden online subcultures. We explore how yoga, once reframed and globalised, became entangled in Western intellectual and political currents: the 1920s European far right, occult movements, and fascist appropriations of the body and spirit. Fast-forward to the present, and we discuss how similar patterns resurface in the modern digital landscape, from QAnon to anti-lockdown activism, anti-vaccine movements, and the revival of pseudo-Aryan esoteric mythologies. Newsflash: You can find everything Explaining History on Substack, join free hereHelp the podcast to continue bringing you history each week If you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways: If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership here Or You can support the podcast via Patreon here Or you can just say some nice things about it here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    38 min

  4. AUG 18

    Zionism and Palestine

    In this episode, I draw on My Palestine by Mohammad Tarbush to examine two often-overlooked episodes in the history of Zionism and its global reception. First, we revisit the 1975 United Nations General Assembly vote that declared Zionism a form of racism—an extraordinary moment that sent shockwaves through international diplomacy, reshaped alliances in the Cold War, and left a lasting legacy in debates about race, colonialism, and nationhood. Second, we turn to the influential role of the British press—particularly The Times newspaper—in shaping early public sympathy and legitimacy for the Zionist movement. Through Tarbush’s extracts, we explore how media narratives intertwined with imperial politics, setting the stage for decades of tension over Palestine. This is an episode about words and power: how the framing of an idea—whether in the chamber of the UN or the pages of a newspaper—can reverberate across generations. Newsflash: You can find everything Explaining History on Substack, join free hereHelp the podcast to continue bringing you history each week If you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways: If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership here Or You can support the podcast via Patreon here Or you can just say some nice things about it here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    26 min

  5. AUG 13

    Liberalism and the Global South

    In this episode, I read from Pankaj Mishra’s Bland Fanatics, a searing critique of liberalism and its reception beyond the West. Mishra explores how, across much of the Global South, liberalism is not the triumphant, self-evident good it is often assumed to be in Euro-American discourse, but instead a system bound up with histories of empire, inequality, and cultural dislocation. Through his lens, we examine why the liberal ideal — so celebrated in Western political thought — can appear hollow, or even complicit, when viewed from societies still shaped by colonialism and its aftermath. Newsflash: You can find everything Explaining History on Substack, join free hereHelp the podcast to continue bringing you history each week If you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways: If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership here Or You can support the podcast via Patreon here Or you can just say some nice things about it here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    35 min

  6. AUG 11

    Rentier Capitalism and neo feudalism

    Is modern capitalism beginning to resemble a feudal system? This episode of Explaining History explores the provocative argument, drawn from the work of the late anthropologist David Graeber, that contemporary capitalism has evolved into a new form of feudalism. This episode delves into a lecture by David Graeber, where he contended that modern "rentier capitalism" shares many characteristics with historical feudalism. We'll unpack the distinction he makes between a system based on the extraction of rent and the traditional capitalist model centred on the production of surplus value from labour. Graeber's analysis suggests that wealth is increasingly accumulated not through competitive production, but through the control of assets and the extraction of fees, a system he termed "managerial feudalism." To provide a comparative perspective, the episode will then turn to an analysis of "state-managed capitalism" in the People's Republic of China. We will examine how the Chinese model, often referred to as "party-state capitalism," utilizes state-owned enterprises that monopolize key upstream industries to extract rent from downstream private sectors. Join us as we question the nature of our current economic system. Is the 21st-century global economy moving beyond capitalism as we know it and, in some ways, returning to a pre-capitalist mode of wealth extraction? This episode of Explaining History offers a thought-provoking analysis of the structures that underpin the modern world. Newsflash: You can find everything Explaining History on Substack, join free hereHelp the podcast to continue bringing you history each week If you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways: If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership here Or You can support the podcast via Patreon here Or you can just say some nice things about it here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    27 min

  7. JUL 31

    Nation In Arms: Lessons from Five Armies That Made Europe

    What can the Roman legions of Constantine, the Ottoman forces of Mehmet the Conqueror, and the US Army of World War II teach us about modern military power? In this timely episode of the Explaining History Podcast, I speak with former senior British officer and acclaimed military historian Barney White-Spunner about his forthcoming book Nation In Arms (out 14 August). Drawing from five pivotal armies that helped shape the European continent—the Roman, Ottoman, New Model, Prussian, and American—White-Spunner explores what today's governments must relearn about the organisation, loyalty, and very soul of military power. We unpack why European governments have lost focus on defence since 1989, why the peace dividend is over, and what history urgently demands we remember in an era of renewed conflict. This is a deep and necessary conversation about the nature of armies, the responsibilities of the state, and the timeless lessons of military history. History of European Armies, Barney White-Spunner interview, Nation In Arms book, Military history podcast, Contemporary military threats, Lessons from Roman army, Cromwell’s New Model Army, Ottoman Empire military, Prussian military reform, WWII US Army history, European defense policy, Future of armed forces, Explaining History podcast, Modern warfare and strategy, Decline of European militaries, History podcast, Military history, Geopolitics, European history, Modern warfare, Author interviews, Strategic studies, Defence and security, British military. Newsflash: You can find everything Explaining History on Substack, join free hereHelp the podcast to continue bringing you history each week If you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways: If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership here Or You can support the podcast via Patreon here Or you can just say some nice things about it here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    38 min

  8. JUL 25

    Anglo American rivalries in the Middle East

    At the heart of Britain's war time alliance was a deep wariness at what the outcome of the war would portend. Churchill was desperate for the USA to enter the war and Roosevelt saw the struggle against fascism as vital to America's security, but the US president like Wilson before him imagined a world without European empires. In this episode we examine James Barr's excellent book Lords of the Desert and explore the origins of wartime Anglo American rivalries in the Middle East. Newsflash: You can find everything Explaining History on Substack, join free hereHelp the podcast to continue bringing you history each week If you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways: If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership here Or You can support the podcast via Patreon here Or you can just say some nice things about it here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    29 min
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4.6
out of 5
72 Ratings

About

The Explaining History Podcast, created and hosted by Nick Shepley, offers a comprehensive exploration of 20th-century history through weekly episodes. For over a decade, this podcast has been providing students and history enthusiasts with in-depth analyses of key events, processes, and debates that shaped the modern world. The podcast covers a wide range of topics within 20th-century history, including: - Major historical events like World Wars I and II, The rise and fall of communism, fascism and imperialism - Political movements and ideologies - Economic developments and crises - Social and cultural changes Episodes typically run for about 25 minutes, offering concise yet informative discussions on specific subjects. The podcast invites listeners to engage with complex historical topics in manageable segments, making it ideal for students and busy history enthusiasts. Expert Insights Nick frequently invites expert guests to contribute their knowledge and perspectives, enriching the podcast with diverse viewpoints and specialized expertise. This approach helps listeners understand the competing debates and interpretations surrounding historical events and processes. Educational Focus The podcast is particularly valuable for students, especially those studying A-level history. It offers targeted content aligned with specific curricula, such as the AQA syllabus for Russian history. This educational focus makes it an excellent supplementary resource for formal history studies. Chronological Approach While the podcast primarily focuses on the 20th century, it adopts a chronological approach to storytelling. This method allows listeners to follow the progression of events and understand how different historical moments are interconnected Engaging Presentation Nick's presentation style combines rigorous historical analysis with an engaging narrative approach. The podcast aims to not only inform but also captivate listeners, making complex historical topics accessible and interesting to a broad audience By offering this mix of comprehensive content, expert insights, and engaging presentation, the Explaining History Podcast serves as a valuable resource for anyone looking to deepen their understanding of 20th-century history. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    Nick Shepley
  • Years Active
    2012 - 2025
  • Episodes
    821
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Nick Shepley
  • Show Website
    Explaining History

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