Weekly Rec: Dan Snow's History Hit

I listened to podcasts a lot several years ago, and then I just sort of stopped for a variety of reasons, and I've only gotten back into it in the past few weeks. (Part of that was finding an app I liked better than the iPhone Podcast app - that might be my Weekly Rec NEXT week.) I don't tend to like a lot of the history podcasts people recommend - I'd rather read a book by a historian than listen to some guy talk about whatever period of history. I just don't absorb facts well that way, and I like to know and vet sources.

But! I do like history podcasts that are more along the lines of a historian talking to other historians about their work and areas of expertise, and Dan Snow's History Hit is a great example of that. He's the son of TV presenter/historian Peter Snow, with whom he did the show Battlefield Britain, which BY THE WAY I also recommend. Dan's own work centers mostly around military history, but he covers a wide range of topics on the podcast, and it's always interesting, even if I think I'm not particularly into a certain subject going in. He's expanded the network to have a few other podcasts, now, too, which I have to check out.

You can see the podcasts and all the rest of Dan Snow's work at the History Hit site - there's now video, too, and a few articles, and promises of a "full site" to come. (Snow's Instagram and Twitter accounts are also fun, especially when he's on research trips.)

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Morning Coffee (12/17/16)

"Prevent Tragedy Before It's Too Late": Read the Statement 1,200 Scholars Just Released About Trump

Ivanka Trump Will Not Fix "Women's Issues"—She Will Distract From Them

ICYMI, here's the Vanity Fair piece that had Trump tweeting against them, because obviously that's something very important for him to be spending his time on. (Spoiler: it's a restaurant review.)

Of course: West Virginia Official Fired for Calling FLOTUS 'Ape in Heels' Is Reinstated

"Feminists’ critique of male power has long been caricatured as hatred of men. But it is feminists whose fight is motivated by the belief that men can be better, if we can make clear that they, too, benefit from a safer, more equal and more just world."

"Trump is taking advantage of a well-established media norm— if the president-elect says something, it’s news."

Good for him: Dan Snow crowdfunds £160,000 to back pro-EU political candidates

I have so many questions about this, starting with - is it REAL? REALLY? Siberian Reality Survival Series ‘Game2: Winter’ To Allow Rape, Murder & More

The Private Heisenberg and the Absent Bomb

William Trevor's Quiet Explosions

This new study may explain why peer review in science often fails

I kept putting this off in favor of more IMPORTANT links but I really want you to see it: A Canadian town is threatening drunk drivers with Nickelback torture

TV Recommendations: Shakespeare's Tomb & Vikings Unearthed

I don't pay as much attention to non-Sunday night PBS programming as I should - I love documentaries, so I don't know what my problem is - but recently two shows caught my eye and I'm very glad they did. They're both documentaries that combine traditional history and archaeology with new investigative methods made possible by SCIENCE!, and they're very well done.

Shakespeare's Tomb, hosted by the great Helen Castor, investigates, well, Shakespeare's tomb, and along with it the circumstances surrounding his death, his will, later rumors and myths about his skull, and more. They do some really incredible 3D scanning of a skull so that they can try to figure out whether it's Shakespeare's without disturbing the site where it was found, as well as tracing air pockets below the Shakespeare family's gravestones in the church floor to determine the configuration of their graves. You can watch it online here or check on demand or local listings - PBS varies a lot by local affiliate.

The second, Vikings Unearthed, was a BBC production aired as an episode of Nova, and it features historian Dan Snow, who you should be following on Twitter/Instagram, along with a bunch of other very interesting historians and archaeologists. They trace Viking expansion west, and specifically use satellite imaging to try to find undiscovered, buried Viking sites - including in North America. It's completely fascinating. Watch here or, again, check on demand or local listings for reruns.