Instead of soccer - the rest is history

December 17, 2022 3:10 PM

For the last couple of years, Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook, British historians, writers and broadcasters, have run a chatty and informative two-hander podcast The Rest is History: or wherever you get your podcasts . They are nearly 300 episodes (each 25-50 mins) in: "interrogating the past, and attempting to de-tangle the present". As Qatar approached, they agreed to have a conversation about each of the 32 finalists. Their choices are idiosyncratic: Ecuador gets a chunk on the Galapagos and Darwin's Finches. For non-scientists they make quite a good fist of explaining the story and its importance. Denmark: The Great Escape . . . of 99% of Danish Jews in 1943.

285. Canada: Beaver Wars
282. Morocco: The Rif War
281. Spain: The Caliphate of Córdoba
280. Serbia: The Birthplace of Civilisation
279. Cameroon: The Slave General of Peter the Great
278. France: The Mystery of Le Prince
277. Japan: Samurai and Shoguns
276. Netherlands: Schoonmaken & The Maid of Holland
275. Argentina: The Welsh Colony
274. Switzerland: Calvin's Cancel Culture
273. Portugal: The Carnation Revolution: may be a useful follow-on from chavenet's yest post about the Colonial Wars.
If your favorite country was playing soccer in Qatar, you might guess-before-peeking what snippet is uppermost in Tom and Dominic's mind about that nation this month.

posted by BobTheScientist (2 comments total)

These two are a hoot; the Costa Rica ("Kahstuh Reeker") one is outstanding.
posted by riverlife at 12:03 AM on December 18, 2022

Looking forward to digging into these. Tom Holland's Rubicon is a great read.
posted by HumanComplex at 7:02 AM on December 19, 2022