I’ve tried, with extensive navel-gazing and very little success, to identify exactly why this podcast has taught me more about American history than any official course I’ve taken. I think it has something to do with how engaging Mark and Malcolm are, and the caliber of guests, and the depth and breadth of topics… but even including all of that, there is some ineffable quality to this podcast that has me hooked. History classes were something I grimly endured as a child, and I was understandably skeptical when a friend recommended this podcast to me. From the first episode, the appreciation of nuance and moral ambiguity drew me in, and I only wish I’d found this sooner! Thank you for this, gents.

The topics are interesting but it’s unlistenable in its current form?

The content on this podcast is excellent and I am especially interested in the LBJ series, but the audio quality is so poor, I’ve stopped listening to it. Both commentators seem extremely well versed in American history and, as an American, I’ve enjoyed listening to the historical events from a non-American perspective, but I can barely hear one commentator while the other one comes through loud and clear and the constant door slamming in the background is really annoying. Hopefully this will soon be rectified because I would love to finish listening to this series!

In a time of irrational stupidity... you are a breath of fresh air .... more shows more often please!!

Two professors from Edinburgh University offer up a wonderful and entertaining look at various subjects in American history. The podcast is not a lecture - but more of a fascinating casual conversation a couple of guys who really know their stuff.

Mark and Malcolm are university professors and know their stuff. These are high-level academic discussion about important topics in American political history. Take, for example, the episode on Obama and Black Americans in politics. Brilliant.

Each episode features an interesting topic from history, The hosts are great and their guest are excellent. Definitely worth listening to.

Nothing wrong with a Scots accent and it's perfectly understandable. A good solid American history show. I liked it on the first try. Recommended.

Coversational history shows like this are really hard to pull off, you have to really know your stuff, and these guys have a tremendous depth of knowledge about American History.

Searching through podcast which go into the new deal, trying to form an opinion after listening to all sides. These guys like the new deal, they tend to say the experts agree with them, yet this seems to be a purely subjective podcast with little objective evidence. The major claim is, USA eventually recovered & Roosevelt saved the bad capitalistic society from collapse by throwing wild ideas at a wall and waited for something to stick. Yet they do not address a fair criticism, that so much of his meddling only extended problems of the great depression. Or passed on burdens from one group to another. They agreed with critics that Roosevelt had many project failures, yet they seemed to just brush these failures off, where other New Deal critics highlight some macroeconomic problems these little failures created. Some failures could have been devastating. This unfortunately does not do justice for the pro new deal cause.

The only thing better than listening to historians talk knowledgeably and intelligently about American history, is listening to SCOTTISH DUDES talk knowledgeably and intelligently about American history. Makes me feel guilty though.....the extent of my knowledge about Scottish history goes not much beyond OUTLANDER and the first HIGHLANDER movie.

Guys with thick Scottish accents talking in a barrel. Content might have been okay, but production so terrible as to be unlistenable.

After flying through every single episode of Dan Carlin's Hardcore History, I was really hungry for more American history, which I know next to nothing about. I went through a few other podcasts but found those to jump around too much and also rely too much on reading. Each of these is an engaging conversation, and it more or less goes in order, so you can build on what you've learned. In the same way that Dan Carlin leans heavily towards military history, these vignettes are more focused on political history, and that gives them some structure.