Literature and History

An amazing combination of intellectual depth, incredible storytelling, humor, and music. Don’t forget to check out all of the bonus episodes , you won’t regret it. Thank you Doug for all your hard work!

As someone who hasn’t ever been into literature, and frankly not much interest in history, I have been captivated by this podcast. Doug seems like he was put on this earth for this very purpose. Give it a listen, you will be glad you did.

A lot of research effort and deep-delve into less known (to laymen) literary output of chroniclers from early and middle medieval times. Love the transcripts and the quizzes. Hope the series doesn’t stop with Arab and Islamic writings, but is complimented with the weighty Indian medieval literary and philosophical writings.(This omission of Indian material is atavistically Victorian among even today’s western scholars: it’s always Europe, Arab, Persian, skip India, and then on to China.)

So happy to have discovered this podcast. Having heard the first season so far, I think this is going to provide the perfect foundation to support my reading of later literature. It’s reminding me of what I learned about classics a long time ago, and filling in the gaps of what I hadn’t learned. It’s got the perfect balance of literary analysis with historical and cultural context. The tone is lively, and often funny, so it’s always an enjoyable listen. Looking forward to continuing.

Sorry I didn’t realize I hadn’t reviewed this podcast yet. It’s a work of passion and there really isn’t anything like it. If you like literature and/or history pods at least give it a shot. Doug’s very humble, but his historical analysis is really sharp, and his music is great too. I recommend the episodes on the pre Islamic Arabic poets.