The Bowery Boys: New York City History

love this podcast great history content

I stumbled upon this podcast while hunting for food tours in NYC. Greg and Tom have obviously done their research and bounce expertly off each other. I’m such a fan.

Good historic overviews. Just would be better if (noticing this with Carnegie Hall episode) to *let the guest speak*. The guests know their stuff and know what they’re doing. I understand there is a need to “guide the show”, but there is a level of the hosts “jumping in” that is a bit excessive and heavy handed. Ask a question, trust the guest to be able to handle it, don’t interrupt unless absolutely necessary. Everything else is great.

I never thought I would have to say this, but phrenology was not a science, and to just gloss over and barely mention the racist aspect and application of it is serious historical malpractice. You invited an author onto your podcast, you wanted to be flattering and deferential, I get it, but someone who is actually interested in history would have pushed back and would have done any research before conducting the interview. I was stunned when the episode opened by describing phrenology as a “science” and that its proponents were legitimately trying to figure out how the brain worked. Imagine in a hundred years talking about the birther movement as if it were legitimately trying to ascertain if Obama was born in the United States, because the issue was unclear. Insane.

I came across this podcast when I was digging to learn more about Hell’s Kitchen a little over a year ago. I was lucky to have not only found their episode on HK, but also their hundreds of entertaining and informative episodes on every NYC piece of history you can imagine. Tom and Greg are such incredible storytellers and there’s nothing better than learning from two people who are so passionate about a topic. This is THE NYC history podcast to tune into.