History Impossible

About

History Impossible covers some of the less-known, strange, and supposedly impossible events, people, and ideologies throughout history that are all nonetheless true. The settings and time periods range from the Second World War to ancient Japan to medieval Europe, and many more. The show engages with difficult ideas and impossible decisions that were made by human beings like you or me, always to significant effect. It goes out of its way to grant agency to all of its subjects and does its best to present the most nuanced approach one can, all while acknowledging any personal biases that may exist. You will not find a more honest attempt at presenting difficult and controversial historical topics.

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War for the Frontiers of History and America (w/ Jack Henneman of The History of the Americans)
History is often forged upon the frontiers—both literally and figuratively. That includes the field of history, whose frontiers have become wildly expanded with the advent of podcasting and other forms of content creation. This has certainly created...
Salem Possessed (w/ Sebastian Major of Our Fake History)
It’s unlikely that I’ve undersold the significance of the Salem witchcraft crisis to the development of American history, particularly in the religious and institutional context. But what I always felt somewhat sad about leaving out was the true...
A Storm of Decay: The Salem Witch Trials and the Death of Authority
It might seem a bit gauche to discuss the Salem witchcraft crisis for Halloween, but here it is: the story of the real damage done by the infamous Salem witch trials beyond the deaths of about two dozen people that did not need to occur. The causes of...
The Uncomfortable Truth About Rhetoric to Violence
In the chaotic month that was September 2025, much has been said about the role of rhetoric and violence in the United States; namely how the former causes the latter, or at least how the former and the latter cannot be separated. This came up on the...
A Violent Yet Flammable World (w/ Kristaps Andrejsons & Daniele Bolelli)
In light of the recent killing of conservative pundit Charlie Kirk and the realization among many that the United States is facing a stark rise in the possibility of greater political violence than any other time in its recent history, it became clear...
The Protestant World and Christ's Chinese Brother (w/ Daniele Bolelli)
Hey all, it’s great to be back with all of you. Especially for this special conversation that has been well overdue, especially on the History Impossible feed. I was thrilled to be able to host my friend and mentor Daniele Bolelli of the History on...
A New Great Awakening May Be Nigh
After a slight delay, History Impossible is back with the newest installment of audio adaptations of previous writing and historical scholarship that I’ve done in the past several years or so. In this case, we are looking at a massively overhauled and...
Civilization, Moral Masochism, and Wonders of the Visible World (w/ Brendan O'Neill)
Hello everybody. We have another amazing conversation for you fine people to enjoy, this time a little spicier as far as controversial subjects go. To further expand upon my thoughts on the imperialistic character of Islamism as well as discuss the...
The Unreality of Realism (w/ Zack Twamley of When Diplomacy Fails)
In this newest conversation on History Impossible, I was super-happy to be joined by fellow historical podcaster Zack Twamley, host of the excellent and long-running podcast, https://www.wdfpodcast.com/. Zack and I have mostly crossed paths via our...
The Butler Boomerang: How American Empire Stopped American Fascism
Hello again everyone. We have a new, special episode of History Impossible for all of you in which we examine a less-known moment of American imperialism, as well as the downstream effects it seemed to have during the world’s authoritarian moment of...
A Velvet Jihad
Please note: This episode was made before I learned about https://www.thefp.com/p/how-qatar-bought-america in various parts of the United States (including, apparently, the Oval Office for the mere price of a plane), but honestly, it all just serves...
Trump 2.0: Making America Progressive Again
The question of who President Donald Trump resembled in history is one that has become almost a cliche, mostly thanks to its ideological Rorschach quality, especially during his first term and in the years leading up to his second. This has become far...
Diplomacy on the Eastern Border (w/ Kristaps Andrejsons, Jack Johannson, & Zack Twamley)
I was recently invited to join in a panel discussion with three podcasting greats and people I consider friends—that is, https://theeasternborder.lv/, the https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/secret-police/id1617565614, and...
The Slave Who Would Be a Spy (w/ Isaac Willour)
Slavery is often known as the United States’ original sin, and for good reason. Much of our perceptions of it are informed both by the Civil War’s cause and outcome, and the contradictions—and even moral hypocrisy—that it created with our Founding...
The Spirit of the American West (w/ David McGarry)
The American West (or the “Wild West” as it’s still sometimes known) is arguably one of the defining features of the United States’ history and culture, if not the most defining feature. After all, much of the world has the image of the American...
A Bug in the Software
Hey everyone, happy to present to all of you fine people with a brief bonus, this time adapting my recent historiographical essay that I had written my first semester in graduate school on the study of infectious disease’s effects throughout history...
Mother's Wrath, Mankind's Bargain (The Los Angeles Fires of 2025)
In this episode of History Impossible inaugurating 2025 and the sixth anniversary of the show, we will be looking at the Los Angeles Fires of 2025 but from an extended, historical, and probably overly philosophical lens. Because as it turns out,...
A Revulsion of Feeling: The Arab Revolt and Collective Identity
This is the first installment of something that doesn’t really have a name; the Grad School Files? That sounds a little like a bad Netflix show. I’ll take suggestions, but in the meantime, we can simply define this as it is: the first adaptation of...
The Question of Genocide
This episode of History Impossible is an adaptation of https://historyimpossible.substack.com/p/the-question-of-genocide on the one-year anniversary of October 7th, 2023, examining the interpretation of genocide, as applied to the current war between...
The Original Donald Trump (Throwback Thursday!)
Hello all, hope you are doing well. For a long time, I was skeptical of doing “re-runs” of History Impossible’s earlier episodes. I didn’t think that I had the “right” to do so, or something along those lines. Obviously, that’s a silly way of looking...

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