Softcore History

Yasuke was a 16th century African slave that found his way to the far east working for Italian missionaries and became an obsession and friend to one of the most influential warlords in Japan. Yasuke eventually took over as Oda Nobunaga's personal weapon bearer, body guard, and -- many speculate -- earned full samurai status in just 15 months. But did he actually accomplish that fe

Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it, but the Chinese are studying history with the explicit hope that they do, in fact, repeat it. National Security and the Rise and Fall of Great Powers is the Chinese Communist Party's examination of how nations over the last 500 years -- from Spain and Portugal to Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States -- gained and l

From cavemen to Rome to post-Civil War America and the present day, humans have been harvesting and eating oysters for hundreds of thousands of years. Jake, who just got back from working an oyster farm for a week (seriously), details how humans came to eat these little gooey delicacies, the wars we've fought over them, and the myths we've created about how horny they make you.Subs

In celebration of reaching 1,000 reviews on Apple Podcasts, and perhaps in a bit of method podcast hosting, Dan Regester attempts to tell the story of The London Beer Flood of 1814 while flooding his own body with a mixture of Guinness and whiskey. Like the flood itself, Dan's evening ends in disaster. (Maybe come back to this one if this is your first episode.)Subscribe to the Sof

Malcolm Caldwell was a professor at the University of London who loved two things: Communism, and publicly cheerleading Pol Pot's regime in Cambodia. The latter, he insisted, was a beacon of hope for humanity and definitely not killing people by the millions. In 1978, Caldwell was granted an audience with his political and humanitarian hero, but after his meeting with Pol Pot somet

Thomas Midgley Jr. revolutionized the U.S. auto industry in the early 1900s. But, he may have also been responsible for a violent mid-century American crime wave and lowered IQs across the world. Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra history content including listener history questions, history movie watch-alongs, and weekly bonus episodes.Go to G

Hong Xiuquan was the leader of the Taiping Rebellion that killed over 30 million people, the self-proclaimed celestial brother of Jesus Christ, and an inspirational figure to future chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong. He (initally) had the backing of Karl Marx and was a massive thorn in the side of the Qing Dynasty for 14 years after a mental breakdown from failing

The Agapemonites were a Victorian religious cult that checked all the boxes. A leader who thought he was God and also immortal and needed multiple wives? Check, check, and check. A way to separate idiots from their money and possessions? Check. A creepy compound with high walls? Check. But even for a relatively early modern cult Henry Prince and his followers found some fun (see: h

In 1565 both the French and Spanish were competing to establish a colonial presence on Florida's east coast. That competition came to a quick and violent head (you'll see what we did there) and now the site of their confrontation might be the most haunted beach in America.Subscribe to the Softcore History Patreon for hundreds of hours of extra history content including listener his

Unit 684 was a secret group created by the South Korean Air Force in 1968 tasked with assasinating North Korean leader Kim Il Sung. After three brutal years training on a remote island and suffering multiple executions at the hands of their own trainers, the surviving members and former convicts threw a mutiny and hijacked a bus back to Seoul. Subscribe to the Softcore History Patr