History Impossible
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...
Episodes
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 Hi…
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 ove…
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 dis…
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, When Diplomacy Fails. Zack and I have mostly crossed paths via ou…
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 …
A Velvet Jihad
Please note: This episode was made before I learned about the influence of Qatar 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 to help confirm …
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…
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, The Eastern Border’s Kristaps Andrejsons, the Secret Police podcast’s Jack Johannson, and When Diplomacy Fails podcast’…
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 F…
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 Ame…
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 throughou…
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…
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 adapt…
The Question of Genocide
This episode of History Impossible is an adaptation of the historical polemic I wrote on the one-year anniversary of October 7th, 2023, examining the interpretation of genocide, as applied to the current war between Hamas and Israel, and to…
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 o…
Revisionism and Misplaced Empathy: The Darryl Cooper - Tucker Carlson Situation
I have, for many years, recommended Darryl Cooper’s hit podcast Martyr Made to the relative handful of people kind enough to listen to my own show and read my thoughts on various publications, including my own Substack. And not to fully bur…
The Elites Who Would Play God (w/ CJ Killmer of Dangerous History)
In this newest special episode of History Impossible, I sat down to discuss a super-light topic, one not fraught with intense controversy and tragedy, with my long time friend and podcasting comrade, CJ Killmer, of the Dangerous History Pod…
The Yasuke Conspiracy (w/ Sebastian Major of Our Fake History)
To say historians can be pedantic is like saying water is wet. To say gamers and gaming commentators can be pedantic is yet somehow even more of an obvious understatement. So what happens when these two communities clash and/or blend? You g…
Why Hajj Amin Matters
The following is the audio version of the recent essay addendum to the most recent episode of History Impossible, “The German Voice of Islam.” Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read and listen and, when at all possible, suppor…
The Muslim Nazis: The German Voice of Islam
The Third Reich’s so-called war on the Jews was not one that they fought alone.In fact, their war had been being fought for decades before Hitler even took power, perhaps even a full generation. The fight began in the late 19th century in J…
Assassinations and Stoic Optimism (w/ The Eastern Border)
Considering what happened…some thoughts needed to be shared. I’m already working on something for the Substack, and believe it or not, the next episode of the “Muslim Nazis” will actually be up and available for paid supporters of the show …
Questioning Anti-Zionism, Colonizing Gaza, and Revealing Lenin (w/ David Josef Volodsko)
For this next special installment of History Impossible, we’re joined by the journalist, writer, and fellow podcaster David Josef Volodsko, one of the most well-traveled individuals I’ve ever had the pleasure of speaking to (both in and out…
The Oddsmakers of Armageddon (w/ Benjamin Teitelbaum)
“When a cycle of civilization is reaching its end, it is difficult to achieve anything by resisting it and by directly opposing the forces in motion. The current is too strong; one would be overwhelmed. The essential thing is to not let one…
The Soviet Who Saved the World (w/ The Eastern Border)
In this special conversational episode of History Impossible, we’re joined again by friend of the show and friend of mine, Kristaps Andrejsons of The Eastern Border podcast (which will also host this conversation on its feed!), who was kind…
Oppenheimer and the Nuclear Question
Hey all, I hope you’re doing well.I have for all of you the audio adaptation of the essay I wrote last year in response to my seeing the magisterial Oppenheimer, and given its newly Oscar-anointed status, I figured now would be the best tim…
Closing the Holocaust Knowledge Gap
Hey everyone. The following is an ad-free bonus audio essay that follows up on the recent conversation I had with the History Underground's J.D. Huitt, where I make some corrections and then provide some deeper context to my thinking about …
The Holocaust Knowledge Gap w/ The History Underground
In this newest special installment of History Impossible, we’re joined by long-time friend of the podcast and friend of mine, J.D. Huitt, the man behind the incredible History Underground channel over on YouTube, probably one of the best hi…
The Perfect Tie: The Election of 1876 (w/ Richard Lim of This American President)
“I scarcely ever passed a week under such depression of spirits. […] It is terrible to see the extent to which all classes go in their determination to win. Conscience offers no restraint; nothing is so common as the resort to perjury unles…
Balkan Inferno: The Bosnian Dream
Sometimes, the best way to understand everything a people have gone through is to understand a dream.This is how many nations frame themselves and their own origins. No matter the context, there is always truth in the idea that before there…
Pogroms and Students
Hey everybody. Now that I’ve finished up the notes and script for the conclusion of the “Balkan Inferno” trilogy (which will lead us right back into the thick of the “Muslim Nazis” series), I’m hard at work putting all of that together. In …
The Greatest Blunder in Palestinian History w/ Oren Kessler
The recent Substack post and episode of History Impossible about the significant three root historical causes of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict has largely been well-received. What I didn’t expect is that one of the main sources I used fo…
Israel, Gaza, and Three Root Causes
When you talk about history for a living, the contemporary world often has opportunities to make your knowledge more relevant. What knowledge actually possessed here about Israel and Palestine is likely more limited than some, I'd like to t…
Affirmative Action and the Making of a Token
This is a bonus episode (a bit bigger than one might expect) that adapts and, more importantly expands, an essay I wrote for my friend and editor Jamie on his American Dreaming Substack. I seriously need to thank him for letting me write so…
Is The Holocaust Unique?
Hey all. This is an adaptation/audio version of an essay I recently wrote for my friend and editor Jamie Paul’s American Dreaming Substack, in which I examine the uniqueness of the Holocaust as both a genocide and historical event. If you l…
Balkan Inferno: The Heritage of Horror
CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains persistent graphic genocide violence and cruelty, especially in its first 75 minutes. Listener discretion is advised.In this part of the ongoing Balkan prelude to our return to the "Muslim Nazis" serie…
Balkan Inferno: The Yugoslav Vortex
“[B]y strange contrast, which in fact isn't so strange, and could perhaps be easily explained by careful analysis, it can also be said that there are a few countries with such firm belief, elevated strength of character, so much tenderness …
Pandemic Addendum: Gutenberg GPT
Hello ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends! I'm here with another miniature episode for your listening pleasure, adapted from a recent essay I wrote over on the History Impossible Substack, which you can go check…
Rags: The Pure-Hearted Mutt of the Great War
Dogs have been man’s best friend for millennia, so it stands to reason that man’s best friend will follow man into the depths of hell, that is, war. This wasn’t simply to rip and tear the throats of man’s enemies (though that certainly woul…
The First Woke President
In this newest episode of History Impossible, I was joined by my friend, comrade, and frequent collaborator CJ Killmer, host of the Dangerous History Podcast, primarily to dive deep into the question of one of America's most underrated vill…
Pandemic: A Plague Coda
While there is plenty to say about how a pandemic affects us while we’re in the middle of it, there is just as much, if not more, to say about how a pandemic affects us when it ends.As of May of 2023, over three years have passed since the …