Love the concept of this; The execution isn’t great. Listening to this podcast is like sitting by the overly enthusiastic group of philosophy majors at a community college cafeteria.

I don’t often review podcasts but as a longtime btb fan I was surprised by some of the negativity in the reviews. BTB is not an overly academic history podcast, it is a twice weekly entertaining show giving quick overviews of complex often overlooked topics from history and it never claims to be more than that. They do good work, if you find a topic they don’t cover as thoroughly as you would have liked go learn more about it, that’s the point. Also to the bootlickers on here, hate to break it to you but reality and critical thinking has a left slant, got out of your echo chamber and trust your own eyes and ears.

Informative, entertaining, and just plain good.

The hosts perpetuate the awful they purport to expose through their hateful vitriol and quick judgments. It’s obvious they consider themselves above the rest and perfect. They perpetuate a hateful and awful place degrading the world of podcasting.

On the same spectrum of msnbc/corporate propagandists. Not the most recent iteration or creative example of the propagandists that seek to divide and deceive, who are themselves divided and deceived. If you are looking for an example of quality work, non politicized research, for example, check out In the Shadows of Utopia by Lachlan Peters.

I found this a few weeks ago and started from the beginning, listening on my commute. Well researched, humorous when needed, and now I’m eating all the Spicy Nacho Doritos.

You guys are doing great work! It’s amazing how little is widely known about historical figures and how few resources there are for people to actually learn. It’s functionally illegal to teach kids this stuff in most schools. I don’t agree with Robert’s takes on everything but I’m also an adult who can form my own opinions (looking at you right-wing one-star review trolls). Evans is a better journalist/researcher than most not because he’s unbiased, but because he has the crucial combination of being upfront about his opinions and backing them up with comprehensive research. These reviews are so mean to Sophie. She’s an excellent producer! Sophie: Ignore the haters and pet your dog if you feel bad. Dogs will get us through it all.

Well researched, Robert sounds like a gadfly though and he gets grating. I do listen to it at 1.3x speed, so it could be my fault I find him so annoying, I will never admit fault though. Love Sophie on and off the mic. Seems like the reviewers that don’t like her are greasy piggy little men. Typical. Do an episode on Dov Charney.

That’s all. Just a bunch of leftist shills

She really needs to be quiet, it’s actually really annoying

The amount of whining and crying about illegal immigrants in the very first episode I listened to was crazy. They get partial credit for at least consistently criticizing both parties, but just a wild take that we are somehow mistreating migrants because we don’t take everyone in with open arms.

But she is horrendous on the mike. First, take an improv class, nothing but blocks and denials. Second, Nevermind, just stay off mike.

So awesome to hear Duncan on this platform opening up about his view of our current administration.

I’m binging these podcasts all day while I work, workout, walk my dogs, etc… I love hearing insights into parts of history & historical figures that you normally don’t hear about & I find the hosts & guests extremely entertaining & often insightful. My only complaint & I tried to resist even saying something but sometimes the (producer?) Sophie will interject and sometimes she’ll have something relevant to add but quite often it feels like when your teenage cousin jumps into an adult conversation with all enthusiasm and little to no substance & doesn’t really have much of value to say but wants to be involved… I don’t always mind it but she can be quite aggressive about interrupting & talking over both host & guests at times, and at that point it can get a bit disruptive & distracting

The topics are interesting and Robert has a hilarious sardonic humor; however, he often adheres to sensationalism in a way that ignores reality or alternative perspectives. I would greatly prefer the show if Sophie would stop speaking. She is neither intellectual nor clever and contributes nothing except a grade school level of sarcasm.

I always laugh when Robert refers to himself as an “anarchist”. Robert - you have a truck and a house. You have a podcast that has Ryan Seacrest advertising for Chumba Casino. This is not “anarchy”. Also - you talk about knives & machetes a LOT!!!! A LOT!

Bahh ba baaaa baahhhhh 🌈❤️

It’s a great show, a ton of news stories that aren’t as covered as they should be, but I have a personal issue, I’m fairly sure it might just be me. I find Mia Wong insufferable, the shift between hushed NPR voice and shrill nervous cackle jars me.

It’s hard to overstate how thorough and informative this show is, and how engaging Robert and his wide cast of guests are. #saveSophie

I tried listening to this but after hearing the f-word used completely pointlessly and seemingly random about 10x in the first 30 minutes I gave up. I like using the f-word as much as the next person but it has to make sense. I feel that the hosts are using it not to make a point but simply for the sake of it. Great show otherwise but there’s really no need for swearing this much.

The host himself is kind of annoying, but the woman who interjects from time to time is just infuriating. She adds basically no insight.

And I don’t mean the subject matter. Of course all of them have awful topics. What I can’t bear is the hosts yukking it up over the tragic deaths of astronauts and young children. Unsubbing.

Please stop using female pronouns & nouns to describe violent males. These are not our crimes. Women never act as terrorists the way these men do. It is intellectually dishonest to refer to these guys as “young ladies”. They are NOT ladies, they are men. You can tell by their behavior.

Soy Boy nonsense, TDS and Marxist.

My great grandmothers name was Orpha - pronounced Orfa

Not all podcast make you want to talk back at times to the caster but this one is so engaging that are many of the topics I want to discuss further and dive deeper even though Robert does do extensive research. I don’t always agree with everything presented, nor are all things fully researched from multiple viewpoints, but that is what makes it engaging and in a world where we don’t think critically much more I think this is very important.

A podcast for when I want to learn something new and be a bastard hater.

I love the idea of this show, which is why I subscribed recently after a recommendation from a friend. However, I was shocked by the sheer amount of raucous laughter in an episode about the unnecessary deaths of children undergoing quack autism cures. I understand the intent was to make the mood light, but laughing loudly at a description of how a clinic director herself was making light of the death of a child comes off in doubly-poor taste. Add to that the mispronunciation of the words “chelation” (kee-lay-shun, not chu-lay-shun), and “thimerosal”—each central to the episode—seemed a bit lazy in the era of the internet. Perhaps this episode was an exception to how the show is otherwise produced, so I’ll keep listening, hoping to find reasons to revisit my 3-star rating.

What can I say that hasn’t already been said. Great podcast. Host has a carefully-tuned moral compass. Wickedly interesting. Not only does Robert really read and research, he puts these out like twice a week and they’re always interesting. It should be part of your regular listening.

A young boy is about to die in the telling of this horrific tragedy and the narrator is …. laughing?? Revolting.

hey uhhhhhh robert here…. just here to report on this ultra niche thing you definitely didn’t have a question about but i need to clarify because i will go insane if i don’t love u rob love u sophie

The hosts need to tone it down a bit. Especially the male host. The content is interesting enough, but they ruin it with almost hyperactive commentary and cursing that is unnecessary.

I listen all the time and love most things about this podcast. However, I cannot stress enough just how bad Robert is at pronouncing some words. It’s bordering on felonious. It’s like nails on the chalkboard and it is the most distracting thing ever. In the latest episode he pronounces Chelation as Chill-lay-shun that is hilariously wrong. It’s Kee-lay-shun. He pronounced Laos and Loation wrong. There are so many others that my mind has walled off. Someone, for the love of god, make Robert look up words he only reads.

Robert is a good researcher and writes a nice show. I can tell he is getting better about interrupting and shouting Sophie down (like a boss). I think the guests jokes are funnier when Robert does not immediately repeat them in a slightly different format.

I listened to the first couple of episodes about the Zizians, but I have to stop because Robert’s incessant laughter is so incredibly annoying. Nothing you’re saying is funny dude, and it’s even less funny when you’re laughing at something *you’re *saying. He also can’t stop saying “like” and “right.” As a podcaster, public speaking is your job–please learn how to do it like a pro.

I totally agree that Limbaugh’s negative impact on society is one of the reasons we are in the state we are currently in. A very successful show that preached that Democrats are the devil every day for years and years to his millions of listeners.

Love the show, but why admonish a fellow podcaster. It also sounds as if you’ve not listened to crooked programs. He can be a bit snooty, but is also an accomplished activist. We need as many of those as we can get.

The show is great. Get over yourselves, whiners.

I thought I was ready to keep going down the Zizian hole. Then Rob mentioned Otherkin. Jumpin' Jehoshaphat.

All my homies hate Microsoft copilot

I’m not going to sit here and listen to a woman who undermines men for no reason, as if we owe her something or are guilty just for being men. This kind of in-your-face feminism made the show unbearable for me. I think her name is Bridgette or something.....I’m not sure. Also, the way they talk on the show is exhausting. It feels like they’re in a constant competition to see who can speak the fastest and loudest at the same time.

What in the Orwell is this nonsense?

They look at historical figures without context, spending a great deal of time lamenting why people who lived in a different era had different values than we do. This doesn’t lead to an intelligent or interesting conversation. The podcast makes sweeping generalizations about people based on nationality, and is homophobic, often confusing being gay with pedophilia. Not for me.

Long time introverted fan. Thank you, from the history nerds with roots in both sides of colonialism and slavery. I know no one who gets a mic on the show has roots in Spanish Colonialism (Intended as observation, not a critique. I’m confident your hearts are with the work). The brief callout in the Diego Garcia episode about the bombing of Vieques and Culebra made some of your Boriqua fans thirsty for recognition. I do NOT want to reduce any of the attention on the suffering of other colonized folk. Black and norte indigenous folk have fair claim to a LOT of attention to their oppressions. There is colorism and queerphobia across the Boricua diaspora. I and my nesting partner are very white-presenting and do not experience the treatment others get. I was born into and have the privilege of citizenship on mainland Norte. The mother of my nesting partner (born in Arecibo) does NOT have the same rights my mother (born in Brooklyn) has. Puerto Rico is the oldest colony, the place subjected to the most consecutive years of colonial oppression anywhere in the world. Please hear us and give us a little airtime. Taino and Kalinago language were not a choice I ever had. Even our colonial dialect of Spanish was beaten out of my grandparents, so my mother didn’t even teach me that. All the many mestizo folk like me have is the structures of our colonizer, and the privileges of skin color and and hair that separate me from my cousins. I know the infrastructure is fuzzy, but please…see us, por favor. If you just can’t…I get it. Hard choices. I’ll keep at what I’m doing, and I’ll keep listening. But at some point…let your Boricua fans know you see them. ¡No más colonias!

🇺🇸

Title says it all, I don’t have much interest in it could happen here, particularly not all grouped up together into a giant block. Main episodes are great though. Keep it up.

This is my favorite podcast—especially now in these crazy times. But Robert says “right” too much…he’s way too good to say this often as he does.

I love BTB. I learn AND laugh a lot. Reading these reviews is always hysterical with the exception of Sophie haters… her keeping Robert from completely losing his job is my favorite dynamics of the podcast that always makes me laugh. Sophie is AMAZING, and I particularly love the episodes where she is more in the conversation. I’m always bummed when Sophie isn’t there. The Sophie shade is just misogynistic BS— if you’re mean to Sophie, then you risk becoming the target of my fury . However the “BoO tHiS pOdCaSt HaS a LeFt BiAs”… reviews are hysterically ridiculous….ok… most mainstream media and history is biased to the right. If you want more of the same old whitewashed version of history, this podcast isn’t for you. You are allowed to be boring— The rest of us will be here having fun cursing, atonally screeching, and working on our Boston accents.

Love the show and the other reviewers are dead wrong misogynists for going after Sophie. She’s funny and she brings levity and I’m not sure I’d like the show so much without her

It’s really good