I just discovered this podcast, and I’m loving it (and also Dr. Lepore’s articles for the New Yorker). This particular episode was fascinating. I’d love to hear the author’s thoughts on the historic roots of the American aversion to “socialized medicine “. Why was Oveta Hobby happy to let children die before she’d let the federal government hand out vaccines? Why do so many people today feel the same way? What are they afraid of?

Great great show. I can’t get enough of it. Hoping for many more years of this show. Absolutely love Jill’s voice, humor and story telling.

who killed truth? ❤️❤️❤️ love that line :)

Leave this podcast with your students and they’ll get a year of history/philosophy/ethics/storytelling lessons, while you marvel behind your desk.A gift to educators.

I’m not prone to stopping everything to write. But this episode hit home. And when the narrator commented on farmers of color, that especially convinced me to comment. Thank you for acknowledging that simple dynamic. My native tribe also was hard hit, forcing the downsizing or elimination of our numerous family farms. And it did cast us to the winds. But as a side note, it also forced so many of us to see what the outside world held. For some, more tribulations. But for others, much success Still, it made me nostalgic.

Jill Lepore has a good ear for the unusual and a great sense for how to get from those little unusual stories to the present. Her episode on encyclopedias is well worth a listen!

Ms. Lepore falls into the same trap many journalists do when they attempt to be “unbiased.” She makes false equivalencies and ignores facts to appear above the fray. As a historian, she should recognize how poorly her attempts will age.

please don’t have this (or other pushkin shows) pop up in my feed until i can actually listen to it. this is a reasonable ask, no? this show is wonderful and i’ve listened and subscribed since the beginning. i’ve re-listened. i’m financially poor. turns out anxious agoraphobic geniuses (so i’m told) are not too hot on the job market. i get to download podcasts where there is accessible internet and listen to them in my tiny, decrepit hovel. when you guys make it seem like there’s a new episode but i can’t listen to it, there is no new episode. so quit lying. ironic.in a bad way. thank you, keyleh

I have 8 newer podcasts than this one but this one is ahead of all of them, even though I have already listened to it. Can’t seem to get rid of it. Guess I’ll have to cancel my subscription. Is that a paid ad or something? Maybe I need a new podcasting app. Too bad. I liked this show.

I love intellectual podcasts from all perspectives and have listened to every episode of The Last Archive and generally enjoyed them. This “Tree Branch” episode was frankly silly and stupid and fantastical in an unrealistic way. My intelligence as a Harvard graduate was insulted. Please do better! The suppositions and magical thinking are off the chart. If only this…if only that…. Pure fantasy and insulting. I will stay subscribed but we will see….

I haven’t even listened yet, and I had to correct some of the reviews. Subscribers get the bonus episodes and EARLY ACCESS to the new episodes. You’re not losing anything if you’ve been listening for free! Think for a second, please. Also, there’s no reason except greed? Do you do your job for free? Most podcasters start out free because they have to build an audience, and they’re honing they’re skills. When it begins to take more effort and time than the can squeeze in, they can either quit or find a way to monetize. It’s not that complicated. Stop expecting constant free entertainment. That’s not a God-given right.

Lapore does a masterful job of presenting her topics. Assuming the subject matter interests you, this podcast can hardly be beat. Lapore’s voice is especially likable. She has a friendly, approachable tone mixed with knowledgeable treatment of the content.

I have enormous respect for Jill Lepore and would happily pay for her writing—in fact I have, frequently. To JMH commentator: we have choices in life and I am happy to pay the people who work hard to bring this podcast to life. You can choose otherwise. Every podcaster gets “paid” in some way. I prefer to pay them explicitly. Thanks Jill and Pushkin for bringing this podcast to life.

Do you have to pay a subscription for these podcast episodes when there are plenty great podcasts out there for free. There’s no explanation for it so I’ll just assume it’s greed.

I really like this podcast. I really REALLY hate that it’s now subscription only

Great work! Live the content and the storytelling style!

I’ve had this podcast in my list for quite a while as Malcolm G. had recommended it and I’m a fan. I finally have the opportunity to listen and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. Just starting season 2. Totally hooked!

The Evening Rocket series is going to the moon! It shows how sci-fi influenced Silicon Valley and Muskism. Muskism is Elon Musk’s brand of capitalism. Jill Lepore is a great narrator and writer.

Absolutely love Malcom and Pushkin but this is way to political. I don’t like dems, and or repubs but that’s why I like Malcom. He doesn’t ever push a stance but this is a joke!

Just WOW. UNFOLLOWING the show now!

This is always a fascinating look into the background of interesting pieces of history at the bouindary betrween history, science, and politics. Always well done.

Love the podcast in general. The Evening Rocker series has been superb, highly recommended.

Podcasters lose me when they slip in their political point of view. regardless of which side you’re on. No thank you. Not what I signed on for. Bye

A wide range here from the marvelous first episode on the blue bottle (and the work of history itself) to this undercooked rocket offshoot.

This is a must-listen for anyone who appreciates history and quality scholarship!

Extreme liberal bias and apparently no self awareness.

This second season was FANTASTIC . The themes and connections between episodes were so more apparent than the first season. Great structure, and great stories! Can’t believe I have never heard of “Axis Sally….” First season seemed a little messy, with some episodes not seeming to fit the narrative. This season however, everything made total sense and everything fit. Congrats on a wonderful season, can wait for season 3!

I love the show but PLEASE, PLEASE have some sort of small gap or indication when an ad is going to start. The topics are heavy sometimes and it’s really creepy to snap from discussing the iron lung to “DO YOU WANT SUPERPOWERS? Zip recruiter…” without even a moment to let the heavy stuff sit. It puts equal weight on the advertisement which is just NOT true. It destroys the tone of the episodes and honestly is really grating as I keep going through the season. Just a “more after the break” would be necessary and would make the experience much more enjoyable.

I enjoyed the first season and looked forward to the second season. I love history but as we move toward the end of season 2 you could feel the focused shift to her need to vent on conservatives and her personal dislike for Rush and Trump. I’m not a fan of these guys at all but I feel a price of the “doubt” puzzle is missing and few guys shaping all of the conservative thought is too simple (Or maybe it can be, i don’t understand how they think). I came for history and instead it got like a lesson in the pearls of giving conservatives technology. It was a good listen through season one; some of two. She brought in experts on things (many of who I looked up and started reading. You can tell she is trying to keep a open mind to the history as it comes; but her bias is to up front and I’m going to have to find a different history podcast to listen to; this podcast did not met it’s learning objective.

…the extreme liberal bias and playing fast and loose with history and facts made it too hard to. Too bad. Pushkin should drop this one.

This show is great the topic is poignant and timeless. Absolutely love it. But there are weird jump cuts and parts that repeat because of them. It only happens with this show I don’t know why. It’s also not an app error. It’s shows it’s playing straight through and was posted that way

I love the two of you (Jill and Malcolm). No need to repeat things. If they don’t get it the first time fucum…

Love this podcast and I cannot wait for the next season!

Although I thought season 1 was slow to start, the goal of each episode is to explain the sentiment of the time with an interesting story of an era. In season 2 the team really hit their stride finding relevant situations in our past to explain the whole story of how our culture and politics ended up where we are now.

As a lover of history I very much enjoy being exposed to the discrepancies in the history I learned in my youth. It’s wonderful that today we are rewriting history to include voices that were deliberately excluded in the past.

Jill Lepore is an excellent storyteller and I mostly enjoyed the first season. But during the second season she went of the rails. She wants to find out "Who Killed Truth," and "Why do we Doubt?". but in the second season her biases were front and center in almost every episode. It's easy to find who killed truth if you start with a set of assumptions that you are unwilling to question. I couldn't get through the last episode of the series, and just cancelled the podcast subscription.

I spent a great deal of time driving as part of my job during the late ‘80s and the ‘90s. “Hush Rush” brought back the sinking feeling I experienced listening to many hours of talk radio. My wife wondered why I put myself through it. But it was hard not to listen to the spectacle of a great swath of people being taken to the cleaners as Limbaugh doled out doses of the cheapest sort of appeasement. What a dead end was ahead!

Jill Lepore provides depth and insight on the origins of disinformation. The presentation is factual and digestible as opposed to a dry university lecture. Thanks and please keep the podcast going.

For a professed historian you are very closed minded and slanted in your view of history! You choose corroborators who share your world view and NEVER seek a descending opinion... What are you afraid of.... being wrong?

Hooray to the 2nd season! Absolutely beautifully done and so well researched - I’m incredibly impressed and thankful for the lens on how we got to this crazy spot we are in now.

A really great show with a great host. Thought provoking and interesting.

The amount of misinformation in this episode meant I couldn’t get all the way through it. When I was young I was a progressive but the more I learned about economics the more right wing I became. I learned that all the economics taught to me in public school was disproved before I was born. I only made it at FEMA for a month because that’s how long it took me to figure out a lot of my job was lying to the public. I became radicalized when the public schools repeatedly told me if my kid wasn’t doing well in school it was because I sucked and there was nothing they could do for me. There is a real reason for anger out there. Shows like yours make it worse.

This entire second season has been incredible, but this last episode was especially powerful and insightful. Great connections between throughlines and blips in history that emerge with the stunning clarity of epiphanies—apt title! Thank you, Dr. Lenore and podcast team.

First season was decent, I felt like it was pretty clean, benign, not leaning right or left. And I found the history fascinating. But this last episode kinda sealed the end for me, mostly because I am an adult now, I remember the things she’s talking about and I don’t remember them the way she’s presented them. I confess it makes me doubt her perspective and interpretation of all the other episodes I’ve listened to. Is it possible that neither right or left is the ultimate enemy? Is it possible that there are conservatives that are good and patriotic and right, AND leftists that are the same? Why does it have to be totally focused on right-wingers when left-wingers have done and are doing THE. SAME. THING. The Last Archive has turned a corner and taken a side…and unfortunately it’s not mine. Miss you Rush 😢

I just listened to episode 3, "The Invisible Lady." It was excellent. Lepore made unexpected and illuminating connections between disparate events, and used them to reach convincing conclusions. Plus, I learned something about my local history when she drew a connection between the 1896 funeral of Louisa Bayard in Wilmington, Delaware, and the legal theory of the right to privacy. But that's also the source of my one, possibly nit-picky, complaint: I've lived in Wilmington all my life, attended Bayard Junior High School for three years, spent some time as an employee of the law firm of Bayard, Handelman & Murdoch. The Bayard name is well known in this state and it's pronounced BY-erd. Not BAY-ard or bay-ARD. I think details like that matter.

Despite being cleverly marketed as a serious and/or unbiased podcast, it’s just another veiled attempt at revisionist history. The host is dishonest, the content is overdramatized, the sound effects are gimmicky, the pace is too slow (almost as if she thinks listeners can’t keep up) and the presentation is bland. There is some good factual information but it’s buried in rhetorical fluff and slanted opinions. This show is NOT earnest, well researched history. More like half-truths and spin. Not worth the time.

It’s nice to know that using your brain is alive and well at Pushkin. Jill Lepore’s The Last Archive is simply fascinating and entertaining. And I feel like I walk away a lot smarter after every episode. And I feel this way with all of the Pushkin podcasts. I’ve turned on so many friends to to the house that Malcolm built. Keep up the great work everyone!

Critical thinking at its best.

Loving this - excellent, compelling stories. More please...

It’s funny how she want to be the provaier of truth and giving her own points of views without much evidence. She does exactly what she is trying to argue against. This show is not thought provoking and and hard to listen to. It is all over the place