A Rest Is History Alternative with a Structured Path
You enjoy The Rest Is History but want world history in order, with a beginning, a middle and an end. Here is how a guided path compares.
If you are looking for a Rest Is History podcast alternative, you probably do not want fewer conversations. You want a path: a clear order through world history, so each story lands on top of the last. History9 gives you that in tracks of five-minute lessons. The two work well together, and this page explains how.
What The Rest Is History is and who it suits
The Rest Is History is a conversational history podcast hosted by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook. On its own site it describes episodes on a very wide range of subjects, from Neanderthals and ancient Egypt to the outbreak of the First World War. It also does themed series, and it has live shows, books and a free weekly newsletter.
You can listen in a podcast app or watch the episodes on YouTube. The site has a searchable archive, so you can look up a subject and find an episode on it. A members' club adds weekly bonus episodes, ad-free listening, no waiting for new episodes and a chat community.
The great strength is the talk itself. Two historians talking a subject through together make history feel alive. Their curiosity is catching. If you like an afternoon with clever friends, this is the show for you.
It suits a listener who:
- likes to follow curiosity from one subject to the next;
- enjoys conversation between two historians;
- is happy to wander.
Where a conversation does not give a map
Conversation follows interest. That is its charm, and it is also the limit. One week the show is in ancient Egypt, the next in a twentieth-century election. Each episode is complete and enjoyable, but the order is the order of the hosts' curiosity, not the order of history.
Here is an example. Say you hear a lively episode on the Norman conquest of England. You enjoy it. Then you wonder: who were the Normans before that, and what was happening in the rest of Europe? The episode assumed you knew some of it. A listener who does not know that the Vikings settled in northern France, or that Charlemagne's empire had already split, may feel a small gap under their feet.
A beginner can run into three problems.
No starting point. With a large archive, where do you begin? A searchable archive is helpful if you know what you want, and less so if you do not know what you do not know.
No end point. A podcast keeps going. That is good for fans and unclear for a person who wants to say "I have covered the medieval world."
No check. You hear, you enjoy, and a month later you may not be sure which king came first. Nothing is wrong with the show; listening is simply not studying.
What History9 does instead
History9 is built for a person who wants the order first. World history is cut into tracks of lessons, and each lesson is a five-minute story. The tracks run from the first cities to the twentieth century, and every track is complete on its own.
Take the track this page points to: Charlemagne, Vikings and 1066. It shows how the Franks, the Vikings and the Normans filled the space that Rome left, and its lessons lay out the map of early medieval Europe:
- Charlemagne, crowned emperor on Christmas Day.
- Why the Vikings left Scandinavia.
- Leif Erikson reaches America five centuries before Columbus.
- Alfred the Great and the burnt cakes.
- 1066, and why the Battle of Hastings changed English forever.
Read in that order, the story of 1066 is no longer a surprise. You already know who the Normans came from, why the Vikings sailed, and what Alfred did to keep England English. The lesson on the burnt cakes also tells you how a famous story grew in the retelling and what the evidence for it is. That habit of asking "is it true?" runs through all of the lessons.
Each story ends with one takeaway and a few questions, so you can see what stayed with you. For the whole thousand years in one place, read Medieval Europe for Beginners. To see how History9 sits among the other options, read Best History Apps for Adults.
Side by side
| The Rest Is History | History9 | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Conversation between two historians, audio and video | Illustrated story with a narrator and quiz questions |
| Size of one piece | Full-length podcast episodes | Five minutes |
| Order | Follows the hosts' interests, with themed series | Tracks of lessons in a planned order |
| Tone | Conversational | Warm storytelling, evidence flagged when disputed |
| Best moment to use it | Walks, long journeys, a relaxed hour | Commute, break, a few minutes before bed |
| Checking what you learned | Up to you | Questions after each story |
| Price model | A members' club adds extras | Subscription |
| Language level | Conversational speech | Short sentences, hard terms explained in one line |
Who should pick which
Pick The Rest Is History if you love listening to two smart people think out loud, and you do not mind where the conversation goes.
Pick History9 if you want a guided path, short sessions and a way to check yourself. It also helps if English is not your first language, because the sentences are short and the terms are explained once, in plain words.
Use both if you want the map and the company. A good pattern is to finish a five-minute track, then search the podcast archive for the same period. You will hear the conversation with the background already in place, and the jokes will land better.
Questions people ask
Do I need to know history before I use History9?
No. The tracks are written for curious adults with no background. Terms are explained in one sentence when they first appear.
Does History9 cover the same subjects as the podcast?
Some overlap, because both cover the great turning points of world history. The difference is in the shape: the podcast is a long conversation on a chosen subject, and History9 is a short story in a planned order.
Can I skip around?
Yes. Each track stands alone, so you can start with the one that interests you. Lessons inside a track build on each other, so it works best in order.
Is it better to start with the podcast or the lessons?
If you do not know where to begin, start with a track, because it gives you the map. If you already know the outline, go straight to the podcast for the detail and the debate.
Learn this in five minutes
The Charlemagne, Vikings and 1066 track in History9 has five-minute lessons. They practise placing the Franks, the Vikings and the Normans in order, and explaining how each one shaped medieval Europe.