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Hardcore History #5
Meandering Through The Cold War
Dan meanders through a conversation about causes and effects of the Cold War without ever talking much about the actual events of the conflict.
Audiobook
First published November 14, 2006
About the author
Dan Carlin
84 books1,364 followersDan Carlin is an American political commentator, amateur historian, and podcaster. Once a professional radio host, Carlin eventually took his show to the Internet, and he now hosts two popular independent podcasts: Common Sense and Hardcore History. Carlin broke into the television news business in Los Angeles in the late 1980s. He has worked as a television news reporter, an author, a columnist, and for the last dozen years, a radio talk show host. No longer broadcasting on terrestrial radio, Carlin has achieved recognition in internet radio, podcasting, and the blogosphere. Currently, he hosts two popular podcasts, both of which are frequently among the highest-ranked podcasts on review sites such as Podcastalley and iTunes.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 15, 2023
Cold War is the most difficult "event" to cover as a teacher or a storyteller.
1) It's close to 50 years long! That's ten times the length of WW2.
2) It's too close to us, timewise. It's tough to be rational about a historical period when you live in it. Almost every social, economical or political issue in our day either started during the Cold War or was strongly influenced by it.
3) Even though it was "cold", it really wasn't. The only heat that was avoided was one coming from a nuclear detonation, otherwise, every continent felt the heat of a looming or active military conflict.
4) As a conflict between two halves of the world, is it possible to analyze it without rooting for one?
Dan Carlin starts this story with the disclaimer that covering it neutrally or chronologically is impossible and he'd rather meander through it, stopping in places with best stories about different extremes of human experience. Carlin's storytelling is once again terrific, but I'll give it 4/5 stars, for it should have been made into multiple longer episodes.
1) It's close to 50 years long! That's ten times the length of WW2.
2) It's too close to us, timewise. It's tough to be rational about a historical period when you live in it. Almost every social, economical or political issue in our day either started during the Cold War or was strongly influenced by it.
3) Even though it was "cold", it really wasn't. The only heat that was avoided was one coming from a nuclear detonation, otherwise, every continent felt the heat of a looming or active military conflict.
4) As a conflict between two halves of the world, is it possible to analyze it without rooting for one?
Dan Carlin starts this story with the disclaimer that covering it neutrally or chronologically is impossible and he'd rather meander through it, stopping in places with best stories about different extremes of human experience. Carlin's storytelling is once again terrific, but I'll give it 4/5 stars, for it should have been made into multiple longer episodes.
November 21, 2018
Amazing atmosphere in this episode.
"Stalin was the survivor in a mafioso style government where he didn't kill his "competitors" they would have killed him but when a guy like that ends up running a country to expect him to be the kind of world leader that Roosevelt expected him to be during the Yalta conference is naive."
"Stalin was the survivor in a mafioso style government where he didn't kill his "competitors" they would have killed him but when a guy like that ends up running a country to expect him to be the kind of world leader that Roosevelt expected him to be during the Yalta conference is naive."
August 11, 2020
An episode that later echoed in future episodes. It's good, but I've heard it all before in parts of "The Destroyer of Worlds", "Blueprint for Armageddon", "Ghosts of the Ostfront" and "Radical Thoughts".
April 24, 2019
The Cold War greatly influenced the modern world and continues to do so. However since emotional baggage is greatest when analyzing relatively recent events, it is difficult to discuss the Cold war without taking those emotions into account. There needs to be a healthy balance between objectivity and understanding of the emotional side of the subject.
February 24, 2024
This was a fantastic episode that could serve as an index of things I should research if I ever get interested enough to read more about recent history
Combined with the first episode I'm getting a lot of clarity, a lot of food for thought. I will need to re-listen to these two episodes and take notes.
Combined with the first episode I'm getting a lot of clarity, a lot of food for thought. I will need to re-listen to these two episodes and take notes.
December 16, 2020
While it is informative it is clearly not the best from Dan
February 18, 2021
A very superficial look at the events surrounding the cold war.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews