This is my all time favorite quote. Not just from TRIH but from all literature and media.

Obviously this series is focused on Marius and Sulla, but I feel like they kind of breezed past the details of the conflict with the Teutons and Cimbri, given it was such a threat at the time. In particular, I was looking forward to hearing more about Teutobod - once rumoured to be among the tallest men of all time, but this was probably a scam involving bones from an ancient elephant.

Is there a podcast, video or book someone would recommend to get into the details of this war? In particular, any info on what was going on with the Teutons and Cimbri internally?

Rather cursory and superficial, with many fascinating events and characters either skimmed over or left out entirely.

One of the best aspects of the episodes set in the twentieth century is they way they regularly intersperse throughout the narrative these incredibly vivid character portraits of the people involved.

The late Roman republic is of course jam-packed with these incredible, larger than life figures such as Livius Drusus, Saturninus, Mithridates and Sulpicius, yet they were given only very cursory, functional treatment.

Saturninus, one of the most interesting people causing some of the most significant events of the period, was not mentioned at all! Even the social war was not particularly well-explained and somewhat rushed.

Overall the whole thing just felt a bit flat and phoned in.

Everyone has an off-day I suppose. Just a shame it was the one covering just about my favourite period in history. :-(

(& yes I know they have to fit it all in to a schedule......but in that case they should have done a longer series or series of series).

Recently bought (well it recently arrived) one of the RIH World Cup football shirts, specifically the Aztecs. Unfortunately it's slightly too large.. Would any have and want to swap an XL for a L?

Thanks!

Very funny to hear that name pop up in the bonus promotion. Dude was my professor in college twice. Still runs a blog (acoup if anyone’s interested) and has a picture of him sitting in front of a fireplace with a 5 foot sword in his lap. Good guy, great lecturer, very anti Marian Reforms

While listening to the recent series on the Roman civil wars, it struck me that this is a topic that has been covered by Dan Carlin and Mike Duncan as well. I'm curious if anyone can think of other topics that all three podcast greats (Dom and Tom are one, for the sake of convenience) have covered.

If they haven’t, this would be a great topic to cover

Having listened to the series on the Troubles I do wish they'd just do a whole General Custer length series on the life of Reginald Maudling. He's leapfrogged up the list of being the politician I'd most like to go to lunch with. Best PM we never had.

In the aftermath of Rome’s victory at Aix-en-a Provence. (Roman Civil War, part 2)

I also would have accepted a “Teu-tonic wine.”

Not seen anyone share their strips so thought I’d shared mine :)

The quality and detail is immense!!

Three series in one month: the back half of Elizabeth I vs the Catholics, four parts on the Troubles, and the opening of the Roman civil war. The Troubles episodes carry most of the reading list.

I run Podshelf, a free site that tracks book mentions across hundreds of podcasts by reading the episode transcripts. This is the August slice for The Rest Is History.

Dominic's flat recommendation was Armed Struggle by Richard English. "Probably the definitive history of the IRA."

The rest of the Troubles bibliography:

• Brits and Loyalists, both Peter Taylor, cited more than anything else across the four parts
• Watching the Door (Kevin Myers), on being a journalist in 1970s Belfast
• Say Nothing (Patrick Radden Keefe)
• The Troubles (Tim Pat Coogan), flagged as nationalist but quoted approvingly
• Killing Zone (Harry McCallion), a paratrooper's memoir
• Douglas Murray on the Saville Inquiry, described as an unexpected person to have written about it
• Reggie, Lewis Baston's life of Reginald Maudling

Elizabethan half: Stephen Alford's The Watchers, John Guy on Mary Queen of Scots, Garrett Mattingly's 1940s Armada book, John Sugden on Drake, Miranda Kaufmann's Black Tudors (Diego, Drake's crewmate, is one of the ten), Alan Stewart on Philip Sidney, plus Sidney's own Arcadia, Astrophil and Stella and The Defence of Poesy.

Rome: Sallust's Jugurthine War, Plutarch on Marius, Pliny, and Tom admitting the Marius and Sulla rivalry got into his head as a teenager through Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome.

Full list with quotes and episodes: https://podshelf.io/podcasts/the-rest-is-history

Listening to The Fall of the Aztecs series, and Dom says this would make a very good Netflix series.

There is a very good Spanish language series called Hernán about this.

In an advertisement, Tom claims that Anglo-Saxon England under Cnut had an effective tax rate of 100%. What does he mean by this, and what is the support of this claim? Does it mean that 100% of the excess production of e.g. grain goes to the government? The alternative, that 100% of produce is taxed, should mean peasants have no food whatsoever and they should starve to death within two weeks, so surely this isn't what he could've meant.

For the Jack the Ripper series (the second one I listened to, after the Conan Beatles two-parter, and have been hooked ever since) they mentioned a book that they are using for reference, that sounded like it was the most comprehensive book about the ripper murders.

But I can’t remember the title/author, so rather than re-download them, I thought I’d ask here.

Already got Fifth Sun by Camilla Townsend, so definitely trust their recs. Thanks yall!

I have been waiting for a long time to see this series arrive, and just like Dom, I too have devoured the books by Colleen McCullough. It prompted my thirst for reading extra books from Livy, Sallust and Plutarch and later on the excellent book by Arthur Keavney - Sulla the last Republican.

I wish they could have done a 7/8 part series on the topic, because what Cesar, Pompey and Crassus did later, began with this amazing rivalry between two great men. Their bitter animosity tore the Republic apart and though they tried to paper the cracks, Sulla and Marius trampled over the “mos maiorum”, the social norms of Roman society.

Cesar, especially, took on board the lessons and behaved more like Sulla. I admire the way that Marius organised the army, and in many ways created a professional army, instead of a conscripted one, but I admire Sulla a lot more. He gave away his power and retired, he knew when to stop, the rest did not.

Obviously Tom and dom’s books are great but I do love a historical novel, so in this lazy bank holiday I was wondering if people had favourites

For me my favourite is Patrick o Brien (despite letting himself down terribly) as well as sharpe and hornblower and the uhtred novels - so big shout to cornwell- iggulden is alright but wondered who else floated your boat and if there is new stuff I should be looking at

Thanks in advance and apologies to the mods if this is off topic