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Artwork for Past Lives

Past Lives

Patrick Wyman
Slavery
Roman Empire
History
Transatlantic Slave Trade
Social Death
Serfdom
Before the Moment
Assyria
Clovis People
Xinjiang
Mamluk Empire
Ottoman Empire
Congo
Bangladesh
Mississippi
America
Gladiators
Bog Bodies
Amarna
Ancient Egypt

History is built by people like you, and Past Lives is here to bring their stories to life. Every week, we’ll focus on the lived experiences of real people in the past, from the Stone Age to the near-present. Peasants, laborers, artisans, merchants, soldiers, and the enslaved are far too often overlooked in favor of kings, generals, and politicians; not here. On Past Lives, we keep the focus where... more

PublishesWeeklyEpisodes53Foundeda year ago
Number of ListenersCategory
History

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Artwork for Past Lives

Latest Episodes

We've reached the end of "Bodily Experiences," and it's time to reflect on what we've learned from talking about dozens of past people whom we know through their remains. The most fundamental insight is how much we can now know about the lived, physi... more

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What was it like to fight in a medieval battle? The discovery of a mass grave associated with the 1461 Battle of Towton, in the midst of the Wars of the Roses, offers concrete and horrifying answers. Here, we focus on one individual - Towton 16 - who... more

Kyle Harper is one of the most wide-ranging, curious, and rigorous scholars working today, and he's outdone himself with his latest book, available everywhere now -The Last Animal: Human History and the Fate of Life on Earth from the Ice Age to the S... more

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Recent Guests

Kyle Harper
Historian, classicist, author, and Provost Emeritus at the University of Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma
Episode: Interview: Professor Kyle Harper on Mass Extinction and the Future of Life
Andrew Pettegree
Professor of modern history and historian of the book
University of St. Andrews
Episode: Selling Books from the Dawn of Print to the Twenty-First Century: Interview with Professor Andrew Pettegree
Peter C. Mancall
Historian of North America, professor at USC
University of Southern California
Episode: Professor Peter Mancall on Understanding Colonial America
James Romm
James H. Ottaway Professor of Classics at Bard College; author and scholar of the ancient world
Bard College
Episode: Interview: James Romm - Since You’re Mortal: Life Lessons from the Lost Greek Plays
Thomas Asbridge
Dr. Thomas Asbridge, reader in history at Queen Mary University of London, author of The Black Death, A Global History
Queen Mary University of London
Episode: Interview: Professor Thomas Asbridge on the Black Death
Shannon Chakraborty
Award-winning New York Times bestselling author
Daevabad Trilogy / The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi / The Tapestry of Fate
Episode: Interview: Shannon Chakraborty and Historical Fantasy
Tim Haines
Screenwriter, producer, and director known for Walking with Dinosaurs/beasts/monsters and Primeval
NBCUniversal (Surviving Earth)
Episode: Interview: Producer, Writer, and Director Tim Haines on Surviving Earth and Bringing the Distant Past to Life
Craig Fehrman
Journalist, historian, and author
This Vast Enterprise (Author)
Episode: The Corps of Discovery Wasn't Just Lewis and Clark: Interview with Craig Fehrman

Host

Patrick Wyman
Host and primary narrator guiding historical narratives with a focus on everyday people and social history.

Reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars from 437 ratings
  • Fascinating stories.

    Podcast Addict
    5
    Dallas
    3 months ago
  • Interesting. I would like the narrative to be slower. Very rushed and difficult to immerse in the past lives.

    Podcast Addict
    4
    me!
    4 months ago
  • Very cool idea for a podcast. I'd recommend talking a bit slower though! The speech feels quite rushed

    Podcast Addict
    3
    dlamdesu
    4 months ago
  • Great source of more Wyman

    The high standard of history podcasting we all associate with Patrick Wyman, but in a great format: quick episodes that still manage to do a deep dive on under-appreciated topics.

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    Cbees5000
    United States5 months ago
  • Bringing a more complete narrative to History

    Patrick continues his amazing podcast work with _Past Lives_, looking at people like you and me and their experiences during the times they lived. By drawing sociological views of their surroundings and fleeting glimpses of people in records, Patrick brings unique views of past lives to us in an enjoyable podcast format. Each episode brings these people together into a broader subject arc that is satisfying to experience from beginning to end.

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    Jeffrey Marraccini
    United States6 months ago

Listeners Say

Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.

Listeners praise rigorous research and engaging storytelling that centers ordinary people.
Many note the show blends scholarship with accessible narratives, making history feel personal.
A few critics suggest expanding topic diversity beyond slave histories.
Praise for consistently high-quality guests and production value across episodes.

Chart Rankings

How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.

Apple Podcasts
#104
United States/History
Apple Podcasts
#143
Canada/History
Apple Podcasts
#237
United Kingdom/History
Apple Podcasts
#176
Germany/History
Apple Podcasts
#184
Australia/History
Apple Podcasts
#76
United Arab Emirates/History

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

Selling Books from the Dawn of Print to the Twenty-First Century: Interview with Professor Andrew Pettegree
Q: What do you see happening with the future of books? I mean, we're in kind of an unsettled moment in the book industry. Do you feel optimistic, pessimistic, or just like it's always been in flux and it's always going to be in flux?
Pettegree says worries about the future of bookselling have arisen before. He sees online retailers, chains, and independent shops coexisting, and points to new markets where universal literacy is recent as reason for continued demand.
Selling Books from the Dawn of Print to the Twenty-First Century: Interview with Professor Andrew Pettegree
Q: What do you think we lose in terms of intellectual culture, the culture of books when bookselling moves to the digital space and it moves out of the physical space?
Pettegree says digital distribution has changed scholarly publishing and reduced access to browsing. He also questions whether reading long works on screens and replacing handwriting with screen use is beneficial.
Interview: Professor Kyle Harper on Mass Extinction and the Future of Life
Q: So how would you characterize that difference?
Harper says past mass extinctions followed planetary cataclysms, while the current crisis is driven by human culture and is marked by ecological homogenization: lost diversity is replaced by a narrow set of human-associated species.
Interview: Professor Kyle Harper on Mass Extinction and the Future of Life
Q: So what brought you to this topic? Why write this book?
Harper says his love of animals and the outdoors, the changes he noticed in the animal life around his Oklahoma home, and his earlier environmental history research led him to write a broad history of humans and animals.
Interview: James Romm - Since You’re Mortal: Life Lessons from the Lost Greek Plays
Q: What do you hope readers take from Since You're Mortal?
He wants readers to feel a sense of connection to the past, to recognize that ancient people faced the same essential concerns as we do, and to see modern life reflected in the moral and practical questions raised by the quotations in Stobaeus's compilation.

Audience Metrics

Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Past Lives

What is Past Lives about and what kind of topics does it cover?

This show centers the lived experiences of ordinary people across history, from peasants and laborers to artisans and the enslaved, using narrative storytelling to illuminate daily life and social contexts. Episodes blend archival sources, archaeology, and scholarly interpretation to explore how larger historical forces affected real people, often reframing well-known events through grassroots perspectives. A notable strength is its consistent focus on human scale moments and communities, with careful attention to evidence and a clear effort to translate complex scholarship for curious general listeners. The format often features in-depth conversations with historians and researchers, plus vivid on-site or artifact-driven storytelling that ... more

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Which podcasts are similar to Past Lives?

These podcasts share a similar audience with Past Lives:

1. Tides of History
2. Gone Medieval
3. The Ancients
4. The Ancient World
5. The Hellenistic Age Podcast

How many episodes of Past Lives are there?

Past Lives launched a year ago and published 53 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

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What guests have appeared on Past Lives?

Recent guests on Past Lives include:

1. Kyle Harper
2. Andrew Pettegree
3. Peter C. Mancall
4. James Romm
5. Thomas Asbridge
6. Shannon Chakraborty
7. Tim Haines
8. Craig Fehrman

To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.

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