From one of the most popular podcasts in the world

HARDCORE HISTORY
by Dan Carlin
Harpercollins, September 2019
Proposal Available, ms due January 2019

Since its first episode in 2006, Dan Carlin’s podcast Hardcore History has been downloaded over 100 million times. Its 56 episodes, which usually run 4-5 hours each, take apart a historical moment or figure in exhaustive detail, and range over the sweep of human history. Carlin has been named “America’s history professor” by the Huffington Post. The podcast’s unique blend of high drama, masterful narration and Twilight Zone-style twists has entertained millions of listeners. Part storyteller, part analyst, Carlin offers unorthodox and counterintuitive ways of looking at the past.
In HARDCORE HISTORY, Dan Carlin will adapt the Hardcore History podcast into book form. The book will synthesize material from the podcast to conduct a series of thought experiments on history’s most prominent episodes – some colorful, some uncomfortable, some absurd – whose aim will be to force readers to rethink their presumptions and see events and figures and dynamics from unique perspectives. The premise is not simply to answer straightforward questions but to contextualize history through unusual and provocative frameworks. After they’ve read HARDCORE HISTORY, readers will never think about the past the same way again.
Carlin’s counterintuitive, provocative and unique approach to history will appeal to the same readers who made Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari a global phenomenon. HARDCORE HISTORY will be required reading for history buffs, for fans of the podcast, and for anyone who has wanted to fathom the deeper patterns of world history.

Pioneering podcaster Dan Carlin is the king of long-form audio content. With his Hardcore History shows sometimes topping out at over six hours long, and using nothing but his voice, he entertains millions. His approach is original and his style unique. He humanizes the past, asks probing questions, wonders about things that didn’t happen but might have, and forces the audience to “walk a mile in the other guy’s historical moccasins.” He is one of podcasting’s great storytellers. Hardcore History has been downloaded more than 100 million times. He also developed the podcast “Common Sense,” a show devoted to politics and current events which, as of 2016, was generating about 700,000 downloads per episode. It was nominated for a Podcast Award in the Politics/News category in 2012 and 2013.