You Are A Weirdo (with Historian Doug Sofer, Ph.D.)

Do you want to understand Western civilization? Then you need to understand ancient Rome. Except that Rome is a lot trickier to understand than it seems. It lasted much, much longer than folks tend to realize. Its borders also contained many, many different kinds of people who held all kinds of different beliefs. And, to make things even messier, even the Romans couldn't agree on what the heck it meant to be Roman. Join Professional History Doctor Guy Doug Sofer for the next part of this thre...

Scholars, politicians and meme-slingers alike talk about Western Civilization as if it's something concrete. Since it's named after a compass direction, you might even assume it refers to some actual place. But even old-school, traditional Western Civ textbooks show that The West is a much, much messier concept than it first appears. Find out why the West isn't just about Western Europe. Sometimes it's in the East, or the Middle East, or in Western Asia, or in North Africa. And sometimes...

This episode was revised with a brand-new tell-all confession and correction in late July, 2025. How does history help us come to grips with the strangeness of now? Find out as the scholars of the Southeast World History Association tackle that very question! This special session of SEWHA's annual meeting was recorded live in November 2024 at Southeast Missouri State University. Join us as we cover issues of technology, science, religion, spirituality, big yellow school busses, getting folks ...

What parts of today’s world would freak out folks who lived during the U.S. Civil War? In this first-ever interview-based episode* of the You Are A Weirdo history podcast, we ask a real-life U.S. Civil War historian that exact question! Join host Doug Sofer as he chats with Aaron Astor about such topics as today’s professional military, the size and scope of government, air conditioning, sports betting, and college football. Doug and Aaron also play the inaugural version of a new history game...

There once was a jolly fellow with a red nose who lived in London; historical documents mention something about a certain "S. Clause." Then, in 1833, he and his mates disappeared without a trace. Finding out what happened to him has something to do with the environmental history of the Industrial Revolution, and with heroic efforts to restore the River Thames to its former glory. Listen and you’ll discover hordes of angry servants—who may have never existed in the first place. Find out why Lo...