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 it's only in your head.

Join historian Doug Sofer for the first part of this exciting three-part mini-series that was a whole big fat year in the making! Part I (this one!) is about the ancient origins of what's called the West. It's also somehow about robots, a rabbit's nose, and way too much about kicking footballs around.

Learn more about this rogue, underdog, Hail Mary pass of a project at findyourselfinhistory.com !

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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 out of their comfort zones, community celebrations, and even the importance of history itself.

Don't miss out!

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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 called “Clionic Connections.” Sure, it's a good way to foster a fascinating conversation about history, but it's also an excuse for Doug to play unnecessary sound effects.

Check it out!

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* Technically speaking, this one is actually the second overall interview-based episode. The first one from Season One involved someone who's been dead for 124 years or so. You'll have to listen to the intro for details.

Learn more about this rogue, underdog, Hail Mary pass of a project at findyourselfinhistory.com !

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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 London was so stinky. Hear the actual words of a small-town vicar who was extra. And contemplate the least effective public health poster campaign in history.

This episode is a continuation of the previous episode called “History Is in Your Nature—and Vice-Versa,” but feel free to start with this one and you’ll be fine.

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Take a walk on the wild side with your historian host as we unearth some of the big-picture insights of environmental history. Forage in the wilderness, stroll around a giant pie, and hear about what ancient folks did for a living. You’ll also find out why you can’t build enormous pyramid-like buildings without things like beer, bread, kings, priestesses, and pants. And you’ll discover how an ancient, fantastical story about magical beasties and a man who lives like a gazelle can still help us to understand some genuine things about the real past. Most important, learn why you need history in order to really understand humanity’s connections to the natural environment.

You can find the sources for this episode along with lots of other good stuff at findyourselfinhistory.com .

Learn more about this rogue, underdog, Hail Mary pass of a project at findyourselfinhistory.com !

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It bears repeating that we live in strange times. Take, for instance, duplication technology. Today, no matter who you are, you can draw an image or scribble out some text, and copy it as many times as you’d like. Yet when we consider that copying tech in historical perspective, we discover that this ability is new. For most of the human past, only wealthy elites could clone massive stacks of duplicated materials. Printing has been around for a surprisingly long time, but easy access to portable copying technology is a clear sign of the peculiarity of the present-day.

Join your favorite professional historian on a journey around the globe—to Indonesia, Iraq, China, Germany and Virginia—and find out about how the arts and sciences of duplication have changed over the centuries, and how that journey teaches us about our fundamentally odd world. Along the way, you’ll get to hear a professional historian’s expert audio simulation of a copying technique that dates back nearly 40,000 years. And you’ll hear shocking statements about Thomas Jefferson’s elbows.

Learn more about this rogue, underdog, Hail Mary pass of a project at findyourselfinhistory.com !

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Which is more valuable: diamonds or water? The seems obvious, but splash some holy water into the mix and you’ll see that this answer is a lot messier than you might at first think. Join your new favorite historian-podcaster guy on a journey through time and around the world to better understand why holy water defies most economic logic. Along the way you’ll discover about why people in the diamond industry have mangled the English language. You’ll have an epiphany about how the laws of supply and demand don’t really apply to the Moscow River. You’ll meet multiple condescending British travel writers. And, as always, you’ll find out that plunging into the past helps you to better comprehend the strangeness of now.

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Did the framers of the U.S. Constitution set up the country’s government to be a republic or a democracy? Some folks have surprisingly strong opinions on this question, often with good reason. Yet the words republic and democracy have very similar meanings, so what’s the big deal? The answer has to do with the ways that the historic founders of the USA thought about history—specifically the histories of the democracies and republics that came before them. To make things even more confusing, the Constitution’s authors got some of their history secondhand, through one of their favorite political philosophers, Charles Montesquieu (1689–1755), who had some very specific—and surprising—things to say about republics and democracies. Check out this episode to learn why many people of the past would find many of our present-day political debates on this topic to be especially odd.

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Learn more about this episode and check out the blog at findyourselfinhistory.com.