Literature and History

About Literature and History

With millions of downloads, hundreds of hours of soundtracked content, and an overall emphasis on the cultural history behind famous works of literature, Literature and History is one of the most popular independent podcasts on its subject. Starting with Sumerian cuneiform in 3,100 BCE, Literature and History moves forward in chronological order through Assyriology, Egyptology, the Old Testament, Ancient Greece and Rome, the birth of Christianity, and the early Middle Ages. The show's current season is on early Islamic history. A typical episode (they average about two hours) features a general introduction to a work of literature, then a full summary of that work that expects no prior knowledge, and finally, an analysis of the cultural, biographical, and historical forces that gave rise to the work in question. Original symphonic and ambient background music is woven throughout each show, and all episodes offer free full, illustrated, footnoted transcriptions as well as quizzes for purposes of review. The show has no advertisements, and its host takes pride in a professional approach that avoids chitchat and ephemera and gets straight to the educational content. You can listen to the episodes in any order, although most listeners begin at the beginning and proceed from there, as the podcast itself is chronologically organized. Doug Metzger finished his Ph.D. in literature in 2011. His chief scholarly interest, following his dissertation work, continues to be 19th-century realism and postbellum American philosophy.

Publisher

Doug Metzger

Category

arts · history

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

12 Feb 2016

Latest episode

11 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

19 of 129 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   11 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Episode 129: We Are the Grass

   Hosts Patrick Wyman and Dr. Diana Montrose reflect on the podcast's Abrahamic religions coverage and introduce the new season.

2. 

   15 Aug 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Episode 128: Early Sufism

   Hosts Derek and Mike explore the origins and key thinkers of early Sufism between 850 and 920 CE in this interview.

3. 

   15 Jul 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Episode 127: Bashshar ibn Burd

   Host Doug is joined by an expert to explore the life and poetry of Bashshar ibn Burd, a foundational figure in Classical Arabic poetry.

Inside a recent episode

Episode 129: We Are the Grass

Published 11 Sept 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] It's just that other pre-Islamic poetry points to other dimensions of what was happening on the peninsula just before Muhammad was born. Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry survives written by Arabs of Jewish and Christian tribes, Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry has most of the same genres as post-Islamic Arabic poetry. There are satires, there are boast poems, there are poems about wine, love, and mourning, poems written in the courts of kings and poems written in the middle of nowhere. The body of pre-Islamic Arabic poetry that has survived is far too large for a proper generalization. but it serves to show that Arabia's principal population was scattered along many latitudes and longitudes, engaged in a lot of different trades, and this really can't be repeated enough that many Arabs were Jews and Christians. […]

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

106,114

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.8 / 5

1,577 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1,430 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 67 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

62

Social presence

0

YouTube

86

Engagement

94

Pitching Literature and History

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting pitches.

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