Hardcore History 41 – Thor’s Angels

8 reviews for Hardcore History 41 – Thor’s Angels

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   magdalena – August 3, 2015

   Excellent, a well rounded perspective on the “Dark Ages”. I loved listening about the church/state power games! Thank you Dan:)

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Ryan – January 27, 2016

   This is one of my favorite episodes. I hail from German ancestry and to learn about my ancient ancestors is amazing. I suggest this to anyone who is a fan of history. My favorite quote “Imagine the United States completely gone in 5 years.” Awesome stuff.

3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Nicholas – May 23, 2016

   I enjoy listening to Dan’s podcasts while playing video games and this was a great one. The fact that Dan was able to bring the story full circle by introducing the Vikings as the new pagan “barbarians” was a nice touch.

4. 

   Rated 3 out of 5

   Jeff – May 26, 2016

   tl;dr – It’s got some good points, but seems a bit disconnected.

   First things first, I’m going to point out that this episode has nothing to do with Thor, Angels, or mythology in general. It stems from Dan’s constant comparison of Franco-Germanic barbarians to biker gangs, and he refers to them as “Thor’s Angels” (a take on Hell’s Angels) in the episode. That out of the way, the review:

   I feel bad leaving less than a 5 star review because I love Hardcore History and even a less than great episode is still head and shoulders above most history programming out there. This score isn’t compared to other history shows, this is compared to the whole HH catalog which is a veritable pantheon of brilliant audio. That said, I felt that this episode lacked focus. Dan himself says that Hardcore History could have been called “Things in history that interest me” and he acknowledges that he tends to pick a subject and ramble about it. Usually, though, Dan finds an interesting angle and explores it through a number of situations. This episode lacked a strong narrative, an interesting angle, or even a recognizable purpose. It can’t decide if it’s about the fall of the Roman Empire, the progression of western civilization during the “Dark Ages”, barbarian culture and fashion, the lineage of Charlemagne, or the morphing of early Christianity into what we recognize today. This isn’t to say that this episode isn’t crammed full of cool facts, useful historical knowledge, and classic Dan Carlin moments. I simply feel that it’s missing that thread that sews the whole thing together into a coherent piece. However, I will credit this episode with giving me a much clearer understanding of how Christianity evolved from a pacifist religion centered around living in harmony into a religion that had no problem launching conquests and enforcing orthodoxy. That would have made a good thesis for the episode.

   If you’re a fan of history and want to know more about the subjects I mentioned, by all means buy and enjoy this episode, but if you are easily distracted, you might frequently lose track of what Dan’s talking about because it won’t relate to a central theme.

   ——————

   Okay, so I was about to post that review, but realized that I should get some background before passing judgement, so I bought the EXTRA Thor’s Angels episode to see what the design process was. Initially the episode was intended to be a one hour piece on Charlemagne that got out of control. Sadly, Charlemagne himself was only given a small percentage of time in the four hours used. (Dan even points out in the EXTRA episode how the whole Death Throes of the Republic series was actually meant to be a short episode about Cleopatra, and Thor’s Angels tried and failed to avoid that fate.) Anyways, I hope that you can forgive me for leaving a less than glowing review. I don’t mean to be overly critical, just to point out how I feel things could be improved. Love the show and always look forward to the next!

5. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Brett – December 9, 2016

   Another great episode. Love learning about the “Dark Ages” , days of Vikings & Barbarians. Solid research & presentation