The History Fangirl Podcast

By Stephanie Craig

Society & Culture History Places & Travel

What's The History Fangirl Podcast about?

An interview podcast about historic places for history lovers and travel enthusiasts.

Stephanie Craig is a history and travel blogger. She travels full-time and writes at historyfangirl.com.

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The History Fangirl Podcast episodes:

12.23.2020
World History by the Numbers
In this episode, I chat with Daniel Hoyer from Seshat about looking at history through a statistical lens. We discuss the Seshat Databank and his new book, Figuring Out the Past: The 3,495 Vital Statistics that Explain World History. Let's...
12.08.2020
Veliko Tarnovo: Bulgaria's Medieval Capital
In this episode, I chat with Eric Halsey from the Bulgarian History Podcast about the hidden gem of Veliko Tarnovo. This once-important Bulgarian city is one of the most picturesque in Europe, and yet not many outside of Bulgaria know...
12.02.2020
Stalking Chernobyl
Yes, it's been two years, and for that I'm very sorry! But I'm back with new episodes next week. In the meantime, enjoy this interview on Chernobyl I did a few weeks ago with Darmon Richter, the author of the...
09.19.2018
The Great Kazakh Famine
On today’s episode of the History Fangirl Podcast, we talk with renowned travel blogger Megan Starr, whom we spoke to a few months back about Kiev. But this week, we’re talking in person, in Kazakhstan, at the site of the...
09.03.2018
The World Nomad Games
This week’s episode is something a little different. I am in Isyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan, covering the World Nomad Games, a festival of sports that’s sort of like the Olympics for nomadic peoples. The sports, though, are way more interesting than, say,...
08.27.2018
The Massacre at Srebrenica
Last year, Alex Cruikshanks came on the show to talk about Belgrade, a really detailed and wide-ranging episode. And we had such a great time, he’s back again to talk about more recent history in Yugoslavia, specifically the brutal massacre...
08.20.2018
The Strangely Competitive History of the CN Tower
Every city has that one landmark that seems like a tourist trap and practically begs you not to visit. For me, that was the CN Tower in Toronto. I didn’t go near it the first time I visited the city,...
08.13.2018
Traveling the Green Book
In the first half of the 20th century, the automobile became a symbol of freedom to American families. Middle-class families able to afford their own car were no longer restricted to train or bus timetables, and the great American road...
08.08.2018
The Best of The History Fangirl Podcast's First Year
We did it! Next week will mark a full year of publishing The History Fangirl Podcast, and this week marks the 50th episode, so it felt like the right time to do a retrospective of the first 12 months of...
07.30.2018
Philadelphia's Elfreth's Alley
Philadelphia is by far one of my favorite American cities. I used to live there and run a photo-a-day website there, and it’s one of the best cities to live in if you’re a history buff. On today’s episode, we...
07.23.2018
Atlanta’s Ponce City Market
One of the fascinating things about the city of Atlanta, Georgia is how often it has had to change and adapt to forces around it. Sometimes it’s gone kicking and screaming, and sometimes it’s forged its own path. Because it’s...
07.16.2018
Bonus! Petra
The last three weeks have been crazy, and I haven't been able to record anything new. My apologies for the delay! As a quick explanation, I found out that I had to move out of my apartment with only...
07.02.2018
Bonus: Copenhagen!
I have a new show! Rick Steves Over Brunch is a podcast where Chris Mitchell (from travelingmitch) and I break down episodes of the classic travel tv show, Rick Steve’s Europe. The show launched on April 30, 2018, and new episodes drop every...
06.27.2018
England's Roman Baths
The town of Bath in England is famous for many things. It was the setting for one of Chaucer’s most famous stories from The Canterbury Tales, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” it was a Georgian pleasure town and its hot...
06.18.2018
Barcelona’s Groundbreaking Trans Monument
When traveling, or thinking of where to visit to memorialize civil rights events and advances, it’s all too easy for straight people to forget about LGBTQ monuments. That’s partially because of the lack of proper sites memorializing LGBTQ rights. But...
06.11.2018
The Lost History of the Black Pioneers
On today’s episode of the History Fangirl Podcast, we discuss an aspect of history that, I don’t mind saying, was a total blind spot for me. I was so honored to talk with Anna-Lisa Cox, an adjunct member of the...
06.04.2018
What happened at Chernobyl?
On today’s episode of the History Fangirl Podcast, we talk with a woman on a quest to visit every country on the planet, Jessica Elliott of How Dare She. And this week, Jessica and I talk about Chernobyl, a word...
05.28.2018
Kiev: Beauty through Tumult
On today’s episode of the History Fangirl Podcast, we talk with renowned travel blogger Megan Starr, who has carved out a fascinating niche in the travel world as an expert in the post-Soviet countries, particularly Ukraine. As Megan tells me,...
05.21.2018
No Place Like It: A History of Singapore
On today’s episode of the History Fangirl Podcast, we talk with Ravi Mehta, host of The Wealth of Nations podcast. If you’ve ever traveled through southeast Asia, you know the one place you do not want to stop is Singapore,...
05.14.2018
Josiah Henson and the Underground Railroad
I lived in South Philadelphia for seven years, and knew very little about the area’s connection to the Civil War or the Underground Railroad. But just a couple years ago, I read a story about how a house not far...
05.08.2018
Roskilde: The Vikings Go to Denmark
On today’s episode of the History Fangirl Podcast, we talk with Noah Tetzner, host of the fantastic The History of Vikings Podcast. Vikings have come up a few times on this show, including their time in Iceland’s Thingvellir and their...
04.30.2018
An Irreverent History of Disney World
On today’s very special episode of the History Fangirl Podcast, I, a Disney Skeptic, try to figure out why anyone over the age of nine would ever want to go to Disney World. And luckily, for this task I have...
04.23.2018
Space Tourism in Houston, Texas
While the History Fangirl Podcast has typically gone around the world to find the most fascinating stories, today we’re taking our eyes off the Earth and casting our gaze starward. Today’s guest is Valerie Stimac, an accomplished travel writer...
04.16.2018
The Storied History of the Guinness Storehouse
On today’s episode of the History Fangirl Podcast, we’re talking with someone who has arguably the coolest job in the field of history, and one you may not have even known about. My guest today is Fergus Brady, the archives...
04.09.2018
Penn Station: Sacrficial Lamb
If you’ve ever been to New York City, there’s a good chance you traveled through Penn Station at some point. And then you instantly regretted it. On today’s episode, my guest is Greg Young of the famous Bowery Boys podcast,...
04.02.2018
The Colorful History of Lindisfarne
Maybe you’ve heard of the Book of Kells or the Gospel of Lindisfarne: These illuminated manuscripts are not only high works of religious text, but doors that open history to current scholars. Today on the show we’re talking about Lindisfarne,...
03.26.2018
The Lost History of Angkor
Angkor, along with its most famous temple Angkor Wat, is one of the most unique places in the world. The French claim to have discovered it when Cambodia was part of French Indochina, but like so many “lost” places the...
03.19.2018
Belfast and the Troubles
Belfast is many different things to many different people. It’s both the second-largest city on the island of Ireland and the capital of Northern Ireland. With Brexit looming, Belfast’s attachment to the United Kingdom grows ever more tenuous. But wasn’t...
03.12.2018
Birmingham and the Civil Rights Movement
With just a week left in office, President Barack Obama signed a proclamation declaring the Birmingham, Alabama Civil Rights District a national monument. Birmingham played a pivotal role in the civil rights movement in America in the 1950s and ‘60s....
03.05.2018
Windsor Castle
England’s Windsor Castle has been home to 39 British monarchs, with its history stretching back nearly 1,000 years to William the Conqueror. My guest today is Deborah Cadbury, the author of Queen Victoria’s Matchmaking: The Royal Marriages That Shaped Europe,...
02.26.2018
Bangkok and the Kingdom of Siam
In January I took a trip to Southeast Asia, and—somewhat arbitrarily—I decided to make Bangkok, Thailand my first stop. Ever since being entranced by the famed musical The King and I as a kid, I’ve been fascinated with the Kingdom...
02.19.2018
How Bordeaux Got Its Wine
In September I got to go to Bordeaux with a friend who is a 100% certified wine snob. I figured she would enjoy all of the wine, while I mostly focused on getting work done. But I was surprised by...
02.12.2018
The Literary Pubs of Dublin
I recently got to take an amazing trip to Dublin, Ireland, working with the Irish tourism board. And one of the amazing things about working with a tourism board is that you get to see things that you might not...
02.05.2018
A Very Special Q&A
This week marks the six-month episode of the podcast, and to celebrate I conducted a live Q&A; with listeners and Facebook followers on Facebook Live. That last sentence is only half true, as the real reason this episode is a...
01.29.2018
The Hermit Kingdom of Albania
When you think of an isolated, walled-off country, your mind might immediately go to North Korea. But during the Communist era, Albania may have actually been even more secluded, despite the fact it shared a border with Greece. On today’s...
01.22.2018
The Grand Place
Brussels, Belgium is an often-overlooked city, with neighboring capitals of Amsterdam and Paris stealing the spotlight. But Belgium is definitely much more than just great beer and chocolate. My guest today is Drew Vahrenkamp of The Wonders of the World...
01.15.2018
The Oracle of Delphi
Visiting Greece can be overwhelming, with the number of historical landmarks to visit. But the Oracle of Delphi, high up in the mountains, is one of the most beautiful, and most memorable, places to visit. The history of the site...
01.08.2018
The Brooklyn Bridge
The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge changed New York City forever, connecting the suburb to Manhattan, and establishing the borough as a vital part of the city’s life and culture. It’s easy to look at a bridge now and say,...
01.01.2018
Exploring Wartime Berlin
There is no shortage of history books covering World War II, and it’s even a joke that if you want to win an Oscar, just make a movie about the Nazis. But despite all of the attention paid to WWII...
12.25.2017
O Little Town of Bethlehem
Bethlehem may be the most famous small town on Earth. The town is of course known as the birthplace of Jesus Christ, but beyond its most famous citizen, what do people really know about the city? For me, the answer...
12.18.2017
Belgrade: Rise of the White City
The former Republic of Yugoslavia, and specifically the city of Belgrade, occupies a dark space in our collective memory. The Civil War that broke out there in the 1990s, and the ethnic cleansing that ensued, serves as a crossroads between...
12.11.2017
The Boston Witch Trials
The Salem Witch Trials are one of the most (in)famous events in American history. There are plays, movies and books about it, and no American schoolkid made it to junior high without learning about them. But did you know that...
12.04.2017
The Civil War Defenses of Washington, D.C.
For American history buffs, the Civil War can feel like covered ground. But if you put aside the big battles and turning points, there are still so many smaller, fascinating stories deserving to be told. And there truly is no...
11.27.2017
Banqueting House: The Place to Kill a King
Visiting London can be overwhelming, with the list of must-see locations stretching as high as Big Ben. But my guest today, author Leanda de Lisle, takes us deep into a lesser-known but historically vital London locale: Banqueting House. We talked...
11.20.2017
The Painted Churches of Moldavia
At this point, there aren’t too many “hidden gems” left in the world for savvy travelers and history geeks alike, but the Painted Churches of Moldavia may just be one of the last. My guest today is Ciprian Slemko, a...
11.13.2017
The Lost City of Cahokia
If you ask most Americans about the history of their country, they’ll start somewhere around 1492, or maybe even 1776. But before the pilgrims and before John Hancock, of course there were large, thriving civilizations of Native Americans. One of...
11.06.2017
New York's Central Park
Though it may seem like Central Park has always been a landmark for visitors and native New Yorkers alike, that’s not actually the case. The park, like much of the city, was very carefully mapped and planned out. But unlike...
10.30.2017
Istanbul's Grand Bazaar
Traveling throughout Europe, you can find the legacy of the Ottoman Empire just about everywhere. But if you want to experience a place that has lived through the ebbs and flows of the empire, and connects us through more than...
10.23.2017
The Beaches of Normandy
We all know the basic story of the Allied Forces storming the Beaches of Normandy in World War II. It’s one of the most dramatic and harrowing events in modern warfare. But my brain couldn’t comprehend the size and scale...
10.16.2017
Iceland's Thingvellir
If you’ve ever visited Iceland, you know the natural beauty of the planes of Thingvellir is something special. But what you may not know, is that this open field was once home to perhaps the oldest governing body of Western...

What's The History Fangirl Podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The History Fangirl Podcast episodes:

World History by the Numbers

Veliko Tarnovo: Bulgaria's Medieval Capital

Stalking Chernobyl

The Great Kazakh Famine

The World Nomad Games

The Massacre at Srebrenica

The Strangely Competitive History of the CN Tower

Traveling the Green Book

The Best of The History Fangirl Podcast's First Year

Philadelphia's Elfreth's Alley

Atlanta’s Ponce City Market

Bonus! Petra

Bonus: Copenhagen!

England's Roman Baths

Barcelona’s Groundbreaking Trans Monument

The Lost History of the Black Pioneers

What happened at Chernobyl?

Kiev: Beauty through Tumult

No Place Like It: A History of Singapore

Josiah Henson and the Underground Railroad

Roskilde: The Vikings Go to Denmark

An Irreverent History of Disney World

Space Tourism in Houston, Texas

The Storied History of the Guinness Storehouse

Penn Station: Sacrficial Lamb

The Colorful History of Lindisfarne

The Lost History of Angkor

Belfast and the Troubles

Birmingham and the Civil Rights Movement

Windsor Castle

Bangkok and the Kingdom of Siam

How Bordeaux Got Its Wine

The Literary Pubs of Dublin

A Very Special Q&A

The Hermit Kingdom of Albania

The Grand Place

The Oracle of Delphi

The Brooklyn Bridge

Exploring Wartime Berlin

O Little Town of Bethlehem

Belgrade: Rise of the White City

The Boston Witch Trials

The Civil War Defenses of Washington, D.C.

Banqueting House: The Place to Kill a King

The Painted Churches of Moldavia

The Lost City of Cahokia

New York's Central Park

Istanbul's Grand Bazaar

The Beaches of Normandy

Iceland's Thingvellir

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