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Comment by atombender | Hacker News Reader

Also great is The Fall of Civilizations' episode about Tenochtitlan [1].

The podcast is the work of a British historian named Paul M. M. Cooper, who's also published a book derived from the podcast. Each episode is really well researched, incorporating recent discoveries rather than uncritically repeating old tropes. No filler, no theatrics, just really well-told history, backed by real sources.

Another excellent history podcast is The Rest is History [2], who also devoted an excellent (albeit much shorter) episode to the same topic.

[1] https://fallofcivilizationspodcast.com/

[2] https://therestishistory.com/episodes/

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Is it politics free? As in, no left rewrite of the noble savage? Because all those tribes that instant-joined the conquistadors still negate all that "utopia destroyed by evil europeans" story.

Despite being relatively conservative, I don’t think The Rest is History would appeal to someone who thinks any telling of history that doesn’t fit a far-right worldview is “political.”

There’s no such thing as politics-free history.

But such a world-view wrapped in tales, eternalizes suffering and does refuse to intervene in toxic cultures stuck? Take the middle east- there where two attempts at a two state solution, and the victims of the story, rejected both, wanting a "final" jew free solution. How does one feel contributing to progress - when reality moves so obviously orthogonal to the stories you tell yourself?

I think the rest is history did a great job of providing a balanced take in their multi part series on Cortez. They didn't shy away from the brutality on either side of the conquest. That is to say, they explored the context for why so many logal groups allied with Cortez, and the critical role of La Malinche as a translator and former Aztec slave.

Thanks. Thats the sort of answer that promises really interesting complex reality, without a massaged in moral-message that removes all learnings for today. I shall give it a try.

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