FAQs

World History 24 is a podcast series created by Ellie Koczela & Charlie Koczela. It is a world history crash course. The content is organized chronologically— each of the 24 episodes covering consecutive time periods, beginning with Homo Sapien evolution and ending in 1945.

There are two main answers to this question:

Primarily, we wanted to give listeners a place to start. It can feel very intimidating to learn about human history, as it is a massive topic. But we believe you should be able to get the broad timeline without a massive commitment. You can then delve deeper into topics that pique your interest. We hope this series and this website give you a springboard.

Secondly, we believe organizing history chronologically assists in uprooting misleading narratives taught in school curriculums. In the United States for example, many of us were taught as though all of human endeavor is the origin story for the United States: Mesopotamia begat Greece, Greece begat Rome, Rome begat Europe, Europe begat the US. At some point Confucius lived and Africa was enslaved. Everything else is ignored. We hope to help disrupt this destructive and wildly untrue story.

Not really, no. Most history books and classes are organized by theme: histories of agriculture, music, science, food, incarceration, warfare, etc. Others are organized by geographic region: histories of the entire continent of Africa or single neighborhoods of Nairobi. Still, others follow groups of people: histories of the Celts, the Roma, or the Osage. These are wonderful, we both consume them voraciously. However, these deep dives don’t always provide the cross sections needed for deeper understanding. We are trying to fill that gap. We are hoping to give you an accessible version of the huge story that the Celts, Nairobi, and agriculture all fit into.

We have created the podcast we wish existed. A very zoomed out timeline to give context to anything you would like to zoom in on.

We are painfully aware of how much we are leaving out. People spend entire lives studying and writing about every topic we mention (and every topic we don’t).

We read and debate endlessly, we edit, we search for feedback, and we still make mistakes and have to start over. Because there aren’t other curriculums like this—condensed and chronological—we don’t have a template to draw from. We are trying to give listeners the greatest hits. We know we are omitting great stories and important people and events. We have our fingers tightly crossed that listeners will be inspired to read, watch, visit, or even google something new.

We are both white, from the United States of America, straight, and cis gendered. We were raised in a big middle-class, Catholic family and are now both atheists.

All of these identities affect the content. Our biases are present in everything we create, and many of these same biases are extremely present throughout the disciplines of archeology and history upon which we rely.

In our ongoing attempt to address our biases, we endlessly discuss, we draw research from the places we are speaking about, we use as-up-to-date research as we can get, we try to talk about disparate concepts with similar language, we speak to anyone who will listen (which is not that many people at the moment, we sadly don’t have a team of well-paid experts on every potentially problematic topic in human history), and we absolutely will get it wrong sometimes. We hope this podcast contributes to a conversation about history. We hope to inspire listeners to think critically about how their own identities influence their historical perspectives.

So, perhaps most importantly, we WELCOME criticism and suggestions, if something we’ve made/said/posted/implied inspires you to write to us, we welcome your generosity. Please send us an email at wh24podcast@gmail.com.

Neither of us are professional historians. Ellie is a part time teacher and a mom. Charlie is a musician. We both love history and are 100% dedicated to the work and research needed to get things right.

We try to rely on books that are less than five years old. This is especially true for ancient time periods. The information changes rapidly, and we try to bring you up-to-date theories. We prioritize books written by authors from the countries we are discussing. We also listen to current lectures and interviews with historians and archeologists. The main sources for each episode are listed on that each episode’s page.

In this brave new world we also want and need to clarify that we never use AI— not to research, not to script write, not to edit, not to create music or artwork. Everything is generated by our flawed, wondrous human minds. (Our logo and artwork is done by Alyssa Santo’s incredible mind!)

This podcast is intended for anyone who is historically curious. You do not need to come with prior knowledge. If you wish you could remember who Attila the Hun was or why Istanbul became Constantinople, this podcast is for you!

Because history is R-rated we recommend giving each episode a listen before sharing with kids.

World History 24 is available wherever you listen to podcasts. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio etc. or on our website. We plan to release the entire series over the next few years. Season one will be released weekly beginning January 24th, 2024.