How does Veeky Forums feel about this guy...

How does Veeky Forums feel about this guy. I discovered him 3 days ago and have literally not stopped listening to him since then. I'm a history noob so I don't have much to compare his veiwpoints to. Is he pretty much on the Mark or no.

He's a large reason as to why I got into history, though many have pointed out he doesn't always portray an accurate picture of historical events the man never claims to be a historian.

This is the impression I got. His choices about which version of events to use seems based more on entertainment value than anything else, but at least in these situations he will let you know that that is the case.

He gets stuff wrong but he's a good start.

I recommend lurking and reading through /r/askhistorians subreddit.

He'll sometimes get the little details wrong, but he's great. Best storyteller I've ever heard.

god no, that subreddit is literally dead. 95% of threads have no answer, the ones that do are often boring fucking questions no one gives a shit about

He's very entertaining and he's a good jumping off point for a topic.

He really lets his biases get in the way when he's talking about his favorites though, like with the Mongols.

Also like half the threads on there are over 9,000 deleted comments and a moderator saying "hey guys please don't meme around in here thanks :p"


Like I get it that reddit can get super memey but that whole sub is unusable due to how hard to the authoritarian moderation style they've gone

Its undoubtedly the best subreddit on the site. If you look through the FAQ you'll find long answers to most of the questions you can think of, all extensively sourced. And you don't have to wade through any bullshit, memes, or guesses to get to them.

Speculation, not guesses.

I've been a fan for years and I even used to donate regularly. The only thing I really dislike about him is that he constantly mispronounces anything that is not American, to the point where it sometimes seems intentional and obnoxious.

the only reason that sub is usable is because the mods are literally hitler
have you seen the rest of reddit? it's pure garbage, zero discussion goes on at all. ask historians is one of the few good places there
general rule: if more than 1,000 people are subscribed to a subreddit, it's trash. there are only one or two exceptions

end quote

he's smart, but also a pussy. he won't draw logical conclusions from the hardheaded look at the past.

or maybe he's smart enough to see the "conclusions" you are drawing are flawed

I'm not a fan. He does use quite a few primary sources, so that's good, but he'll often twist the facts to suit whatever narrative he's going for, usually by stretching a lot. I've only listened to one of his series, the one on the Mongols. In there he throws out some interesting quotes from the figures involved, some of which I've never heard, in between spewing stupid shit like "the Mongols were outnumbered 5-1 at Kalka yet won anyway," "the Hungarians had 120,000 men," and "the Mongols were basically on a different level than anyone out west." He also has a tendency to dismiss whatever primary sources contradict his narrative by insulting them or disparaging the authors as dumb/delusional. Oh, and he restates common myths, like the Mongols withdrawing from Europe because of Ogedei's death (literally everything about that statement is false; they didn't withdraw from Europe, they withdrew from Hungary back to Russia, and hadn't even heard of Ogedei's death when they did so) and Gavrilo Princip succeeding in his assassination because of a sandwich.

I get really fucking annoyed when Reddit-tier posters on various websites always seem to refer to his podcast as their sole source.

On the other hand, I can't really hate him; for me to seriously dislike someone just for entertainment they create (which he is upfront about), they have to be pompous. Carlin isn't. I don't even remember him going as far as using the phrase "historian" to describe himself. And if he does get some people to look deeper into history with his work, then more power to him. I remember him saying something along the lines of his podcast only being a basic overview and possibly ridden with errors and encouraging his viewers to read more and make their own conclusions.

>I don't even remember him going as far as using the phrase "historian" to describe himself.

He says every time he isn't sure about something "I'm not a historian folks, I'm just a fan of history"

how about you all go back?

He is great at telling a story and creating a narrative, but he is not a historian and if you want a deeper picture then you should do research yourself (which he makes sure to say several times)
>it's another boxing analogy

"now im not a historian"
Continues to spew his version of whatever event he is talking about. OP you are better of researching whatever topic you are interested in.

That's just the thing though. He gets me interested enough in a topic to actually research it.

>mostly positive responses
>people talking about reddit

His piece on the Anabaptists is pure history kino. What a story.

le angery internet historian face

>new episodes never ever
get ready for the feel when waiting for new Dan Carlin

AGEEN AND AGEEN YOU'LL HAVE TO WAIT
CAN YOU IMAGINE THAT?

askhistorians is fucking trash and was completely worthless when I was writing essays for my medieval studies classes. literally the most watered down, inoffensive, and generic answers, might as well just go to wikipedia. I'd end up going to find actual historians and books which gave you answers with some definition, where they weren't afraid to make actual claims that might be possible to contest without reducing everything to its lowest possible common denominator. askhistorians is exactly how not to be a good historian, go and find books on actual subjects and read, don't use that trash heap where your answers need to be filtered by the fucking mods to ensure you don't say anything too definite. Their answers are usually based upon a single book and sometimes aren't even cited at all. Not to mention that the actual questions asked are usually just as bad if not worse than here, only less nazi crap and more tv or video game stuff.