His style is quite unique, but not in an in your face kind of way.
He always starts with geographical context, and this thread is never lost through the study. The constraints and characteristics of geography are always respected as key inputs into the civilization.
He is also very narrative-driven, while staying within historical fact. This is probably the key strength of the podcast. I had read so much about Egypt, but until listening to the Egypt episode, I never "got it". All of the strengths have synergy as well. For example, in the Egypt episode, North and South isn't used. Instead, upriver and downriver (Nile) is used, reflecting how they saw the world. Parlaying from there, the experience of how it would have been to live in the world is constantly revisited. In the recent Ghengis Khan episode, we take a walk with him through one of his conquered towns before it was razed, exploring how he likely felt disdain for settled civilization and always had a strong connection to his nomad way of life. But these leaps aren't just hot air. It is used as a window to do some further exploration of his religious views that we can confirm through sources.
Lastly, the production value is quite nice. He has a community that really loves his content now. There are voice actors, and most important to me, there is a very well crafted background soundscape that pulls you in. For example, in the recent episode, you can hear the throat singing subtly swell up in the background When the war machine is about to activate, much like how in Full Metal Jacket, Kubrick switches the music to Vietnamese percussion once the groups leaves "their" territory. Very effective - sometimes gives me chills or can bring immense emotional responses, such as the sounds of wind blowing through the razed city of Carthage while listening to a voice actor read a source about a visit to the now abandoned ruins (drew a tear that one did. Didn't expect that" from a three-hour history podcast!)
I'd recommend checking out the podcast if those characteristics appeal to you. It's not purely" analytical, though. There is an inspired artistic element that wants to explore the human condition, and some sort of underlying thesis that states that exploring history is a window into this. If pure analysis is what you are looking for, there are probably books better suited to that.
If this was your first contact with Lakeman's writing, you're in for a treat because there's a lot there. This one on the Incas was too good not to share, but his essay on the Aztecs[1] is equally as good, and my personal favorite is probably the deep dive you never knew you needed[2] on whaling. Agree on style, his travel blogs are like this too and it's really refreshing that he starts out by saying "these are my sources, I'm doing my best to either summarize on interpret them," so I have the opportunity to read them myself if I feel the need.
Absolutely! And he has gone from strength to strength with each new episode. His pacing is perfect as he really takes his time but just barely touches on the intense brutality that was certainly epidemic in the times. He thus avoids the salacious details like, for example, Dan Carlin (who does his research well, but is less my taste now after discovering FoC). Just outstanding.
The real next-level excellence is that he is really tracing the history of technology along the way, going into significant detail about how the conquerors developed and utilized new tech to effect their victories.
From horses to the Mongols' bows to gunpowder, it is really the history of civilization and how the uncivilized were the energy that pushed change to the next level-up. I first learned of these sorts of systems in Gleick's "Chaos" (IIRC), where it looks like nothing is advancing, but, in reality, a kindof pressure is building to the point where a drastic leap is made suddenly and unexpectedly.
