Podcast | Engaging Places

Apple Podcasts recently named The Rest is History its Podcast of the Year, and in a December 4 interview on In Conversation from Apple News, hosts Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland reflected on why history is resonating so strongly today. Sandbrook argues that despite assumptions, young people are deeply interested in the past—provided it is presented through compelling stories and vivid characters. Academic historians, he suggests, sometimes struggle to reach broad audiences because they avoid narrative. For Sandbrook, stories of the Second World War, Greek myth, the Trojan War, and Rome endure because they are foundational to human identity.

Holland adds that today’s students confront unprecedented content pressures, but unlike earlier generations, they are no longer limited to school as the sole venue for learning. The internet has created a lifelong landscape for historical discovery—“an enormous seam of gold,” as he describes it.

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Historic sites are usually skilled at explaining the history of a place, event, or person but when it comes to relevance, it can be a mixed bag. They often can’t make the leap from sharing information about the site to sharing information that’s meaningful to visitors. Historic sites have important messages to share (i.e., why does this place matter? why is it significant?). They just need to find the spots where it overlaps with issues and topics that are meaningful to visitors (what is significant to them?). That overlap is the “mutual significance” or relevance.

Relevance isn’t about topics that are “interesting.” That’s such a vague term it can be used to describe a Pulitzer prize-winning novel, a Hollywood cocktail party, or a wedding where the groom’s ex-wives are bridesmaids. Relevance isn’t about an amusing fact or story that leaves visitors smiling. “Relevance” is something that meets current needs in a practical and useful manner. It finds its origins in the Latin word for Continue reading →