Why is Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘Revisionist History’ So Good?
There are many reasons, but the most important stem back to its host
When I first learned that Malcolm Gladwell was making a podcast, I was mildly curious and cautiously interested. Gladwell is probably the closest thing American culture has to an intellectual celebrity, the rare person in the United States who is popular purely because of intelligence. I’d also come into contact with a few of his books, and knew that I generally liked what he had to say. So, when the podcast first started to release, I subscribed, downloaded, and hit ‘play.’
Revisionist History is now in its third season, and sits in the top three of Apple’s podcast rankings as of this writing. It’s also one of my personal favorites, and the first one I play on Thursday mornings. The two complete seasons and the first few episodes of the third are all fascinating, and the quality (from script to production) is always high. Gladwell’s previous popularity as an author and public figure clearly have a lot to do with his podcasting success, but the storytelling excellence of Revisionist History is also a key factor here. That excellence draws on Gladwell’s research and writing skills, but I think the most important ingredients here are his infectious enthusiasm, curiosity, and personality.
The format for a typical episode of Revisionist History usually finds Gladwell either reciting a script or playing a clip from an interview. After a minute or two, he usually leads right up into the central thesis of the episode, followed by the theme music, which is in turn followed by the meat of the episode. Despite the name of the podcast, these are often not historically-focused episodes. They often deal with present-day themes or issues, allowing Gladwell to employ his considerable connections across multiple professional fields as he explores issue after issue.
One of the best examples of Gladwell’s storytelling prowess is the first episode of the new season. This episode focuses on semicolons and the grammar of the United States Constitution early on, and Gladwell talks to scholars and editors to nail down the exact meaning of one pivotal phrase. This may seem incredibly boring from my description here, but the story soon blossoms into a conclusion that Texas could legally split itself up into multiple states. Those semicolons, then, become critically and constitutionally important.
Normally, I wouldn’t be terribly interested in semicolons, but Gladwell’s exuberance, enthusiasm, and storytelling skill kept me hooked. It’s obvious that he truly cares about the subject of every single episode, and his attention to detail and ability to draw an audience in allows him to tell slow-burning stories. The conclusion of the aforementioned episode is inherently interesting, but I’m not sure how many podcasters could tell the story quite in the way Gladwell did. It would be far easier to start out with the interesting conclusion — the current state of Texas politics — and then work backward into the Constitution. Gladwell works the other way, and the end result is considerably more powerful because of the buildup.
The most recent episode is no different. Gladwell begins by asking how much proof society needs to decide to stop doing something harmful. Using the example of coalminers breathing coal dust, Gladwell argues that it should have been obvious long before that dust was bad for people’s lungs. Even though the standards for scientific near-certainty hadn’t been met, there was enough convincing evidence that people should have taken notice much earlier than they actually did. From the episode, it’s obvious that Gladwell was building toward a comparison to something in society today, but what he actually attacked — the sport of American football — came as a surprise.
Through the rest of the second episode, Gladwell argued that there is more than enough evidence that football causes irreparable brain damage. Society may still be waiting for more conclusive proof, but the evidence we have now should be more than enough to cause people to stop playing the game. It’s hard to argue with his point, especially with the evidence that continues to mount year after year. The NFL may still loom large as one of America’s biggest cultural and financial organizations, but it’s not invulnerable.
These two episodes are only a small piece of what Revisionist History can offer to listeners. I’d highly recommend any episode in the series, and I’d especially recommend that listeners go back to the beginning and make sure to catch each one (the exact order isn’t terribly important). Through every episode, Gladwell’s infectious curiosity and enthusiasm make this a podcast well worth a subscription.
