Michael William Duncan (born February 14, 1980) is an American political history

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

er and author. After not finding any Roman history podcasts in 2007, Duncan began '' The History of Rome'', a narrative podcast chronicling events from the

founding of Rome The founding of Rome was a prehistoric event or process later greatly embellished by Roman historians and poets. Archaeological evidence indicates that Rome developed from the gradual union of several hillfort, hilltop villages during the Prehi ...

until the

collapse of the Western Roman Empire The fall of the Western Roman Empire, also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome, was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast ...

. The podcast concluded in 2012. A year later he began ''Revolutions'', which ran for ten seasons over the course of nine years, covering the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

, and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

revolutions, among others. The series' second phase ended in July 2022 and was followed by a nearly two-year hiatus before the series returned on 22 October 2024 with a fictional account of a prospective Martian Revolution. On 16 December 2024, Duncan announced that he was continuing work on the ''Revolutions'' podcast, declaring that the Martian Revolution season would be the "intermission" of the podcast and that he would return to telling the stories of real revolutions afterwards. In addition to podcasting, Duncan is the author of two history books. In 2017, Duncan wrote '' The Storm Before the Storm'', which was well reviewed and appeared on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list. His most recent work, 2021's '' Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution'', received similar praise, earning its own spot as a New York Times Best Seller.

Personal life

Duncan was born in

Redmond, Washington Redmond is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located east of Seattle. The population was 73,256 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Redmond is best known as the home of Microsoft and Nintendo of America. The city h ...

, and attended

Western Washington University Western Washington University (WWU or Western) is a public university in Bellingham, Washington, United States. The northernmost university in the contiguous United States, WWU was founded in 1893 as the state-funded New Whatcom Normal School, s ...

, attaining a degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

with a minor in philosophy. He is an avid fan of the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

baseball team. Before starting the ''History of Rome'', he worked as a

fishmonger A fishmonger (historically fishwife for female practitioners) is someone who sells raw fish and seafood. Fishmongers can be wholesalers or retailers and are trained at selecting and purchasing, handling, gutting, boning, filleting, displaying, ...

; he was in the fish trade most of the time he was recording the podcast. During the recording of ''Revolutions'', Duncan lived in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

. Duncan also occasionally creates political comic strips in collaboration with illustrator Jason Novak. In 2018 Duncan relocated to Paris, France in order to do research for his 2021 book ''Hero Of Two Worlds'', a biography on the

Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette (; 6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (), was a French military officer and politician who volunteered to join the Conti ...

. In April 2021, with Duncan's work on the book completed, he returned to the United States.

Interest in history

Duncan's interest in Roman history grew from a "general interest in ancient civilizations." As a child, he would often flip through his parents' encyclopedia set to the entries on

Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

, the

Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...

, and the

Inca The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...

. The largest and most encompassing of those civilizations to Duncan was always the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

. Mike became especially interested in Roman history while reading his grandfather's paperback version of

Edward Gibbon Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English essayist, historian, and politician. His most important work, ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1789, is known for ...

's ''

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', sometimes shortened to ''Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', is a six-volume work by the English historian Edward Gibbon. The six volumes cover, from 98 to 1590, the peak of the Ro ...

''. Describing himself as "a complete history geek," Duncan also has an interest in American history. He believes the greatest difference between America and Rome is that compared to Rome, America has only spent a short time on the world stage. Despite studying political science in college, Duncan spent much of his free time studying ancient Greek and Latin texts. "I sort of stumbled into it, so I was reading a ton of Livy at the time, and a ton of Suetonius, and then I had just gotten into Tacitus." Regarding modern history, Duncan has predicted that Silicon Valley may be seen in the future as groundbreaking as the Renaissance was, stating that "we have lived in the last twenty years through some of the most impressive advances in human civilization."

Podcasts

''The History of Rome''

Duncan began '' The History of Rome'' in 2007, after failing to find any good podcasts about ancient history. The project turned into an award-winning weekly podcast which aired for 179 episodes until 2012 and was downloaded more than 100 million times. The podcast covers the time period from the origin of the Roman Kingdom to the

fall of the Western Roman Empire The fall of the Western Roman Empire, also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome, was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vast ...

, focusing on the most accepted chain of events according to historical consensus. In the 2010

Podcast Awards The People's Choice Podcast Awards, better known as the Podcast Awards, are global awards given annually to the best podcasts as voted by the general public. Founded in 2005 by Todd Cochrane of Podcast Connect Inc., the Podcast Awards changed han ...

, The History of Rome won best educational podcast.

''Revolutions''

Stage One and Stage Two

''Revolutions'' aired from 15 September 2013 to 3 July 2022. The podcast covered modern political revolutions, beginning with the

English Revolution The English Revolution is a term that has been used to describe two separate events in English history. Prior to the 20th century, it was generally applied to the 1688 Glorious Revolution, when James II was deposed and a constitutional monarc ...

. Each season was dedicated to one revolution or

revolutionary wave A revolutionary wave (sometimes revolutionary decade) is a series of revolutions occurring in various locations within a particular timespan. In many cases, past revolutions and revolutionary waves have inspired current ones, or an initial revolu ...

and discussed the revolution through a chronological narrative approach, as in his podcast '' The History of Rome'', but the shorter time periods and longer episode length for each season allowed greater detail for individual events. Seasons began with one or two episodes dedicated to the pre-history of the revolution and its causes, sometimes highlighting when and how the revolution could have been avoided. Initially, Duncan planned to limit his podcast to 12-15 episodes per revolution, but he ran over that self-imposed limit with the English Civil War and the American Revolution and decided to give up on it for the French Revolution, which ultimately ended up being 54 episodes (not counting supplemental episodes). The series covered the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

, the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

, the French Revolution, the

Haitian Revolution The Haitian Revolution ( or ; ) was a successful insurrection by slave revolt, self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolution was the only known Slave rebellion, slave up ...

Simon Bolivar Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

and

Gran Colombia Gran Colombia (, "Great Colombia"), also known as Greater Colombia and officially the Republic of Colombia (Spanish language, Spanish: ''República de Colombia''), was a state that encompassed much of northern South America and parts of Central ...

, the

July Revolution The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution (), Second French Revolution, or ("Three Glorious ays), was a second French Revolution after French Revolution, the first of 1789–99. It led to the overthrow of King Cha ...

, the

Revolutions of 1848 The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...

, the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (, ) was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard (France), Nation ...

, the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution () was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It saw the destruction of the Federal Army, its ...

, and finally the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, ending its run of narrative episodes in July 2022. This was followed by a series of retrospective episodes, taking a broader look at the structure of revolution. Revolutions also featured supplemental episodes, excluded from the normal count of episodes, and of varying length (compared to roughly half-hour normal episodes). Some of them focused in depth on a particular topic or person, while others were verbatim reproductions of historical texts such as the

United States Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America in the original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continen ...

or the French Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen. Duncan drew inspiration for the Revolutions podcast out of a deep personal interest from his teenage years: "When I was really getting into history when I was a teenager, the American Revolution was my favorite period of American history. I spent a whole period of time being really into the Russian Revolution." As he had done with ''The History of Rome'' podcast, Duncan ran a series of tours to accompany the podcast which visited historical sites mentioned on the show. Publications including ''Time'', ''Popular Mechanics'', and ''The Guardian'' have included ''Revolutions'' on their lists of recommended podcasts.

Benjamin Wittes Benjamin Wittes (born November 5, 1969) is an American legal journalist. He is editor in chief of '' Lawfare'' and senior fellow in governance studies at The Brookings Institution, where he is the research director in public law, and co-director ...

, after hearing the first two episodes of ''Revolutions'', called the podcast "informative, engaging, told in Duncan's usual easygoing, somewhat comic style that packs a lot of history into relatively brief discussions". The introduction to each episode is a clip from the second movement of Joseph Haydn's Symphony 92 (Oxford). Mike Duncan is believed to have coined the phrase "the entropy of victory" to describe the recurring division that occurs following a successful revolt, or coup d'état, among the victors.

''Revolutions'' (Stage Three and Onwards)

''Revolutions'' relaunched on 20 October 2024, with Duncan shifting the focus from covering

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

world history to a speculative series covering a fictional 23rd-century revolution on

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

250 years after the fact. On 16 December 2024, Duncan announced he was moving forward with the Revolutions podcast after the Martian Revolution. He said that the Martian Revolution narrative would mark an intermission for the podcast before a return to non-fiction storytelling for the next season. In the list of revolutions he mentioned wanting to cover were the

Irish Revolution The revolutionary period in Irish history was the period in the 1910s and early 1920s when Irish nationalist opinion shifted from the Home Rule-supporting Irish Parliamentary Party to the republican Sinn Féin movement. There were several ...

, the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

, and the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...

, among others.

Seasons of ''Revolutions''

, aired September 2013 to January 2014 (16 episodes, 4 supplementals) #

, aired February to May 2014 (15 episodes, 2 supplementals) # French Revolution, aired July 2014 to November 2015 (55 episodes, 5 supplementals, 1 PSA) #

, aired December 2015 to April 2016 (19 episodes, 1 supplemental) #

Spanish American wars of independence The Spanish American wars of independence () took place across the Spanish Empire during the early 19th century. The struggles in both hemispheres began shortly after the outbreak of the Peninsular War, forming part of the broader context of the ...

, aired June 2016 to February 2017 (27 episodes, 1 supplemental) #

, aired March to May 2017 (7 episodes, 5 supplementals) #

, aired July 2017 to April 2018 (33 episodes, 0 supplementals) #

, aired from May 2018 to June 2018 (8 episodes, 0 supplementals) #

, aired August 2018 to March 2019 (27 episodes, 0 supplementals) #

pt 1, aired from May 2019 to April 2020 (39 episodes, 0 supplementals); pt 2, aired from 3 January 2021 to July 2022 (64 episodes, 11 supplementals) # Martian Revolution (fictional), aired from October 2024 to June 2025 (30 episodes, 1

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exclusive supplemental)

''The Duncan & Coe History Show''

Mike Duncan announced that he would be hosting "The Duncan & Coe History Show" with historian Alexis Coe at the end of Revolutions in 2022, a collaboration he felt flattered by, given her "high caliber." In late 2024, they launched "Season Zero" as an lo-fi experiment. In their description: "Bestselling authors and historians Mike Duncan and Alexis Coe are far-flung buddies who slice through centuries with the sharpness of a guillotine. In this wide-ranging series, Duncan, best-known for The History of Rome and Revolutions, and Coe, a presidential historian and senior fellow leave no stone unturned, no sacred cow un-tipped." Duncan and Coe first appeared to have worked together in 2021 when Coe hosted a book event at the Strand for "Hero of Two Worlds".

Books

''The Storm Before the Storm''

On 24 October 2017, Duncan published ''The Storm Before The Storm,'' a non-fiction work which explores Rome between 146 and 78 BC, the period predating the end of the Roman Republic. It entered the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list Hardcover Non-Fiction on the eighth place during its first week. In an interview with the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

Worldview'', Duncan claimed his aim for the book was to "pull back two generations rom the time of Caesarand ask, 'What was it that opened the cracks in the foundation of the Republic?'" The book received widespread praise, with many reviewers noting how the events described in the book portend to modern times.

of ''

Lawfare Lawfare is the use of legal systems and institutions to affect foreign or domestic affairs, as a more peaceful and rational alternative, or as a less benign adjunct, to warfare. Detractors have alternately begun to define the phrase as, "An att ...

'' wrote, "Never has a book about history that's two millennia old been so timely...You'll learn as much about the problems we face today from this book as from any newspaper", and a review in the

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers ...

praised his "congenial style", claiming that he "zeros in on Rome's polarization between "optimates" (conservatives) and "populares" (populists), the disintegration of participatory democracy, and the concomitant rise in inequality, uncivil discourse, and violence. The parallels with modern times, and particularly contemporary America, leap off the page".

''Hero of Two Worlds''

Duncan's second book, '' Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution'', is a biography about the

during the

and

revolutions and their aftermaths. The book was published 24 August 2021 and in September of that same year, it reached number three on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list. The book was received positively by numerous important outlets including

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

and

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...

. Duncan has also expressed interest in developing a TV series based on the biography, having drafted a pilot script for the proposed show.

Television

Duncan appears as a panel historian on seasons two and three of the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

documentary ''

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

'', and was a historical consultant for The Simpsons' episode ''

I, Carumbus "I, Carumbus" is the second episode of the thirty-second season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'', and the 686th episode overall. It aired in the United States on Fox on October 4, 2020. The episode was directed by Ro ...

.'' In July 2022, Duncan released, through his Revolutions podcast, a one-man table read of a script he created for a proposed Marquis de Lafayette TV show. Duncan reported that he hopes to turn this idea into a multi-season series and is currently in early discussions to do so.

Influence

directly modelled the introduction to the ''

'' Podcast on ''The History of Rome''. Robin Pierson's podcast ''The History of Byzantium'' was explicitly modelled after ''The History of Rome'' in style, length and quality and was intended by Pierson to act as a sort of sequel to it. Similarly, Peter Adamson mentioned Duncan as one of the reasons he started his ''History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps'' podcast.

Rian Johnson Rian Craig Johnson (born December 17, 1973) is an American filmmaker. He made his directorial debut with the neo-noir mystery film ''Brick (film), Brick'' (2005), which received positive reviews and grossed nearly $4 million on a $450,000 budget ...

was listening to the History of Rome podcast as he was writing the script for '' Star Wars: The Last Jedi''. In a ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' article Johnson states: "The stories have a lot of similarities. They're about family dynamics and family politics. They're about war and the mechanisms of war. You've got characters like Nero who are these insane, larger-than-life, operatic madmen driving their country to ruin. It's very timely."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Duncan, Mike American history podcasters 21st-century American historians American male non-fiction writers Living people People from Redmond, Washington Western Washington University alumni Historians from Washington (state) 21st-century American male writers English Revolution 1980 births