Running Head: Informative Essay

Informative Essay
Corey May
The University of Kentucky

Running Head: Informative Essay

The individual who I chose to write about in this essay is Dan Carlin. Carlin is well
known in todays world for many reasons, but what connected me to him was a mutual love of
both History and podcasts. A lot of kids get to college and spend their first two years trying to
decide what to do for a living. I never had this problem. Since I was a freshman in high school, I
knew that I was going to be a history teacher. I wasnt sure where, or for who, but I knew that it
was my future. I came to this conclusion for multiple reasons, the first being that it was in my
blood. My grandmother taught history at both the high school and university levels and engraved
a love for it in me from a young age. Another major reason were the teachers I had throughout
school. Everyone has teachers that they remember more fondly than others, it just so happens
that all of those teachers in my case, taught social studies and history classes. So by the time I
got to high school and came to the realization that I could get paid to teach other people about
the things I love, I never considered any other path.
When I got to college, I found myself walking long distances from home to class. I spent
hours on these walks with headphones in, listening to the same songs over and over. This started
to get repetitive, and going through my music playlist more times than I can remember, I decided
to try podcasts out. I started to love them, and after a week or so of looking for a podcast that I
could really get into, I stumbled upon one called Hardcore History. I decided to give it a try, but
wasnt very confident that it would be entertaining enough to warrant continuing after a few
minutes (In my experience, listening to a middle-aged man talk about the past usually was not).
It didnt take long for me to realize how wrong I was. Carlin (the aforementioned middle-aged
man) told stories of history in such a way that I felt as though I was a spectator. I had never heard
someone talk about history in such vivid detail and manage to keep me on the edge of my seat in
excitement and suspense.

Running Head: Informative Essay

One of the most interesting things about this encounter for me was the fact that a podcast
is an audio only medium. Meaning the only first impressions I could make about Carlin were
based on his voice, his attitude, his language and his personality. I had no visual aid to trick my
brain into thinking one way or another, and I think it had a huge impact on how he ended up
influencing me. His voice was gravely, but strong. I could tell that he believed in every word he
spoke. I could also tell that he enjoyed telling these stories just as much as I enjoyed hearing
them.
At the time, I was student teaching in a high school history class, and it didnt take long
for me to realize how much listening to Carlins podcast had influenced the way I delivered the
lessons and spoke to the students. I basically imitated Carlins manor of story-telling thinking to
myself that if it worked on me, maybe it will work on them, and it did. The confidence in the
knowledge of the topic and using my voice and body language to show excitement and interest in
the subject allowed the children to get pulled into the lesson, and want to learn more. These are
all thing that I have learned over the years from listening to Dan Carlin.
Over the years of listening to the podcast, I began seeing his name pop up more and more
over popular internet websites and search engines. I started to research and found that there were
tons of people out there who felt the same way I did. After the release of his newest series The
Rise of the Khans, where he tells the story of the rise to power and brutal nature of the infamous
warrior, Genghis Khan, The Huffington Post wrote a story on the influence Carlin is responsible
for. In this piece, the author, Benjamin Hart describes Carlin as a damn good talker (Hart)
citing his voice as one of the major draws. Calling it gravely and conspiratorial baritone
(Hart). The article also credits Carlins artfully posed hypothetical questions (Hart) and a
heavy use of pregnant pauses (Hart) as another reason for Carlins success in the world of

Running Head: Informative Essay

audio-only presentation. These are all things that I noticed the first time I listened to Carlin speak
and ended up making their way into the way I talked to students, and even into my everyday life
from time to time.
One of the main things I attribute Carlin with as influential to me is the entertainment
value of his podcasts. Entertainment is important in terms of keeping the listener on their toes
and paying attention, but as an educator it doesnt matter how entertaining you are if the
information youre presenting has no real meaning. This is another thing that Carlin does very
well. One element that Dan has tapped into is that element of satisfying curiosity" says Hart.
Carlins programs deliver sustenance, not just entertainment." (Hart). The entertainment aspect
of Carlins speaking and teaching style would be enough to hold almost anyones attention for
long periods of time, but its the weight of his words that keep his listeners coming back on a
daily basis.
I eventually did get to witness Dan Carlin on video format, allowing me to weigh my
perceptions of him from an audio format to his real life image. In his speech, which had nothing
to do with history and instead concentrated on the coming of age of new media, I noticed that
Carlin used many of the hand gestures and facial expressions that I had imagined him using in
my imagination as I listened to him speak. The way he spoke allowed the audience to know for
certain that he was invested in the conversation being held and helped me come up with some
new ideas about how to use my body as I educate as well as in my normal day to day life.
Not only has the way Carlin carries himself influenced by teaching style, but its also
influenced how I act around other people in social and professional interactions. While I dont
want to completely imitate Carlin in fear of coming across pretentious or a falsified personality, I
have used similar vocal cues and body language tricks to make myself more interesting and

Running Head: Informative Essay

allow the people I am speaking with be fully interested in the conversation at hand. I think a lot
of these conversation and speaking tips can be very helpful in situations like interviews and
story-telling.
Carlin blames mostly the modern media and education system for the seemingly nonexistent interest in history in school. In an article written by Christopher Matthews of TIME
magazine, Carlin is quoted as saying Look at the history channel. Theyre doing shows like Ice
Road Truckers and Monster Quest because theyre convinced nobody wants to watch even halfhour history shows. People who would be our competition are running scared because they just
dont think people care. (Matthews). The idea that people arent interested in learning about
history in an intellectual way is proven to be incorrect in this very article. Matthews states that
while Carlin can only get an episode out every 10 weeks or so he still manages to bring in
more than a million downloads per episode of late (Matthews) proving that the interest is there
and the fault doesnt lie with the subject, but with the manor it is being presented.
This is another idea from Carlin that has had a huge influence on the way I think of
educating. When I was in school, we watched boring PBS documentaries that put almost
everyone in the class, including the instructor to sleep. People look at situations like that and
assume that the people sleeping arent interested in history at all, but its not history thats the
problem. Its that there doesnt exist a new, fresh exciting way to teach it in school. While I
would love to show kids some of Carlins work, its named Hardcore History for a reason. Carlin
is doesnt hold back on language or violent details. In fact he seems to consider them one of the
main reasons that his audience finds the stories appealing.
The goal that I have set for myself is to find a happy medium. One that can stimulate
students and get them wanting to learn more about history, but doing it in a school friend way.

Running Head: Informative Essay

Although this seems like it could be an issue in the forever growing desire political correctness in
the world and the rising important of standardized testing in the school system. Dan Carlin has
proven that it can be done successfully, and that fact keeps me influenced and motivated that my
goal can indeed be achieved.
The vocal, visual, and theoretical ideas of Dan Carlin have influenced my life heavily
since the first time I heard him speak. It is a great reminder that first impressions can be
extremely important and that people should pay close attention to the things that are influencing
their lives. These influences can both consciously and unconsciously end up playing a very large
role in a persons life. This including their relationships, way of thinking and a career.

Running Head: Informative Essay

Burkeman, O. (2016, January 02). All-day podcasts and brick-sized books. Or, why
2015 was the year the
long form fought back. Retrieved February 19, 2016, from
http://www.theguardian.com/books/commentisfree/2016/jan/02/longer-novelspodcasts-appealing-gaboon-adder
Dan Carlin - Hardcore History - Common Sense. Retrieved February 19, 2016, from
http://www.dancarlin.com/
Donovan, K. (2015, May 13). Dan Carlin Q&A. Retrieved February 19, 2016, from
http://usatodayhss.com/2015/dan-carlin-qa
Hart, B. (2015, November 12). America's Best History Teacher Doesn't Work at a
School. Retrieved
February 19, 2016, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dan-carlinhardcorehistory_us_5643b5b5e4b08cda34875511
Matthews, C. (2013, August 29). Despite Being Oh-So 2005, Podcasting Is Drawing
Listeners and
Advertisers Alike | TIME.com. Retrieved February 19, 2016, from
http://business.time.com/2013/08/29/despite-being-oh-so-2005-podcasting-isdrawing-listenersand-advertisers-alike/
The New Media's coming of age | Dan Carlin | TEDxMtHood. (2015, June 3).
Retrieved February 19,
2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K57kcs15DY