Long weekends are for listening

With a couple of long weekends on the horizon, you’ll need a few meaty podcasts to fill those extra hours out of the office or time on the road, if you’re lucky enough to get away.

If history is your thing, then listening to 1619 from the New York Times is a must.

The six-part podcast is part of a New York Times Magazine multimedia project that explores how the United States economy, political system and popular culture are rooted in slave culture.

Presented by NYT journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, the series traces the history of slavery back to 1619, when the first ship carrying enslaved Africans arrived in America.

These podcasts are audio essays. They’re educational and thoughtprovoking, and definitely worthy of a long, long-weekend session.

If your road-trip passengers are up for debate then give You’re Wrong About . . . a go. It’s a series that sets out to make listeners reconsider what they think they know about a significant person, event or phenomenon.

Presenters Michael Hobbs and Sarah Marshall tackle celebs who have been miscast, such as Tonya Harding and Anna Nicole Smith, or phenomena such as acid rain and the obesity epidemic.

The hosts have great chemistry and the series feels like one long, enthralling conversation. It’s witty and analytical – I could listen to these guys for days.

Lastly, if you still have time to fill, check out Famous Fates, exclusively on Spotify.

From Julius Caesar and John Candy to Joan of Arc and Marilyn Monroe, this pod covers the stories of well-known people whose lives were cut short or who had a tragic demise.

There’s something for everyone and 45 episodes to last you through the weekend and beyond.