Jamie Poljanac, Erin Poljanac, & Matt H

Ambivalent Offenders: Re-Examining History’s Most Questionable Figures

No. of episodes

56

Latest episode

2025-11-19

Where can you listen?

Just like history isn’t all black and white, neither are the people who lived it. So who are the ones living in the grey?

Welcome to Ambivalent Offenders— where we dig into the lives of people who’ve been called a lot of things: villains, scoundrels, monsters, misfits, or just plain morally messy. But were they really as bad as history says… or have they gotten an unfair rap?

In each episode, we unpack the stories, facts, and cultural myths surrounding some of the most questionable  (and sometimes misunderstood) figures from the past — all in a tone that’s more friend-at-brunch (according to one listener review) than lecture hall. No dusty textbooks, no moral grandstanding. Just conversational storytelling, questionable behavior, and a little historical tea.

Ultimately, we’re here to do what humans do best: judge the hell out of some pretty interesting people.