Life & fun · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to Start Making Sense - The Arab World and ISIS; The New York Times and Bernie Sanders

A new podcast from The Nation magazine

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Start Making Sense - The Arab World and ISIS; The New York Times and Bernie Sanders launched in 2015; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

1. 1
   Planet Money▲153

   A podcast covering the global economy

   2014 · its alternatives →

2. 2
   Parasocial▲204

   Listening to podcasts should be a joy. So let's get started.

   25d ago · parasocial.fm · its alternatives →

3. 3
   WTF with Marc Maron - Ep 613 w/ Obama▲152

   The first presidential podcast

   2015 · its alternatives →

4. 4
   Quick Brief On The Islamic State▲72

   Learn enough about ISIS to have an educated conversation.

   2015 · its alternatives →

5. 5
   Waking Up With Sam Harris - The Best Podcast Ever▲54

   Sam and Omer Aziz talk about Islam and Islamism.

   2016 · its alternatives →

6. 6
   Ground Ego - 9: Plata O Plomo▲60

   Fun and entertaining podcast discussing current issues.

   2015 · its alternatives →

7. 7
   Common sense with Dan Carlin - The war on bad thoughts▲64

   Important perspectivesIn the wake of the last terror attack

   2015 · its alternatives →

8. 8
   Fake The Nation - Trailer▲54

   Funny, smart, political conversations w/ Negin Farsad

   2016 · its alternatives →

9. 9
   Soundings From The New York Review - A Conversation w/ President Barack Obama▲60

   Another presidential podcast

   2015 · its alternatives →

10. 10
    Serial Podcast▲177

    From This American Life, follow 1 story over a whole season

    2014 · its alternatives →

11. 11
    a16z - A podcast about podcasts▲140

    Discussing podcast discovery & community w/ PH & Roman Mars

    2015 · its alternatives →

12. 12
    NYRD Radio▲152

    Alexis Ohanian's new weekly podcast show

    2014 · its alternatives →

13. 13
    FiveThirtyEight - Totally Subjective Odds▲72

    A pre-launch experiment for their new politics podcast

    2015 · its alternatives →

14. 14
    The Brian Lehrer Show - Michael Moore, Adam McKay, and Muslim Women on Islamophobia▲55

    Three separate segments from the past week stitched together

    2015 · its alternatives →

15. 15
    Pod Save America: Teaser Episode▲62

    Political podcasts, founded by Jon Favreau

    2017 · its alternatives →

16. 16
    Longform Podcast▲78

    A weekly conversation with a non-fiction writer or editor.

    2014 · its alternatives →

17. 17
    With her - Ep 1: "Hi, Hillary"▲101

    The first episode of Hillary Clinton's podcast series

    2016 · its alternatives →

18. 18
    Tim Ferriss Show - Challenging Reality w/ Eric Weinstein▲65

    Quite possibly one of my favorite podcast episodes ever.

    2016 · its alternatives →

19. 19
    The Probe #1: The Teaser▲65

    Satirical take on popular magazine-style news podcasts

    2016 · its alternatives →

20. 20
    That's So Podcast: Ep. 1 "That's so Afrofuturistic!"▲52

    This ep features Mike Street and is about #Afrofuturism

    2016 · its alternatives →

21. 21
    It's Your Universe - Why We Explore▲54

    A new podcast from TIME Magazine & Panoply

    2016 · its alternatives →

22. 22
    Internet History Podcast - Martin Nisenholtz on Bringing the New York Times Online▲67

    The guy at the center of all things digital for the NYT

    2016 · its alternatives →

23. 23
    Some Noise - The Trump Minority▲60

    A podcast episode about minorities voting for Trump

    2016 · its alternatives →

24. 24
    The Podglomerate▲70

    A hybrid podcast network and production house

    2017 · its alternatives →

Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →