David Parnell and I wrap up the story of Belisarius and Antonina. We are now on to the liberation of Italy and by the end I felt the Romans there might have preferred to have been left alone. It is a huge subject and we couldn't do more than give an overview. If you want more David's book is terrific. We are very lucky with our sources for this period which allow us to know so much about this fascinating period of European history. David does the story full justice! You can send a message to the...
Oct 06, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 63
David Parnell has a wonderful new book out called Belisarius and Antonina . This is the story of a real husband and wife partnership. Belisarius was perhaps the greatest Roman general of the 6th century and his wife Antonina accompanied him and was intimately involved in his campaigns. I really enjoyed speaking to David about the twists and turns of the story. Hearing about the Nika riots was a particular (bloody) highlight. The podcast ran long as there was so much to discuss so I have divided ...
Sep 24, 2023•59 min•Season 1Ep. 62
Frank Dikötter is the author of a series of brilliant and harrowing books about communist China. He is not only a prize winning historian of post war China but a highly engaging speaker. He talked about China from the time of the communist takeover after WWII all the way up to and beyond the death of Mao. The regime was responsible for the deaths of tens of millions and Frank does a great service in helping to keep the story of one of the greatest tragedies in history at the forefront of people'...
Aug 27, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Season 1Ep. 61
This is the story of Anson's voyage around the world in the 1740's. In particular it is about the ship the Wager and the crew's incredible bravery, endurance and ingenuity in appalling conditions. And it is about shipwreck, murder and mutiny. David Grann's book tells the story brilliantly. You will never want to get on a boat again! You can send a message to the show/feedback by clicking here. The system doesn't let me reply so if you need one please include your email....
Jul 05, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 60
Jasper Sharp is probably the UK's leading expert on Japanese film and he joined me on the show today with Scott Sumner. Scott has a famous economics blog that has a side line in movie reviews. The pair of them were on really good form discussing a list of six movies that Jasper came up with. I think that even people unfamiliar with Japanese film should have fun! The films we discussed were: Equinox Flower The Ballad of Narayama Hanagatami Branded to Kill Ghost in the Shell 2 Giants and Toys You ...
May 03, 2023•1 hr 22 min•Season 1Ep. 59
John McWhorter and Tom Holland are a perfect pairing. They are absolutely delightful company both with a dry sense of humour. I was keen to bring them together because I learned they share a love a dinosaurs. Absolute fanatics it turns out. I got the sense they really enjoyed chatting to each other and I hope you will enjoy listening. An interest in dinosaurs helps but is not required! You can send a message to the show/feedback by clicking here. The system doesn't let me reply so if you need on...
Apr 29, 2023•53 min•Season 1Ep. 58
Roger Crowley is one on the best (if not the best) narrative historians of the Middle Ages. Here is on great form talking about the Siege of Acre in 1291. The Crusaders have been pushed back and back with Acre the last meaningful holdout. They are up against the formidable Mamluks led by Sultan Khalil. Can they hold out? Roger's book The Accursed Tower (like all his books to be honest!) is a both rigorously researched and a fantastically exciting read. He covers the disastrous (for the Crusaders...
Mar 19, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 57
Stacy Schiff is one of America's most acclaimed historians and biographers. Her book The Witches is a detailed, almost forensic, history of the Salem witch trials on 1692. She very kindly came on the podcast to talk about it and she is every bit as good a storyteller in person as you would imagine from reading the book. I found her book and our conversation really quite troubling in what it says about our ability to tell lies from fiction. In particular even the accused seemed confused about the...
Feb 17, 2023•57 min•Season 1Ep. 56
Christopher de Bellaigue's book The Lion House is a brilliant history of the first part of Suleiman the Magnificent's reign. I love history and I can't remember loving a history book more that this one. As I say in the podcast, I think it is an unabashed masterpiece and such a pleasure to read. Christopher tells the story in particular of two men at the court of Suleiman and their struggle to rise and prosper in extraordinarily difficult times. And it is the story also of Suleiman's love for his...
Feb 11, 2023•58 min•Season 1Ep. 55
Professor David Abulafia's wonderful book The Great Sea covers so many topics. Today we talked about slavery. Until recently I hadn't been aware of the sheer scale of the enterprise. Slavers from the Barbary ports raided as far north as the coasts of England and Ireland. In the east the Mongols brought slaves to the Black Sea ports where they were taken by Italian merchants past Constantinople and on to Egypt. Or to Europe. The fates of the enslaved was incredibly varied - positions of respect a...
Jan 27, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 54
Scott Sumner is an economist with a well known and much quoted blog. But it is the bit of the blog that he devotes to movies that interests me. He watches a ton of films and then does a thumbnail review and rating. For example: For example here is his review of The Bad Sleep Well: The first time I’d seen this Kurosawa film, and I’d say it’s his most underrated effort. Loosely based on Hamlet, but you’ll be disappointed if you expect another Throne of Blood. Rather than Shakespeare, expect a grea...
Dec 05, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 53
I have always found the war Octavian fought against Antony and Cleopatra hard to understand. How did Antony find himself losing without even fighting a proper battle given all his experience as a general and commanding an army equal to or stronger than his opponent's? Barry Strauss explains the campaign brilliantly. You can find his book The War that made the Roman Empire here . Highly recommended. You can send a message to the show/feedback by clicking here. The system doesn't let me reply so i...
Nov 29, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Anna Keay's book The Restless Republic is just brilliant. It covers the period following the execution of Charles I when Britain became a republic. It is fascinating to see how the period (and the characters) mix revolutionary ideas with deep traditionalism. Anna approaches the subject by telling the stories of a number of people - men, women, powerful and powerless - who illuminate the times. And she is brilliant at using these stories to tell the history of the Republic itself as it struggles ...
Nov 06, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 51
Following on from last week in this episode things reach boiling point. Marriage alliances are discarded, invasions undertaken D day style, brutal battles are fought as Perdicass marches to destroy Ptolemy. All this and possibly one of the most audacious and consequential heists in all of recorded history. And crocodiles, lots of crocodiles. You can send a message to the show/feedback by clicking here. The system doesn't let me reply so if you need one please include your email....
Oct 17, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 50
Tristan Hughes has writen a brilliant book about the years immediately following the Death of Alexander the Great. As Tristan says, history didn't just stop at Alexander's death and start again when Rome takes on Carthage. And in fact this period is one of the most fascinating and eventful in ancient history. It is also one of the most confusing and I hope this podcast is both entertaining and clarifying! And check out HistoryHit . When not writing histories Tristan is a presenter with them - pr...
Oct 04, 2022•58 min•Season 1Ep. 49
Really thrilled to have Bret Devereaux and Ed Watts on the podcast together. We looked at Gladiator as a film (two thumbs up!) and also unpicking some of the history. Ranging far and wide we covered the battle scenes, gladiators, the role of an emperor and lots, lots more. Ed argues that Commodus was doing okay until stabbed in the back by his sister and Bret gives a masterclass in how not to name a Roman. I lower the tone by bringing the nazis into it. Bret's superb blog is here . Ed's latest b...
Aug 29, 2022•1 hr 20 min•Season 1Ep. 48
I chatted to Battleship Bean and John Schilling about nuclear war. We discussed the wonderful Dr Strangleove and tried to unpick some of the realities of a nuclear war. How powerful are modern weapons? Would they knock out electrical systems world wide? Would such a war result in nuclear winter? A book I mentioned in the podcast and which I recommend (though Bean is not a fan) is Command and Control by John Schlosser. Bean himself has written several articles on the subject on his excellent blog...
Aug 12, 2022•1 hr 17 min•Season 1Ep. 47
What happens when a Habsburg prince abandons European luxury to rule a bankrupt, divided Mexico? Emperor Maximilian's journey from triumph to tragedy reveals the human cost of imperial ambition and misguided honor. After their triumphant entry into Mexico City, Maximilian and Carlotta faced the monumental task of governing a nation torn by civil war. Despite liberal reforms that surprised his conservative backers, Maximilian struggled with Mexico's bankrupted finances while making monthly paymen...
Jul 31, 2022•54 min•Season 1Ep. 46
Karl Marx called it 'one of the most monstrous enterprises in the annals of international history'. This seems unfair to the young Hapsburg royals who travel to Mexico in 1864 to become its emperor and empress. Highly liberal by the standards of the day and with the best of intentions they will face a terrible struggle to rule and (ultimately) to try to survive. Edward Shawcross has written one of the best books I have read in years . It is simply a fantastic page turner. And Edward is also a hu...
Jul 24, 2022•46 min•Season 1Ep. 45
In the Dutch Republic of the 1630's trading in tulips went mad with bulbs and even parts of a bulb changing hands for astronomical prices. Historian Mike Dash traces the extraordinary story from its beginnings centuries before up to and beyond the inevitable crash. I can't recommend Mike and his books enough. Hard core history and a fantastically accessible reading style. His book Tulipomania is an absolute pleasure. You can send a message to the show/feedback by clicking here. The system doesn'...
Jul 04, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 44
James Howard - Johnston returns to talk about the astonishing upending of the world order that happened just a few years after the death of Muhammad. The Persian empire destroyed and the Roman Empire reduced to a Byzantine rump. It is a long episode and slightly scholarly but I honestly don't think you can understand the world we live in today without some understanding of these extraordinary times. So have at it! You can send a message to the show/feedback by clicking here. The system doesn't l...
Jun 04, 2022•1 hr 28 min•Season 1Ep. 43
Paul Lockhart is brilliant on the history of guns (and firepower more widely). He is interested not just in the weapons themselves but how they changed the nature of the nation state itself. Once gunpowder is introduced everything changes. Warfare increasingly becomes something only a powerful state can really afford and a Darwinian competition starts to unfold from the 1500's onwards. Listening to him a lot of developments in history began to make so much more sense to me. His book Firepower is...
May 11, 2022•1 hr 28 min•Season 1Ep. 42
Ed Watts is one of the most engaging writers and speakers on Roman history I have talked to. In this podcast we talk about the fall of the Republic - why and how it happened and who was most to blame. The podcast picks up the themes of his excellent book Mortal Republic which is highly, highly recommended. You can send a message to the show/feedback by clicking here. The system doesn't let me reply so if you need one please include your email....
Apr 12, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Season 1Ep. 41
In October 1950 the Americans are racing to the Yalu river, trying to bring the war in Korea to a decisive close. Unknown to them a huge Chinese army has been sent to oppose them and the forces meet at the Chosin Reservoir. Both sides have to fight not only each other but the appalling cold as the Chinese try to surround and annihilate the Americans. Hampton Sides' book On Desperate Ground is an absolutely gripping account of the battle and I'm unsurprised to see it has 5 stars on Amazon. In tod...
Mar 22, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 40
Everyone has heard of the Silk Road but this is The Silver Way . It is the story of the Manilla galleons, massive ships that sailed annually for 250 years from 1565 to 1815. Silver from Spanish South America in exchange for Chinese goods with the exchange taking place in Manilla in the Philippines. It was the first true globalisation linking the economies of China and Europe. Our discussion ranges far and wide - history, economics, memory, currencies, sea battles and plenty more. You can send a ...
Mar 06, 2022•1 hr 22 min•Season 1Ep. 39
The story of the siege of Constantinople in 1453 is a rich one. Roger Crowley tells the story absolutely brilliantly here. So many fascinating (and at times heartbreaking) stories within the bigger story. A city with an unbroken history of over a thousand years faces its deadliest enemy. And don't miss Roger's book on the subject. Narrative history at its finest. You can send a message to the show/feedback by clicking here. The system doesn't let me reply so if you need one please include your e...
Feb 18, 2022•1 hr 19 min•Season 1Ep. 38
In the year 617 the Roman Empire stands on the brink of extinction. In the West the empire is long gone. And now the Persians have conquered much of what is left and have arrived outside Constantinople where the emperor Heraclius is reduced to begging to be allowed to keep his throne. The Persians turn down the deal, the war continues and Heraclius leads a desperate counter attack. James Howard-Johnston told the story brilliantly in his book The Last Great War of Antiquity . For non specialists ...
Jan 28, 2022•1 hr 30 min•Season 1Ep. 37
Stephen Greenblatt wrote a fascinating book The Swerve about the rediscovery in 1417 of a work of philosophy from antiquity. The Nature of Things was written by Lucretius a few years before the birth of Christ. It provides an account of the world profoundly at odds with religion - atomism and epicureanism. Stephen's thesis is that over time the implications of this work changed the course of history. We start the story at the Council of Constance. Christendom has three popes and is figuring out ...
Jan 15, 2022•58 min•Season 1Ep. 36
In 1889 a woman calling herself Pearl Hart holds up a stagecoach in Arizona. In this episode John Boessenecker talks about Pearl Hart and his book Wildcat . Pearl's life from poverty to prostitution to stage coach robbing and prison sounds miserable. But the woman herself was beautiful, smart, full of life and hard not to admire. In fact the whole family and in particular her sister Katie led fascinating lives. Highly recommended. You can send a message to the show/feedback by clicking here. The...
Jan 02, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 35
Edward Watts startled me with his claim that the Western Roman Empire didn't fall in AD 476. And he has other revisionist takes on Roman history. (Domitian a much better emperor than Trajan??) I love Roman history and enjoyed this episode hugely. His book The Eternal Decline and Fall of Rome: The History of a Dangerous Idea is absolutely terrific. A superb balance between the detail and a sweeping narrative. You can send a message to the show/feedback by clicking here. The system doesn't let me ...
Dec 20, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 34
