The making of the post-Wall world with Mary Elise Sarotte
The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 offered opportunities to reset relations between East and West. EI's Paul Lay discusses how these opportunities were squandered with Mary Elise Sarotte (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/mary-elise-sarotte/) , Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Distinguished Professor of Historical Studies at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs. Engelsberg Ideas (...
25m Nov 14, 2024
25m
Andreas Rödder on Konrad Adenauer and the German realignment
Konrad Adenauer combined Realpolitik and German values and interests with international cooperation. The multilaterally integrated, co-operative nation state he championed was a fundamental innovation in European history. Read by Helen Lloyd. Engelsberg Ideas (https://engelsbergideas.com/) is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit (https://axsonjohnsonfoun...
17m Nov 08, 2024
17m
Maria Golia on Carl Akeley, early pioneer of wildlife photography
Maria Golia (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/maria-golia/) profiles Carl Akeley (https://engelsbergideas.com/portraits/carl-akeley-the-contradictory-life-of-a-taxidermist-and-hunter-turned-wildlife-photographer/) , an inventor, sculptor, and taxidermist. His life's lessons still echo in the effort to conserve wildlife. Read by Sebastian Brown. Engelsberg Ideas (https://engelsbergideas.com/)...
14m Nov 07, 2024
14m
The lessons of the 1968 presidential election with Luke A. Nichter
EI’s Angus Reilly (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/angus-reilly/) is joined by Luke A. Nichter (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/luke-a-nichter/) , author of The Year that Broke Politics: Collusion and Chaos in the Presidential Election of 1968, to discuss Lyndon B. Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Richard Nixon, and the battle for the future of America in a year that offers notable parallels to ...
46m Nov 04, 2024
46m
Kenneth Payne asks: will machines make strategy?
The emergence of Artificial Intelligence capable of deducing human intentions signals a new frontier in technology that could transform the world of strategy, diplomacy and warfare. Read by Helen Lloyd. TV screens showing the live broadcast of the Google DeepMind Challenge Match at Yongsan Electronic Technology Land in Seoul, South Korea. Credit: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo
22m Nov 01, 2024
22m
Why Europe needs a grand strategy with Marina E. Henke
EI's Alastair Benn is joined by Marina E. Henke (https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/europe-needs-a-grand-strategy/) , Professor of International Relations at the Hertie School, Berlin, to discuss how Europe can defend itself from the latest threats and thrive in a contested world. Engelsberg Ideas (https://engelsbergideas.com/) is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for P...
21m Oct 31, 2024
21m
Alina Polyakova on Ukraine and the future of US global leadership
If Russia is allowed to walk away with any of its ill-gotten gains in Ukraine, the deterrent power of the United States and the transatlantic alliance will be lost. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: The flags of the United States and Ukraine flying side by side. Credit: Todd Bannor / Alamy Stock Photo
13m Oct 25, 2024
13m
Adrian Wooldridge on Philippa Fawcett, wrangler extraordinaire
Adrian Wooldridge (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/adrian-wooldridge/) profiles Philippa Fawcett (https://engelsbergideas.com/portraits/philippa-fawcett-wrangler-extraordinaire/) , the first female Senior Wrangler at Cambridge University and a trailblazer for women's achievement in a nascent meritocratic society. Read by Sebastian Brown. Engelsberg Ideas (https://engelsbergideas.com/) is fu...
14m Oct 24, 2024
14m
Philip Zelikow on the study of statecraft
The study of statecraft would profit by spending less time on ‘should’ and more time on ‘how’. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: Woodrow Wilson delivering a Christmas address to soldiers of the A.E.F. Langres, Haute Marne, France, December 1918. Credit: Hum Images / Alamy Stock Photo
21m Oct 18, 2024
21m
How to win Cold War II with Dmitri Alperovitch
EI's Paul Lay is joined by Dmitri Alperovitch, leading geopolitical analyst, entrepreneur, and co-founder and chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator, to discuss the parallels between US-Soviet rivalry and that of the US and China. Engelsberg Ideas (https://engelsbergideas.com/) is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit (https://axsonjohnsonfoundation.org...
29m Oct 17, 2024
29m
Kristin Ven Bruusgaard on the paradox of nuclear strategy
The vision of nuclear strategy as a means to prevent war remains a powerful but contested idea in international politics. As global rivalries intensify and nuclear arsenals expand, the risk of conflict seems more pronounced than ever. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: A photograph of nuclear testing at Pacific Island test sites. Credit: EMU history / Alamy Stock Photo
17m Oct 11, 2024
17m
Graham Stewart on Joseph Galloway, the forgotten Founding Father
Was the revolution that created the United States of America inevitable? The life of Joseph Galloway shows what might have been. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: An illustration of Joseph Galloway by Thomas Emmett, 1885. Credit: Wikimedia Commons
16m Oct 10, 2024
16m
Benedetta Berti on the past, present and future of the transatlantic alliance
Over the last decade, NATO has embarked on a significant process of military and political adaptation to ensure it can effectively enable the collective defence of allies in a competitive, contested and unpredictable world. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: NATO flag waving in the wind. Credit: Zoonar GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo
16m Oct 04, 2024
16m
The attention dilemma
EI's Paul Lay and Alastair Benn discuss an attention dilemma that has haunted western thought for centuries. READING LIST Our attention dilemma is age-old | Alastair Benn (https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/our-attention-dilemma-is-age-old/) Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium | Seneca (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Moral_letters_to_Lucilius) The Essays of Michel de Montaigne (https://www.gutenb...
45m Oct 03, 2024
45m
Fredrik Logevall on JFK's abiding legacy
Through his visionary leadership, inspired rhetoric, and willingness to compromise, John F. Kennedy summoned the narrative of American hope, his most powerful and enduring legacy. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: Senator John F. Kennedy at Hyannis Port. Credit: Phillip Harrington / Alamy Stock Photo
17m Sep 27, 2024
17m
Jessica Frazier on Akbar the Great, the ultimate Renaissance ruler
One of the few leaders on whom history has bestowed the title ‘the Great’, Akbar was a noted connoisseur of cultures and architect of political pluralism. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: Akbar the Great hunting. Mughal Scool, 1590. British Museum. Artist Unknown. Credit: CM Dixon/Heritage Images/Getty Images
14m Sep 26, 2024
14m
Kentaro Fujimoto on Japan's global future
Like it or not, Japan has become one of the most critical actors in contemporary international politics. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: A naval exercise conducted by Japan. Credit: World History Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
21m Sep 20, 2024
21m
The making of Xi Jinping with Michael Sheridan
Michael Sheridan (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/michael-sheridan/) , author of The Red Emperor: Xi Jinping and His New China, joins EI's Angus Reilly (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/angus-reilly/) to discuss the personal and ideological roots of one of the world's most powerful, and inscrutable, leaders. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for...
43m Sep 19, 2024
43m
Daisy Dunn on the pursuit of greatness
Foundation myths based on the lives of heroic figures are often used by leaders to affirm their own authority — but they can also inspire wider society. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: Statue showing the mythological origins of Roman society. Credit: LatitudeStock / Alamy Stock Photo
18m Sep 13, 2024
18m
Rob Johnson on Basil Liddell Hart, alchemist of war
Having witnessed first-hand the mechanised onslaught of the Great War, Captain Basil Liddell Hart sought a philosophy of warfare based on the prudent use of technology, psychology and deception – and the avoidance of the 'total war' catastrophes of preceding decades. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: A picture of Basil Henry Liddell Hart studying a tactical situation in 1947. Credit: Popperfoto ...
15m Sep 12, 2024
15m
Kori Schake on US grand strategy
The US must adopt a grand strategy of democratic expansion. Only then can global security be established. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: American Second World War-era poster. Credit: Mouseion Archives / Alamy Stock Photo
14m Sep 06, 2024
14m
The search for a promised land with Rachel Cockerell
EI's Alastair Benn speaks to Rachel Cockerell (https://www.rachelcockerell.co.uk/) , author of Melting Point: Family, Memory and the Search for a Promised Land, a history of the quest for a Jewish homeland at the turn of the 19th century and beyond, weaving memoir, documentary, and literature. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit (htt...
39m Sep 05, 2024
39m
Sergey Radchenko on the past, present and future of Sino-Russian relations
The tumultuous relationship between Red China and the Soviet Union hints at an uncertain future for the Sino-Russian partnership. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: Sino-Soviet propaganda poster. Credit: Album / Alamy Stock Photo
23m Aug 30, 2024
23m
Agnès Poirier on Anna de Noailles, bright star of the Belle Époque
Socialite and literary pioneer - Anna de Noailles was a bright star in the firmament of the Parisian Belle Époque. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: De László's portrait of Anna de Noailles. Credit: Svintage Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
12m Aug 29, 2024
12m
Munira Mirza on how the British elite lost its way
Stagnation at home and turmoil abroad demand a radical rethink of how – and why – Britain forges its future leaders. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: The Treasury building in Whitehall, London. Credit: mauritius images GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo
20m Aug 23, 2024
20m
What the Romans found funny with Orlando Gibbs
EI's Alastair Benn (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/alastair-benn/) sits down with Orlando Gibbs (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/orlando-gibbs/) to discuss what the Romans found funny, what we might find not so funny about ancient humour, and whether there is something universal about the comedic genre. READING LIST No Laughing Matter? What the Romans Found Funny | Antigone (https://an...
51m Aug 22, 2024
51m
Ali Ansari on the secret to Cyrus the Great’s success
Few ancient monarchs have enjoyed such a consistent positive reputation as Cyrus the Great. Perhaps it’s time to become reacquainted. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: The Tomb of Cyrus, Iran. Photograph taken in 1898. Credit: Penta Springs Limited / Alamy Stock Photo
19m Aug 16, 2024
19m
Andrew Wilton on Amanda McKittrick Ros, the Florence Foster Jenkins of the romantic novel
Andrew Wilton (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/andrew-wilton/) profiles Amanda McKittrick Ros (https://engelsbergideas.com/portraits/amanda-mckittrick-ros-romance-unbounded/) , a late Victorian novelist admired in her day but now largely forgotten. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: A typical late Victorian scene. Credit: Dave Rheaume / Alamy Stock Photo
13m Aug 15, 2024
13m
Lucy Ward on the invention of Catherine the Great
Catherine II’s inoculation against smallpox was an extraordinary act of political self-creation. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: A portrait of Catherine the Great (1729-1796) by Alexey Antropov. Credit: Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo
18m Aug 09, 2024
18m
The atomic human with Neil D. Lawrence
Neil D. Lawrence (https://www.cst.cam.ac.uk/people/ndl21) , inaugural DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning at the University of Cambridge and author of The Atomic Human: Understanding Ourselves in the Age of AI, (https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/455130/the-atomic-human-by-lawrence-neil-d/9780241625248) joins the EI team to challenge received wisdom on our AI future. Engelsberg Ideas is funded...
55m Aug 08, 2024
55m
Alexander Lee on why Machiavelli wrote The Prince
If we want to understand the ‘meaning’ of The Prince, we should start with Machiavelli himself. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: A statue of Niccolo Machiavelli in Florence, Italy. Credit: Goran Bogicevic / Alamy Stock Photo
21m Aug 02, 2024
21m
Rana Mitter on Tsiang Tingfu, pre-revolutionary China’s last bridge with the West
Rana Mitter (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/rana-mitter/) profiles Tsiang Tingfu (https://engelsbergideas.com/portraits/tsiang-tingfu-pre-revolutionary-chinas-last-bridge-with-the-west/) , the American-educated diplomat and historian, who sought Chinese national revival on cosmopolitan lines. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: Tsiang Tingfu raises his arm to veto a proposal introduced by the ...
14m Aug 01, 2024
14m
Francis J. Gavin on the terrible dilemmas of leadership in a thermonuclear world
Nuclear weapons are likely to be around for a long time to come – and the predicaments they create for world leaders are unlikely to be easily solved. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: President John F. Kennedy with Robert McNamara during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Credit: RBM Vintage Images / Alamy Stock Photo
16m Jul 26, 2024
16m
Paris in the Belle Époque with Marie Kawthar Daouda
Marie Kawthar Daouda (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/marie-daouda/) , author and a lecturer in French language and literature at the University of Oxford, joins EI's Alastair Benn (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/alastair-benn/) to discuss how Belle Époque-era Paris continues to fascinate, with its burgeoning commercial culture, everyday beauty and glittering department stores. Engelsbe...
24m Jul 25, 2024
24m
James Marriott on why human art matters in the age of AI
A world of machine art would be an eerie one. Art connects us to one another. We cannot, and we should not, replace that connection with an uncanny simulacrum of it. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: The Tribuna of the Uffizi by John Zoffany. Credit: PAINTING / Alamy Stock Photo
15m Jul 19, 2024
15m
Lawrence Freedman on John McDonald, poker-playing popularizer of game theory
Lawrence Freedman profiles the Fortune journalist and best-selling author who played a key role in shaping mid-20th century perceptions of strategy and the role of the corporation. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: From left to right: Dorothy McDonald (wife of John, née Eisner), Leon Trotsky and John McDonald in Coyoacan, Mexico, in the 1930s. McDonald was recruited to help defend Trotsky from c...
14m Jul 19, 2024
14m
Bringing history to the public with Alice Loxton
The historian and broadcaster Alice Loxton joins the EI team to discuss her forthcoming book, Eighteen: A History of Britain in 18 Young Lives (https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/alice-loxton/eighteen/9781035031283) , and her fight to bring serious history to a wider public. Image: A jigsaw puzzle from the early nineteenth century, bearing representations of the Kings and Queens of England f...
31m Jul 18, 2024
31m
Katja Hoyer on East Germany's battle for technology
East Germany’s quest to catch up with the technological innovations of the West prompted some remarkable successes, but also expanded the oppression of its mass surveillance apparatus. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: The Trabant car being manufactured at the East German Sachsenring car plant. Credit: Classic Picture Library / Alamy Stock Photo
20m Jul 12, 2024
20m
How advertising consumed the counter-culture with Ian Leslie
EI's Alastair Benn (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/alastair-benn/) sits down with Ian Leslie (https://www.ian-leslie.com/) , author of Conflicted: Why Arguments Are Tearing Us Apart and How They Can Bring Us Together (https://ian-leslie.com/conflicted/) , to discuss how the counterculture went mainstream. Image: An advert on the Nike store at Oxford Circus. Credit: Matthew Chattle / Alamy ...
18m Jul 11, 2024
18m
Gudrun Persson on Russia’s forever war against Ukraine
An often-overlooked fact about the current Russo-Ukrainian War is that over the centuries Russia has waged several wars to try to conquer Crimea and the Donbas area. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: Ukrania quae et Terra Cosaccorum cum vicinis Walachiae, Moldoviae, by Johann Baptiste Homann (1664–1724), 1720. Credit: history_docu_photo / Alamy Stock Photo
22m Jul 05, 2024
22m
Catherine Ostler on Maria Antonia of Bavaria, Electress of many talents
Catherine Ostler (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/catherine-ostler/) profiles Maria Antonia (https://engelsbergideas.com/portraits/maria-antonia-of-bavaria-electress-of-many-talents/) , Electress of Saxony, an artistic polymath who helped re-shape elite culture in the Enlightenment age. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: An 18th-century portrait of Maria Antonia of Bavaria, Electress of Saxony...
13m Jul 04, 2024
13m
Ronald Reagan's grand strategy with William Inboden
EI's Angus Reilly (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/angus-reilly/) discusses how Ronald Reagan put economic openness at the heart of the battle for ideas against Soviet Communism with William Inboden, author of The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, and the World on the Brink. Image: Ronald Reagan at the Durenberger Republican convention Rally, 1982. Credit: World History Archive / Ala...
32m Jul 04, 2024
32m
Iskander Rehman on early modern information overload
The sense of being overwhelmed and constantly distracted is nothing new. Historians and policymakers should look to the 17th century for guidance on how to grapple with information overload. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: Rembrandt's 'Portrait of a Scholar', 1631. Credit: PRISMA ARCHIVO / Alamy Stock Photo
23m Jun 28, 2024
23m
Marketing Classical music with Richard Bratby
EI's Alastair Benn (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/alastair-benn/) discusses the condition of Classical music today with Richard Bratby (https://richardbratby.co.uk/) , chief Classical music critic of The Spectator. Image: Music scores. Credit: Tim Gainey / Alamy Stock Photo
22m Jun 27, 2024
22m
Julian Jackson on De Gaulle’s world in motion
Part statesman, part prophet, Charles de Gaulle knew instinctively that political success and failure are inevitably interlinked, and that history would be the ultimate judge of both. Read by Helen Lloyd. Image: The President of France Charles de Gaulle marches through the streets under the Arc de Triomphe in 1944. Credit: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo
18m Jun 21, 2024
18m
John Law and financial crises with Kwasi Kwarteng
EI's Iain Martin (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/iain-martin/) is joined by Kwasi Kwarteng, historian and former Chancellor of the Exchequer, to discuss the turbulent life of the 18th-century financial speculator John Law, whose innovative ideas were credited with bringing Ancien Régime France to the brink of ruin. There are echoes of what happened when the Truss government tried its own fi...
28m Jun 20, 2024
28m
Laura Freeman on Helen Sutherland, brave cultivator of the beautiful
Laura Freeman (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/laura-freeman/) profiles Helen Sutherland (https://engelsbergideas.com/portraits/helen-sutherland-brave-cultivator-of-the-beautiful/) , an isolated, austere, and fastidious heiress who dedicated herself to art. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: Woman Playing a Piano, by Winifred Nicholson. Her work was championed by Helen Sutherland. Credit: Paul...
13m Jun 19, 2024
13m
Josef Joffe on Germany, the engine that couldn't
Celebrated as predestined shepherd in the glory days of Angela Merkel, Germany in the 2020s is an uncertain giant who has defied expectations, good or bad. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: The top of the Reichstag Building. Credit: Artur Bogacki / Alamy Stock Photo
23m Jun 14, 2024
23m
Women of the ancient world with Daisy Dunn
The leading classicist Daisy Dunn (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/daisy-dunn/) joins EI's Paul Lay (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/paul-lay/) to discuss her new book, The Missing Thread: A New History of the Ancient World Through the Women Who Shaped It. Image: Nikolaos Gyzis, a 19th Century painter, depicts Sappho playing the lyre. Credit: Photo 12 / Alamy Stock Photo
37m Jun 13, 2024
37m
Maurizio Viroli on how we can learn from history
We cannot afford not to rediscover the fine art, nowadays almost forgotten, of learning from history. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: 16th Century engraving by Theodoor Galle, titled The Printing of Books. Credit: The Granger Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
18m Jun 07, 2024
18m