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
James Barr on George McGhee, American father to Britain’s Suez Crisis
James Barr (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/james-barr/) profiles the debonair and open-faced diplomat, George McGhee (https://engelsbergideas.com/portraits/george-mcghee-american-father-to-britains-suez-crisis/) , whose shuttle diplomacy helped accelerate Britain's decline as a player in the Middle East. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: President John F. Kennedy (left, in rocking chair) mee...
13m Jun 06, 2024
13m
Philip Bobbitt on the decay and renewal of the US constitutional order
A new constitutional order is coming. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: The Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. Credit: Lane Erickson / Alamy Stock Photo
34m May 31, 2024
34m
The history of democracy with Erica Benner
Erica Benner (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/erica-benner/) applies ancient wisdom to modern problems in her new book Adventures in Democracy: The Turbulent World of People Power (https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/453228/adventures-in-democracy-by-benner-erica/9780241609750) . She shares her insights with EI's Deputy Editor, Alastair Benn (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/alastair-benn/) . ...
56m May 30, 2024
56m
Lars Trägårdh on the origins of Swedish democracy
‘Democracy’ is in Sweden built on a basis fundamentally different from the one associated with the development of liberal democracy in the West. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Midsummer Dance by Swedish artist Anders Zorn (1860-1920) painted in 1897. A classic of Swedish art history showing traditional folk dancing in the Dalarna countryside in the extended summer evening light. Credit: Univers...
35m May 24, 2024
35m
Dominic Sandbrook on Jesse Ventura, the wrestling governor who blazed a trail for Trump
Dominic Sandbrook (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/dominic-sandbrook/) profiles Jesse Ventura (https://engelsbergideas.com/portraits/jesse-ventura-the-wrestling-governor-who-blazed-a-trail-for-trump/) , the former Navy SEAL and WWE champion who won Minnesota’s governorship in 1999 on an anti-elite ticket. His transition from showbiz to politics was a precursor of the age of Trump – but ’the ...
15m May 23, 2024
15m
Josef Joffe on the future of the European Union
What is the future of the European Union? The EU is sui generis. It certainly cannot be a nation state. Nor is it destined to turn into a Staatsnation or willed nation. Then what? Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: European Union flags. Credit: Brian Lawrence / Alamy Stock Photo
18m May 17, 2024
18m
The age of upheaval
EI's Paul Lay (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/paul-lay/) and Alastair Benn (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/alastair-benn/) ask: do we really live in an age of upheaval? Image: Turner's Vesuvius in Eruption. Credit: Artefact / Alamy Stock Photo
45m May 17, 2024
45m
Simon Mayall on the history of the modern Middle East
The current violence and turmoil in the Middle East is expressive of a conflict between rival ideas, between the modern nation state and an old, historical concept of an Islamic caliphate. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Abdel Nasser at a rally after the rupture of relations with Syria. Credit: colaimages / Alamy Stock Photo
23m May 10, 2024
23m
James Hardie on Heinrich Biber, composer of rapture and ravings
James Hardie (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/james-hardie/) on the violinist-composer (https://engelsbergideas.com/portraits/heinrich-biber-composer-of-rapture-and-ravings/) who mixed the sacred and profane in his fantastical music, a lost genius of the 17th century. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: A print of Heinrich Biber. Credit: The Picture Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
10m May 09, 2024
10m
Lawrence James on the invention of jingoism
Jingoism was a natural offshoot of late Victorian imperialism. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Poster for a British imperial railway company. Credit: Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo
34m May 03, 2024
34m
Caravaggio’s ‘last’ painting
A small but riveting exhibition at London's National Gallery tells the dramatic story of the troubled Renaissance master's 'last' painting. Image: The Martyrdom of St Ursula, 1610. Credit: incamerastock / Alamy Stock Photo
37m May 02, 2024
37m
Steven Grosby on the persistence of nationhood
What is a nation, what is its significance, and to what problems of life is its persistence a response? Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Lucas Cranach's The Crossing of the Red Sea, 1530. Credit: Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo
22m Apr 26, 2024
22m
Vanessa Harding on Nehemiah Wallington, Puritan chronicler who had far less fun than Pepys
Vanessa Harding (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/vanessa-harding/) on the God-fearing diarist Nehemiah Wallington (https://engelsbergideas.com/portraits/nehemiah-wallington-puritan-chronicler-had-far-less-fun-than-pepys/) whose personality was far removed from the cosmopolitanism of Samuel Pepys, his fast-living contemporary. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: An excerpt from Nehemiah Wallingt...
13m Apr 25, 2024
13m
Adrian Wooldridge on meritocracy
The biggest division in modern society is between the meritocracy and the people, the cognitive elite and the masses, the exam-passers and the exam-flunkers. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Caricature of a Cambridge University library in the Georgian era. Credit: Thomas Rowlandson / Alamy Stock Photo
30m Apr 19, 2024
30m
The Entente Cordiale with T.G. Otte
Self-interest, imperial competition and new threats in Europe - T.G. Otte (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/t-g-otte/) examines the complex 120-year long history of the Entente Cordiale (https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-entente-cordiale-bad-history-but-good-politics/) with EI's senior editor, Paul Lay (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/paul-lay/) . Image: First prize winner at the Cov...
36m Apr 18, 2024
36m
Mariano Sigman on how language has shaped human consciousness
How did our ancestors think? Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: A play is performed in an ancient Greek theatre. Credit: Classic Image / Alamy Stock Photo
13m Apr 12, 2024
13m
Peter Frankopan on Anna Komnene, the princess who chronicled Byzantium’s changing fortunes
Peter Frankopan (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/peter-frankopan/) on the Byzantine princess Anna Komnene (https://engelsbergideas.com/portraits/anna-komnene-the-princess-who-chronicled-byzantiums-changing-fortunes/) who, banished to a convent for her political ambition, devoted her gifts of observation to charting the fortunes of her father's empire – etching her legacy as Europe's first fe...
13m Apr 12, 2024
13m
Nathan Shachar on ideology in science
There is no linear, moral progress in knowledge and science. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Triple-microscope made by the optician Camille Sebastien Nachet in Paris. Credit: gameover / Alamy Stock Photo
20m Apr 05, 2024
20m
The evolution of terrorist threat
EI's Deputy Editor Alastair Benn (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/alastair-benn/) speaks to Suzanne Raine (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/suzanne-raine/) , visiting professor in the Department of War Studies at King's College London, about the evolution of the terrorist threat (https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/what-should-we-do-when-the-terrorists-go-quiet/) and its long history (https...
37m Apr 05, 2024
37m
Gregory Feifer on the mirage of Russian power
The mistake many Western countries make is to take Russia largely at face value. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Nesting Russian dolls showing former leaders. Credit: Mr Standfast / Alamy Stock Photo
16m Mar 29, 2024
16m
Gillian Clark on the many ways of seeing Saint Monica
Gillian Clark (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/gillian-clark/) on Saint Monica (https://engelsbergideas.com/portraits/the-many-ways-of-seeing-saint-monica/) , mother to Augustine of Hippo and lionized by the Latin Church, a women of many names and many more mysteries. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: Saint Augustine and his mother, Saint Monica. Credit:: Carlo Bollo / Alamy Stock Photo
14m Mar 28, 2024
14m
Peter Heather on empire and development in first millennium Europe
The story of first millennium Europe is one of remarkable economic change and demographic upheaval; a precocious analogue to the modern era of globalisation. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Charlemagne. Credit: The Picture Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
37m Mar 22, 2024
37m
Will AI revolutionise education?
Daisy Christodoulou (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/daisy-christodoulou/) punctures the hype around the applications of Large language models (LLMs) and chatbots to the field of learning. Will AI really revolutionise education? (https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/will-ai-revolutionise-education/) Image: Mechanical brain. Credit: Sibani Das / Alamy Stock Vector
40m Mar 21, 2024
40m
Barry Strauss on Ancient Greek geopolitics
The Greeks invented the notion of the interrelationship of geography and politics; indeed, they elaborated it in myriad ways. Read by Leighton Pugh. https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/duality-determinism-and-demography-the-greeks-on-geopolitics/ Image: The Athenian fleet. Credit: INTERFOTO \ Alamy Stock Photo
28m Mar 15, 2024
28m
Jenny McCartney on Jean Denis, Comte Lanjuinais, fearless opponent of The Terror
Jenny McCartney (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/jenny-mccartney/) on Comte Lanjuinais (https://engelsbergideas.com/portraits/jean-denis-comte-lanjuinais-fearless-opponent-of-the-terror/) , who risked his life by defying the Jacobins. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: Comte Lanjuinais speaks at a febrile meeting of the National Convention, 1793. Credit: Chronicle / Alamy Stock Photo
13m Mar 14, 2024
13m
Josef Joffe on the end of 'the end of history'
We equated a brief respite from history with the dawn of a new age. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Fall of the Berlin Wall. Credit: Agencja Fotograficzna Caro / Alamy Stock Photo
28m Mar 08, 2024
28m
Werner Herzog
Geoff Andrew (https://www2.bfi.org.uk/people/geoff-andrew) , the BFI's programmer-at-large, and film critic Muriel Zagha (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/muriel-zagha/) sit down with EI's Deputy Editor Alastair Benn (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/alastair-benn/) to discuss the varied, visionary and eccentric creations of the German filmmaker Werner Herzog. Credits: The audio clips at 0...
1hr 7m Mar 06, 2024
1hr 7m
Michael Broers on how Napoleon built a continent
Napoleonic geopolitics didn't make much impression on Europe's maps, but its influence was wide-ranging. Read by Leighton Pugh. Napoleonic Europe: how the Emperor built a continent (https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/napoleonic-europe-how-the-emperor-built-a-continent/) | Michael Broers (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/michael-broers/) Image: Napoleon crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis Dav...
35m Mar 01, 2024
35m
Aspasia of Miletus: queen of the Athenian salon
Armand D'Angour (https://engelsbergideas.com/author/armand-dangour/) on Aspasia of Miletus (https://engelsbergideas.com/portraits/aspasia-of-miletus-queen-of-the-athenian-salon/) , wife of Pericles and friend to philosophers. Read by Sebastian Brown. Image: 19th Century lithograph of Aspasia of Miletus. Credit: GRANGER - Historical Picture Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
16m Feb 29, 2024
16m
Norman Stone on the 1860s
In the 1860s, commentators might have been justified in forecasting 'the end of history' and lauding universal progress. History was to return with a vengeance. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: A lifeboat rescuing passengers from the ship Alarm in the 1860s. Credit: North Wind Picture Archives / Alamy Stock Photo
19m Feb 23, 2024
19m
Ukraine, two years on
Two years on from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a solution, military or diplomatic, seems as far away as ever. On Worldview, leading historians and commentators reflect on a conflict that has altered the state of global geopolitics. Jade McGlynn (https://jademcglynn.com/) , author of Russia’s War (https://shop.pushkinhouse.org/products/russias-war-by-jade-mcglynn) , calls in from Kyiv (00:56)...
1hr 24m Feb 22, 2024
1hr 24m
David Frum on how empire-states are changing the game
From the Engelsberg Ideas Archive. States are back and they're out to challenge the international order. Image: Vladimir Putin captured from screen. Credit: Anton Dos Ventos / Alamy Stock Photo
17m Feb 16, 2024
17m
Horace’s vast and complex legacy
Llewelyn Morgan, author of Horace: A Very Short Introduction, joins EI's Paul Lay to explore the Augustan poet's vast and complex legacy. Image: Bust of Horace. Credit: Cum Okolo / Alamy Stock Photo
43m Feb 16, 2024
43m
Elisabeth Kendall on Jihadist poetry as propaganda
Al-Qaeda's success in Yemen can in part be explained by the group's adept use of poetry as propaganda. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: An al-Qaeda logo is seen on a street sign in the town of Jaar in southern Abyan province, Yemen. Credit: Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
21m Feb 09, 2024
21m
The Edwardians: the calm before the storm
Alwyn Turner, author of Little Englanders: Britain in the Edwardian Era, speaks to Paul Lay about the early 20th century, an age of anxiety. Image: Street musicians in London in the Edwardian era. Credit: KGPA Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo
52m Feb 09, 2024
52m
Malise Ruthven on the appeal of ISIS
From the Engelsberg Ideas Archive. The organisation that emerged under the name ISIS is not simply a terrorist group. It is a hybrid organisation comprised of a proto-state, a millenarian cult capable of attracting recruits from far beyond its borders, a network of Salafi jihadist groups, an organised criminal ring and an insurgent army led by highly skilled former Baathist military and intelli...
34m Feb 02, 2024
34m
Can Israel win the peace?
Ahron Bregman, author of Cursed Victory: A History of Israel and the Occupied Territories, outlines his vision for a lasting peace between Israel, Palestinians and the Arabs. Image: An Israeli flag is seen through a dust cloud near the border with the Gaza strip. Credit: Eddie Gerald / Alamy Stock Photo
41m Feb 02, 2024
41m
Andrew Preston on the invention of American national security
By the time Kennedy and Johnson held the presidency in the 1960s, the definition of US national security had been stretched and expanded in previously unimaginable ways. It was not unusual for Americans to perceive their security frontiers as global – indeed, it was considered natural. But it hadn’t always been thus. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Poster showing the American flag waving among c...
25m Jan 26, 2024
25m
The Soviet Union's bid for Africa
Daniela Richterova, Senior Lecturer in Intelligence Studies at the Department for War Studies, King's College London, reflects on the efforts the Soviet Union made to court African states and liberation movements during the Cold War and draws parallels with China and Russia's new scramble for Africa. Image: A monument to Arab-Soviet Friendship at the Aswan dam, Egypt. Credit: Matyas Rehak / Al...
37m Jan 26, 2024
37m
Charly Salonius-Pasternak on how Nordic and Baltic countries are preparing for war
Thinking about 'war in our time' and our region is no longer an activity restricted to historians or military planners. Politicians and citizens in the countries bordering the Baltic Sea have been forced to accept that it has become necessary to prepare for an unwelcome guest: war. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: A naval operation staged as part of the Freezing Winds military exercise, led by th...
23m Jan 19, 2024
23m
The life and work of Mayazaki Hayao
Alastair Benn is joined by Christopher Harding, cultural historian of Japan and author of The Light of Asia: A History of Western Fascination with the East, to discuss the life and work of celebrated animator Mayazaki Hayao, co-founder of Studio Ghibli, and his latest (and last?) film, The Boy and the Heron, a semi-autobiographical exploration of wartime bereavement, courage and ultimate redemp...
38m Jan 19, 2024
38m
Kimberly Kagan on the United States and the new way of war
The United States, still the dominant military power in the world, is immersed in a new era of warfare that it has not yet recognised as endemic and enduring. America is losing its wars to less powerful but more adaptable adversaries, while preparing inadequately for future inter-state conflicts. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Posters of slain Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Qassem Soleiman...
20m Jan 12, 2024
20m
A month that shook the world
In December 1941, the Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor, making the Second World War a truly global conflict. Paul Lay is joined by Charlie Laderman to discuss a month that shook the world. Image: Three US battleships stricken during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941. Credit: GRANGER - Historical Picture Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
41m Jan 12, 2024
41m
Pascal Vennesson on the rise of transnational war-making
Political success for the global insurgents can arise not only from a military victory on the ground, but from a military stalemate and even a military defeat. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Mock Houthi-made drones and missiles are set up in a city square in Yemen. Credit: Zuma Press / Alamy Stock Photo
33m Jan 05, 2024
33m
Rolf Ekéus on how to end wars
There is only one way out of total destruction and collapse, which is creative diplomacy. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: Dutch envoy Cornelis Calkoen received by the Ottoman grand vizier. Credit: World History Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
20m Dec 22, 2023
20m
Philip Bobbitt on the new global disorder
We cannot understand what is going wrong in the international order without first understanding what is going wrong in the constitutional order of states. Read by Leighton Pugh. Image: The Statue of Liberty seen through a broken window on Ellis Island. Credit: Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
20m Dec 15, 2023
20m
Setting 2023 in perspective
What is the deep meaning of 2023? Alastair Benn is joined by Paul Lay and Iain Martin to set a dramatic year in perspective. Image: A woman lights a candle to express solidarity with Israel. Credit: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo
55m Dec 15, 2023
55m