Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchCatherine Fletcher, "The Firearm Revolution: From Renaissance Italy to the European Empires" (Princeton UP, 2026)
Episode 1658
In Renaissance Italy, the gun was not only a tool of war but also a desirable object, a luxury item carried at court. Guns were in use on the battl…
4 months ago
Jonathan Daly, "The Man Who Knew Russia: Richard Pipes, Humanist and Cold Warrior" (Stanford UP, 2025)
Episode 1657
He’s been called the man academics love to hate. One time, when the author disclosed that he worked with Pipes, the colleague responded, “I will fo…
4 months, 1 week ago
Derek R. Peterson, "A Popular History of Idi Amin's Uganda" (Yale UP, 2025)
Episode 1656
Idi Amin ruled Uganda between 1971 and 1979, inflicting tremendous violence on the people of the country. How did Amin's regime survive for eight c…
4 months, 2 weeks ago
Richard Bennet and Alexander Noyes, "War at Arm's Length: How America Can Build Effective Partners Through Military Assistance" (Yale UP, 2026)
Episode 1655
An in-depth examination of how the United States can build more effective partner militaries.
Military assistance has a bad reputation. Large-scale a…
4 months, 2 weeks ago
Justin F Jackson, "The Work of Empire: War, Occupation, and the Making of American Colonialism in Cuba and the Philippines" (UNC Press, 2025)
Episode 1654
In 1898, on the eve of the Spanish-American War, the US Army seemed minuscule and ill-equipped for global conflict. Yet over the next fifteen years, …
4 months, 2 weeks ago
Matti Friedman, "Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe" (Spiegel & Grau, 2026)
Episode 1652
Was it one of the war’s most memorable feats of valor or an act of desperation, even madness?
In Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe (…
4 months, 2 weeks ago
Understanding Themistocles: A Discussion with Author Michael Scott
Episode 1653
Themistocles is one of the great personages of ancient Athens, known for his heroics in warfare as well as for his overweening and ultimately tragic …
4 months, 2 weeks ago
Homa Katouzian, "Iran and the Revolution: A History" (Yale UP, 2026)
Episode 1650
Iran is, once again, in global headlines, following U.S. strikes on the country earlier this year. Operation Epic Fury, as the Department of Defense …
4 months, 3 weeks ago
Anand Gopal, "Days of Love and Rage: A Story of Ordinary People Forging a Revolution" (Viking, 2026)
Episode 1651
From Pulitzer and National Book Award finalist Anand Gopal, an epic and enthralling account of six Syrians fighting for a better world, in the tradit…
4 months, 3 weeks ago
Lauren Duval, "The Home Front: Revolutionary Households, Military Occupation, and the Making of American Independence" (Omohundro Institute and UNC Press, 2025)
Episode 1649
Prior to the American Revolution, the urban centers of colonial North America had little direct experience of war. With the outbreak of violence, Br…
4 months, 3 weeks ago