Podcast Episodes

Black Britain and Roots

In this episode of Explaining History, we explore how the 1970s became a turning point for Black Britain. Drawing on Eddie Chambers’ Roots and Culture, we examine how a new generation of Black Britis…

Published on 1 month, 1 week ago

What Plato can teach us about the crises of the 21st Century

What Plato Can Teach Us About the Crises of the 21st Century — with Professor Angie Hobbs

In this special episode of Explaining History, I’m joined by Professor Angie Hobbs to discuss her new book Why…

Published on 1 month, 1 week ago

War Reporting in Vietnam

In this episode of Explaining History, we explore the fraught world of war reporting in Vietnam during the decade before full-scale U.S. involvement. Drawing on Philip Knightley’s classic study The F…

Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago

Fascist Yoga: The far right and its intersections with the wellness movement

In this episode I speak with writer and cultural critic Stewart Home about his new book Fascist Yoga. Our conversation traces the modern origins of yoga and the surprising, often disturbing ways it h…

Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago

Zionism and Palestine

In this episode, I draw on My Palestine by Mohammad Tarbush to examine two often-overlooked episodes in the history of Zionism and its global reception.

First, we revisit the 1975 United Nations Gener…

Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago

Liberalism and the Global South

In this episode, I read from Pankaj Mishra’s Bland Fanatics, a searing critique of liberalism and its reception beyond the West. Mishra explores how, across much of the Global South, liberalism is no…

Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago

Rentier Capitalism and neo feudalism

Is modern capitalism beginning to resemble a feudal system? This episode of Explaining History explores the provocative argument, drawn from the work of the late anthropologist David Graeber, that co…

Published on 1 month, 4 weeks ago

Nation In Arms: Lessons from Five Armies That Made Europe

What can the Roman legions of Constantine, the Ottoman forces of Mehmet the Conqueror, and the US Army of World War II teach us about modern military power?

In this timely episode of the Explaining Hi…

Published on 2 months, 1 week ago

Anglo American rivalries in the Middle East

At the heart of Britain's war time alliance was a deep wariness at what the outcome of the war would portend. Churchill was desperate for the USA to enter the war and Roosevelt saw the struggle again…

Published on 2 months, 2 weeks ago

Economic Sanctions: Crimes against humanity.

In this episode, we tear away the euphemisms and expose a grim reality: sanctions kill.

Drawing on a 2025 study from The Lancet Global Health, we show how economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and o…

Published on 2 months, 2 weeks ago