Podcast Episodes
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EI Weekly Listen — 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, hist…
1 year, 8 months ago
EI Portraits — James Hardie on Heinrich Biber, composer of rapture and ravings
James Hardie on the violinist-composer who mixed the sacred and profane in his fantastical music, a lost genius of the 17th century. Read by Sebasti…
1 year, 8 months ago
EI Weekly Listen — 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: …
1 year, 8 months ago
EI Talks... Caravaggio
A small but riveting exhibition at London's National Gallery tells the dramatic story of the troubled Renaissance master's 'last' painting.
Image: T…
1 year, 8 months ago
EI Weekly Listen — 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'…
1 year, 8 months ago
EI Portraits — Vanessa Harding on Nehemiah Wallington, Puritan chronicler who had far less fun than Pepys
Vanessa Harding on the God-fearing diarist Nehemiah Wallington whose personality was far removed from the cosmopolitanism of Samuel Pepys, his fast-…
1 year, 8 months ago
EI Weekly Listen — 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-f…
1 year, 8 months ago
EI Talks... the Entente Cordiale with T.G. Otte
Self-interest, imperial competition and new threats in Europe - T.G. Otte examines the complex 120-year long history of the Entente Cordiale with EI'…
1 year, 8 months ago
EI Weekly Listen — 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 Phot…
1 year, 9 months ago
EI Portraits — Peter Frankopan on Anna Komnene, the princess who chronicled Byzantium’s changing fortunes
Peter Frankopan on the Byzantine princess Anna Komnene who, banished to a convent for her political ambition, devoted her gifts of observation to ch…
1 year, 9 months ago