Western Civ
Adam Walsh
A fast-moving history of the western world from the ancient world to the present day. Examine how the emergence of the western world as a global dominant power was not something that should ever have been taken for granted. This podcast traces the development of western civilization starting in the ancient Near East, through Greece and Rome, past the collapse of the Western Roman Empire into the Dark Ages, and then follows European and, ultimately, American history as the western world moved into a dominant world position.
Diogenes: The Rebellious Life and Revolutionary Philosophy of the Original Cynic
Buy The Book In his own day, the ancient philosopher Diogenes the Cynic had a reputation for eccentricity, heckling his fellow philosophers in the marketplace, living in a clay pot, and relieving himself in pu...
Air Battles Before D-Day: How Allied Airmen Crippled the Luftwaffe and German Army in France
In this bonus author interview, I sit down with Colonel Joseph Molyson Jr and discuss the second book in his series on World War Two: Air Battles Before D-Day: How Allied Airmen Crippled the Luftwaffe and German Army in...
Making Sense of Slavery: America’s Long Reckoning, from the Founding Era to Today
In recent years, from school board meetings to the halls of Congress, Americans have engaged in fierce debates about how slavery and its legacies ought to be taught, researched, and narrated. But since the earliest days...
Land Power: Who Has It, Who Doesn’t, and How That Determines the Fate of Societies
For millennia, land has been a symbol of wealth and privilege. But the true power of land ownership is even greater than we might think. In Land Power, political scientist Michael Albertus shows that who owns the land de...
Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 shocked the world. And yet, to Ukrainians, this attack was painfully familiar, the latest episode in a centuries-long Russian campaign to divide and oppress Ukraine....
As you can imagine, much changed in European economic life and technology between 1450 and 1650. Here I cover many of the most relevant transformations that would alter European life in the Early Modern Period....
Today I sit down with author DW Gibson and discuss his latest book: One Week to Change the World: An Oral History of the 1999 WTO Protests. One week in late 1999, more than 50,000 people converged on Seattle....
In this episode, Dudley, the Earl of Warwick, now dominates the Privy Council. As a result, the pace of religious reform decidedly quickens. The Mass is condemned. Altars are torn down. The "Old Religion" more or less di...
Today I sit down with historian David Reynolds and talk about his latest book: Mirrors of Greatness: Churchill and the Leaders Who Shaped Him. Winston Churchill remains one of the most revered figures of the t...
In our final episode on the Spanish Inquisition, I cover its structure and organization. Specifically, I explain how the Spanish Crown, notably King Ferdinand, controlled the Inquisition for his purposes. Then I discuss...
Had it not been for the Reformation, the Inquisition probably would have died out in the early Sixteenth Century. But, of course, there was a Reformation and so suddenly there was plenty of heresy to keep the Inquisition...
Warriors, Rebels, and Saints: The Art of Leadership from Machiavelli to Malcolm X
In today's bonus author interview, I sit down with Moshik Temkin to discuss his most recent book on leadership: Warriors, Rebels, and Saints: The Art of Leadership from Machiavelli to Malcolm X. We live in a p...
The Forgers: The Forgotten Story of the Holocaust's Most Audacious Rescue Operation
Today I sit down with historian Roger Moorhouse and discuss his most recent work: The Forgers: The Forgotten Story of the Holocaust's Most Audacious Rescue Operation. Between 1940 and 1943, a group of Polish diplomats in...
Today I sit down with Historian Mark William Jones and discuss his newest book: 1923: The Crisis of German Democracy in the Year of Hitler's Putsch. The story of Hitler's rise to power is documented in many h...