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Diplomatic History
British Studies August 10, 2022

Built on the Ruins of Empire

British Military Assistance and African Independence

Blake Whitaker

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
During the Cold War, the British government oversaw the transition to independence of dozens of colonies. Often the most challenging aspect of this transition was the creation of a national …

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Interviews with scholars of diplomatic history about their new books.

Politics & Polemics August 10, 2022

Paths of Dissent

Soldiers Speak Out Against America's Forever Wars

Andrew Bacevich and Daniel A. Sjursen

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
Compiled by New York Times bestselling author Andrew Bacevich and retired army officer Danny A. Sjursen, Paths of Dissent: Soldiers Speak Out Against America’s Misguided Wars (Metropolitan Books, 2022) collects provocative …
Diplomatic History August 8, 2022

China's European Headquarters

Switzerland and China During the Cold War

Ariane Knüsel

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
During the Cold War, the People's Republic of China used Switzerland as headquarters for its economic, political, intelligence, and cultural networks in Europe. Based on extensive research in Western and …
Middle Eastern Studies August 5, 2022

Oil, the State, and War

The Foreign Policies of Petrostates

Emma Ashford

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Oil, the State, and War: The Foreign Policies of Petrostates (Georgetown University Press, 2022) by Dr. Emma Ashford presents a comprehensive challenge to prevailing understanding of international implications of oil …
General History August 5, 2022

Australia in the Age of International Development, 1945–1975

Colonial and Foreign Aid Policy in Papua New Guinea and Southeast Asia

Nicholas Ferns

Hosted by Bernard Keo
In the voluminous literature on the history of modernisation theory and its associated concept of development since the end of World War II, much of the focus lies on the …
Latin American Studies August 3, 2022

The New Pan-Americanism and the Structuring of Inter-American Relations

Juan Pablo Scarfi and David M. K. Sheinin

Hosted by Steven Rodriguez
In The New Pan-Americanism and the Structuring of Inter-American Relations (Routledge, 2022), David Sheinin and Juan Pablo Scarfi bring together articles that reconsider many aspects of U.S.-Latin American history. Pan-Americanism …
East Asian Studies August 2, 2022

Guns, Guerillas, and the Great Leader

North Korea and the Third World

Benjamin R. Young

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
Far from always having been an isolated nation and a pariah state in the international community, North Korea exercised significant influence among Third World nations during the Cold War era …
Middle Eastern Studies August 1, 2022

The Italian Empire and the Great War

Vanda Wilcox

Hosted by Roberto Mazza
The Italian Empire and the Great War (Oxford UP, 2021) by Vanda Wilcox brings an imperial and colonial perspective to the Italian experience of the First World War. Italy's decision for …
Philosophy August 1, 2022

Spying Through a Glass Darkly

The Ethics of Espionage and Counter-Intelligence

Cécile Fabre

Hosted by Robert Talisse
On its face, spying and counter-intelligence activities seem morally suspect. They tend to involve sneaking, deceiving, and manipulating, as well as various forms of betrayal, treachery, and disloyalty. Yet intelligence …
Nordic Asia Podcast August 1, 2022

The Implications of the Ukrainian War for Taiwan’s Relations with China

A Discussion with Sean King

Sean King

Hosted by Julie Yu-Wen Chen
Is a Chinese invasion on Taiwan a storm on the horizon when the West is busy with the Ukrainian war? Will Nancy Pelosi’s plan to visit Taiwan in August, the …
General History July 29, 2022

Cornwallis

Soldier and Statesman in a Revolutionary World

Richard Middleton

Hosted by Charles Coutinho
Charles, First Marquis of Cornwallis (1738-1805), was a leading figure in late eighteenth-century Britain. His career spanned the American War of Independence, Irish Union, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the …
General History July 28, 2022

The Pursuit of Europe

A History

Anthony Pagden

Hosted by Charles Coutinho
The European Union, we are told, is facing extinction. Most of those who believe that, however, have no understanding of how, and why, it become possible to imagine that the …
Economic and Business History July 28, 2022

Pawned States

State Building in the Era of International Finance

Didac Queralt

Hosted by Javier Mejia
How foreign lending weakens emerging nations In the nineteenth century, many developing countries turned to the credit houses of Europe for sovereign loans to balance their books and weather major …
National Security July 27, 2022

The Influence of Foreign Wars on U.S. Domestic Military Policy

The Case of the Yom Kippur War

Robert W. Tomlinson

Hosted by Samuel Canter
How do military organizations learn? Robert W. Tomlinson's book The Influence of Foreign Wars on U.S. Domestic Military Policy (Lexington, 2022) covers an important instance of military learning in which the …
General History July 26, 2022

Russia Resurrected

Its Power and Purpose in a New Global Order

Kathryn E. Stoner

Hosted by Charles Coutinho
Too often, we are told that Russia plays a weak hand well. But, perhaps the nation's cards are better than we know. Russia ranks significantly behind the US and China …
Ukrainian Studies July 26, 2022

Making Ukraine

Negotiating, Contesting, and Drawing the Borders in the Twentieth Century

Olena Palko and Constantin Ardeleanu

Hosted by Nataliya Shpylova-Saeed
Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the ongoing war in eastern Ukraine have brought scholarly and public attention to Ukraine's borders. Making Ukraine aims to investigate the various …
Ukrainian Studies July 18, 2022

KGB Operations Against the USA and Canada in Soviet Ukraine 1953-1991

Sergei Zhuk

Hosted by Nataliya Shpylova-Saeed
Oriented for a general reading audience, Sergei Zhuk's book KGB Operations Against the USA and Canada in Soviet Ukraine 1953-1991 (Routledge, 2022) gives a unique and rare perspective on the …
Asian Review of Books July 14, 2022

Beethoven in Beijing

Stories from the Philadelphia Orchestra's Historic Journey to China

Jennifer Lin

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon
In 1973, the Philadelphia Orchestra boarded a Pan Am 707 plane in Philadelphia for a once-in-a-lifetime journey: a multi-city tour of Maoist China, months after Nixon’s history-making visit.  There was …
General History July 13, 2022

The Four Ages of American Foreign Policy

Weak Power, Great Power, Superpower, Hyperpower

Michael Mandelbaum

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
The United States is now nearly 250 years old. It arose from humble beginnings, as a strip of mostly agrarian and sparsely populated English colonies on the northeastern edge of …
The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones July 12, 2022

The Future of Hong Kong

A Discussion with Ho-Fung Hung

Ho-Fung Hung

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones
Hong Kong has always existed on the edge of empires, providing services and capabilities to powerful nations. And even to this day when the one country two systems idea is …