Economic and Business History

Economic and Business History

episodes

Interviews with scholars of economic and business history about their new books.

Andre Schmid, "North Korea's Mundane Revolution: Socialist Living and the Rise of Kim Il Sung, 1953-1965" (U California Press, 2024)

April 30, 2024

North Korea's Mundane Revolution

Andre Schmid

Histories of North Korea typically focus on one man — Kim Il Sung — and one narrative — his grand rise to absolute power. Andre Schmid’s new book, Nor…

George R. Boyer, "The Winding Road to the Welfare State: Economic Insecurity and Social Welfare Policy in Britain" (Princeton UP, 2019)

April 29, 2024

The Winding Road to the Welfare State

George R. Boyer
Hosted by Mark Klobas

The creation of the postwar welfare state in Great Britain did not represent the logical progression of governmental policy over a period of generatio…

Sheilagh Ogilvie, "The European Guilds: An Economic Analysis" (Princeton UP, 2019)

April 29, 2024

The European Guilds

Sheilagh Ogilvie
Hosted by Mark Klobas

Guilds were prominent in medieval and early modern Europe, but their economic role has seldom been studied. In The European Guilds: An Economic Analys…

Michael De Groot, "Disruption: The Global Economic Shocks of the 1970s and the End of the Cold War" (Cornell UP, 2024)

April 28, 2024

Disruption

Michael De Groot
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In Disruption: The Global Economic Shocks of the 1970s and the End of the Cold War (Cornell University Press, 2024), Dr. Michael De Groot argues that…

Adrian Tinniswood, "Noble Ambitions: The Fall and Rise of the Post-War Country House" (Basic Books, 2021)

April 28, 2024

Noble Ambitions

Adrian Tinniswood
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

As the sun set slowly on the British Empire in the years after the Second World War, the nation's stately homes were in crisis. Tottering under the we…

John H. Cable, "Southern Enclosure: Settler Colonialism and the Postwar Transformation of Mississippi" (UP of Kansas, 2023)

April 28, 2024

Southern Enclosure

John H. Cable
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Historians of the American South have come to consider the mechanization and consolidation of cotton farming—the “Southern enclosure movement”—to be a…

John L. Sullivan, "Podcasting in a Platform Age: From an Amateur to a Professional Medium" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

April 27, 2024

Podcasting in a Platform Age

John L. Sullivan
Hosted by Shu Wan

Podcasting in a Platform Age: From an Amateur to a Professional Medium (Bloomsbury, 2024) explores the transition underway in podcasting by considerin…

Steven C. Beda, "Strong Winds and Widow Makers: Workers, Nature, and Environmental Conflict in Pacific Northwest Timber Country" (U Illinois Press, 2022)

April 26, 2024

Strong Winds and Widow Makers

Steven C. Beda
Hosted by Stephen Hausmann

Imagine an environmentalist. Are you picturing a Birkenstock-clad hippie? An office worker who hikes on weekends? A political lobbyist? What about a m…

Sudev Sheth, "Bankrolling Empire: Family Fortunes and Political Transformation in Mughal India" (Cambridge UP, 2024)

April 24, 2024

Bankrolling Empire

Sudev Sheth
Hosted by Arighna Gupta

In this colorful book, historian Sudev Sheth traces how a family of diamond dealers deployed wealth to play off political leaders and survive the coll…

Jane Hamlett and Julie-Marie Strange, "Pet Revolution: Animals and the Making of Modern British Life" (Reaktion Books, 2023)

April 23, 2024

Pet Revolution

Jane Hamlett and Julie-Marie Strange

Pet Revolution: Animals and the Making of Modern British Life (Reaktion Books, 2023) tracks the British love affair with pets over the last two centur…

Michael J. Graetz, "The Power to Destroy: How the Antitax Movement Hijacked America" (Princeton UP, 2024)

April 23, 2024

The Power to Destroy

Michael J. Graetz
Hosted by Meghan Cochran

The anti-tax movement is "the most important overlooked social and political movement of the last half century", according to our guest Michael J. Gra…

Gary S. Cross, "Free Time: The History of an Elusive Ideal" (NYU Press, 2024)

April 23, 2024

Free Time

Gary S. Cross
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Free time, one of life’s most precious things, often feels unfulfilling. But why? And how did leisure activities transition from strolling in the park…

Philip Mark Plotch and Jen Nelles, "Mobilizing the Metropolis: How the Port Authority Built New York" (U Michigan Press, 2023)

April 23, 2024

Mobilizing the Metropolis

Philip Mark Plotch and Jen Nelles
Hosted by Robert Snyder

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is everywhere in the New York metropolitan area. Founded in 1921, its portfolio includes airports, marin…

John Tolan, "England's Jews: Finance, Violence, and the Crown in the Thirteenth Century" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2023)

April 22, 2024

England's Jews

John Tolan
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

In 1290, Jews were expelled from England and subsequently largely expunged from English historical memory. Yet for two centuries they occupied importa…

Guido Alfani, "As Gods Among Men: A History of the Rich in the West" (Princeton UP, 2023)

April 19, 2024

As Gods Among Men

Guido Alfani

This provocative and interesting book has received considerable attention. Roaring reviews and interviews include The Financial Times (UK), The Teleg…

Jonathan Chatwin, "The Southern Tour: Deng Xiaoping and the Fight for China's Future" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

April 18, 2024

The Southern Tour

Jonathan Chatwin
Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

Deng Xiaoping’s 1992 Southern Tour has become a milestone in Chinese economic history. Historians and commentators credit Deng’s visit to Guangzhou Pr…

Liz Tregenza, "Wholesale Couture: London and Beyond, 1930-70" (Bloombury, 2023)

April 17, 2024

Wholesale Couture

Liz Tregenza
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Wholesale Couture: London and Beyond, 1930-70 (Bloomsbury, 2023) by Dr. Liz Tregenza seeks to revise the notion that wholesale couturiers were simply …

Steven Ujifusa, "The Last Ships from Hamburg: Business, Rivalry, and the Race to Save Russia's Jews on the Eve of World War I" (HarperCollins, 2023)

April 15, 2024

The Last Ships from Hamburg

Steven Ujifusa
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Over thirty years, from 1890 to 1921, 2.5 million Jews, fleeing discrimination and violence in their homelands of Eastern Europe, arrived in the Unite…

Jeremy Black, "The Atlantic Slave Trade in World History" (Routledge, 2015)

April 14, 2024

The Atlantic Slave Trade in World History

Jeremy Black
Hosted by Charles Coutinho

In The Atlantic Slave Trade in World History (Routledge, 2024), Jeremy Black presents a compact yet comprehensive survey of slavery and its impact on …

100 Years of Radio in South Africa: Then and Now

April 11, 2024

100 Years of Radio in South Africa

Sisanda Nkoala

Today’s book is: 100 Years of Radio in South Africa, Volume 1: South African Radio Stations and Broadcasters Then & Now (Palgrave MacMillan, 2023), ed…