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Military History
Interpretive Political and Social Science August 9, 2022

Mobilizing in Uncertainty

Collective Identities and War in Abkhazia

Anastasia Shesterinina

Hosted by Nick Cheesman
Anastasia Shesterinina begins Mobilizing in Uncertainty: Collective Identities and War in Abkhazia (Cornell University Press, 2021) with an account of Georgian troops crossing into eastern Abkhazia, in the Southern Caucasus …

Military History

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Interviews with scholars of military history about their new books.

Genocide Studies August 9, 2022

Ideology and Mass Killing

Radical Security Politics and the Infrastructure of Deadly Atrocities

Jonathan Leader Maynard

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
In research on 'mass killings' such as genocides and campaigns of state terror, the role of ideology is hotly debated. For some scholars, ideologies are crucial in providing the extremist …
French Studies August 8, 2022

Toxique

Enquête sur les essais nucléaires français en Polynésie

Sébastien Philippe and Tomas Statius

Hosted by Roxanne Panchasi
What happens when you bring together an important collection of previously secret archival documents dealing with France's nuclear detonations in the Pacific from 1966 to 1996, a nuclear scientist, and …
Military History August 5, 2022

The Castle

A History

John Goodall

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
In The Castle: A History (Yale University Press, 2022) Dr. John Goodall presents a vibrant history of the castle in Britain, from the early Middle Ages to the present day …
In Conversation: An OUP Podcast August 4, 2022

Nimitz at War

Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay

Craig L. Symonds

Hosted by Mark Klobas
Only days after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt tapped Chester W. Nimitz to assume command of the Pacific Fleet. Nimitz was not the most senior candidate …
Middle Eastern Studies August 3, 2022

Second-Generation Liberation Wars

Yaniv Voller

Hosted by Dilan Okcuoglu
The formation of post-colonial states in Africa, and the Middle East gave birth to prolonged separatist wars. Exploring the evolution of these separatist wars, In Second-Generation Liberation Wars Cambridge UP, 2022),Yaniv …
Genocide Studies August 2, 2022

British Responses to Genocide

The British Foreign Office and Humanitarianism in the Ottoman Empire, 1918-1923

Amy E. Grubb and Elisabeth Hope Murray

Hosted by Kelly McFall
When I was an undergrad, the chronology of World War One was simple. The war began in August of 1914 and ended in November of 1918. Now, of course, we know it's …
Japanese Studies August 1, 2022

Eavesdropping on the Emperor

Interrogators and Codebreakers in Britain's War With Japan

Peter Kornicki

Hosted by Jingyi Li
When Japanese signals were decoded at Bletchley Park, who translated them into English? When Japanese soldiers were taken as prisoners of war, who interrogated them? When Japanese maps and plans …
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 …
French Studies July 29, 2022

The Military Enlightenment

War and Culture in the French Empire from Louis XIV to Napoleon

Christy Pichichero

Hosted by Roxanne Panchasi
Covering the pivotal period from the mid-seventeenth century through the era of the French Revolution, Christy Pichichero's The Military Enlightenment: War and Culture in the French Empire from Louis XIV to Napoleon (Cornell …
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 …
Military History July 28, 2022

The Medieval Crossbow

A Weapon Fit to Kill a King

Stuart Ellis-Gorman

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
The crossbow is an iconic weapon of the Middle Ages and, alongside the longbow, one of the most effective ranged weapons of the pre-gunpowder era. Unfortunately, despite its general fame …
British Studies July 27, 2022

Grappling with the Bomb

Britain’s Pacific H-Bomb Tests

Nic Maclellan

Hosted by Ari Barbalat
Nic Maclellan's book Grappling with the Bomb: Britain’s Pacific H-Bomb Tests (ANU Press, 2017) is a history of Britain’s 1950s program to test the hydrogen bomb, code name Operation Grapple. In …
German Studies July 27, 2022

Prevail until the Bitter End

Germans in the Waning Years of World War II

Alexandra Lohse

Hosted by Lea Greenberg
In Prevail until the Bitter End: Germans in the Waning Years of World War II (Cornell UP, 2021), Alexandra Lohse explores the gossip and innuendo, the dissonant reactions and perceptions …
The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones July 26, 2022

The Future of Al Qaeda

A Discussion with Nelly Lahoud

Nelly Lahoud

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones
The 9/11 attacks mean Al Qaeda will always have a place in history. But it that it? Or might it have the capacity to endure? Its striking that the UN …
British Studies July 25, 2022

Humanitarian Governance and the British Antislavery World System

Maeve Ryan

Hosted by Joseph Krulder
Maeve Ryan’s new book Humanitarian Governance and the British Antislavery World System (Yale UP, 2022) highlights Britain’s early-nineteenth-century, Royal Navy seizures of slave ships and the processes involved in the “liberation” of …
Darts & Letters July 25, 2022

The Bland Corporation

On the RAND Corporation and the Defence-Intellectual Industrial Complex

Daniel Bessner

Hosted by Gordon Katic
Welcome to week two of our Darts and Letters summer showcase! Darts and Letters is a show about the politics of ideas. We’re celebrating joining the New Books Network by …
Intellectual History July 25, 2022

The Unimagined Community

Imperialism and Culture in South Vietnam

Duy Lap Nguyen

Hosted by Thomas Kingston
Duy Lap Nguyen's book The Unimagined Community: Imperialism and Culture in South Vietnam (Manchester UP, 2019) proposes a reexamination of the Vietnam War from a perspective that has been largely excluded …
British Studies July 22, 2022

Empire and Enterprise

Money, Power and the Adventurers for Irish Land During the British Civil Wars

David Brown

Hosted by Miranda Melcher
In Empire and Enterprise: Money, Power and the Adventurers for Irish Land During the British Civil Wars (Manchester UP, 2020), Dr. David Brown examines the transformation of England's trade and …
Japanese Studies July 21, 2022

Japan’s Occupation of Java in the Second World War

A Transnational History

Ethan Mark

Hosted by Shatrunjay Mall
Japan's Occupation of Java in the Second World War: A Transnational History (Bloomsbury, 2018) by Ethan Mark draws upon written and oral Japanese, Indonesian, Dutch and English-language sources to narrate …