About AJ Woodhams

\

AJ Woodhams hosts the "War Books" podcast. You can subscribe on Apple here and on Spotify here. War Books is on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

A's website

NBN Episodes hosted by A:

Sasha Vasilyuk, "Your Presence Is Mandatory" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

April 26, 2024

Your Presence Is Mandatory

Sasha Vasilyuk
Hosted by AJ Woodhams

Ukraine, 2007. Yefim Shulman, husband, grandfather and war veteran, was beloved by his family and his coworkers. But in the days after his death, his …

George S. Takach, "Cold War 2.0: Artificial Intelligence in the New Battle between China, Russia, and America" (Pegasus Book, 2024)

March 24, 2024

Cold War 2.0

George S. Takach
Hosted by AJ Woodhams

A vivid, thoughtful examination of how technological innovation—especially AI—is shaping the tensions between democracy and autocracy during the new C…

Derek B. Miller, "The Curse of Pietro Houdini" (Simon and Schuster, 2024)

January 21, 2024

The Curse of Pietro Houdini

Derek B. Miller
Hosted by AJ Woodhams

From the Dagger Award–winning author of Norwegian by Night comes a vivid, thrilling, and moving World War II art-heist-adventure tale where enemies be…

Colin Jones, "The Fall of Robespierre: 24 Hours in Revolutionary Paris" (Oxford UP, 2021)

January 5, 2024

The Fall of Robespierre

Colin Jones
Hosted by AJ Woodhams

The day of 9 Thermidor (27 July 1794) is universally acknowledged as a major turning-point in the history of the French Revolution. At 12.00 midnight,…

Magda Stroińska, "My Life in Propaganda: A Memoir about Language and Totalitarian Regimes" (Durvile, 2023)

December 21, 2023

My Life in Propaganda

Magda Stroińska
Hosted by AJ Woodhams

My Life in Propaganda: A Memoir about Language and Totalitarian Regimes (Durvile, 2023) is Magda Stroińska’s personal account of growing up with commu…

Ronald C. White, "On Great Fields: The Life and Unlikely Heroism of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain" (Random House, 2023)

December 15, 2023

On Great Fields

Ronald C. White
Hosted by AJ Woodhams

Before 1862, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain had rarely left his home state of Maine, where he was a trained minister and mild-mannered professor at Bowdo…

Burkhard Bilger, "Fatherland: A Memoir of War, Conscience, and Family Secrets" (Random House, 2023)

December 8, 2023

Fatherland

Burkhard Bilger
Hosted by AJ Woodhams

A New Yorker staff writer investigates his grandfather, a Nazi Party Chief, in this “unflinching, gorgeously written, and deeply moving exploration of…

Edward L. Ayers, "American Visions: The United States, 1800-1860" (Norton, 2023)

November 25, 2023

American Visions

Edward L. Ayers
Hosted by AJ Woodhams

American Visions: The United States, 1800-1860 (Norton, 2023) is a revealing history of the formative period when voices of dissent and innovation def…

Don Hollway, "Battle for the Island Kingdom: The Struggle for England's Destiny 1000-1066" (Osprey, 2023)

November 12, 2023

Battle for the Island Kingdom

Don Hollway
Hosted by AJ Woodhams

In a saga reminiscent of Game of Thrones and Battle for the Island Kingdom: The Struggle for England's Destiny 1000-1066 (Osprey, 2023) reveals the li…

Helen Fry, "Women in Intelligence: The Hidden History of Two World Wars" (Yale UP, 2023)

November 7, 2023

Women in Intelligence

Helen Fry
Hosted by AJ Woodhams
Listen:

From the twentieth century onward, women took on an extraordinary range of roles in intelligence, defying the conventions of their time. Across both w…

Tom Burbage et al., "F-35: The Inside Story of the Lightning II" (Skyhorse, 2023)

October 29, 2023

F-35

Tom Burbage, Betsy Clark, Adrian Pitman, and and David Poyer
Hosted by AJ Woodhams

The inside story of the most expensive and controversial military program in history, as told by those who lived it. The F-35 has changed allied com…

Owen Matthews, "Overreach: The Inside Story of Putin's War Against Ukraine" (Mudlark, 2022)

October 25, 2023

Overreach

Owen Matthews
Hosted by AJ Woodhams
Listen:

An astonishing deep dive into the war in Ukraine - from the corridors of the Kremlin to the trenches of Mariupol. The Russo-Ukrainian War is the mos…

Peter Stark, "Gallop Toward the Sun: Tecumseh and William Henry Harrison's Struggle for the Destiny of a Nation" (Random House, 2023)

October 14, 2023

Gallop Toward the Sun

Peter Stark
Hosted by AJ Woodhams

The conquest of Indigenous land in the eastern United States through corrupt treaties and genocidal violence laid the groundwork for the conquest of t…

C. J. Wagevier, "Fighting for Napoleon's Army in Russia: A POW's Memoir" (Pen and Sword, 2023)

October 12, 2023

Fighting for Napoleon's Army in Russia

C. J. Wagevier
Hosted by AJ Woodhams
Listen:

In 1812 the French emperor Napoleon decided to invade Russia. For this purpose, he gathered an army of half a million men and women, consisting of sol…

Robert P. Watson, "When Washington Burned: The British Invasion of the Capital and a Nation's Rise from the Ashes" (Georgetown UP, 2023)

October 5, 2023

When Washington Burned

Robert P. Watson
Hosted by AJ Woodhams
Listen:

Perhaps no other single day in US history was as threatening to the survival of the nation as August 24, 1814, when British forces captured Washington…

Rachel Chrastil, "Bismarck's War: The Franco-Prussian War and the Making of Modern Europe" (Basic Book, 2023)

September 17, 2023

Bismarck's War

Rachel Chrastil
Hosted by AJ Woodhams

Among the conflicts that convulsed Europe during the nineteenth century, none was more startling and consequential than the Franco-Prussian War of 187…

Katja Hoyer, "Beyond the Wall: A History of East Germany" (Basic Books, 2023)

September 8, 2023

Beyond the Wall

Katja Hoyer
Hosted by AJ Woodhams
Listen:

In 1990, a country disappeared. When the Iron Curtain fell, East Germany ceased to be. For over forty years, from the ruin of the Second World War to …

Salar Abdoh, "Out of Mesopotamia" (Akashic Books, 2020)

September 3, 2023

Out of Mesopotamia

Salar Abdoh
Hosted by AJ Woodhams

Saleh, the narrator of Out of Mesopotamia (Akashic Books, 2020), is a middle-aged Iranian journalist who moonlights as a writer for one of Iran's most…

Samuel Ramani, "Putin's War on Ukraine: Russia’s Campaign for Global Counter-Revolution" (Hurst, 2023)

August 17, 2023

Putin's War on Ukraine

Samuel Ramani
Hosted by AJ Woodhams
Listen:

Eight years after annexing Crimea, Russia embarked on a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine in February 2022. For Vladimir Putin, this was a le…

Jacob Mikanowski, "Goodbye, Eastern Europe: An Intimate History of a Divided Land" (Pantheon Books, 2023)

August 11, 2023

Goodbye, Eastern Europe

Jacob Mikanowski
Hosted by AJ Woodhams
Listen:

Eastern Europe, the moniker, has gone out of fashion since the fall of the Soviet Union. Ask someone now, and they might tell you that Estonia is in t…

Christopher Miller, "The War Came To Us: Life and Death in Ukraine" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

August 4, 2023

The War Came To Us

Christopher Miller
Hosted by AJ Woodhams
Listen:

When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine just before dawn on 24 February 2022, it marked his late…

Phil Klay, "Uncertain Ground: Citizenship in an Age of Endless, Invisible War" (Penguin, 2022)

July 30, 2023

Uncertain Ground

Phil Klay
Hosted by AJ Woodhams

When Phil Klay left the Marines a decade ago after serving as an officer in Iraq, he found himself a part of the community of veterans who have no cho…

Stefan Rinke, "Conquistadors and Aztecs: A History of the Fall of Tenochtitlan" (Oxford UP, 2023)

July 22, 2023

Conquistadors and Aztecs

Stefan Rinke
Hosted by AJ Woodhams

Five hundred years ago, a flotilla landed on the coast of Yucatán under the command of the Spanish conquistador Hérnan Cortés. While the official goal…

Jade McGlynn, "Memory Makers: The Politics of the Past in Putin's Russia" (Bloomsbury, 2023)

July 14, 2023

Memory Makers

Jade McGlynn
Hosted by AJ Woodhams
Listen:

Why aren't ordinary Russians more outraged by Putin's invasion of Ukraine? Inside the Kremlin's own historical propaganda narratives, Russia's invasio…