About Charles Coutinho

Dr. Charles Coutinho is the Managing Director of Coutinho Properties since 2001, a family-owned and operated, multi-family residential and commercial properties company in existence since 1974 in the New York City area, as well as the president of the Sutton Area Community (since 2017), Sutton Place’s leading neighborhood organization. He began his professional career as a lecturer in history at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, New York. Dr. Coutinho pursued an education at New York University, where he attained a Ph. D. in History. Having worked with McGeorge Bundy, Tony Judt and Stewart Stehlin. He was on the board of the Apartment Owners Advisory Council from 2001 to 2006 and is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York. A book reviewer in the field of history, Dr. Coutinho has written for the 'Journal of Intelligence History', Chatham House's 'International Affairs', as well as the online publications 'Reviews in History' and 'Cercles'. An Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he is affiliated with the Metropolitan Opera Club, the Amateur Comedy Club, the National Arts Club, the Royal United Services Institute, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, The Foreign Policy Association and the Lotos Club. He also hosts his own podcasts, on the “New Book Network.” He is married with one son and resides in the Sutton Place section of Manhattan.

Charles Coutinho, PH. D., Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, received his doctorate from New York University. His area of specialization is 19th and 20th-century European, American diplomatic and political history. He has written for Chatham House’s International Affairs, the Institute of Historical Research's Reviews in History and the University of Rouen's online periodical Cercles.

NBN Episodes hosted by Charles:

Paul Bew, "Ancestral Voices in Irish Politics: Judging Dillon and Parnell" (Oxford UP, 2023)

March 22, 2024

Ancestral Voices in Irish Politics

Paul Bew
Hosted by Charles Coutinho

The story of Charles Stewart Parnell, one of the greatest Irish leaders of the nineteenth century and also one of the most renowned figures of the 188…

Jeremy Black, "The Age of Nightmare: The Gothic and British Culture, 1750-1900" (St. Augustine's Press, 2022)

March 9, 2024

The Age of Nightmare

Jeremy Black
Hosted by Charles Coutinho

Historian Jeremy Black is comprehensive, as ever, but in his treatment of the British Gothic novel his greatest service is the preservation of the det…

Dariusz Tołczyk, "Blissful Blindness: Soviet Crimes under Western Eyes" (Indiana UP, 2023)

March 8, 2024

Blissful Blindness

Dariusz Tołczyk
Hosted by Charles Coutinho

The most heinous Soviet crimes - the Red Terror, brutal collectivization, the Great Famine, the Gulag, Stalin's Great Terror, mass deportations, and o…

Ridley Scott's "Napoleon": A Historian's Review

January 28, 2024

Ridley Scott's "Napoleon"

Jeremy Black
Hosted by Charles Coutinho

Charles Coutino discusses Ridley Scott's film "Napoleon" with military historian Jeremy Black. Is it accurate? Is it inaccurate? Does it matter? Liste…

Calder Walton, "Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West" (Simon & Schuster, 2024)

January 28, 2024

Spies

Calder Walton
Hosted by Charles Coutinho

Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West (Simon & Schuster, 2024) is the history of the secret war that Russia and the West have been wa…

Laurence Jurdem, "The Rough Rider and the Professor: Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge, and the Friendship that Changed American History" (Pegasus Books, 2023)

December 24, 2023

The Rough Rider and the Professor

Laurence Jurdem
Hosted by Charles Coutinho

Evoking the political intrigue of the Gilded Age, Laurence Jurdem's book The Rough Rider and the Professor: Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge, and…

Philip Snow, "China and Russia: Four Centuries of Conflict and Concord" (Yale UP, 2023)

December 22, 2023

China and Russia

Philip Snow
Hosted by Charles Coutinho

Russia and China, the largest and most populous countries in the world, respectively, have maintained a delicate relationship for four centuries. In a…

Gary Saul Morson, "Wonder Confronts Certainty: Russian Writers on the Timeless Questions and Why Their Answers Matter" (Harvard UP, 2023)

December 17, 2023

Wonder Confronts Certainty

Gary Saul Morson
Hosted by Charles Coutinho

Since the age of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Chekhov, Russian literature has posed questions about good and evil, moral responsibility, and human freedom…

Jonathan Sumption, "Triumph and Illusion: The Hundred Years War, Vol. 5" (Faber & Faber, 2023)

December 14, 2023

Triumph and Illusion

Jonathan Sumption
Hosted by Charles Coutinho

Triumph and Illusion (Faber & Faber, 2023) is the final volume of Jonathan Sumption's epic history of the Hundred Years War. It tells the story of the…

Jeremy Black, "A Brief History of History" (Indiana UP, 2023)

November 25, 2023

A Brief History of History

Jeremy Black
Hosted by Charles Coutinho

In A Brief History of History (Indiana UP, 2023), acclaimed historian Jeremy Black seeks to reinvigorate and redefine our ideas about history. The sto…

The Idea of "Central Europe" from Naumann to Kundera

November 24, 2023

The Idea of "Central Europe" from Naumann to Kundera

Martyn Rady and Alexander Watson
Hosted by Charles Coutinho

Central Europe has long been infamous as a region beset by war, a place where empires clashed and world wars began. In The Middle Kingdoms: A New Hist…

The Gaza War in Military-Historical Perspective

October 16, 2023

The Gaza War in Military-Historical Perspective

Jeremy Black
Hosted by Charles Coutinho
Listen:

In this interview military historian Jeremy Black examines ongoing Israeli-Hamas conflict in Israel and the Gaza Strip in historical perspective. Blac…

Jeremy Black, "A Brief History of the Pacific: The Great Ocean" (Robinson, 2023)

October 2, 2023

A Brief History of the Pacific

Jeremy Black
Hosted by Charles Coutinho
Listen:

Jeremy Black's A Brief History of the Pacific: The Great Ocean (Robinson, 2023) succeeds in examining both the indigenous presence on ocean's islands …

Nigel Biggar, "Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning" (William Collins, 2023)

September 25, 2023

Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning

Nigel Biggar
Hosted by Charles Coutinho
Listen:

In the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet empire in 1989, many believed that we had arrived at the 'End of History' - that the global dominance of …

Martyn C. Rady, "The Middle Kingdoms: A New History of Central Europe" (Basic Books, 2023)

September 23, 2023

The Middle Kingdoms

Martyn C. Rady
Hosted by Charles Coutinho

Central Europe has long been infamous as a region beset by war, a place where empires clashed and world wars began. In The Middle Kingdoms: A New Hist…

Peter Heather and John Rapley, "Why Empires Fall: Rome, America, and the Future of the West" (Yale UP, 2023)

August 27, 2023

Why Empires Fall

Peter Heather and John Rapley
Hosted by Charles Coutinho

Over the last three centuries, the West rose to dominate the planet. Then, around the start of the new millennium, history took a dramatic turn. Faced…

Jeremy Black, "Why the Industrial Revolution Happened in Britain" (Amberley Publishing, 2023)

August 26, 2023

Why the Industrial Revolution Happened in Britain

Jeremy Black
Hosted by Charles Coutinho

Today I talked to Jeremy Black about his new book Why the Industrial Revolution Happened in Britain (Amberley Publishing, 2023). Britain's key import…

Anthony Seldon and Raymond Newell, "Johnson at 10: The Inside Story" (Atlantic Books, 2023)

August 15, 2023

Johnson at 10

Anthony Seldon and Raymond Newell
Hosted by Charles Coutinho
Listen:

After his dramatic rise to power in the summer of 2019 amid the Brexit deadlock, Boris Johnson presided over the most turbulent period of British hist…

Jeremy Black, "Smollett's Britain" (St. Augustine's Press, 2022)

August 14, 2023

Smollett's Britain

Jeremy Black
Hosted by Charles Coutinho
Listen:

In Smollett's Britain (St. Augustine's Press, 2022), acclaimed British historian Jeremy Black examines the layers of craft and insight in Tobias Smoll…

D. J. Taylor, "Orwell: The New Life" (Pegasus Books, 2023)

August 1, 2023

Orwell

D. J. Taylor
Hosted by Charles Coutinho
Listen:

A fascinating exploration of George Orwell--and his body of work--by an award-winning Orwellian biographer and scholar, presenting the author anew to …

Jeremy Black, "A History of Artillery" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023)

July 28, 2023

A History of Artillery

Jeremy Black
Hosted by Charles Coutinho
Listen:

Jeremy Black's book A History of Artillery (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023) traces the development of artillery through the ages, providing a thorough stu…

Frank Costigliola, "Kennan: A Life Between Worlds" (Princeton UP, 2023)

June 19, 2023

Kennan

Frank Costigliola
Hosted by Charles Coutinho
Listen:

The diplomat and historian George F. Kennan (1904-2005) ranks as one of the most important figures in American foreign policy--and one of its most com…

David Stahel, "Hitler's Panzer Generals: Guderian, Hoepner, Reinhardt and Schmidt Unguarded" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

June 18, 2023

Hitler's Panzer Generals

David Stahel
Hosted by Charles Coutinho
Listen:

Germany's success in the Second World War was built upon its tank forces; however, many of its leading generals, with the notable exception of Heinz G…

D. J. Taylor, "Critic at Large: Essays and Reviews, 2010-2022" (Shoestring Press, 2023)

June 12, 2023

Critic at Large

D. J. Taylor
Hosted by Charles Coutinho
Listen:

Life on Grub Street can be challenging, but it’s not without attendant attractions. One of those is the potential to have a platform to tell the unbid…