Small Wars, Big Data: The Information Revolution in Modern Conflict (Princeton University Press, 2018), Eli Berman, Joseph H. Felter, and Jacob N. Shapiro, takes a data-based approach to examine how actions can affect violence in asymmetric conflicts. Using data sets from Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Philippines, the authors evaluate several variables, includ ... Show More
Today
Marek Kohn, "The Stories Old Towns Tell: A Journey Through Cities at the Heart of Europe" (Yale UP, 2023)
Historic quarters in cities and towns across the middle of Europe were devastated during the Second World War—some, like those of Warsaw and Frankfurt, had to be rebuilt almost completely. They are now centers of peace and civility that attract millions of tourists, but the stori ... Show More
59m 34s
Nov 22
John Bodnar, "Divided by Terror: American Patriotism after 9/11" (UNC Press, 2021)
September 11th, 2001 marked the beginning of the so-called war on terror, but the attacks of that day also re-ignited battles over the nature of American patriotism. In Divided by Terror: American Patriotism after 9/11 (UNC Press, 2021), Professor John Bodnar argues that the natu ... Show More
1h 8m
Nov 19
Tim Seiter, "Wrangling Pelicans: Military Life in Texas Presidios" (U Texas Press, 2025)
A richly detailed history of daily life for colonial Spanish soldiers surviving on the eighteenth-century Texas Gulf Coast.
In 1775, Spanish King Carlos III ordered the capture of American pelicans for his wildlife park in Madrid. The command went to the only Spanish fort on the ... Show More
39m 50s
Aug 2017
Betty S. Anderson, “A History of the Middle East: Rulers, Rebels, and Rogues (Stanford UP, 2016)
As the Middle East continues to become more topical to American and European audiences, a need for textbooks to teach the history of the region has become urgent. Some such textbooks take a topical approach, others use a chronological narrative. Betty Anderson‘s A History of the ... Show More
27m 11s
Apr 2024
Will Disinformation Doom Our Democracy? with Nina Jankowicz, Sasha Issenberg & Barbara McQuade
“Flood the zone with shit.” It’s a zinger and a strategic imperative, from the oh-so-eloquent Steve Bannon, being expertly executed by Donald Trump and the MAGA-fied GOP.
To help us make sense of what our information morass means for the 2024 election, we’re joined by three poli ... Show More
50m 10s
Jan 2021
Jeremy Pressman, "The Sword is Not Enough: Arabs, Israelis, and the Limits of Military Force" (Manchester UP, 2020)
Jeremy Pressman is Associate Professor of Political Science and the Director of Middle East Studies at the University of Connecticut. Jeremy is the author of The Sword is Not Enough: Arabs, Israelis, and the Limits of Military Force (Manchester UP, 2020), an exploration of the do ... Show More
57m 57s
Dec 2021
China, and the "Western Left" w/ Immanuel Ness (IB Part 2)
We have another fun Intelligence Briefing this time, with a special guest! For this conversation that takes a look at China, and once again takes aim at the "Western Left", we bring back our good friend and comrade Professor Immanuel Ness. Manny is Professor of Political Scienc ... Show More
1h 42m
Feb 2024
The Future of the Future: A Discussion with Jonathan White
"An air of finality pervades today’s world." That is the opening sentence of Jonathan White’s book In the Long Run: The Future as a Political Idea (Profile, 2024). What role, the book asks, has the idea of "the future" played in past politics? What role does it play in contempora ... Show More
41m 56s
Apr 2024
The Intelligence: America’s deeply divided electorate
We have combined polling data to make a detailed portrait of the American electorate. Have a tinker with our interactive model: plug in their age, sex, religion, and more, and let us estimate how your hypothetical voter will vote in the presidential election. Allegations of extor ... Show More
27m 53s