This year's Reith lecturer is the Palestinian American academic, political activist, and literary critic Edward Said. He joined the faculty of Columbia University in 1963 where he is now Professor of English and Comparative Literature. Regarded as one of the founders of post-colonial theory, his 1978 book Orientalism is one of the most influential scholarly ... Show More
Jan 2025
Introducing two gripping BBC podcasts: Intrigue and Gangster
Hear thrilling investigations and stories of crime, power and control from Intrigue and Gangster.Intrigue from Radio 4 tells dramatic true stories with gripping narratives, including the award-winning series, To Catch a Scorpion.In the latest Gangster series, Livvy Haydock invest ... Show More
2m 2s
Dec 2024
Can we change violent minds?
In her final lecture, the forensic psychiatrist Dr Gwen Adshead, assesses how we deal with violent offenders and asks is it time for a re-think? The UK has more than 70 people on whole life tariffs, at incredible expense – all to appease a sense of revenge, she says.Dr Adshead as ... Show More
57m 40s
Dec 2024
Does Trauma Cause Violence?
How best do we understand how to manage powerful emotions such as rage, fear and shame? With very rare access, Forensic Psychiatrist Dr Gwen Adshead gives her third Reith Lecture inside HMP Grendon, where she talks to prisoners and staff, and asks the question: “Does trauma cause ... Show More
57m 48s
Jun 2023
Douglas Kerr, "Orwell and Empire" (Oxford UP, 2022)
George Orwell was born in India and served in the Imperial Police in Burma as a young man. Douglas Kerr's book Orwell and Empire (Oxford UP, 2022) is a study of his writing about the East and the East in his writing. It argues that empire was central to his cultural identity and ... Show More
42m 30s
May 2022
Ban Wang, "China in the World: Culture, Politics, and World Vision" (Duke UP, 2022)
Ban Wang's book China in the World: Culture, Politics, and World Vision (Duke University Press, 2022), traces the evolution of modern China from the late nineteenth century to the present. With a focus on tensions and connections between national formation and international outlo ... Show More
58m 18s
Dec 2020
J. Daniel Elam, "World Literature for the Wretched of the Earth: Anticolonial Aesthetics, Postcolonial Politics" (Fordham UP, 2020)
World Literature for the Wretched of the Earth: Anticolonial Aesthetics, Postcolonial Politics (Fordham University Press, 2020) recovers a genealogy of anticolonial thought that advocates collective inexpertise, unknowing, and unrecognizability. Early twentieth-century anticoloni ... Show More
1h 45m
Nov 2019
74 | Stephen Greenblatt on Stories, History, and Cultural Poetics
An infinite number of things happen; we bring structure and meaning to the world by making art and telling stories about it. Every work of literature created by human beings comes out of an historical and cultural context, and drawing connections between art and its context can b ... Show More
1h 6m
Sep 2023
Rebecca Kingston, "Plutarch's Prism: Classical Reception and Public Humanism in France and England, 1500–1800" (Cambridge UP, 2022)
Throughout the early modern period, political theorists in France and England drew on the works of Plutarch to offer advice to kings and princes. Elizabeth I herself translated Plutarch in her later years, while Jacques Amyot's famous translations of Plutarch's The Parallel Lives ... Show More
47m 55s
Jan 2024
Palestine 1492: Settler-Colonialism, Solidarity, & Resistance
Please join Linda Quiquivix, William C. Anderson, & Mohamed Abdou for a round table conversation on "Palestine 1492: Settler-colonialism, Solidarity & Resistance." They will situate Palestine transnationally in relation to 1492, & discuss admirable acts of solidarity by activists ... Show More
1h 30m
Feb 2024
Michael Johnston, "The Middle English Book: Scribes and Readers, 1350-1500" (Oxford UP, 2023)
Michael Johnston's The Middle English Book: Scribes and Readers, 1350-1500 (Oxford UP, 2023) addresses a series of questions about the copying and circulation of literature in late medieval England: How do we make sense of the variety of manuscripts surviving from this period? Wh ... Show More
43m 19s