A recent book review I read began with the line “borderlands are back.” It’s certainly true that more and more historians have used borderland regions as the stage for some excellent work on the construction of national identities (or indifference to them) in recent years. J. Laurence Hare, Associate Professor of History at the University of Arkansas, makes ... Show More
Today
Max Krahé and Sara Schulte, "Housing Policy At An Expensive Dead End" (Dezernat Zukunft, 2026)
If governments provide financial support for affordable housing, should they provide support for inhabitants directly, or rather for the construction of dwellings? Dr. Max Krahé and Sara Schulte both work for the German economic think tank Dezernat Zukunft, and they aim to answer ... Show More
56m 4s
May 30
Andrew Demshuk, "The Filthiest Village in Europe: Grassroots Ecology and the Collapse of East Germany" (Cornell UP, 2026)
The Filthiest Village in Europe: Grassroots Ecology and the Collapse of East Germany (Cornell University Press, 2026) traces how a community shrouded by "industrial fog," at the brink of gaping coal pits, became a symbol that galvanized grassroots ecology—campaigns by diverse loc ... Show More
1h 24m
Mar 2023
Shetland: Edge of the Prehistoric World
<p>Over 100 miles further than the northern reaches of Britain, beyond Orkney, are a remote group of islands that make up Shetland. It’s one of the best kept secrets of prehistoric Scotland, containing evidence of the lives that were lived there some 5,000 years ago. With Viking ... Show More
45m 11s
May 2024
Vikings Went Everywhere in the Middle Ages, From Baghdad to Constantinople to….. Oklahoma?
Scandinavia has always been a world apart. For millennia Norwegians, Danes, Finns, and Swedes lived a remote and rugged existence among the fjords and peaks of the land of the midnight sun. But when they finally left their homeland in search of opportunity, these wanderers—includ ... Show More
42m 47s
Aug 2022
Selene Wendt, "Beyond the Door of No Return: Confronting Hidden Colonial Histories Through Contemporary Art" (Skira, 2021)
In Beyond the Door of No Return: Confronting Hidden Colonial Histories through Contemporary Art (Skira, 2021), art historian and curator Selene Wendt presents lesser-known tales of anticolonial defiance in artworks and marginal histories worldwide. The artists featured in this bo ... Show More
1h 4m
Dec 2022
The Nibelungenlied
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss The Song of the Nibelungs, a twelfth century German epic, full of blood, violence, fantasy and bleakness. It is a foundational work of medieval literature, drawing on the myths of Scandinavia and central Europe. The poem tells of two couples, Siegf ... Show More
54m 49s
Feb 2023
Normans, Romans and Victorians: History of England's New Forest
<p>Where can you find an Iron Age fort, Roman kilns, trees built for Nelson's navy and the hunting lodge of William the Conqueror? In the place that Dan calls home: the New Forest in the South of England. In this special episode of the podcast sponsored by BMW and National P ... Show More
21m 15s