I confess I sometimes wonder where we got in the habit of proclaiming, usually with some sort of righteous indignation, that we have the “right” to this or that as citizens. I know that the political theorists of the eighteenth century wrote a lot about “rights,” and that “rights” made their way into the the U.S. and French constitutions. But when did they b ... Show More
Jul 28
Andrew N. Buchanan and Ruth Lawlor eds., "The Greater Second World War: Global Perspectives" (Cornell UP, 2025)
Andrew Buchanan and Ruth Lawlor, The Greater Second World War: Global Perspectives (Cornell University Press, 2025) This ambitious edited collection encourages readers to think in bigger ways about the global Second World War. That includes a wider frame in space and time, but a ... Show More
1h 15m
Jul 28
On Who Blew Up Nord Stream: A Conversation with Author Bojan Pancevski
The September, 2022 attack on the Nord Stream pipelines transporting Russian gas to Germany was perhaps the greatest single act of sabotage in modern history. In The Nord Stream Conspiracy: The Inside Story of the Explosions that Shook the World (Henry Holt, 2026), Bojan Pancevsk ... Show More
1 h
Jul 27
Claire Hubbard-Hall, "Her Secret Service: The Forgotten Women of British Intelligence" (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2024)
Since the inception of the Secret Service Bureau back in 1909, women have worked at the very heart of British secret intelligence - yet their contributions have been all but written out of history. Now, drawing on private and previously-classified documents, leading historian Cla ... Show More
1h 16m
Sep 2022
#320 – Christopher Capozzola: World War I, Ideology, Propaganda, and Politics
Christopher Capozzola is a professor of history at MIT. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: – Wealthfront: https://wealthfront.com/lex to get $50 sign-up bonus – InsideTracker: https://insidetracker.com/lex to get 20% off – LMNT: https://drinkLMNT.com/lex to ... Show More
2h 20m
Aug 2023
Olivier Burtin, "A Nation of Veterans: War, Citizenship, and the Welfare State in Modern America" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2022)
In examining how the veterans' movement inscribed martial citizenship onto American law, politics, and culture, A Nation of Veterans: War, Citizenship, and the Welfare State in Modern America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022) offers a new history of the U.S. welfare state ... Show More
40m 15s
Jun 2024
Awakening the Spirit of America with Paul Sparrow
If you are interested in the 1930s and 1940s, or have wondered how the rapid growth of authoritarianism in today’s political climate mirrors that of WWII, this is an episode for you. Sharon McMahon is joined by author Paul Sparrow to discuss his new book, Awakening the Spirit of ... Show More
38m 11s