The Stuff of Soldiers: A History of the Red Army in World War II Through Objects (Cornell University Press) uses everyday objects to tell the story of the Great Patriotic War as never before. Brandon Schechter attends to a diverse array of things―from spoons to tanks―to show how a wide array of citizens became soldiers, and how the provisioning of material g ... 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
Feb 2024
The Heroes, Legends, and Liars Who Fought in WW2
Veterans of World War 2 are called the Greatest Generation for their uncommon courage and self-determination. Whether this descriptor is true or part of America’s self-mythologizing during the 20th century is a challenging question, one that Andrew Biggio, a veteran of the wars i ... Show More
35m 37s
Aug 2023
Alexander Hill, "The War on the Eastern Front: The Soviet Union, 1941-1945 - A Photographic History" (Pen & Sword Military, 2021)
In The War on the Eastern Front: The Soviet Union, 1941-1945 - A Photographic History (Pen & Sword Military, 2021), Professor Alexander Hill has collected photographs from the brutal conflict on the Eastern Front and the extraordinary experience of the soldiers and civilians who ... Show More
50m 16s
Aug 2023
Wendy A. Woloson, "Crap: A History of Cheap Stuff in America" (U Chicago Press, 2020)
Why are our lives filled with so much stuff? In Crap: A History of Cheap Stuff in America (U Chicago Press, 2023), Wendy Woloson, Professor and Chair in the Department of History at Rutgers University, tells the history of these objects and things, from the early years of peddler ... Show More
44m 16s
Jun 2025
Interview 40: The German-Soviet War with Jeff Rutherford
Buy The German Soviet War: Combat, Occupation, and Legacies Edited by Jeff Rutherford and Robert von Maier here: https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501781070/the-german-soviet-war/#bookTabs=4 If you are reading this before June 27, 2025 use this coupon code for 50% off ... Show More
27m 45s
Sep 2022
A World War II Story of Survival, Love, and Redemption
<p>Amidst the epic clashes of armies and navies that make war such a fascinating subject, lie the smaller human interest stories that prove just as compelling. One such story is that of World War II soldier Joe Johnson Jr., which is told by Marcus Brotherton in a newly published ... Show More
44m 7s