Mar 2014

The 1970s

1970s America rediscovered through lost recordings of Letter from America, on the 10th anniversary of legendary journalist Alistair Cooke's death. Paddy O'Connell and guests including historian Dominic Sandbrook, Alvin Hall, Ann Treneman and Naomi Shragai will reflect on the pers ... Show More

1h 57m

Dec 1989

Soviets need soap, December 1989

Give the Communist masses what they really want - a delivery of consumerism.This archive edition of Letter from America was recorded by one of two listeners, who between them taped and labelled over 650 Letter From America programmes from 1973 to 1989. It was restored by the BBC ... Show More

14m 21s

Sep 1988

Yellowstone National Park, 1988

Too strange to be believed, the natural phenomena that prompted the founding of the US national parks.This archive edition of Letter from America was recorded by one of two listeners, who between them taped and labelled over 650 Letter From America programmes from 1973 to 1989. I ... Show More

14m 44s

Feb 1984

Chernenko is Soviet leader, 1984

New Soviet leader Chernenko described as in poor health even as he assumes office.This archive edition of Letter from America was recorded by one of two listeners, who between them taped and labelled over 650 Letter From America programmes from 1973 to 1989. It was restored by th ... Show More

14m 29s

Dec 1988

Gorbachev's perilous experiment

Misgivings over Gorbachev's liberalisation proposals as observers fear further splits from satellite nations.This archive edition of Letter from America was recorded by one of two listeners, who between them taped and labelled over 650 Letter From America programmes from 1973 to ... Show More

14m 2s

Mar 1985

Strong dollar hits jobs

Jobs hit as strong dollar means US exports are too pricey for world markets.This archive edition of Letter from America was recorded by one of two listeners, who between them taped and labelled over 650 Letter From America programmes from 1973 to 1989. It was restored by the BBC ... Show More

14m 35s

Oct 2022

Lenin Part 4: Ghost at the Kremlin

With power finally in Bolshevik hands, state terror arrives in Russia. The Soviet Union is born. But, installed in Red Square, Lenin’s health is ailing. Will his creation live on beyond his death? And which of his lieutenants, jostling for position, will take up the baton? A Nois ... Show More

56m 7s

Oct 2021

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

Belarus’s exiled opposition leader speaks to Monocle’s Tomos Lewis about the state of the resistance movement and her hopes for the country’s future.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

28m 46s

Mar 2024

Enver Hoxha Part 2: Stalin’s Shadow, Europe’s North Korea

As a new premier takes charge in Moscow, Hoxha makes a new friend in China. The Albanian dictator tasks an entire media industry with maintaining his image. But as his country sinks into an economic mire and his own health deteriorates, Hoxha and Albania’s isolation will be compl ... Show More

50m 5s

Sep 2022

Gorbachev's legacy

<p>The former President of the Soviet Union's reforms in 1987, known as Perestroika, and the release of the dissident poet Irina Ratushinskaya in 1986.</p><p>Plus a survivor of the Marikana Massacre in South Africa, the Native American nicknamed 'the Last Indian' and Princess Dia ... Show More

49m 54s

Aug 2022

Iron Curtain call: Mikhail Gorbachev

<p>The leader who oversaw the Soviet Union’s collapse had only intended to reform it. But the propaganda and repression <a href="https://www.economist.com/obituary/2022/08/30/mikhail-gorbachev-has-died?utm_campaign=a.io&utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&utm_source=theintelligence&utm_c ... Show More

26m 15s