logo
episode-header-image
Dec 2023
1h 28m

Bomb Power (w/ Erik Baker)

Matthew Sitman
About this episode
Matt and Sam welcome historian Erik Baker onto the podcast to discuss Garry Wills's blistering critique of the national security state and unaccountable presidential power in his 2010 book, Bomb Power. 
Up next
Yesterday
The Furious Minds of MAGA (w/ Laura Field)
<p>Laura K. Field's <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691255262/furious-minds?srsltid=AfmBOoo-r7SOZaW2FHnmgy0k1VNHmckDW4PoIz4Xd3C7Yi30f3kf1wnF"><i>Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right</i></a>, published earlier this month, is a book we simply had ... Show More
1h 9m
Nov 17
Trump's Big, Beautiful Ballroom (w/ Kate Wagner) [Teaser]
<p>Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/107982813?utm_campaign=postshare_creator">patreon.com/knowyourenemy.</a></p><p>If there's a Trump-era topic that manages to fascinate without being entirely depressing, it's pro ... Show More
4m 27s
Nov 11
Zohran, the Jews, and Reckoning with Gaza (w/ Peter Beinart)
<p>This episode isn't focused on a single topic or text, but rather just wanting to have a wide-ranging conversation with our guest, Peter Beinart, editor-at-large of <i>Jewish Currents</i> and author of the recent book, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/775348/be ... Show More
1h 14m
Recommended Episodes
Jan 2021
Harry Truman
This brand new pop culture history podcast is nothing like anything you've heard before, and it's everything you need to understand the modern world. This is the start of an epic journey where Tom Fordyce and Katie Puckrik take each of the 120 people, places and things mentioned ... Show More
38m 55s
Jun 2023
343: Oppenheimer: The Father of the Atom Bomb (Part 1)
“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” This was J. Robert Oppenheimer’s reaction to the first atomic bomb test in July 1945, marking the beginning of the nuclear age. Oppenheimer, an American theoretical physicist of Jewish-German descent, was in charge of the American ... Show More
55m 8s
Jul 2023
Oppenheimer: What If America Never Dropped the Atomic Bomb?
<p>The new Oppenheimer movie has everyone asking questions about the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 - were two bombs necessary? Would the war have ended without it? Was there an ulterior motive? Would the Americans have dropped a third if they had it?</p><br><p>At the end ... Show More
43m 51s
Oct 2023
302. Oppenheimer (C. Nolan, 2023), avec Lucie Genay et Yannick Pincé
L’invitée et l’invité : Lucie Genay (MCF université de Limoges) et Yannick Pincé (professeur en CPGE) Le film: Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan, 2023) La discussion : Introduction (00:00) Les réactions au film et à son succès dans la communauté de recherche sur le nucléaire (2:00) ... Show More
1h 7m
Sep 2023
Oppenheimer: What If America Never Dropped the Atomic Bomb?
<p>The new Oppenheimer movie has everyone asking questions about the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 - were two bombs necessary? Would the war have ended without it? Was there an ulterior motive? Would the Americans have dropped a third if they had it?</p><br><p>To answer s ... Show More
47m 12s
Jun 2023
344: Oppenheimer: The Witch Hunt (Part 2)
Following the use of the atomic bomb in Japan and the end of the Second World War, Oppenheimer pushes for an international approach to nuclear power. This attitude towards nuclear secrets, alongside his history of close relationships with known communists, results in all his secu ... Show More
53m 9s
Mar 2024
Atomic Angst and the Teenage Spy
In 1944, a brilliant, young Harvard physics student named Ted Hall was recruited to work on the super-secret mission that had already assembled the country's top scientists: the Manhattan Project. Soon, Hall was on his way to Los Alamos, where he worked on the implosion mechanism ... Show More
48m 54s
Jul 2023
CultureLab: Oppenheimer – The rise and fall of the “father of the atomic bomb”
First J. Robert Oppenheimer created the weapon, then he fought for years to warn of its dangers. During the second world war, the so-called “father of the atomic bomb”, led a team of scientists in the US in a race against Nazi Germany to create the first nuclear weapon. Then it w ... Show More
27m 52s
Jul 2023
Destroyer of Worlds (Replay)
July 16, 1945. It happened within a millionth of a second. In the New Mexico desert in the early morning hours, a group of scientists watched in anticipation as the countdown began. It was silent at first, yet hot and unbelievably bright. Then came the sound. The first-ever atomi ... Show More
31m 17s
Jul 2023
Oppenheimer: “destroyer of worlds”
When the atom bomb was dropped in 1945, how did its inventor, J Robert Oppenheimer, feel? To mark the release of Christopher Nolan’s new blockbuster Oppenheimer, biographer Kai Bird joins Elinor Evans to discuss the man behind the creation of nuclear weaponry, and the difficult m ... Show More
37m 56s