May 9
Zeina Al-Azmeh, "Syrian Intellectuals in Exile: The Dilemmas of Revolution and the Cost of Leaving" (Cambridge UP, 2026)
Zeina Al-Azmeh’s Syrian Intellectuals in Exile: The Dilemmas of Revolution and the Cost of Leaving (Cambridge UP, 2026) captures a group of intellectuals forced to leave Syria, primarily after the events of 2011. Having wound up in either Paris or Berlin these intellectuals are f ... Show More
1h 2m
May 9
Robin Andersen, "The Complicit Lens: US Media Coverage of Israel's Genocide in Gaza" (OR Books, 2026)
Robin Andersen's latest book, The Complicit Lens: US Media Coverage of Israel's Genocide in Gaza (OR Books, 2026), is a forensic and unflinching examination of how establishment media abandoned journalistic integrity to manufacture consent for the genocide in Gaza, creating an ... Show More
1 h
May 7
Edith Szanto, "Twelver Shi'i Self-flagellation Rites in Contemporary Syria: Mourning Sayyida Zaynab" (Edinburgh UP, 2025)
Edith Szanto’s Twelver Shi'i Self-Flagellation Rites in Contemporary Syria: Mourning Sayyida Zaynab (Edinburgh UP, 2025) is a striking and deeply immersive ethnographic study that takes the reader into the shrine town of Sayyida Zaynab in Syria. This town was a vibrant center of ... Show More
5m 45s
May 2024
Nasserism and the Egyptian Revolution of 1952
<p>Rudy, Andrew and Eric sit down to discuss Egypt from its origins as an independent polity under Mehmed Ali up to the Sadat years, with a focus on the Nasserist revolutionary period. We discuss the origins and aims of the 1952 coup and revolution, the relationship between commu ... Show More
1h 45m
Apr 2024
Rethinking Nasser: A New Look at One of the Arab World's Most Polarizing Figures — With Alex Rowell and Joshua Martin
<p>For Alex Rowell, the need to reassess the legacy of former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser has only increased in the decades since the death of the hugely influential figure, and especially recently.</p>
<p>“If you just take a moment to look at the Arab Spring and the co ... Show More
36m 43s
Aug 2024
Nazis in Egypt and Spain's La Tomatina
A warning, this programme includes an account of antisemitic views and descriptions of violence.Egypt recruited thousands of Nazis after World War Two to bolster its security. We hear from Frank Gelli, who in 1964 met Hitler's former propagandist, Johann von Leers, in Cairo. Auth ... Show More
51m 9s
Aug 2017
Anthony Kaldellis, “Streams of Gold, Rivers of Blood: The Rise and Fall of Byzantium, 955 A.D. to the First Crusade” (Oxford UP, 2017)
In the 10th century, a succession of Byzantine rulers reversed centuries of strategic policy by embarking on a series of campaigns that dramatically reshaped their empire. This effort and its consequences for the history of the region is the focus of Anthony Kaldellis‘s Streams o ... Show More
56m 57s
Feb 2025
Season 4, Episode 5: Eugene Rogan, The Arabs: A History
Send us Fan MailJoin Professor Jeffrey Sachs and historian Eugene Rogan, professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at Oxford, as they delve into the complex history of the Arab world, from the Ottoman conquest in 1516 to today’s geopolitical crises of the modern Middle East. Thr ... Show More
52m 39s
How has migration shaped Mediterranean history? And what role did conflicting temporalities and the politics of departure play in the age of decolonisation? Using a microhistorical approach, Migration at the End of Empire: Time and the Politics of Departure Between Italy and Egypt (Cambridge UP, 2024) explores the experiences of over 55,000 Italian subjects ... Show More