Georgiy Kasianov et al., "From 'the Ukraine' to Ukraine: A Contemporary History, 1991-2021" (Ibidem Press, 2021)| Listen on Anghami

Today

Nicholas Birman Trickett, "Empire of Austerity: Russia and the Breaking of Eurasia" (Hurst, 2025)

Empire of Austerity: Russia and the Breaking of Eurasia (Hurst, 2025) traces how Russian economic policy precipitated the country’s slide towards an increasingly coercive authoritarianism, a hubristic challenge to the West, and all-out war with Ukraine. Decades of dependence on c ... Show More

42m 16s

Yesterday

Stephan Kieninger, "Securing Peace in Europe: Strobe Talbott, NATO, and Russia After the Cold War" (Columbia UP, 2025)

This deeply researched book offers new perspective on the NATO-Russia relationship through the eyes of Strobe Talbott, a deputy secretary of state for seven years under President Bill Clinton and the key US diplomatic broker for the former USSR. Stephan Kieninger traces the Clint ... Show More

40m 25s

Aug 20

"Assignment Moscow" with author James Rodgers

Is it possible to do independent journalism in today’s Russia? “The short answer is no,” James Rodgers tells me in our conversation about his insightful and scrupulously researched book Assignment Moscow: Reporting on Russia from Lenin to Putin (Bloomsbury Academic, 2023). Rodger ... Show More

56m 41s

Oct 2022

The Romanovs

The Romanov family were the first imperial dynasty to rule Russia, reigning from the early seventeenth century until the Russian Revolution of 1917. Including such illustrious names as Peter the Great, Catherine the Great and Alexander I, they oversaw and often instigated, dramat ... Show More

29m 43s

Dec 2021

Barbara Martin, "Dissident Histories in the Soviet Union: From De-Stalinization to Perestroika" (Bloomsbury, 2019)

In Dissident Histories in the Soviet Union: From De-Stalinization to Perestroika (Bloomsbury,, 2019), Barbara Martin traces the careers of four prominent figures: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Roy Medvedev, Aleksandr Nekrich and Anton Antonov-Ovseenko. Based on extensive archival resea ... Show More

1h 1m

Dec 2023

The Rise & Fall of Political Parties

The two party division of the US political system is as evident as ever as we warm up to the 2024 elections. But where does this state of affairs come from? Don speaks to Michael Barone, political analyst, historian and journalist, to find out more about the history of the Democr ... Show More

45m 8s

Jan 2022

Women of the Rothschild dynasty

Historian Natalie Livingstone chronicles the unexplored lives of the women who shaped the famous Rothschild banking dynasty. She speaks to Elinor Evans about how – though often excluded in a patriarchal society – they forged their own paths, from influential hostesses to pioneeri ... Show More

39m 22s

Oct 2021

A family history of France

Following the fortunes of one extended family in a south-western French town in the 18th and 19th centuries, Emma Rothschild’s Cundill Prize-shortlisted book An Infinite History builds up a picture of what life was like for ordinary people in provincial France. She tells Rhiannon ... Show More

43m 6s

Mar 2024

The French Revolution, Part 1 of 2

During the late 18th Century, a series of political, social, cultural, and economic issues reached breaking point, exploding in what is now known as the French Revolution. This unprecedented event affected not just France, but the rest of the world - reinventing centuries-old app ... Show More

55m 1s

Jan 2024

The Romanovs

The Romanov family were the first imperial dynasty to rule Russia, reigning from the early seventeenth century until the Russian Revolution of 1917. Including such illustrious names as Peter the Great, Catherine the Great and Alexander I, they oversaw dramatic changes to the fabr ... Show More

29m 39s

Georgiy Kasianov et al., "From 'the Ukra...