For a few years in the middle of the nineteenth century, Mexico was ruled by an Austrian and defended by a French army. This often neglected story is more than just historical trivia - it's a way of understanding 19th century imperial politics, and global insurgencies today. In Habsburgs on the Rio Grande: The Rise and Fall of the Second Mexican Empire (Harv ... Show More
Aug 16
Michael Hiltzik, "Golden State: The Making of California" (Mariner, 2025)
California has long reigned as the land of plenty, a place where the sun always shines and opportunity beckons. Even prior to its statehood in 1850, it captured the world’s imagination. We think of bearded prospectors lured by the promise of gold; we imagine its early embrace of ... Show More
40m 8s
Aug 6
Sayd Randle, "Replumbing the City: Water Management as Climate Adaptation in Los Angeles" (U California Press, 2025)
Moving between shower drains, aqueducts, rain gardens, and even kitchen sinks, Replumbing the City: Water Management as Climate Adaptation in Los Angeles (University of California Press, 2025) traces the enormous urban waterscape of Los Angeles in a state of flux. For more than a ... Show More
51m 21s
Jul 31
Jennifer Bess, "Where the Red-Winged Blackbirds Sing: The Akimel O'odham and Cycles of Agricultural Transformation in the Phoenix Basin" (U Colorado Press, 2021)
Where the Red-Winged Blackbirds Sing: The Akimel O'odham and Cycles of Agricultural Transformation in the Phoenix Basin (UP of Colorado, 2021) is not a simple story of environmental decline and colonial imposion. In this brilliantly interdisciplinary book, Goucher College peace s ... Show More
58m 22s
Jun 2018
69 Interwar International Naval Policy
Today what I thought we’d investigate the interwar naval treaties which aimed to prevent conflict, but at the same time, what they did was help shape the navies of the world, in the run up to WWII. In this episode I’m talking to Craig Symonds. Craig is the Enest J King Distinguis ... Show More
37m 16s
Oct 2024
Season 3, Episode 12: Christina Gerhardt, Sea Change: An Atlas of Islands in a Rising Ocean; With Special Guest, Simona Marinescu
Send us a textJoin Professors Jeffrey Sachs, Christina Gerhardt and UN Senior Advisor on Small Island Developing States, Simona Marinescu as they discuss human induced global warming, the implications of rising sea levels, and Gerhardt’s book, Sea Change: An Atlas of Islands in a ... Show More
37m 34s
Nov 2023
Laleh Khalili, "Corporeal Life of Seafaring" (MACK, 2023)
The body of the seafarer is a fulcrum upon which global systems of power, longstanding maritime traditions, and gendered and racialised pressures all rest. In this vital new essay, scholar Laleh Khalili draws on her ongoing research and experiences of travelling on cargo ships to ... Show More
50m 12s
Aug 15
Why Do People Still Hunt Whales? (Update)
For years, whale oil was used as lighting fuel, industrial lubricant, and the main ingredient in (yum!) margarine. Whale meat was also on a few menus. But today, demand for whale products is at a historic low. And yet some countries still have a whaling industry. We find out why. ... Show More
37m 32s
Jun 14
Pilot: Aboard the podcast
Dr. Nikolas Kosmatopoulos, political anthropologist, associate professor at the American University of Beirut, amateur sailor and host of the InsurgenSeas project, sets the stage for a new conversation about oceans and the politics of oceanic change. Drawing from decades of resea ... Show More
6m 18s
Apr 2025
Season 4, Episode 8: Prof. Lauren Benton, They Called it Peace: Worlds of Imperial Violence
Send us a textJoin Professor Jeffrey Sachs and American historian Lauren Benton for a discussion on the hidden histories of empires and the lasting impact of imperial violence. In her book, They Called It Peace: Worlds of Imperial Violence Benton uncovers how European powers buil ... Show More
46m 17s
Jul 2019
Rachel B. Herrmann, "No Useless Mouth: Waging War and Fighting Hunger in the American Revolution" (Cornell UP, 2019)
When the British explored the Atlantic coast of America in the 1580s, their relations with indigenous peoples were structured by food. The newcomers, unable to sustain themselves through agriculture, relied on the local Algonquian people for resources. This led to tension, and th ... Show More
43m 28s