Ill Literacy: Books with Benson

Latest Episodes:

Ill Literacy, Episode 144: The Ecology of Nations (Guest: John M. Owen IV) Jun 03, 2024

Show notes

In Episode 144 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with John M. Owen IV, author ofThe Ecology of Nations: American Democracy in a Fragile World Order.

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by John M. Owen IV, Ambassador Henry J. and Mrs. Marion R. Taylor Professor of Politics, and a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture and the Miller Center of Public Affairs, at the University of Virginia, to discuss his new book, The Ecology of Nations: American Democracy in a Fragile World Order. They chat about “ecosystem engineering”, how liberalism may have evolved in ways that are no longer conducive to its own survival, and the ways Owen believes liberalism should be reimagined to better confront the autocratic threat coming from China, Russia, and others.

Get the book here: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300260731/the-ecology-of-nations/

Show Notes:

American Enterprise Institute: “Discussing American Democracy and a Fragile World Order with John M. Owen IV” (VIDEO)

https://www.aei.org/events/discussing-american-democracy-and-a-fragile-world-order-with-john-m-owen-iv/

The Hedgehog Review: John M. Owen IV – “To Make the World Select for Democracy”

https://hedgehogreview.com/issues/america-on-the-brink/articles/to-make-the-world-select-for-democracy

Ill Literacy, Episode 143: The Middle Kingdoms (Guest: Martyn Rady) May 28, 2024

Show notes

In Episode 143 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with Martyn Rady, author ofThe Middle Kingdoms: A New History of Central Europe.

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Martyn Rady, Masaryk Professor Emeritus of Central European History at University College London, to discuss his new book, The Middle Kingdoms: A New History of Central Europe. They chat about how Central Europe has been more than just a fault line between the east and west and how the region developed its own cohesive identity and produced tremendous accomplishments in politics, society, and culture. They go on to discuss how Central Europeans launched the Reformation and Romanticism, developed the philosophy of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, and advanced some of the twentieth century’s most important artistic movements.

Get the book here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/martyn-rady/the-middle-kingdoms/9781541619784/?lens=basic-books

Show Notes:

The Critic: Victor Sebestyen – “Why central Europe has always mattered”

https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/august-september-2023/why-central-europe-has-always-mattered/

Financial Times: Ivan Krastev – “Shadowlands of empire: central Europe’s nervous east-west gaze”

https://www.ft.com/content/bb9fbe29-00bc-47bf-946b-456ab77e3fa1

Literary Review: Tim Blanning – “Emperors, Mystics & Tomcats”

https://literaryreview.co.uk/emperors-mystics-tomcats

The New Criterion: Jeremy Black – “Middle march”

https://newcriterion.com/article/middle-march/

The Spectator: Peter Frankopan – “Central Europe has shaped our culture for centuries – yet we still find the region baffling”

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/central-europe-has-shaped-our-culture-for-centuries-yet-we-still-find-the-region-baffling/

The Telegraph: Noel Malcolm – “Fish, tobacco and bureaucrats: a mad, marvellous history of central Europe”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/the-middle-kingdoms-by-martyn-rady-review-a-mad-marvellous/

Times Literary Supplement: Larry Wolff – “Among the dogmen”

https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-middle-kingdoms-martyn-rady-book-review-larry-wolff/

The Wall Street Journal: Robert D. Kaplan – “‘The Middle Kingdoms’ Review: Europe’s Eternal Battlefield”

https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/the-middle-kingdoms-review-europes-eternal-battlefield-1a0d92a2

The Washington Free Beacon: Jakub Grygiel – “From World Wars to the Cold War to Ukraine: How Central Europe Survives”

https://freebeacon.com/culture/from-world-wars-to-the-cold-war-to-ukraine-how-central-europe-survives/

Ill Literacy, Episode 142: To The End of the Earth (Guest: John C. McManus) May 22, 2024

Show notes

In Episode 142 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with John C. McManus, author ofTo the End of the Earth: The US Army and the Downfall of Japan, 1945.

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by John C. McManus, Curators’ Distinguished Professor of U.S. military history at Missouri University of Science and Technology, to discuss his new book, To the End of the Earth: The US Army and the Downfall of Japan, 1945. They chat about the Philippines campaign, Okinawa, and the increasingly fanatical zeal and suicidal determination of the Japanese imperial forces. They also discuss major characters like MacArthur, Kreuger, Eichelberger, and Buckner as well as the incredible logistical hoops entailed in fielding a major army in the far-flung reaches of the Pacific.

Get the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/702467/to-the-end-of-the-earth-by-john-c-mcmanus/

Show Notes:

Wall Street Journal: Jonathan W. Jordan – “‘To the End of the Earth’ Review: Defeating Japan”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/to-the-end-of-the-earth-review-defeating-japan-1df44c74

Ill Literacy, Episode 141: Christendom (Guest: Peter Heather) May 13, 2024

Show notes

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Peter Heather, chair of medieval history at King's College, London, to discuss his new book, Christendom: The Triumph of a Religion, AD 300-1300. They chat about how a small sect of isolated and intensely committed congregations became a mass movement centrally directed from Rome, the Church’s chameleonlike capacity for self-reinvention, and how nothing was inevitable about Christianity’s rise and dominance in Europe.

Get the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/546307/christendom-by-peter-heather/

Show Notes:

City Journal: Edward Short – “Fair Triumph, or Foul?”

https://www.city-journal.org/article/fair-triumph-or-foul

Literary Review: Costica Bradatan – “Onward Christian Emperors”

https://literaryreview.co.uk/onward-christian-emperors

New York Times: Paul Elie – “Looking at Early Christianity Through a Different Lens”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/31/books/review/christendom-peter-heather.html

Public Discourse: Robert Wilken – “ The History behind the Formation of Christendom”

https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2023/07/89727/

The Spectator: Eleanor Myerson – “The rocky path to Christian dominance in Europe”

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-rocky-path-to-christian-dominance-in-europe/

The Telegraph: Peter Stanford – “How 4th-century Christianity radically reinvented itself from a marginal sect to a world power”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/how-4th-century-christianity-radically-reinvented-marginal-sect/

Times Literary Supplement: Diarmid MacCulloch – “Kingdom of God”

https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-formation-of-christendom-judith-herrin-christendom-peter-heather-book-review-diarmaid-macculloch/

Washington Examiner: Diane Scharper – “How Christianity Happened”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/magazine-life-arts/376645/how-christianity-happened/

Ill Literacy, Episode 140: Founding Partisans (Guest: H.W. Brands) May 01, 2024

Show notes

Heartland’s Tim Benson is once again joined by friend of the podcast H.W. Brands, the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin, to discuss his new book, Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics. They chat about how, while the Framers viewed political parties a fatal threat to republican virtues, parties emerged even before the ink on the Constitution was dry. They then discuss all things Federalist vs. Antifederalist/Republican, how contentious the political battles between them were, but yet how, despite all this, peaceful transfers of power continued.

Get the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/713058/founding-partisans-by-h-w-brands/

Show Notes:
Wall Street Journal: Adam Rowe – “‘Founding Partisans’ and ‘A Republic of Scoundrels’: Opportunists and Patriots”
https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/founding-partisans-and-a-republic-of-scoundrels-opportunists-and-patriots-b61dbf2f

Washington Post: C.W. Goodyear – “American political discord is as old as America itself”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/12/06/founding-partisans-political-book-review/

Ill Literacy, Episode 140: The Collaborators (Guest: Ian Buruma) Apr 25, 2024

Show notes

The Heartland Institute's Tim Benson is joined by Ian Buruma, Paul W. Williams Professor of Human Rights and Journalism at Bard College, to discuss his new book, The Collaborators: Three Stories of Deception and Survival in World War II. They chat about the backstory behind the three subjects of the book—Felix Kersten, Yoshiko Kawashima, and Friedrich Weinreb—and why all three have been vilified and mythologized. They also discuss the three subjects’ varying levels of culpability for the crimes committed by the people and regimes they served.

Get the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/659322/the-collaborators-by-ian-buruma/

Show Notes:

The Guardian: Matthew Reisz – “The Collaborators by Ian Buruma review – intriguing study of the frenemy within”

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/mar/12/the-collaborators-three-stories-of-deception-survival-world-war-ii-by-ian-buruma-review-intriguing-study-of-the-frenemy-within

New York Times: Lesley M.M. Blume – “Amoral Traitors? War Heroes? Survivors? Depends Whom You Ask.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/11/books/review/the-collaborators-ian-buruma.html

The Times: Ben McIntyre – “The Collaborators by Ian Buruma review — three stories of deception and survival in the Second World War”

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-collaborators-by-ian-buruma-review-jljr2msmd

Times Literary Supplement: Josh Ireland – “Unholy compromises”

https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-collaborators-ian-buruma-book-review-josh-ireland/

Wall Street Journal: Diane Cole – “‘The Collaborators’ Review: They Dealt With the Devil”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-collaborators-book-review-world-war-ii-history-they-dealt-with-the-devil-8a1cad6b

Washington Post: Scott Martelle – “For three liars during WWII, deception proves to be both good and evil”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/05/03/world-war-ii-collaborators-book/

Ill Literacy, Episode 139: On Great Fields (Guest: Ronald C. White) Apr 16, 2024

Show notes

In Episode 139 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with Ronald C. White, author ofOn Great Fields: The Life and Unlikely Heroism of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by return guest Ronald C. White, senior fellow at the Trinity Forum, to discuss his new book, On Great Fields: The Life and Unlikely Heroism of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. They chat about Chamberlain’s early days in Maine, his studying to become a minister, and a how a childhood stutterer ended up being fluent in nine languages. They also discuss his Civil War heroism, his turn as governor of Maine, and how he made a civilian life of meaning after having experienced the extreme highs and lows of war.

Get the book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/566059/on-great-fields-by-ronald-c-white/

Show Notes:

C-SPAN: On Great Fields (VIDEO)

https://www.c-span.org/video/?531806-2/on-great-fields

HistoryNet: Dave Kindy – “This Son of Maine Was Much More Than a Civil War Hero”

https://www.historynet.com/interview-on-great-fields-chamberlain/

Wall Street Journal: Randall Fuller – “‘On Great Fields’: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Professor and Hero”

https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/on-great-fields-joshua-lawrence-chamberlain-professor-and-hero-af8c509c

Outro music: Aswad, Warrior Charge, War Ina Babylon: An Island Reggae Anthology, 2009

The House of Dudley: A New History of Tudor England (Guest: Joanne Paul) Apr 08, 2024

Show notes

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Joanne Paul, Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Sussex, to discuss her new book, The House of Dudley: A New History of Tudor England. They chat about who were the Dudleys, how they gained prominence, then lost it all, then gained prominence once again, and then finally lost it all again. They also discuss how the family’s fortunes seemed to mirror those of their Tudor benefactors, why the Dudley men would want to play such a dangerous game, and how the Dudley women kept the family together when family fortunes had fallen.

Get the book here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-House-of-Dudley/Joanne-Paul/9781639366125

Show Notes:

Literary Review: Mathew Lyons – “They courted trouble”

https://literaryreview.co.uk/they-courted-trouble

The Spectator: Elizabeth Goldring – “The machinations of the Dudleys make Game of Thrones look tame”

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-machinations-of-the-dudleys-make-game-of-thrones-look-tame/

The Telegraph: Noel Malcolm – “How the Dudleys played Tudor snakes and ladders – and lost spectacularly”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/dudleys-played-tudor-snakes-ladders-lost-spectacularly/

The Times: Gerard DeRoot – “The House of Dudley by Joanne Paul review — how to get ahead (or lose your head) in Tudor England”

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-house-of-dudley-by-joanne-paul-review-jg3rvf0zs

Wall Street Journal: Catherine Ostler – “‘The House of Dudley’ Review: Tudor Game of Thrones”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-house-of-dudley-review-playing-the-tudor-game-of-thrones-8d74f2a6

Oscar Hammerstein II and the Invention of the Musical (Guest: Laurie Winer) Apr 01, 2024

Show notes

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Laurie Winer, founding editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books, to discuss her new book, Oscar Hammerstein II and the Invention of the Musical. They chat about why Winer believes Hammerstein more than anyone else invented the musical. They also discuss his relationship with collaborators Jerome Kern and Richard Rodgers and how Hammerstein’s optimistic humor, openness to strangers, and rejection of bitterness contributed to a vision that orchestrated a collective reimagining of America.

Get the book here: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300223798/oscar-hammerstein-ii-and-the-invention-of-the-musical/

Show Notes:

Los Angeles Review of Books: Tim Riley – “A Poet of the Anticipation of Joy: On Laurie Winer’s ‘Oscar Hammerstein II and the Invention of the Musical’”
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/a-poet-of-the-anticipation-of-joy-on-laurie-winers-oscar-hammerstein-ii-and-the-invention-of-the-musical/

New York Times: Brad Leithauser – “A Cockeyed Optimist: Oscar Hammerstein Was No Stephen Sondheim”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/08/books/review/oscar-hammerstein-ii-and-the-invention-of-the-musical-laurie-winer.html

The World That Wasn't: Henry Wallace and the Fate of the American Century (Guest: Benn Steil) Mar 25, 2024

Show notes

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Benn Steil, senior fellow and director of international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations, to discuss his new book, The World That Wasn't: Henry Wallace and the Fate of the American Century. They discuss Wallace’s brilliance as a geneticist, his odd obsession with mysticism, and his naivete toward the true nature of the Soviet Union and Soviet communism. They also chat about his collusion with Stalin during his run for the presidency in 1948 and how frequently he was manipulated by Soviet agents and assets during his entire tenure in government service.

Get the book here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-World-That-Wasnt/Benn-Steil/9781982127824

Show Notes:

National Review: Amity Shlaes – “What if Henry Wallace Had Been President?”
https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2024/04/what-if-henry-wallace-had-been-president/

Wall Street Journal: Michael Barone – “‘The World That Wasn’t’ Review: When FDR Dumped Wallace”
https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/the-world-that-wasnt-review-when-fdr-dumped-wallace-9f93bb24

Washington Examiner: Mark Melton – “Henry Wallace: The man who was almost (an awful) president”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/premium/2892932/henry-wallace-the-man-who-was-almost-an-awful-president/

Washington Free Beacon: Richard Norton Smith – “Midwest Mystic or Manchurian Candidate?”
https://freebeacon.com/democrats/midwest-mystic-or-manchurian-candidate/

Washington Post: George F. Will – “Roosevelt fixed his serious VP mistake. Will Biden?”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/02/23/franklin-roosevelt-changed-running-mates/

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