The EI Podcast

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Maurizio Viroli on how we can learn from history Jun 07, 2024

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We cannot afford not to rediscover the fine art, nowadays almost forgotten, of learning from history. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Image: 16th Century engraving by Theodoor Galle, titled The Printing of Books. Credit: The Granger Collection / Alamy Stock Photo

James Barr on George McGhee, American father to Britain’s Suez Crisis Jun 06, 2024

Show notes

James Barr profiles the debonair and open-faced diplomat, George McGhee, whose shuttle diplomacy helped accelerate Britain's decline as a player in the Middle East. Read by Sebastian Brown.
Image: President John F. Kennedy (left, in rocking chair) meets the newly-appointed US Ambassador to West Germany, George McGhee. Credit: Gibson Moss / Alamy Stock Photo

Philip Bobbitt on the decay and renewal of the US constitutional order May 31, 2024

Show notes

A new constitutional order is coming. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Image: The Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. Credit: Lane Erickson / Alamy Stock Photo

The history of democracy with Erica Benner May 30, 2024

Show notes

Erica Benner applies ancient wisdom to modern problems in her new book Adventures in Democracy: The Turbulent World of People Power. She shares her insights with EI's Deputy Editor, Alastair Benn.
Image: Gathering of the Areopagus, a deliberative court that met in the open air in ancient Athens. Credit: North Wind Picture Archives / Alamy Stock Photo

Lars Trägårdh on the origins of Swedish democracy May 24, 2024

Show notes

‘Democracy’ is in Sweden built on a basis fundamentally different from the one associated with the development of liberal democracy in the West. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Image: Midsummer Dance by Swedish artist Anders Zorn (1860-1920) painted in 1897. A classic of Swedish art history showing traditional folk dancing in the Dalarna countryside in the extended summer evening light. Credit: Universal Art Archive / Alamy Stock Photo

Dominic Sandbrook on Jesse Ventura, the wrestling governor who blazed a trail for Trump May 23, 2024

Show notes

Dominic Sandbrook profiles Jesse Ventura, the former Navy SEAL and WWE champion who won Minnesota’s governorship in 1999 on an anti-elite ticket. His transition from showbiz to politics was a precursor of the age of Trump – but ’the Body’ was no ordinary populist. Read by Sebastian Brown.
Image: Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura yells to the crowd at his People's Inauguration in Minneapolis. Credit: Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo

Josef Joffe on the future of the European Union May 17, 2024

Show notes

What is the future of the European Union? The EU is sui generis. It certainly cannot be a nation state. Nor is it destined to turn into a Staatsnation or willed nation. Then what? Read by Leighton Pugh.
Image: European Union flags. Credit: Brian Lawrence / Alamy Stock Photo

The age of upheaval May 17, 2024

Show notes

EI's Paul Lay and Alastair Benn ask: do we really live in an age of upheaval?
Image: Turner's Vesuvius in Eruption. Credit: Artefact / Alamy Stock Photo

Simon Mayall on the history of the modern Middle East May 10, 2024

Show notes

The current violence and turmoil in the Middle East is expressive of a conflict between rival ideas, between the modern nation state and an old, historical concept of an Islamic caliphate. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Image: Abdel Nasser at a rally after the rupture of relations with Syria. Credit: colaimages / Alamy Stock Photo

James Hardie on Heinrich Biber, composer of rapture and ravings May 09, 2024

Show notes

James Hardie on the violinist-composer who mixed the sacred and profane in his fantastical music, a lost genius of the 17th century. Read by Sebastian Brown.
Image: A print of Heinrich Biber. Credit: The Picture Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo

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