The young King was determined to strike. His throne and power had been taken from him; now he would seize them both back. Now his chosen men entered the castle where he was a virtual prisoner, under the watchful eyes of his mother and her lover. Joining them, he led their rush to the Queen Mother’s apartments. There they seized those who had prevented Edward III from truly ruling as King of England. Those dramatic events–which occurred in Nottingham Castle, of all places–are just one of many that occur in Michael Livingston’s new book, Bloody Crowns: A New History of the Hundred Year’s War. From the origins of the great conflict between France and England, to the last bitter acts, Livingston weaves the story of how not just those two powers but all Europe was riven by a war that last not just for a hundred years, but for two full centuries of war from 1292 to 1492.Michael Livingston is Citadel Distinguished Professor at The Citadel and the author of many books on medieval military history. The former secretary-general for the US Commission on Military History, he lives in Charleston, South Carolina.For more information, see the show notes for this episode on Historically Thinking Substack page.* Defining the 200 Years War: 1292 to 1492 (https://web.descript.com/c74513c5-5616-4d96-a0d3-e03c117d0717/YOUR_EPISODE_URL?t=114)* Cantering Through 200 Years (https://web.descript.com/c74513c5-5616-4d96-a0d3-e03c117d0717/YOUR_EPISODE_URL?t=923)* Scotland: The Enemy in the Rear (https://web.descript.com/c74513c5-5616-4d96-a0d3-e03c117d0717/YOUR_EPISODE_URL?t=1891)* Doctrine and the Birth of Standing Armies (https://web.descript.com/c74513c5-5616-4d96-a0d3-e03c117d0717/YOUR_EPISODE_URL?t=2118)* The Forgotten Naval War (https://web.descript.com/c74513c5-5616-4d96-a0d3-e03c117d0717/YOUR_EPISODE_URL?t=2243)* Anarchy, Free Companies, and Peasant Revolts (https://web.descript.com/c74513c5-5616-4d96-a0d3-e03c117d0717/YOUR_EPISODE_URL?t=2894)* The Longbow: Myth vs. Reality (https://web.descript.com/c74513c5-5616-4d96-a0d3-e03c117d0717/YOUR_EPISODE_URL?t=3036)* The Papacy and Religious Schism (https://web.descript.com/c74513c5-5616-4d96-a0d3-e03c117d0717/YOUR_EPISODE_URL?t=3401)* The Myth of the Decisive Battle (https://web.descript.com/c74513c5-5616-4d96-a0d3-e03c117d0717/YOUR_EPISODE_URL?t=3596)* Generational Conflict and Modern Parallels (https://web.descript.com/c74513c5-5616-4d96-a0d3-e03c117d0717/YOUR_EPISODE_URL?t=3765)* Conclusion (https://web.descript.com/c74513c5-5616-4d96-a0d3-e03c117d0717/YOUR_EPISODE_URL?t=4104)

During the Second World War Germany’s submarines sank over three thousand Allied ships, that figure amounting to nearly three-quarters of Allied shipping losses in all theaters of the war. What would become a war within a war began in the very first days after September 1, 1939. This war–particularly the contest which has become known as the Battle of the Atlantic–has been the focus of numerous studies and arguments. But until now, little has been said about the undersea war from the perspective of the German submariners.Roger Moorhouse has now remedied that with his new book Wolfpack: Inside Hitler’s U-boat War. It is not simply a story of the undersea war, but a history of those who fought it; who endured the miserable conditions within a German U-Boat, had only a 25% chance of survival, and when they did survive often were psychologically scarred for the remainder of their lives.Roger Moorhouse is a historian of the Second World War. The author of numerous books, his most recent was The Forgers: The Forgotten Story of the Holocaust’s Most Audacious Rescue Operation, which we discussed in a conversation of November 6, 2023. For more information, including to resources mentioned in the conversation, go to our Substack page, at www.historicallythinking.org

At the outbreak of the American Revolution, the British Empire stretched across nearly every corner of the globe. From India to the Caribbean, from Africa to Gibraltar to the Canadian provinces, Britain’s reach was vast. In 1776, the thirteen colonies that chose to rebel represented only half of the empire’s provinces. The other half—places like Quebec, Nova Scotia, Jamaica, and Bermuda—remained loyal to the Crown. But why? Why did some colonists believe their grievances justified independence, while others–who were often similarly aggrieved–chose not to revolt?To answer this, Trevor Burnard and Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy invite us to see the Revolution not just as a national story of the United States, but as part of a larger imperial crisis that spanned the globe. Britain’s challenge was to govern an array of distant, diverse territories during a period of reform and unrest. Turning our attention to colonies that stayed within the empire, we gain a more complex perspective. The Revolution was not only about republicanism, liberty, and democracy; it was also about empire, and the different ways colonial societies and elites responded to imperial governance.For show notes and other material, go to https://www.historicallythinking.org/p/republic-and-empire?r=257pn6; and subscribe to the Historically Thinking Substack at www.historicallythinking.org

In online debates, it’s almost inevitable that sooner or later someone invokes Hitler or the Nazis. That tendency, known as Godwin’s Law, has proven itself on social media thousands of times a day. But the persistence of this comparison points to something deeper than just the cheapening of argument. It reflects how much Hitler and the struggle against Nazism have become the ultimate reference point in our culture’s moral imagination.In this conversation, historian Alec Ryrie explains why we live in what he calls “the Age of Hitler.” For nearly eighty years, he argues, our moral consensus has been defined not by traditional religious frameworks but by the lessons drawn from World War II and the Holocaust. In our stories and our politics, from Star Wars to Harry Potter, the fight against Hitler continues to serve as the archetype of good versus evil. Yet Ryrie warns that this consensus is beginning to erode: both Left and Right are showing signs of moving on. What happens when Hitler no longer defines our common moral language? And what might replace it?For more resources, go to this episode's Substack page: https://www.historicallythinking.org/p/the-age-of-hitler-and-how-we-will?r=257pn6

In this episode of Historically Thinking, host Al Zambone speaks with historian Peter Fritzsche about his book "1942: When World War II Engulfed the Globe." The conversation explores how 1942 marked the transformation of regional conflicts into a truly global war, examining the unprecedented scale and movement of the conflict, the suffering and displacement of millions, and the ideological forces at play in every one of the warring powers. Key topics include the Holocaust, anti-colonial movements, industrial mobilization, and how the memory of World War II has been shaped by the specter of World War III.* 00:00 — Introduction: 1942 as a Pivotal Year* 05:16 — Movement and Kinetic Energy in 1942* 07:54 — The Scale of World War II: Numbers Beyond Comprehension* 08:55 — Pearl Harbor and the Five Decisive Days* 12:28 — Hitler's Declaration of War on the United States* 15:09 — American Industrial Mobilization* 17:42 — Japanese Military Strategy and Pearl Harbor* 19:29 — Japanese American Internment* 22:34 — The Global Theater of War and Radio* 26:31 — The Fall of Singapore and Anti-Colonial Movements* 31:51 — Cross-Cutting Forces: India's Complex Independence Struggle* 33:55 — Trotzdem: Hitler's Ideology of Total War* 35:48 — 1942: The Year of the Holocaust* 39:52 — Ideological Coherence in World War II Armies* 43:17 — The Importance of Mail in Maintaining Morale* 46:11 — Richmond, California: The Second Gold Rush* 48:08 — The Philippines: Between Two Empires* 50:32 — Ukraine: Caught Between Empires* 53:56 — How World War III Obscured World War II

Mount Fuji is at once instantly familiar and seemingly immutable, yet it always remains strange and changeable. Its postcard-perfect peak is known around the world as a wonder of nature and a symbol of Japan. But behind that outline lies a far more complicated history.Over the centuries, Fuji’s eruptions devastated farmland and terrified villagers. Revered as a sacred presence, its divine inhabitants changed with shifts in belief and power. Once locally known, Fuji later became claimed as a national emblem, its slopes inspiring poetry, painting, and pilgrimage—and serving as the stage for political and economic disputes.In Fuji: A Mountain in the Making (Princeton, 2025), Andrew Bernstein traces this layered story from the mountain’s surprisingly recent geological beginnings to its recognition as a World Heritage Site. The result is a portrait of a place both familiar and unsettled: a mountain still in the making, continually remade by the humans who live with it, use it, revere it, and visit it.For show notes and more, go to the Historically Thinking Substack page for this episode.

We reach for the Cold War as if it were a really good pocket tool: compact, familiar, ready to deal with any problem in today’s world. U.S.–China rivalry? “Cold War 2.0.” Russia and the West? “Cold War redux.” The appeal is obvious: the Cold War offers a story we already know how to tell—great-power tension, nuclear standoff, ideological blocs, and finally, a tidy ending.But as Francis J. Gavin argues, analogies always smuggle in assumptions. To label something a “new Cold War” is to commit to a whole strategic script: decades of rivalry, fixed blocs, and an expectation of how the story ends. But what if the conditions that defined the 20th-century Cold War—its nuclear stability, its institutions, even its duration—don’t apply now? And what if these words “Cold War”that you use do not mean what I mean by the words “Cold War”?Francis J. Gavin is the Giovanni Agnelli Distinguished Professor  (https://sais.jhu.edu/kissinger/people/gavin)and Director of the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He is the author of Nuclear Statecraft: History and Strategy in America’s Atomic Age and Thinking Historically: A Guide for Policymakers.For notes, links, and a vast archive, go to www.historicallythinking.org

IntroductionEach year millions of tourists visit the Czech capital, awed by its blend of architectural styles and dramatic landscape. St. Vitus’s Gothic cathedral towers above the Charles Bridge and the Vltava River, while winding alleys lead to elegant squares lined with Renaissance palaces, Baroque statues, and modern glass structures. Yet this beauty obscures centuries of conflict — ethnic, religious, political, and more typically mundane conflicts— beginning when Prague was just a fort on a hill above a river. Presumably it wasn’t built there for the view.In her new book, Prague: The Heart of Europe, Cynthia Paces traces the city’s history from the late ninth century, when Slavic dukes built the first fortifications and church, through eleven centuries of triumph and tragedy. Prague has been both an imperial center of a great empire and a city on the periphery of empires—several of them. It became a European capital of art, politics, and pilgrimage, endured religious wars and defenestrations, and was nearly destroyed in the Thirty Years’ War. At the beginning of the twentieth century it was celebrated as a beacon of democracy, only for its citizens to endure violent antisemitism, Nazi occupation, and communist repression — before once again becoming a beacon of democracy.Through her story of Prague we come to understand the truth of Franz Kafka’s observation: “Prague does not let go; this little mother has claws.” Our conversation moves across centuries of wars, saints, emperors, rebellions, and revolutions to show why Prague still grips the imagination.About the GuestCynthia Paces is Professor of History at The College of New Jersey. She is the author of Prague Panoramas: National Memory and Sacred Space in the Twentieth Century and co-editor of 1989: The End of the Twentieth Century.For Further Investigation* Cynthia Paces, Prague: The Heart of Europe (Oxford University Press, 2025)* —Prague Panoramas: National Memory and Sacred Space in the Twentieth Century (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009)* Chad Bryant, Prague in Black: Nazi Rule and Czech Nationalism (Harvard University Press, 2007)* Derek Sayer, Prague, Capital of the Twentieth Century: A Surrealist History (Princeton University Press, 2013)* Related Episodes“Edges are Interesting: A History of Eastern Europe” (https://www.historicallythinking.org/p/episode-149-edges-are-interesting-40d?r=257pn6)“City of Light, City of Darkness” (https://www.historicallythinking.org/p/episode-360-city-of-light-city-of-ee1?r=257pn6)“Madrid” (https://www.historicallythinking.org/p/episode-380-madrid-5b9?r=257pn6)Listen & DiscussHow does Prague’s geography help explain its importance across European history?What does the Prague Spring reveal about the continuing interplay in Prague’s history of freedom, repression, and resilience?

It might seem obvious that the study of history ought to  improve the crafting of public policy. Surely if we understand the past, we should be able to make better decisions in the present—especially in the high-stakes worlds of statecraft and strategy. But that assumption raises deeper questions: How should history be used? What history should be used? How do we gain the kind of historical knowledge that truly shapes decisions? And why is it that historians and policymakers so rarely speak the same language?In his new book Thinking Historically: A Guide to Statecraft and Strategy, my guest Francis J. Gavin argues that a genuinely historical sensibility can illuminate the complex, often confusing realities of the present. Good historical work, he writes, does not offer easy analogies or tidy morals. Instead, it captures the challenges and uncertainties faced by decision-makers, complicates our assumptions, forces us to see the familiar in new ways, and invites us to understand others on their own terms without abandoning moral judgment. Thinking historically, Gavin shows, is a discipline of discernment, curiosity, and humility—qualities as necessary in statecraft as they are in life.Francis J. Gavin is the Giovanni Agnelli Distinguished Professor and director of the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins SAIS. He is also the author of Gold, Dollars, and Power; Nuclear Weapons and American Grand Strategy; and The Taming of Scarcity and the Problems of Plenty.Go to www.historicallythinking.org for more

In 1960 Yigael Yadin, formerly chief of the Israeli general staff and by that year a prize winning archaeologist, visited the home of Israel’s president David Ben-Gurion, and said to him “Mr. President, I have the honor to tell you that we have discovered 15 dispatches written or dictated by the last president of ancient Israel over 1800 years ago.” Yadin was announcing the discovery of a collection of scrolls written by Simon Bar-Kosiba, better known as Bar-Kohkba, who had led the Second Jewish Revolt against Rome, from 132 to 135 AD. Bar-Kochba was an inspiration to Israelis in the founding generation of the Republic of Israel who otherwise detested each other politically, finding in him a common source of inspiration for their own struggle. His is one of the many legacies of the series of revolts by the Jews against their Roman rulers, but not close to being the most consequential. For among the many unintended consequences of the wars of Rome against the Jews was not only the creation of the Talmud and modern Judaism, but the simultaneous growth of Christianity. With me to talk about these momentous events is Barry Strauss. He is the Corliss Page Dean Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University as well as the Bryce and Edith M. Bowmar Professor in Humanistic Studies Emeritus at Cornell University, where he was formerly Chair of the Department of History as well as Professor of History and Classics. A prolific author, his most recent book is Jews vs Rome: Two Centuries of Rebellion Against the Worlds Mightiest Empire. This is his fourth appearance on Historically Thinking. For Further Investigation* Barry Strauss' most recent appearance on the podcast (https://www.historicallythinking.org/p/episode-256-the-war-that-made-the-4fb?r=257pn6)was to discuss "The War That Made the Roman Empire". He also contributed

Amanda Roper (https://www.amandahroper.com/) is a public historian who has spent her career working to preserve historic places and share traditionally underrepresented stories from America's past. She has been Director of the Lee-Fendall House Museum and Sr. Manager of Public Programs & Interpretation at Woodlawn & Pope-Leighey House (https://woodlawnpopeleighey.org/), both in Alexandria, Virginia. In 2018, Amanda was recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation on their list of 40 Under 40: People Saving Places (https://savingplaces.org/40-under-40) for her significant impact on historic preservation and her contributions to the public's understanding of why places matter. Amanda is currently researching and writing a book about the history of women in preservation. She is a 2025-2026 Research Fellow at the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon (https://www.mountvernon.org/library). And, she also has been listening to Historically Thinking for a surprisingly long time–or so she claims.For Further Investigation * Amanda Roper – Official Website (https://www.amandahroper.com/)* Lee-Fendall House Museum & Garden (https://www.leefendallhouse.org/)* Woodlawn & Pope-Leighey House (https://woodlawnpopeleighey.org/)* McLeod Plantation Historic Site (https://ccprc.com/1447/McLeod-Plantation-Historic-Site)* Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor (https://gullahgeecheecorridor.org/)* National Trust for Historic Preservation – 40 Under 40 (https://savingplaces.org/40-under-40)* George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon (https://www.mountvernon.org/library)* Society for American Archivists – Women’s History Resources (https://www2.archivists.org/groups/womens-collections-section)* National Association for Interpretation (https://www.interpnet.com/)* Richard Moe, "Are There Too Many House Museums?" (https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/247/article/905761/summary)* "Resource or burden? Historic house museums confront the 21st century" (https://ncph.org/history-at-work/resource-or-burden/)* "Historic House Museums: 'A quirky, dusty, and endangered American institution"? (https://ohiolha.org/best-practices/historic-house-museums/)* Amanda Roper, "There is No Such Thing as Too Many Historic House Museums" (https://amandahroper.com/writing/hhms/)

Join Al Zambone and guest John Shelton Reed (author of The Ramos Gin Fizz, for the LSU Press series on iconic New Orleans cocktails (https://lsupress.org/search-grid/?series=iconic-new-orleans-cocktails)) for a deep dive into the history, culture, and legend of the Ramos Gin Fizz—a cocktail that’s as much a symbol of New Orleans as it is a drink. From its 19th-century origins and the city’s cosmopolitan mix, to Prohibition, Huey Long, and the modern cocktail renaissance, this episode explores how a single drink can carry the weight of place and time.* 00:00 — Podcast intro* 00:23 — Welcome and guest introduction* 02:35 — The Ramos Gin Fizz: A New Orleans Legend (episode setup)* 02:35 — Origins and pronunciation of “Ramos”* 05:56 — Carl Ramos’s biography and 19th-century mobility* 05:56 — New Orleans in the late 19th century* 05:56 — Cosmopolitan city, Caribbean and European connections* 08:56 — Cultural divisions in New Orleans* 10:55 — German immigration and Civil War era* 11:06 — Rise of celebrity bartenders and cocktail culture* 13:18 — New Orleans’ iconic cocktails* 16:22 — The Ramos Gin Fizz recipe and its components* 17:45 — Al’s first attempt at the drink* 19:30 — The “shaker boys” and the three-minute shake* 21:00 — Flavor profile and chemistry* 29:29 — Fame, Prohibition, and Huey Long* 38:23 — Southern soft drinks and temperance* 44:48 — Where to find the perfect Ramos Gin Fizz today* 46:46 — Closing thoughts and thanksFor Further Investigation * John Shelton Reed, Dixie Bohemia: A French Quarter Circle in the 1920s* "How the South Cornered the Soda Market" (https://www.seriouseats.com/southern-soda-history-coke-dr-pepper-atlanta-prohibition)* The Sazerac Bar at the Roosevelt Hotel (https://therooseveltneworleans.com/media/ecwnns0f/sazeracbarwebmenu-2-1.pdf)* Revel Cafe and Bar (https://revelcafeandbar.com)– where Chris McMillian spells it "Ramos Gin Phizz", which just makes everything a little more confusing than it already was

In the past we’ve had entire conversations on Historically Thinking–indeed, many conversations, a whole series of conversations–on intellectual humility and historical thinking, often asking “how have you changed your mind?” Today’s guest makes me confront the fact that there is probably no person in the historical past about whom I have had a greater change of mind than Thomas Jefferson.This somewhat uncomfortable reflection has been prompted by Cara Rogers Stevens (mailto:croger17@ashland.edu) book Thomas Jefferson and the Fight Against Slavery. In it she builds a foundation of deep engagement with the entire textual history of Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia. Atop that she does what it says on the box, and traces the development not only of Jefferson’s views on slavery, but on how he wished to influence the next generation of Virginians in whom he placed so much hope.Cara Rogers Stevens is an associate professor of history at Ashland University. Thomas Jefferson and the Fight Against Slavery is her first book. It won the Herbert J. Storing Book Prize, was a finalist for the Center for Presidential History Book Prize, and runner-up for the Journal of American History Book of the Year Award. She is also co-host of the podcast The American Idea.

Hello: Autumn, 1949. Fortune editor Bill Furth, flinty-eyed gatekeeper, scans a manuscript from 30-year-old whiz kid Daniel Bell. Spots the word “charisma.” Snorts. Blue pencil meets page. Word dies swiftly, without much appeal. Fast forward ten years: charisma is everywhere. Eggheads bandy it, pundits quote it, preachers peddle it. Bell—vindicated. Since the 1950s, Americans have grown used to the word “charisma” being applied to everyone, often as a synonym for “charm”.. But what if charisma is more than charm or personal magnetism—what if it’s a key to understanding the moral and spiritual crises of American life itself? That’s the argument of Spellbound: How Charisma Shaped American History from the Puritans to Donald Trump, a sweeping new book by my guest historian Molly Worthen. In it, she traces the tangled story of charisma across four centuries of American history—from the Puritans through Andrew Jackson, to Malcolm X and Donald Trump.Charismatic leaders, Worthen argues, don’t simply stir emotions or win votes. They offer something deeper: a sense of cosmic meaning, spiritual clarity, and moral urgency in moments when traditional institutions seem hollow or adrift. In times of upheaval, we look for figures who promise to reveal hidden truths and restore a broken order. Molly Worthen is a scholar of American religious and intellectual history. She is Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and writes regularly on religion and politics for the New York Times and other national outlets. Spellbound is her third book; she has previously authored Apostles of Reason: The Crisis of Authority in American Evangelicalism and The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost, a biography of the diplomat, Yale professor, and  Bridgeton, NJ native Charles Hill. (That last for my five listeners in South Jersey.)

Shipwrecks as events are probably humanity’s most common form of disaster”, writes my guest James Delgado “As such, shipwrecks–aside from epidemics, warfare on land, or great natural disasters—have been the cause of the greatest number of human deaths throughout history. Thanks to ships and other watercraft, humanity did not just walk across the globe from its ancestral home in Africa. We made use of the ocean as a source of food and as a means of travel on our global journey. Humanity’s relationship with the water has also been shaped by the reality that for as much as is taken from the sea, something is lost. Those losses are ships, the goods on them, and people. Shipwrecks as events therefore ­have ­inspired ­one­ of ­the­ oldest­ genres­ of ­human ­reflection ­on­ the nature of life; [they] have been and remain a muse for religious thought, literature, music, and art.”These are some of Delgado’s introductory observations in his new book The Great Museum of the Sea: A Human History of Shipwrecks, a deep dive into the surprisingly rich history of human disaster at sea, and what those wrecks can tell us, both about the past, and about ourselves. From the cause of shipwreck to the beginnings of maritime archaeology, Delgado offers a history, a meditation, and pieces of a maritime archaeologist’s autobiography. James Delgado (https://www.searchinc.com/people/james-delgado) is Senior Vice President of SEARCH, Inc., the leading cultural resources firm in the United States (https://www.searchinc.com). Previously he has been Director of Maritime Heritage for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; President and CEO of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA); (https://nauticalarch.org) and host of the National Geographic international television series "The Sea Hunters". He was last on the podcast in Episode 292 to discuss his book The Curse of the Somers, in the course of which conversation he became the only guest in the over four hundred episodes of this podcast to break into song. He has a very pleasant baritone.For Further Investigation * "The Blake Ridge Wreck: A Deepwater Antebellum Fishing Craft (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11457-024-09402-w)"* Cynthia Kierner on disasters (https://alzambone.substack.com/publish/post/165016302), including shipwrecks, in antebellum America

There is a U-boat in the middle of Chicago. It’s attached to the Museum of Science and Industry in Hyde Park. Generations of Chicagolanders, and their cousins from far away, have walked through U-505, but they don’t a...

The liturgy of the Christian church is often dismissed today as archaic, arcane—or dead. But as Cosima Clara Gillhammer shows in her new book Light on Darkness: The Untold Story of the Liturgy, these ritual forms were once the very heartbeat of Western culture and continue to shape not only our cultural memory but even contemporary cultural practice.In this episode, we explore how liturgical practices shaped medieval life, art, and literature—and why echoes of the liturgy still resound today in movie soundtracks, national ceremonies, and even the architecture around us. Gillhammer argues that far from being merely theological abstractions, liturgical forms were deeply human, and gave language to joy, grief, awe, and the cycles of time. We trace how those patterns wove themselves into everything from Michelangelo’s Pietà to John Trumbull’s Battle of Bunker Hill—and even to James Bond’s Skyfall. Far from being obscure or antique, liturgy turns out to be the roots of much what we take for granted. Light on Darkness: The Untold Story of the Liturgy is published by Reaktion. Cosima Clara Gillhammer (https://cosima-gillhammer.com/) is Career Development Fellow in English at Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford. She teaches and researches medieval literature, culture, and liturgy. 

His friend the great scholar Desiderius Erasmus referred to Thomas More as “a Man for all seasons.” But which season? Or which Thomas More? Is he an advocate of conscience? A heroic defender of the Catholic faith? A saintly martyr? A fanatical zealot unwilling to listen to cool reason? An amateur inquisitor who lit the night with burning Lutherans and their books, and enjoyed little more than coming home after work for a torture session? Does every era get the Thomas More that it deserves?Thomas More was indeed a man of many twists and turns, a Tudor Odysseus. A Londoner; the grandson of a baker and son of a lawyer; a page in a noble household; an exceptional prose stylist, in Latin or English; a lawyer of exceptional diligence and skill; a guild member; a religious controversialist, able to match Martin Luther in scatology; a subtle humanist of European-wide fame; a poet; a politician; a bureaucrat; a royal advisor; a confessor of the faith; a prisoner; and a martyr. He was all those things, and more besides. With me to talk about the life and times of Thomas More is Joanne Paul, Associate Professor in Early Modern History at the University of Sussex. Her research focuses on the intellectual and cultural history of the Renaissance and Early Modern periods, written widely on Thomas More, William Shakespeare, Machiavelli and Thomas Hobbes. Her most recent book is Thomas More: A Life, which is the subject of our conversation today.For Further Investigation * The web page of Joanne Paul (https://joannepaul.com/)* Thomas More: A Life* The last time we talked about the Tudors on Historically Thinking* And the book we talked about with its author (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tudor-England-History-Lucy-Wooding/dp/0300162723), Lucy E.C. Wooding, which is recommended by Joanne Paul * A very old conversation about the Protestant Reformation (https://historicallythinking.org/episode35/)* Another book by Joanne Paul on Thomas More, but focusing on his thought (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thomas-More-Classic-Thinkers-Joanne/dp/0745692176/ref=sr_1_4?crid=O7S6M5TRWUYT&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.tdHrPkxlCGrfXmUDQob0BYxNZSvnIhKslwVizB0Zqx-GIH_cuHzW-HpQ-4OkEjjjlPd4OKfInCT_HKod-93UoP4E1HHKGuSCHfIG4n0XIprZ_8Jkhoi3e2rwW_3BBCP2vrjKlnN8D7NLp_MDARD9tju-Jad8biPmiLx6zWnWVS00JkUVHMeHd97omljHpIMUF-WZbHOvonzkjnxv3upD1g8hdtTir1BROONJ0li6sMY.An1x5a1EY7P0_xKDg5WVYCl8dX3YqR-LkArEwp_MJDE&dib_tag=se&keywords=joanne+paul+thomas+more&qid=1750248177&s=books&sprefix=thomas+more+joanne+%2Cstripbooks%2C128&sr=1-4)* John Guy, Thomas More * Thomas More, Utopia, ed. by Joanne Paul

In September 1945, various factions within the Soviet state were determining how the new nation of North Korea would be ruled, and who would be its leader. In late September a list was generated of potential leaders, and passed to higher authorities. The name Kim Il-Sung was not on it. At the time the future dictator of the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea was recently returned to Korea, where he had not been for years if not decades, and aspired to be the vice-Mayor of Pyongyang. But extraordinarily by late October, this obscure figure who had not had any rank higher than battalion commander in the Soviet Army was recommended as the leader of the North Korean proto-government. By the middle of December he was the highest ranking official in the Korean Communist Party; and on 8 February he was officially made the head of the North Korean proto-government.In point of fact Kim would not be in charge of both party and government until 1949. But this “accidental tyrant”, as my guest Fyodor Tertitsky titles him, had a genius for committee politics, the manipulation of factions, and personal survival. Calamities brought about by his own choices became opportunities for the elimination of his enemies and the establishment of ever-greater powers, until by his death his family was in the seemingly unassailable position in which it remains today, decades later.Fyodor Tertitskiy studies North Korean political, social and military history. He has been living in South Korea for more than a decade. His previous books, authored several books in English and Korean, include The North Korean Army: History, Structure, Daily Life, and Soviet-North Korean Relations During the Cold War. His most recent book is The Accidental Tyrant: The Life of Kim Il-Sung, which is the subject of our conversation today.For Further Investigation * Articles by Fyodor Tertitskiy for NK News (https://www.nknews.org/content_author/fyodor-tertitskiy/)* A previous conversation related to this one is in Episode 212: The Perennial Russian Pivot to Asia (https://historicallythinking.org/episode-212-the-perennial-russian-pivot-to-asia/). For a history of the Chinese Communist Party, see Episode 213: From Rebel to Ruler. (https://historicallythinking.org/episode-213-from-rebel-to-ruler/) For tips on how to overcome your closest enemies, see Episode 265: How to Win a Power Struggle (https://historicallythinking.org/episode-265-how-to-win-a-power-struggle/).* Buzo, Adrian. The Guerilla Dynasty: Politics And Leadership In North Korea. Rev. ed. London: Routledge, 2018.* Demick, Barbara. Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea. New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2009.* Lankov, Andrei. North of the DMZ: Essays on Daily Life in North Korea. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2007.* Oh, Kongdan, and Ralph C. Hassig. North Korea through the Looking Glass. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2000.

Joseph Smith was the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, known by those outside the church during his life and today as the Mormons. But Joseph Smith was many things besides: the child of a struggling family gradually moving westward in search of opportunity, a day laborer, visionary, seer; treasure hunter; translator; revelator; prophet; elder, banker, prisoner, wrestler, real estate speculator, polygamist, Lieutenant General, Master Mason, Mayor, and martyr.“America,” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1844, “is the country of the future…[a] country of beginnings, of projects, of vast designs and expectations.” My guest John Turner observes that Joseph Smith might not have been what Emerson had in mind when he spoke of new beginnings and bold projects. But those were part of his life, in addition to vast designs and great expectations. Indeed, it is not too much to say that few nineteenth century Americans have an enduring legacy that can compare to Joseph Smith’s.Yet John Turner’s new book Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet also describes how this very untypical man was yet absolutely typical of his times. From his religious awakening among the religious revivalism of western New York, to his founding of utopian communities in the midwest, to his dietary concerns, and even to his experience of brutal mob violence that amounted to religious pogroms against his church, Smith’s experiences–and those of his followers–were far from atypical. John G. Turner is professor of religious studies and history at George Mason University (https://religiousstudies.gmu.edu/people/jturne17). His previous book was They Knew They Were Pilgrims: Plymouth Colony and the Contest for American Liberty, which we talked about in Episode 157 (https://historicallythinking.org/episode-157-they-knew-they-were-pilgrims/).For Further Investigation * In Episode 181, Sara Patterson and I discussed the practice of Mormon pilgrimage (https://historicallythinking.org/episode-181-westward-to-zion/).* For a conversation about a very different but equally charismatic and controversial 19th century American, see my conversation in Episode 198 with Bob Elder about John C. Calhoun, (https://historicallythinking.org/episode-198-american-heretic/) whom Elder describes as the "American heretic"; a nice pairing with an American prophet.* The Joseph Smith Papers (https://www.josephsmithpapers.org)