St. Augustine the African (with Catherine Conybeare)
Academic, philologist, and professor Catherine Conybeare's new book is an account of how St. Augustineβs origins in North Africa shaped his life and thought.
"It struck me . . . how profoundly this gleaming white Renaissance tomb was unrelated to the book I had just been writing, to the nation of the Africa and to Augustine, who lived his life and thought his thoughts and loved his family and his friends and fought against his foes in North Africa."
08.11.2025 14:06
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The Rise of Cicero and the Decline of Rome with Josiah Osgood
Author and historian Josiah Osgood tells the story of Cicero's rise and fall in the last years of the Roman Republic.
A great pleasure to have Professor Josiah Osgood of Georgetown University on the program to speak about his new book on Cicero. Link to full conversation below.
22.10.2025 21:18
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Woman, Life, Freedom: Iran's Gen Z Uprising Against the Morality Police
A conversation with co-author Nilo Tabrizy on her new book For the Sun After Long Nights.
A great pleasure to speak to author and journalist @ntabrizy.bsky.social about her new book For the Sun After Long Nights about the women-led uprising in Iran.
17.10.2025 21:40
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America in Vietnam: 1964 to 1975
An in-depth interview with Geoffrey Warwo, the author of The Vietnam War: A Military History.
My conversation with author Geoffrey Wawro on his new book The Vietnam War: A Military History. Now on Substack.
20.08.2025 22:50
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Plato and the Tyrant (with James Romm)
How a brutal dynasty shaped Plato's Republic and the birth of political philosophy.
My interview with James Romm, author of Plato & the Tyrant. Now on Substack.
02.07.2025 23:32
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Xi Jinping's Father
Author Joseph Torigian on how family tragedy, persecution, and loyalty shaped China's future leader through his father's Communist Party journey.
Very pleased to have @josephtorigian.bsky.social on the program to discuss his new book The Party's Interests Come First, a biography of Xi Jinping's father.
12.06.2025 13:11
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Donald Trump, the Russian Mob, and 1980s New York
Author Craig Unger explores Trump's ties to the KGB.
A pleasure to speak to my friend and colleague Craig Unger @craigunger.bsky.social. The subject? Donald Trump, the Russian mob, and 1980s New York City real estate.
open.substack.com/pub/johnbatc...
25.04.2025 15:27
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The Birth of New York City
A conversation with author and historian Russell Shorto on his new book Taking Manhattan.
Russell Shorto on the program to discuss his new book, Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America.
09.04.2025 23:30
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Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
A discussion with Richard Reinsch on a question posed by the late philosopher and author of The Gulag Archipelago: does the West want to defend itself?
I speak to Richard Reinsch of the Civitas Institute on the late philosopher and author of The Gulag Archipelago Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Full conversation and interview free on Substack.
02.04.2025 16:03
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Defending Earth from Asteroids with Julien de Wit, Artem Y. Burdanov, and Richard P. Binzel
Interview by John Batchelor
"We have a space program. The dinosaurs didn't have a space program."
Professor Richard P. Binzel of @mitofficial.bsky.social and colleagues search the sky for asteroids in an effort to prevent their impact with Earth.
05.03.2025 21:40
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Hidden Histories of the Viking Age with Eleanor Barraclough
Interview by John Batchelor
It is approximately the year 1200 AD.
A man is in a tavern having a very good time, drinking heavily, and suddenly he gets a message written in runes on a piece of wood. The message he writes in return, I'm told by the author Eleanor Barraclough, doesn't make any sense.
26.02.2025 23:44
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The Birth of Impressionism with Sebastian Smee
Interview by John Batchelor
On Boulevard des Capucines, a studio is opening an exhibit of paintings by men who don't have an organizing principle yet. They call themselves SociΓ©tΓ© anonyme. They are Degas, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisily, Cezanneβand especially Manet.
20.02.2025 14:53
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The Roots of the Russo-Ukrainian War with Eugene Finkel
Interview by John Batchelor
"It is 1888, Kiev. A new statue is raised. The statue is to a man named Khmelnytsky, a hero to the Ukrainians, to the Crimea and Cossacks, to the Russiansβeven to the Soviets in the future."
Interview with Eugene Finkel @efinkel.bsky.social on his new book: Intent to Destroy.
12.02.2025 22:24
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Homer's Iliad with Emily Wilson
Interview by John Batchelor
"Goddess, sing of the cataclysmic wrath / of great Achilles..."
It was a great pleasure to speak to Professor @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social Emily Wilson last year about her new translation of Homer's Iliad, antiquity's greatest literary landmark.
05.02.2025 23:29
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1944: Battle for Rome with James Holland
Interview by John Batchelor
A story that needs retelling. My interview with James Holland, historian and author of Cassino '44: The Brutal Battle for Rome.
01.02.2025 16:28
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SpaceX, Elon Musk, and Reusable Rockets with Eric Berger
Interview by John Batchelor
"The only conceivable reason to go to Mars, actually, is to set up a second civilization and start to learn how to become a multi-planetary species."
Discussing Reentry, the new book by Eric Berger -- our conversation, free on Substack @sciguyspace.bsky.social
22.01.2025 23:07
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The Ingenious Benjamin Franklin with Richard Munson
Author Interview by John Batchelor
"It is 1762. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."
My interview with Richard Munson, author of Ingenious: A Biography of Benjamin Franklin, Scientist
15.01.2025 22:39
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Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman's Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue with Sonia Purnell
Interview by John Batchelor
"It is September of 1939, and there is war between London and Berlin. Randolph Churchill (son of Winston) goes to dinner with a young woman named Pamela Digby. He asks her to marry, though he has never met her before. The surprise is, she says yes.
She is 19 years old."
@soniapurnell.bsky.social
08.01.2025 22:48
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The Scopes Trial with Brenda Wineapple
Interview by John Batchelor
Keeping the Faith: God, Democracy, and the Trial That Riveted a Nationβa new story and book by about the Scopes Trial of 1925. It is dramatic and sensationally important for the understanding of the culture in the 1920s. One hundred years, it is still debatable.
04.01.2025 18:17
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The Life and Legend of Ronald Reagan with Max Boot
Interview by John Batchelor
"It is late 1932. A young man, Ronald Reagan, is visiting Springfield, Illinois where his father Jack is running a shoe store to maintain what he can of an income for the family. It is the very dark days of the United States in what becomes the Great Depression." @maxboot.bsky.social
04.01.2025 18:12
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The October Surprise of 1980 with Craig Unger
Interview by John Batchelor
I welcome my colleague Craig Unger to discuss his new book Den of Spies: Reagan, Carter, and the Secret History of the Treason That Stole the White House. This is the "October Surprise" legend of the 1980 presidential election reexamined after decades of research.
Full interview on Substack:
04.01.2025 18:04
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