Podcast appearances and mentions of Allen Lane

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the decisive role of one of the great 20th Century physicists in solving the question of nuclear fission. It is said that Meitner (1878-1968) made this breakthrough over Christmas 1938 while she was sitting on a log in Sweden during a snowy walk with her nephew Otto Frisch (1904-79). Both were Jewish-Austrian refugees who had only recently escaped from Nazi Germany. Others had already broken uranium into the smaller atom barium, but could not explain what they found; was the larger atom bursting, or the smaller atom being chipped off or was something else happening? They turned to Meitner. She, with Frisch, deduced the nucleus really was splitting like a drop of water into a dumbbell shape, with the electrical charges at each end forcing the divide, something previously thought impossible, and they named this ‘fission'. This was a crucial breakthrough for which Meitner was eventually widely recognised if not at first.WithJess Wade A Royal Society University Research Fellow and Lecturer in Functional Materials at Imperial College, LondonFrank Close Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Physics and Fellow Emeritus at Exeter College, University of OxfordAnd Steven Bramwell Director of the London Centre for Nanotechnology and Professor of Physics at University College LondonProducer: Simon TillotsonReading list:Frank Close, Destroyer of Worlds: The Deep History of the Nuclear Age, 1895-1965 (Allen Lane, 2025)Ruth Lewin Sime, Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics (University of California Press, 1996)Marissa Moss, The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner (Abrams Books, 2022)Patricia Rife, Lise Meitner and the Dawn of the Nuclear Age (Birkhauser Verlag, 1999) In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production

Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/G_SpC_BV4jAIn the late nineteenth century, Joseph Chamberlain transformed Birmingham with municipal enterprise and urban improvement, but in the last few years, local authorities have been facing serious financial difficulties, and some of the largest, such as Birmingham, have faced the equivalent of bankruptcy. This lecture will ask why British cities have lost the confident civic pride of the Victorian era and are now struggling to provide basic services from a limited financial base. Most importantly: What can be done to regenerate British towns and cities?     This lecture was recorded by Martin Daunton on 24th April 2025 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London.Professor Martin Daunton is Visiting Gresham Professor of Economic History.He is a British academic and historian. He was Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, between 2004 and 2014. He is Emeritus Professor of Economic History at the University of Cambridge.He has written two books on the history of taxation in Britain – Trusting Leviathan and Just Taxes, and co-edited with colleagues in Berlin a volume of essays on the political economy of public finance in leading OECD countries since the 1970s. His book The Economic Government of the World, 1933 to 2023 was published by Allen Lane in 2023.The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/cities-bankruptGresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-todayWebsite:  https://gresham.ac.ukTwitter:  https://twitter.com/greshamcollegeFacebook: https://facebook.com/greshamcollegeInstagram: https://instagram.com/greshamcollegeSupport Us: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-todaySupport the show

Christopher Harding's The Light of Asia: A History of Western Fascination with the East (Allen Lane, 2024) is a fascinating survey of two millennia of Western encounters with Eastern culture, thought and religions. From Herodotus to Alan Watts, Harding profiles a range of engaging figures who have had a sometimes-overlooked impact on the way we in the West engage with and understand Asia. From the myths of antiquity through to the impact of the hippie movement, the book asks; ‘What is real? Who says? How should I live?', and provides a wealth of historical analysis, anecdotal sketches and philosophical insight to explore how the Western and Eastern ways of thinking about these fundamental questions have intersected, conflicted with and complemented each other. Guest: Christopher Harding is Senior Lecturer in Asian History at The University of Edinburgh. His previous books include The Japanese: A History in 20 Lives (2020) and Japan Story: In Search of a Nation, 1850 to the Present (2018). A frequent contributor to BBC Radio, he also writes the Illuminasia Substack. Host: Matt Fraser writes and podcasts for the Ill-Read Millennial. He lives in Berlin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Christopher Harding's The Light of Asia: A History of Western Fascination with the East (Allen Lane, 2024) is a fascinating survey of two millennia of Western encounters with Eastern culture, thought and religions. From Herodotus to Alan Watts, Harding profiles a range of engaging figures who have had a sometimes-overlooked impact on the way we in the West engage with and understand Asia. From the myths of antiquity through to the impact of the hippie movement, the book asks; ‘What is real? Who says? How should I live?', and provides a wealth of historical analysis, anecdotal sketches and philosophical insight to explore how the Western and Eastern ways of thinking about these fundamental questions have intersected, conflicted with and complemented each other. Guest: Christopher Harding is Senior Lecturer in Asian History at The University of Edinburgh. His previous books include The Japanese: A History in 20 Lives (2020) and Japan Story: In Search of a Nation, 1850 to the Present (2018). A frequent contributor to BBC Radio, he also writes the Illuminasia Substack. Host: Matt Fraser writes and podcasts for the Ill-Read Millennial. He lives in Berlin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

Christopher Harding's The Light of Asia: A History of Western Fascination with the East (Allen Lane, 2024) is a fascinating survey of two millennia of Western encounters with Eastern culture, thought and religions. From Herodotus to Alan Watts, Harding profiles a range of engaging figures who have had a sometimes-overlooked impact on the way we in the West engage with and understand Asia. From the myths of antiquity through to the impact of the hippie movement, the book asks; ‘What is real? Who says? How should I live?', and provides a wealth of historical analysis, anecdotal sketches and philosophical insight to explore how the Western and Eastern ways of thinking about these fundamental questions have intersected, conflicted with and complemented each other. Guest: Christopher Harding is Senior Lecturer in Asian History at The University of Edinburgh. His previous books include The Japanese: A History in 20 Lives (2020) and Japan Story: In Search of a Nation, 1850 to the Present (2018). A frequent contributor to BBC Radio, he also writes the Illuminasia Substack. Host: Matt Fraser writes and podcasts for the Ill-Read Millennial. He lives in Berlin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Christopher Harding's The Light of Asia: A History of Western Fascination with the East (Allen Lane, 2024) is a fascinating survey of two millennia of Western encounters with Eastern culture, thought and religions. From Herodotus to Alan Watts, Harding profiles a range of engaging figures who have had a sometimes-overlooked impact on the way we in the West engage with and understand Asia. From the myths of antiquity through to the impact of the hippie movement, the book asks; ‘What is real? Who says? How should I live?', and provides a wealth of historical analysis, anecdotal sketches and philosophical insight to explore how the Western and Eastern ways of thinking about these fundamental questions have intersected, conflicted with and complemented each other. Guest: Christopher Harding is Senior Lecturer in Asian History at The University of Edinburgh. His previous books include The Japanese: A History in 20 Lives (2020) and Japan Story: In Search of a Nation, 1850 to the Present (2018). A frequent contributor to BBC Radio, he also writes the Illuminasia Substack. Host: Matt Fraser writes and podcasts for the Ill-Read Millennial. He lives in Berlin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

Christopher Harding's The Light of Asia: A History of Western Fascination with the East (Allen Lane, 2024) is a fascinating survey of two millennia of Western encounters with Eastern culture, thought and religions. From Herodotus to Alan Watts, Harding profiles a range of engaging figures who have had a sometimes-overlooked impact on the way we in the West engage with and understand Asia. From the myths of antiquity through to the impact of the hippie movement, the book asks; ‘What is real? Who says? How should I live?', and provides a wealth of historical analysis, anecdotal sketches and philosophical insight to explore how the Western and Eastern ways of thinking about these fundamental questions have intersected, conflicted with and complemented each other. Guest: Christopher Harding is Senior Lecturer in Asian History at The University of Edinburgh. His previous books include The Japanese: A History in 20 Lives (2020) and Japan Story: In Search of a Nation, 1850 to the Present (2018). A frequent contributor to BBC Radio, he also writes the Illuminasia Substack. Host: Matt Fraser writes and podcasts for the Ill-Read Millennial. He lives in Berlin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/south-asian-studies

Christopher Harding's The Light of Asia: A History of Western Fascination with the East (Allen Lane, 2024) is a fascinating survey of two millennia of Western encounters with Eastern culture, thought and religions. From Herodotus to Alan Watts, Harding profiles a range of engaging figures who have had a sometimes-overlooked impact on the way we in the West engage with and understand Asia. From the myths of antiquity through to the impact of the hippie movement, the book asks; ‘What is real? Who says? How should I live?', and provides a wealth of historical analysis, anecdotal sketches and philosophical insight to explore how the Western and Eastern ways of thinking about these fundamental questions have intersected, conflicted with and complemented each other. Guest: Christopher Harding is Senior Lecturer in Asian History at The University of Edinburgh. His previous books include The Japanese: A History in 20 Lives (2020) and Japan Story: In Search of a Nation, 1850 to the Present (2018). A frequent contributor to BBC Radio, he also writes the Illuminasia Substack. Host: Matt Fraser writes and podcasts for the Ill-Read Millennial. He lives in Berlin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/european-studies

What is Hinduism? For centuries, that question was particularly thorny, both for local Indians and for colonial outsiders. People inside and outside the country tried to define what Hinduism was. Missionaries grappled with Hindu practices, finding both similarities and dangerous differences with their own Christian faith. The East India Company adopted several Hindu rituals to keep the peace, much to the chagrin of officials back in London. And, increasingly, Indians began to define what Hinduism meant as part of a broader political awakening. Manu Pillai tells that story in his latest book Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity (Allen Lane: 2024) Manu Pillai is the author of the critically acclaimed The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore (HarperCollins: 2016), Rebels Sultans: The Deccan from Khilji to Shivaji (Juggernaut: 2018), The Courtesan, the Mahatma, and the Italian Brahmin: Tales from Indian History (Context: 2019) and False Allies: India's Maharajahs in the Age of Ravi Varma (Juggernaut: 2021). Former chief of staff to Shashi Tharoor MP, Pillai is also a winner of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar (2017) and holds a PhD in history from King's College London. His essays and writings on history have appeared in various national and international publications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

What is Hinduism? For centuries, that question was particularly thorny, both for local Indians and for colonial outsiders. People inside and outside the country tried to define what Hinduism was. Missionaries grappled with Hindu practices, finding both similarities and dangerous differences with their own Christian faith. The East India Company adopted several Hindu rituals to keep the peace, much to the chagrin of officials back in London. And, increasingly, Indians began to define what Hinduism meant as part of a broader political awakening. Manu Pillai tells that story in his latest book Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity (Allen Lane: 2024) Manu Pillai is the author of the critically acclaimed The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore (HarperCollins: 2016), Rebels Sultans: The Deccan from Khilji to Shivaji (Juggernaut: 2018), The Courtesan, the Mahatma, and the Italian Brahmin: Tales from Indian History (Context: 2019) and False Allies: India's Maharajahs in the Age of Ravi Varma (Juggernaut: 2021). Former chief of staff to Shashi Tharoor MP, Pillai is also a winner of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar (2017) and holds a PhD in history from King's College London. His essays and writings on history have appeared in various national and international publications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

What is Hinduism? For centuries, that question was particularly thorny, both for local Indians and for colonial outsiders. People inside and outside the country tried to define what Hinduism was. Missionaries grappled with Hindu practices, finding both similarities and dangerous differences with their own Christian faith. The East India Company adopted several Hindu rituals to keep the peace, much to the chagrin of officials back in London. And, increasingly, Indians began to define what Hinduism meant as part of a broader political awakening. Manu Pillai tells that story in his latest book Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity (Allen Lane: 2024) Manu Pillai is the author of the critically acclaimed The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore (HarperCollins: 2016), Rebels Sultans: The Deccan from Khilji to Shivaji (Juggernaut: 2018), The Courtesan, the Mahatma, and the Italian Brahmin: Tales from Indian History (Context: 2019) and False Allies: India's Maharajahs in the Age of Ravi Varma (Juggernaut: 2021). Former chief of staff to Shashi Tharoor MP, Pillai is also a winner of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar (2017) and holds a PhD in history from King's College London. His essays and writings on history have appeared in various national and international publications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/south-asian-studies

What is Hinduism? For centuries, that question was particularly thorny, both for local Indians and for colonial outsiders. People inside and outside the country tried to define what Hinduism was. Missionaries grappled with Hindu practices, finding both similarities and dangerous differences with their own Christian faith. The East India Company adopted several Hindu rituals to keep the peace, much to the chagrin of officials back in London. And, increasingly, Indians began to define what Hinduism meant as part of a broader political awakening. Manu Pillai tells that story in his latest book Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity (Allen Lane: 2024) Manu Pillai is the author of the critically acclaimed The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore (HarperCollins: 2016), Rebels Sultans: The Deccan from Khilji to Shivaji (Juggernaut: 2018), The Courtesan, the Mahatma, and the Italian Brahmin: Tales from Indian History (Context: 2019) and False Allies: India's Maharajahs in the Age of Ravi Varma (Juggernaut: 2021). Former chief of staff to Shashi Tharoor MP, Pillai is also a winner of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar (2017) and holds a PhD in history from King's College London. His essays and writings on history have appeared in various national and international publications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/indian-religions

What is Hinduism? For centuries, that question was particularly thorny, both for local Indians and for colonial outsiders. People inside and outside the country tried to define what Hinduism was. Missionaries grappled with Hindu practices, finding both similarities and dangerous differences with their own Christian faith. The East India Company adopted several Hindu rituals to keep the peace, much to the chagrin of officials back in London. And, increasingly, Indians began to define what Hinduism meant as part of a broader political awakening. Manu Pillai tells that story in his latest book Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity (Allen Lane: 2024) Manu Pillai is the author of the critically acclaimed The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore (HarperCollins: 2016), Rebels Sultans: The Deccan from Khilji to Shivaji (Juggernaut: 2018), The Courtesan, the Mahatma, and the Italian Brahmin: Tales from Indian History (Context: 2019) and False Allies: India's Maharajahs in the Age of Ravi Varma (Juggernaut: 2021). Former chief of staff to Shashi Tharoor MP, Pillai is also a winner of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar (2017) and holds a PhD in history from King's College London. His essays and writings on history have appeared in various national and international publications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

What is Hinduism? For centuries, that question was particularly thorny, both for local Indians and for colonial outsiders. People inside and outside the country tried to define what Hinduism was. Missionaries grappled with Hindu practices, finding both similarities and dangerous differences with their own Christian faith. The East India Company adopted several Hindu rituals to keep the peace, much to the chagrin of officials back in London. And, increasingly, Indians began to define what Hinduism meant as part of a broader political awakening. Manu Pillai tells that story in his latest book Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity (Allen Lane: 2024) Manu Pillai is the author of the critically acclaimed The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore (HarperCollins: 2016), Rebels Sultans: The Deccan from Khilji to Shivaji (Juggernaut: 2018), The Courtesan, the Mahatma, and the Italian Brahmin: Tales from Indian History (Context: 2019) and False Allies: India's Maharajahs in the Age of Ravi Varma (Juggernaut: 2021). Former chief of staff to Shashi Tharoor MP, Pillai is also a winner of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar (2017) and holds a PhD in history from King's College London. His essays and writings on history have appeared in various national and international publications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/asian-review

What is Hinduism? For centuries, that question was particularly thorny, both for local Indians and for colonial outsiders. People inside and outside the country tried to define what Hinduism was. Missionaries grappled with Hindu practices, finding both similarities and dangerous differences with their own Christian faith. The East India Company adopted several Hindu rituals to keep the peace, much to the chagrin of officials back in London. And, increasingly, Indians began to define what Hinduism meant as part of a broader political awakening. Manu Pillai tells that story in his latest book Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity (Allen Lane: 2024) Manu Pillai is the author of the critically acclaimed The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore (HarperCollins: 2016), Rebels Sultans: The Deccan from Khilji to Shivaji (Juggernaut: 2018), The Courtesan, the Mahatma, and the Italian Brahmin: Tales from Indian History (Context: 2019) and False Allies: India's Maharajahs in the Age of Ravi Varma (Juggernaut: 2021). Former chief of staff to Shashi Tharoor MP, Pillai is also a winner of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar (2017) and holds a PhD in history from King's College London. His essays and writings on history have appeared in various national and international publications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/christian-studies

What is Hinduism? For centuries, that question was particularly thorny, both for local Indians and for colonial outsiders. People inside and outside the country tried to define what Hinduism was. Missionaries grappled with Hindu practices, finding both similarities and dangerous differences with their own Christian faith. The East India Company adopted several Hindu rituals to keep the peace, much to the chagrin of officials back in London. And, increasingly, Indians began to define what Hinduism meant as part of a broader political awakening. Manu Pillai tells that story in his latest book Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity (Allen Lane: 2024) Manu Pillai is the author of the critically acclaimed The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore (HarperCollins: 2016), Rebels Sultans: The Deccan from Khilji to Shivaji (Juggernaut: 2018), The Courtesan, the Mahatma, and the Italian Brahmin: Tales from Indian History (Context: 2019) and False Allies: India's Maharajahs in the Age of Ravi Varma (Juggernaut: 2021). Former chief of staff to Shashi Tharoor MP, Pillai is also a winner of the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar (2017) and holds a PhD in history from King's College London. His essays and writings on history have appeared in various national and international publications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/book-of-the-day

The discharge of raw sewage into rivers, and the financial problems of major water companies, have become serious political and social concerns for the public. British cities have faced similar challenges in the past, most notoriously with the ‘Great Stink' in London in 1858 that led to the construction of Bazalgette's sewer. Consequently, many cities took utilities into public ownership in the late nineteenth century in what is termed ‘gas and water socialism'. Why did this happen, and why were utilities returned to private ownership in the later twentieth century? The lecture will conclude by assessing the success or failure of the current system of regulated private ownership. Should there be a return to public ownership?This lecture was recorded by Martin Daunton on 11th February 2025 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London.Professor Martin Daunton is Visiting Gresham Professor of Economic History.He is a British academic and historian. He was Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, between 2004 and 2014. He is Emeritus Professor of Economic History at the University of Cambridge.He has written two books on the history of taxation in Britain – Trusting Leviathan and Just Taxes, and co-edited with colleagues in Berlin a volume of essays on the political economy of public finance in leading OECD countries since the 1970s. His book The Economic Government of the World, 1933 to 2023 was published by Allen Lane in 2023.The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/water-sewage-crisisGresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-todayWebsite:  https://gresham.ac.ukTwitter:  https://twitter.com/greshamcollegeFacebook: https://facebook.com/greshamcollegeInstagram: https://instagram.com/greshamcollegeSupport Us: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-todaySupport the show

My guest on this episode is Margaret MacMillan. Margaret is a historian and author whose bestselling books include The War That Ended Peace; Nixon and Mao; Women of the Raj; and Paris 1919. She is emeritus professor of History at the University of Toronto, where she served as Provost of Trinity College, and an emeritus professor of International History at Oxford University, where she served as Warden of St Antony's College. Her work has won numerous awards, including the Samuel Johnson Prize, the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize, a Governor General's Literary Award, and the Duff Cooper Prize. In 2015 she was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. Her most recent book, War: How Conflict Shaped Us, was published by Allen Lane in 2020 and was a finalist for the Lionel Gelber Prize. The Guardian called War a “hugely readable chronicle of conflict.” Margaret and I talk about the current alarming state of international relations, about her drive to write historical works that can be read and understood by non-historians, and about the Canadian short-story writer whose biography she would love to write. This podcast is produced and hosted by Nathan Whitlock, in partnership with The Walrus. Music: "simple-hearted thing" by Alex Lukashevsky. Used with permission.

In this episode of The Poetry Exchange, poet Nick Makoha talks with us about the poem that has been a friend to him: 'White Egrets (I)' by Derek Walcott.Nick actually joined us back in 2017 at Pushkin House, London, and we are delighted to be sharing this conversation with you now. It is very special to hear Fiona in this conversation, with all her usual warmth and brilliance.Nick Makoha's latest collection 'The New Carthaginians' is published this month from Allen Lane - you can order/buy your copy here.The event for 'On the Brink of Touch' by Fiona Bennett is on 26th February at The Bedford in Balham, London, and live streamed. We'd love for you to join us, and you can book your places here!Dr Nick Makoha is a Ugandan poet. His new collection is The New Carthaginians published by Penguin UK. Winner of the 2021 Ivan Juritz Prize and the Poetry London Prize. In 2017, Nick's debut collection, Kingdom of Gravity, was shortlisted for the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection and was one of the Guardian's best books of the year. He was the ICA 2023 Writer-in-Residence. He was the 2019 Writer-in-Residence for The Wordsworth Trust and Wasafiri. A Cave Canem Graduate Fellow and Complete Works alumnus. He won the 2015 Brunel African Poetry Prize and the 2016 Toi Derricotte & Cornelius Eady Prize for his pamphlet Resurrection Man. His play The Dark—produced by Fuel Theatre and directed by JMK award-winner Roy Alexander—was on a national tour in 2019. It was shortlisted for the 2019 Alfred Fagon Award and won the 2021 Columbia International Play Reading prize. His poems have appeared in the Cambridge Review, the New York Times, Poetry Review, Poetry Wales, Rialto, Poetry London, TriQuarterly Review, 5 Dials, Boston Review, Callaloo Birmingham Lit Journal and Wasafiri.*********White EgretsBy Derek Walcott I The chessmen are as rigid on their chessboard as those life-sized terra-cotta warriors whose vowsto their emperor with bridle, shield and swordwere sworn by a chorus that has lost its voice;no echo in that astonishing excavation.Each soldier gave an oath, each gave his wordto die for his emperor, his clan, his nation,to become a chess soldier, breathlessly erectin shade or crossing sunlight, without hours – from clay to clay and odourlessly strict.If vows were visible they might see oursas changeless chessmen in the changing lighton the lawn outside where bannered breakers tossand palms gust with music that is time's above the chessmen's silence. Motion brings loss.A sable blackbird twitters in the limes. From White Egrets by Derek Walcott, Faber & Faber 2010. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our guest on More Rosebud today is James Rebanks, sheep-farmer and writer of best-selling books 'The Shepherd's Life' and 'English Pastoral', as well as a brand new book 'The Place of Tides'. James has lived and worked on the Cumbrian Lakeland fells since he was a boy, and farms the same hillside at Matterdale as his family have for the past 600 years. In this conversation he tells Gyles about his boyhood, being inspired to read The Odyssey and Hemingway by his mum and headteacher, about dropping out of school and his rebellious teenagehood, and about how he went back to night school and ended up going to university as a mature student. He also tells Gyles about his love for his sheepdogs and his thoughts on the government's plan to introduce inheritance tax on family farms. Enjoy this episode with one of the most interesting writers working today, who is also a dedicated and passionate farmer. James's latest book, The Place of Tides, is out now published by Allen Lane at £22. Highly recommended, as are all of James's books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our guest on More Rosebud today is James Rebanks, sheep-farmer and writer of best-selling books 'The Shepherd's Life' and 'English Pastoral', as well as a brand new book 'The Place of Tides'. James has lived and worked on the Cumbrian Lakeland fells since he was a boy, and farms the same hillside at Matterdale as his family have for the past 600 years. In this conversation he tells Gyles about his boyhood, being inspired to read The Odyssey and Hemingway by his mum and headteacher, about dropping out of school and his rebellious teenagehood, and about how he went back to night school and ended up going to university as a mature student. He also tells Gyles about his love for his sheepdogs and his thoughts on the government's plan to introduce inheritance tax on family farms. Enjoy this episode with one of the most interesting writers working today, who is also a dedicated and passionate farmer. James's latest book, The Place of Tides, is out now published by Allen Lane at £22. Highly recommended, as are all of James's books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1945, Germany lay in ruins – both physically and morally. Nearly 80 years after the Second World War, it has since been transformed into an economic powerhouse and a leader on the world stage. Historian Frank Trentmann discusses this remarkable journey with Danny Bird, exploring Germany's Cold War division, guilt over its Nazi past, the nation's deep-rooted approach to environmental matters, and the evolving political landscape since Reunification. (Ad) Frank Trentmann is the author of Out of the Darkness: The Germans, 1942-2022 (Allen Lane, 2023). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Darkness-1942-2022-Frank-Trentmann/dp/0241303494/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty. Listen to Daniel Cowling on Germany in the immediate aftermath of WW2 here: https://link.chtbl.com/Zn-AW5OQ. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Siegfried Lokatis is a retired professor of book history, and former head of the University of Leipzig's​ Institute for Communication and Media Studies. He is the author of Book ​Covers of the GDR and is currently working on a history of the S. Fischer publishing house, due out in 2026. We met in Leipzig recently where Siegfried treated me to a tour of ​t​he Bibliotop's splendid Insel Bucherei book collection. Founded in 1912, the series now ​contains some 2,000 titles (and still counting according to Jonathan Landgrebe, head of Suhrkamp Verlag, the company that today produces the books). The series is iconic in Germany and in many ways its publishing history reflects the history of the country. The books are known for their beauty and the care with which they're produced. Qualities include: individual typographical design, exquisite illustration (notably from the thirties - stay tuned) and photography, and printing on wood-free, age-resistant paper, plus they're thread-stitched and bound in decorative cover paper.​ They served as the model for Allen Lane's King Penguin series. The Insel Bucherie series includes both well-known and little known texts from world literature as well as art history, non-fiction, poetry, and fairy tales, plus gift anthologies from Germany and around the ​globe. Subjects covered in my conversation with Siegfried include Rilke and copyright, ​the decision to publish​ established, versus contemporary works; Stephan Zweig and the Nazis, poisonous mushrooms, the rarest volume, the Allied bombing of Leipzig, censorship, the separation of East and West Germany, wartime profits, collecting, pornography and more.

On the podcast this week, Professor Diarmaid MacCulloch is interviewed by Paul Handley about his new book Lower Than the Angels: A history of sex and Christianity. In a review of the book in this week's Church Times, Penelope Cowell Doe writes that “one of his main concerns . . . is to show that the Church has never been univocal in speaking about sex, and that there is not one unbroken line in its approach to marriage and celibacy. He writes: ‘there is no such thing as a single Christian theology of sex. There is a plethora of Christian theologies of sex.'” Lower Than the Angels is published by Allen Lane at £35 (Church Times Bookshop special price £28). https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9780241400937/lower-than-the-angels?vc=CT220 Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to www.churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader

For the last couple of years, I have been going to Pawpaw Fest which my friend and neighbour Matt Soltys organizes. Matt Soltys, for those listeners who don't know yet, is The Urban Orchardist. He teaches me about fruit and nut trees and I help him try and sort out which insects are leaving their sign on the trees. But back to the point… Pawpaws. Asimina triloba. A fruit with a comeback story. Have you tried one yet? I bet most folks listening have. They are growing more and more, both literally on the land and metaphorically in all the surrounding hype. Is it worth the hype? Matt Soltys seems to think so. He is growing hundreds of them (I had to fact check this statement, and yes, it is true). We sat down to discuss Pawpaws, a bit about their ecology and about the assisted migration that likely allowed the Pawpaw to arrive in Southern Ontario. I really don't know much about the species but want to get as much info as I can as they are likely going to be seen on the landscape more frequently as people get excited about this peculiar fruit. Why the big leaves? How did they get here? What happens at Pawpaw Fest? Where is it? How do I get there? (Sunday October 6th, Simpler Thyme Organic Farm, 1749 Hwy 6, between Guelph and Hamilton.) For more info listen to the show or check out The Urban Orchardist instagram page. Correction : Matt mentioned Malus floribunda as the name of the apple native to the southern Great Lakes area, but he afterwards he realized he made a mistake, and the species is Malus coronaria. To learn more : Shrubs of Ontario by James H. Soper and Margaret L. Heimburger, ROM Publications , 1982.The Dawn of Everything by by David Graeber and David Wengrow. Allen Lane, 2021.1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann. Knopf, 2005.Growing Trees From Seed by Henry Kock. Firefly Books, 2008.The role of anthropogenic dispersal in shaping the distribution and genetic composition of a widespread North American tree species by Graham E. Wyatt, J. L. Hamrick, Dorset W. Trapnell. Ecology and Evolution, 2021. The Urban Orchardist websiteMatt's Instagram

Andy Beckett discusses his new book about 5 key figures of the British Labour left: Tony Benn, Diane Abbot, Jeremy Corbyn, Ken Livingstone and John McDonnell. The Searchers: Five Rebels, Their Dream of a Different Britain, and Their Many Enemies was published earlier this year by Allen Lane. Andy and Jem go deep into some […]

In 2016, journalist Clare Hammond embarked on a project to study the railways of Myanmar–a transportation network that sprawls the country, rarely used and not shown on many maps, and often used at the pleasure of the country's military. In her book On the Shadow Tracks; A Journey Through Occupied Myanmar (Allen Lane, 2024), Clare travels the lengths of Myanmar's railways, from the south of the country through the conflict-riven border areas, finally ending up at Naypyidaw, the nation's planned capital. In this interview, Clare and I talk about Myanmar's railways, her travels along them, and how they act as a symbol for Myanmar's governments, past and present. Clare Hammond is a British journalist. Based in London, she works for non-profit Global Witness, investigating issues relating to natural resources, conflict and corruption. In Yangon, where she lived for six years, Hammond was most recently the digital editor of Frontier, Myanmar's best-known investigative magazine, where she oversaw daily news coverage. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of On the Shadow Tracks. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In 2016, journalist Clare Hammond embarked on a project to study the railways of Myanmar–a transportation network that sprawls the country, rarely used and not shown on many maps, and often used at the pleasure of the country's military. In her book On the Shadow Tracks; A Journey Through Occupied Myanmar (Allen Lane, 2024), Clare travels the lengths of Myanmar's railways, from the south of the country through the conflict-riven border areas, finally ending up at Naypyidaw, the nation's planned capital. In this interview, Clare and I talk about Myanmar's railways, her travels along them, and how they act as a symbol for Myanmar's governments, past and present. Clare Hammond is a British journalist. Based in London, she works for non-profit Global Witness, investigating issues relating to natural resources, conflict and corruption. In Yangon, where she lived for six years, Hammond was most recently the digital editor of Frontier, Myanmar's best-known investigative magazine, where she oversaw daily news coverage. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of On the Shadow Tracks. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/southeast-asian-studies

In 2016, journalist Clare Hammond embarked on a project to study the railways of Myanmar–a transportation network that sprawls the country, rarely used and not shown on many maps, and often used at the pleasure of the country's military. In her book On the Shadow Tracks; A Journey Through Occupied Myanmar (Allen Lane: 2024), Clare travels the lengths of Myanmar's railways, from the south of the country through the conflict-riven border areas, finally ending up at Naypyidaw, the nation's planned capital. In this interview, Clare and I talk about Myanmar's railways, her travels along them, and how they act as a symbol for Myanmar's governments, past and present. Clare Hammond is a British journalist. Based in London, she works for non-profit Global Witness, investigating issues relating to natural resources, conflict and corruption. In Yangon, where she lived for six years, Hammond was most recently the digital editor of Frontier, Myanmar's best-known investigative magazine, where she oversaw daily news coverage. Those in London can join a photo exhibition of Myanmar's railways on July 5-6, with prints sold to raise money for educational charity Prospect Burma. Details (and ways to buy prints for those in not in London) here. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of On the Shadow Tracks. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/asian-review

In 2016, journalist Clare Hammond embarked on a project to study the railways of Myanmar–a transportation network that sprawls the country, rarely used and not shown on many maps, and often used at the pleasure of the country's military. In her book On the Shadow Tracks; A Journey Through Occupied Myanmar (Allen Lane, 2024), Clare travels the lengths of Myanmar's railways, from the south of the country through the conflict-riven border areas, finally ending up at Naypyidaw, the nation's planned capital. In this interview, Clare and I talk about Myanmar's railways, her travels along them, and how they act as a symbol for Myanmar's governments, past and present. Clare Hammond is a British journalist. Based in London, she works for non-profit Global Witness, investigating issues relating to natural resources, conflict and corruption. In Yangon, where she lived for six years, Hammond was most recently the digital editor of Frontier, Myanmar's best-known investigative magazine, where she oversaw daily news coverage. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of On the Shadow Tracks. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/journalism

In this conversation at the Review of Democracy, Erica Benner – author of the new book Adventures in Democracy: The Turbulent World of People Power – shows what a more self-critical and down-to-earth understanding of democracy would entail; discusses what it means that there is a constant battle within democracies between principles of universal liberty, equality, and power-sharing, on the one hand, and the boys' club logic, on the other; explains why self-restraint and acknowledging others' fear of losing their share of power are crucially important; and reflects on the development of a truly global conversation about democracy. Erica Benner is a political philosopher and historian of ideas. She teaches at the Hertie School for Governance in Berlin, at LSE Ideas, as well as for academic programmes in Sweden and China. She has previously been affiliated with Oxford University, Yale University, Warsaw University as well as the CEU's Institute of Advanced Studies, among other institutions. Benner also acts as the President of the European Society for the History of Political Thought and is a founding editor of the book series History of European Political and Constitutional Thought. She is the author of numerous books, including Be Like the Fox: Machiavelli In His World. Adventures in Democracy: The Turbulent World of People Power has been published by Allen Lane.   The conversation has been conducted by Ferenc Laczó. The recording has been edited by Lucie Hunter.

Today we speak with publisher Judith Gurewich and translator Luke Leafgren about a remarkable first-person narrative by Nasser Abu Srour, a Palestinian political prisoner who in 1993 was given a life sentence. His memoir, The Tale of a Wall, tells of the author's decades-long life in multiple prisons, moving through many historical periods and shifting personal and political lives. The one thing that is always present is the figure of the wall, that becomes his one constant companion. Gurewich and Leafgren tell how they came to acquire the text, and how they came to know this remarkable man through it. The tale itself is a stunning and moving contribution to our understanding of the Palestinian struggle for liberation.Nasser Abu Srour was arrested in 1993, accused of being an accomplice to the murder of an Israeli intelligence officer, and sentenced to life in prison. While incarcerated, Abu Srour completed the final semester of a bachelor's degree in English from Bethlehem University, and obtained a master's degree in political science from Al-Quds University. The Tale of a Wall is his first book to appear in English. It will be published in the United Kingdom by Allen Lane, and translations are forthcoming from Gallimard, Feltrinelli, and Galaxia Gutenberg, among others. Judith Gurewich is the publisher of Other Press, a position she has held since 2002. Under her leadership, Other Press has become a highly respected and award-winning publisher of literary fiction and non-fiction, including titles such as Sarah Bakewell's How to Live: A Life of Montaigne, Kamel Daoud's The Meursault Investigation, and Raja Shehadeh's We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I, a finalist for the 2023 National Book Award. Born in Canada and raised in Belgium, she holds a law degree from Brussels University as well as a master's of law from Columbia University and a PhD in sociology from Brandeis University. She now resides in Cambridge, MA. Judith is also a Lacanian trained psychoanalyst, practicing part-time.Luke Leafgren is an Assistant Dean of Harvard College, where he is also a lecturer in Comparative Literature and teaches courses on translation. He has published seven translations of contemporary Arabic novels and received the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation in 2018 and 2023.      

Publishing expert Dr Jane Potter discusses the impact of internet shopping and self-publishing on the book industry, and what modern publishing can learn from the story of Allen Lane and Penguin.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

One visit to Agatha Christie changed everything. Thank you to my guest, Jules Burt, for sharing his book-collecting experiences and knowledge with us. You can learn more about his collection on his YouTube channel, Jules Burt Collections and Unboxings at youtube.com/@JulesBurt. My new book, A Body Made of Glass: A History of Hypochondria, is published in April. To find out more and register for the exclusive pre-order bonus material, visit my website carolinecrampton.com. Mentioned in this episode: — The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie — Ulysses by James Joyce — Ariel by André Maurois — Death on the Borough Council by Josephine Bell — Speedy Death by Gladys Mitchell — Taken on Trust by Terry Waite — Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle — The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L Sayers — Allen Lane: King Penguin by J.E. Morpurgo — Penguin Special: Life and Times of Allen Lane by Jeremy Lewis — Mushroom Jungle: A History of Postwar Paperback Publishing by Stephen Holland — The Penguin Story by W.E. Williams — ‘A Paperback Guide to Progress: Penguin Books 1935– c .1951' by Nicholas Joicey in Twentieth Century British History, 1993 Shedunnit Episodes Mentioned: — The Nobodies NB: Links to Blackwell's are affiliate links, meaning that the podcast receives a small commission when you purchase a book there (the price remains the same for you). Blackwell's is a UK bookselling chain that ships internationally at no extra charge. To be the first to know about future developments with the podcast, sign up for the newsletter at shedunnitshow.com/newsletter. The podcast is on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram as @ShedunnitShow, and you can find it in all major podcast apps. Make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss the next episode. Click here to do that now in your app of choice. Find a full transcript of this episode at shedunnitshow.com/thegreenpenguintranscript/ Music by Audioblocks and Blue Dot Sessions. See shedunnitshow.com/musiccredits for more details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this podcast episode returning guest Peter Gray, retired professor of psychology at Boston College, makes an argument for why we should consider other ways of understanding and structuring learning in and outside of school. We talk about college and access to working life, possible alternative ways of learning an occupation, David Geary's evolutionary theory of biologically primary and secondary abilities, what we need to learn and when we need to learn it, what we can observe in kids who aren't taught in the conventional ways, kids who learn to read on their own or who learn the whole math curriculum in a couple of months in their late teens, how our expectations influence learning, consequences for not reading when society expects you to, how and when children learn to walk and what we do when they don't, whining in different cultures, the summer slide, and what to say when people complain that they wish that someone had forced them to learn something earlier in life, how children's independence and autonomy relates to their mental health, how we try to fix problems by taking away children's liberty and responsibility, why we should teach them about dangers instead of trying to get rid of them, and many other topics.  Even if you don't find yourself agreeing with all of Peter's arguments, we would love to hear more about what points he's making that you think are valid and worth considering. How can we let alternative views on education actually widen our current understanding of learning and schooling, instead of just assuming the worst about each other? Send un an email to larsogpaal@gmail.com, we'll be thankful to every kind of criticism, feedback and suggestions of further explorations and interviews that we should do on these topics.  See more of Peter's writings on his Substack https://petergray.substack.com/ Here's his 2017 article about the summer slide, mentioned in the episode: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/201707/facts-and-fiction-about-the-so-called-summer-slide   Mentions and recommendations from the episode:  Jim Rietmulder, 2019. When Kids Rule the School: The Power and Promise of Democratic Education. New Society Publishers.  Kerry McDonald, 2019. Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom. Chicago Review Press.  David Graeber og David Wengrow. 2021. The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity. Allen Lane. Harriet Pattison. 2016. Rethinking Learning to Read. Educational Heretics Press.  Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. 2007. The Old Ways: A Story of the First People. Picador.  danah boyd. 2014. It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens. Yale University Press.  Peter Gray. 2013. Free to Learn: : Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life. Basic Books Peter Gray, David Lancy, David F. Bjorklund. 2023. «Decline in Independent Activity as a Cause of Decline in Children's Mental Wellbeing: Summary of the Evidence» February 2023, The Journal of Pediatrics 260(2)   Peter was previously a guest on the podcast in episode 53:  https://larsogpaal.libsyn.com/episode-53-peter-gray-on-self-directed-education-and-schooling ---------------------------- Our logo is by Sveinung Sudbø, see his works on originalkopi.com The music is by Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen, see the facebook page Nygrenda Vev og Dur for more info.  ---------------------------- Thank you for listening. Please send feedback and questions to larsogpaal@gmail.com There is no better way for the podcast to gain new interested listener than by you sharing it with friends, so if you find what we do interesting and useful, please consider doing just that. The podcast is still most in Norwegian, but we have a lot of episodes coming out in English.  Our blogs: https://paljabekk.com/ https://larssandaker.blogspot.com/ Alt godt, hilsen Lars og Pål

As Penguin faces increased competition from new paperback publishers, Allen Lane seeks new ways to keep his books at the top of the best sellers charts – including a risky plan that might put him behind bars.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

To save the publishing company he inherited from his uncle, British publisher Allen Lane launches a radical new line of paperback books – but finds it's a tall order to get a resistant industry to embrace the new business.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Following its liberation in 1944, France began a reckoning with its years of defeat, occupation and collaboration with Nazi Germany. On trial was Marshal Philippe Pétain, the decorated World War I hero and onetime head of the collaborationist regime known as Vichy France. Speaking to Danny Bird, Julian Jackson discusses the role the trial played in the nation's attempt to reconcile itself with this controversial chapter in its history. (Ad) Julian Jackson is the author of France on Trial: The Case of Marshal Pétain (Allen Lane, 2023). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/France-Trial-Case-Marshal-P%C3%A9tain/dp/024145025X/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why, across Nazi-occupied Europe, did some people choose to resist the Third Reich? This is the question at the heart of Halik Kochanski's book Resistance, which has just won the 2023 Wolfson History Prize. In conversation with Rachel Dinning, Halik speaks about the different types of resistance against Nazi occupation across Europe between 1939 and 1945 – from open partisan warfare in the occupied Soviet Union, to dangerous acts of defiance in Norway. (Ad) Halik Kochanski is the author of Resistance: The Underground War in Europe, 1939-1945 (Allen Lane, 2022). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Resistance-Underground-War-Europe-1939-1945/dp/0241004284/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The northeast Indian state of Assam has had a complex history. As independence loomed, Assam was a large British province, bordering the fellow British colony of Burma and covering a large segment of India's northeast. Today's Assam is much smaller: First partition cut Assam off from the rest of India, with just a tiny “chicken neck” of land connecting the state with India proper. Then decades of tension between the Assamese and minority groups led to new states being created from within its borders: Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram, to name a few. Arupjyoti Saikia takes on the task of explaining six decades of Assam history in his latest book, The Quest for Modern Assam: A History, 1942-2000 (India Allen Lane, 2023) In this interview, Arupjyoti and I talk about Assam's history from the Second World War and the decades since independence, including some of the wild schemes the British tried to apply to the Indian northeast, and why it's important to understand Indian history through its federal states. Arupjyoti Saikia is a professor of history at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. He held the Agrarian Studies Programme Fellowship at Yale University and visiting fellow positions at Cambridge University and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He is also the author of Forests and Ecological History of Assam, 1826-2000 (Oxford University Press: 2011), A Century of Protests: Peasant Politics in Assam since 1900 (Routledge: 2014), and The Unquiet River: A Biography of the Brahmaputra (Oxford University Press: 2019). You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The Quest for Modern Assam. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The northeast Indian state of Assam has had a complex history. As independence loomed, Assam was a large British province, bordering the fellow British colony of Burma and covering a large segment of India's northeast. Today's Assam is much smaller: First partition cut Assam off from the rest of India, with just a tiny “chicken neck” of land connecting the state with India proper. Then decades of tension between the Assamese and minority groups led to new states being created from within its borders: Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram, to name a few. Arupjyoti Saikia takes on the task of explaining six decades of Assam history in his latest book, The Quest for Modern Assam: A History, 1942-2000 (India Allen Lane, 2023) In this interview, Arupjyoti and I talk about Assam's history from the Second World War and the decades since independence, including some of the wild schemes the British tried to apply to the Indian northeast, and why it's important to understand Indian history through its federal states. Arupjyoti Saikia is a professor of history at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. He held the Agrarian Studies Programme Fellowship at Yale University and visiting fellow positions at Cambridge University and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He is also the author of Forests and Ecological History of Assam, 1826-2000 (Oxford University Press: 2011), A Century of Protests: Peasant Politics in Assam since 1900 (Routledge: 2014), and The Unquiet River: A Biography of the Brahmaputra (Oxford University Press: 2019). You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The Quest for Modern Assam. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

The northeast Indian state of Assam has had a complex history. As independence loomed, Assam was a large British province, bordering the fellow British colony of Burma and covering a large segment of India's northeast. Today's Assam is much smaller: First partition cut Assam off from the rest of India, with just a tiny “chicken neck” of land connecting the state with India proper. Then decades of tension between the Assamese and minority groups led to new states being created from within its borders: Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram, to name a few. Arupjyoti Saikia takes on the task of explaining six decades of Assam history in his latest book, The Quest for Modern Assam: A History, 1942-2000 (India Allen Lane, 2023) In this interview, Arupjyoti and I talk about Assam's history from the Second World War and the decades since independence, including some of the wild schemes the British tried to apply to the Indian northeast, and why it's important to understand Indian history through its federal states. Arupjyoti Saikia is a professor of history at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. He held the Agrarian Studies Programme Fellowship at Yale University and visiting fellow positions at Cambridge University and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He is also the author of Forests and Ecological History of Assam, 1826-2000 (Oxford University Press: 2011), A Century of Protests: Peasant Politics in Assam since 1900 (Routledge: 2014), and The Unquiet River: A Biography of the Brahmaputra (Oxford University Press: 2019). You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The Quest for Modern Assam. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/southeast-asian-studies

The northeast Indian state of Assam has had a complex history. As independence loomed, Assam was a large British province, bordering the fellow British colony of Burma and covering a large segment of India's northeast. Today's Assam is much smaller: First partition cut Assam off from the rest of India, with just a tiny “chicken neck” of land connecting the state with India proper. Then decades of tension between the Assamese and minority groups led to new states being created from within its borders: Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram, to name a few. Arupjyoti Saikia takes on the task of explaining six decades of Assam history in his latest book, The Quest for Modern Assam: A History, 1942-2000 (India Allen Lane, 2023) In this interview, Arupjyoti and I talk about Assam's history from the Second World War and the decades since independence, including some of the wild schemes the British tried to apply to the Indian northeast, and why it's important to understand Indian history through its federal states. Arupjyoti Saikia is a professor of history at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. He held the Agrarian Studies Programme Fellowship at Yale University and visiting fellow positions at Cambridge University and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He is also the author of Forests and Ecological History of Assam, 1826-2000 (Oxford University Press: 2011), A Century of Protests: Peasant Politics in Assam since 1900 (Routledge: 2014), and The Unquiet River: A Biography of the Brahmaputra (Oxford University Press: 2019). You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of The Quest for Modern Assam. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/south-asian-studies

It's one of the strange artifacts of history that Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania, was once controlled by the Sultanate of Oman. In 1832, then Sultan Sayyid Saïd bin Sultan al-Busaidi made the island his capital, with the empire split in two upon his death: one based in Muscat, one based in Zanzibar. As Seema Alavi notes in her history, Sovereigns of the Sea: Omani Ambition in the Age of Empire (India Allen Lane, 2023), the Omanis extended their reach across the Indian Ocean, preserving their autonomy in the age of European empire–particularly, and perhaps awkwardly, regarding the slave trade. Seema Alavi is a professor of history at Ashoka University, Sonipat, Haryana. In 2010, she was at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard as the William Bentinck-Smith Fellow. She has written books on the military, medical and religious histories of India, including Muslim Cosmopolitanism in the Age of Empire (Harvard University Press: 2015) Today, Seema and I talk about Zanzibar, the slave trade, and what the Omani Sultanate tells us about the international system in the age of empire. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Sovereigns of the Sea. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

It's one of the strange artifacts of history that Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania, was once controlled by the Sultanate of Oman. In 1832, then Sultan Sayyid Saïd bin Sultan al-Busaidi made the island his capital, with the empire split in two upon his death: one based in Muscat, one based in Zanzibar. As Seema Alavi notes in her history, Sovereigns of the Sea: Omani Ambition in the Age of Empire (India Allen Lane, 2023), the Omanis extended their reach across the Indian Ocean, preserving their autonomy in the age of European empire–particularly, and perhaps awkwardly, regarding the slave trade. Seema Alavi is a professor of history at Ashoka University, Sonipat, Haryana. In 2010, she was at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard as the William Bentinck-Smith Fellow. She has written books on the military, medical and religious histories of India, including Muslim Cosmopolitanism in the Age of Empire (Harvard University Press: 2015) Today, Seema and I talk about Zanzibar, the slave trade, and what the Omani Sultanate tells us about the international system in the age of empire. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Sovereigns of the Sea. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

It's one of the strange artifacts of history that Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania, was once controlled by the Sultanate of Oman. In 1832, then Sultan Sayyid Saïd bin Sultan al-Busaidi made the island his capital, with the empire split in two upon his death: one based in Muscat, one based in Zanzibar. As Seema Alavi notes in her history, Sovereigns of the Sea: Omani Ambition in the Age of Empire (India Allen Lane, 2023), the Omanis extended their reach across the Indian Ocean, preserving their autonomy in the age of European empire–particularly, and perhaps awkwardly, regarding the slave trade. Seema Alavi is a professor of history at Ashoka University, Sonipat, Haryana. In 2010, she was at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard as the William Bentinck-Smith Fellow. She has written books on the military, medical and religious histories of India, including Muslim Cosmopolitanism in the Age of Empire (Harvard University Press: 2015) Today, Seema and I talk about Zanzibar, the slave trade, and what the Omani Sultanate tells us about the international system in the age of empire. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Sovereigns of the Sea. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/middle-eastern-studies

It's one of the strange artifacts of history that Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania, was once controlled by the Sultanate of Oman. In 1832, then Sultan Sayyid Saïd bin Sultan al-Busaidi made the island his capital, with the empire split in two upon his death: one based in Muscat, one based in Zanzibar. As Seema Alavi notes in her history, Sovereigns of the Sea: Omani Ambition in the Age of Empire (India Allen Lane, 2023), the Omanis extended their reach across the Indian Ocean, preserving their autonomy in the age of European empire–particularly, and perhaps awkwardly, regarding the slave trade. Seema Alavi is a professor of history at Ashoka University, Sonipat, Haryana. In 2010, she was at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard as the William Bentinck-Smith Fellow. She has written books on the military, medical and religious histories of India, including Muslim Cosmopolitanism in the Age of Empire (Harvard University Press: 2015) Today, Seema and I talk about Zanzibar, the slave trade, and what the Omani Sultanate tells us about the international system in the age of empire. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Sovereigns of the Sea. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an associate editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at@nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/african-studies

This week, Abigail takes on the slow-moving mystery of the disappearance of the mass market paperback. Discussion includes thicc books, the history of publishing, fishy claims, and the necessity of cheap books in an expensive world.ABIGAIL'S STUFF: https://linktr.ee/abigailkellyauthorCITIZENS OF THIRST DISCORD SERVER: https://bit.ly/30NsP8PTWITTER, FACEBOOK, & INSTAGRAM: @kingdomthirstKoT'S BOOKSHOP: bookshop.org/shop/kingdomthirstPO Box 460816San Francisco CA, United States94146-0816Kingdom of Thirst is a member of the Frolic Podcast Network! Find all our episodes and tons of new podcasts to enjoy at frolic.media/podcasts.SOURCES:WHERE ARE MASS MARKET PAPERBACKS HEADED in PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/90039-mass-market-paperback-sales-whither.htmlTHE PAPERBACK REVOLUTION in BRITANNICA: https://www.britannica.com/topic/publishing/The-paperback-revolutionTHE REVOLUTIONARY EFFECT OF THE PAPERBACK BOOK in THE SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-revolutionary-effect-of-the-paperback-book-36209689/ALLEN LANE & PENGUIN BOOKS INVENT THE MASS-MARKET PAPERBACK: https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=2642HOW PAPERBACKS TRANSFORMED THE WAY AMERICANS READ in MENTAL FLOSS: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/12247/how-paperbacks-transformed-way-americans-readTHE HISTORY OF DUST JACKETS: FROM DISPOSABLE TO COLLECTIBLE in BOOK RIOT: https://bookriot.com/history-of-dust-jackets/

Interview Recorded - 27th of July, 2023Buy Book Here - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Price-Time-Real-Story-Interest/dp/0241569168/On this episode of the WTFinance podcast I have the pleasure of speaking with Edward Chancellor - A financial historian, journalist and investment strategist. He is also the author of the recently released book “The Price of Time”. During our conversation we spoke about the Price of Time, what impact low interest rates have had on markets and the economy, what we can expect in the future and more. I hope you enjoy. 0:00 - Introduction1:18 - What is the Price of Time?4:27 - Why is the price of time important?9:18 - What impact does negative interest rates have on the economy & markets?16:18 - Valuations go down as interest rates go up23:33 - Surprised by how certain markets have held up with higher interest rates?28:43 - Could history be suggesting current empires will collapse?40:03 - Interest rates are difficult to predict42:08 - One message to take away from conversation?Edward Chancellor is a financial historian, journalist and investment strategist. Edward read history at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with first-class honours, and later gained an M.Phil. in Enlightenment history from Oxford University. In the early 1990s he worked for the London merchant bank, Lazard Brothers. He was later an editor at the financial commentary site, Breakingviews. From 2008 to 2014, Edward was a senior member of the asset allocation team at GMO, the Boston-based investment firm. He is currently a columnist for Reuters Breakingviews and an occasional contributor to the Wall Street Journal, MoneyWeek, the New York Review of Books and Financial Times. In 2008, Edward received the George Polk Award for financial reporting for his article “Ponzi Nation” in Institutional Investor magazine.Edward Chancellor is the author of Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation (Farrar Straus/Macmillan, 1999), a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Devil Take the Hindmost has been translated into more than half a dozen languages. In 2005, he published the report, Crunch-Time for Credit? (Harriman House), an analysis of the ongoing credit boom in the US and UK.  Edward has also edited two well-received investment books, Capital Account (Thomson Texere, 2004) and Capital Returns (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015). His latest book, The Price of Time, is published by Allen Lane in the United Kingdom and Atlantic Monthly Press in the United States. The Price of Time has been longlisted for the FT 2022 Business Book of the Year.Edward Chancellor - Website - https://www.edwardchancellor.com/Twitter - https://twitter.com/chancellor_eWTFinance -Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/wtfinancee/Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/67rpmjG92PNBW0doLyPvfniTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wtfinance/id1554934665?uo=4Twitter - https://twitter.com/AnthonyFatseas

Forty years before the infamous witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, Hugh Parsons stepped out of his dirty, disease ridden prison cell in Boston and was carted off towards the courthouse in order to stand trial as a witch. He'd come from a small settlement named Springfield over a hundred miles away and spent the last year cooped up in a concrete prison with his life in the balance. The previous few years had seen the fear of witches spread like a disease throughout New England, with cases springing up like boils on a plague victim. Accused, tried and sent to prison to await a verdict, Parsons had survived the cold winter drinking filthy water and eating gruel in the overcrowded gaol and finally, he was to find out if he was to be lanced. SOURCES Pynchon, William (1651) Testimony Against Hugh Parsons Charged With Witchcraft. The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1650 - 1651. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/3ca63410-c627-0139-9efd-0242ac110004 Gaskill, Malcolm (2021) The Ruin Of All Witches: Life And Death In The New World. Allen Lane, UK. Handlin, Lilian (1985) Dissent In A Small Community. The New England Quarterly, Vol. 58, No. 2 (Jun., 1985), pp. 193-220 (28 pages). New England, USA. Evans, Hillary & Bartholomew, Robert (2015) Outbreak: The Encyclopedia of Extraordinary Social Behavior. Anomalist Books, UK. ------- This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/darkhistories and get on your way to being your best self. ------- For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9 Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at contact@darkhistories.com or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.