History Book Club

Europe is in a bit of a fix, with a belligerent Russia to its East, and the traditional ally and protector disinterested to the West, governments are only starting to think about maybe increasing defence spending. In Britain, we are behind our continental allies and still trying to find excuses not to improve defence capability.

So who better to get on than a former General, Barney White-Spunner, who has written a book about five armies that saved Europe (spoiler alert, one of them is American), and so we chat about what that means for the present.

BWS Links

Nations in Arms: Five Armies That Made Europe

Ukraine Links

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Herodotus is known as the father of history, and the next historian out the blocks, Thucydides, took the idea, and it was very much an idea in infancy, and produced a work that is still discussed by politicians and generals 2,500 years later.

There is a new translation of the History of the Peloponnesian War by the great translator Robin Waterfield, and he enters the club with historian Polly Low to discuss Thucydides, his style as a historian, the Peloponnesian War and plenty more.

Thucydides Links

The History of the Peloponnesian War, Translated by Robin Waterfield

Ukraine Links

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Today’s episode is a subject that has been prominent in the last few years, the Atlantic slave trade, and today’s book, Survivors is a quite brilliant one that focusses on one voyage in particular, the Clotilda.

Joining is Hannah Durkin who tells the harrowing tail of one boat’s enslaved people, from when they are capture in West Africa, through to their journey across the Atlantic, to Mobile Alabama, and then the story of the descendants.

Hannah Durkin Links

Survivors: A History of the Last Captives of the Atlantic Slave Trade

Ukraine Links

Convoy for Ukraine, run by my friend Ian Wilson-Young

⁠History Book Club Shop⁠

Oliver Webb-Carter Links

⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Who Cares Who Wins? ⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Paean to Patrick Leigh Fermor⁠⁠⁠

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Email me: [email protected]

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This is the first movie to appear on the History Book Club pod. It's perhaps the most influential film to depict combat in the last thirty years. Steven Spielberg's epic captures the pathos of warfare.

In this episode we discuss

Saving Private Ryan Links

Bixby Letter
⁠James Holland on Saving Private Ryan⁠
Our Awards

Best Performance

Most Egregious Overracting

Biggest Plot Flaw

Historical Inaccuracy

What if Tarantino Made It?

Who won the film?
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This week we are going back to late 17th and early 18th century Britain, a time when politics as we recognise today was formed: the development of the party system – Whigs and Tories, The Act of Union with Scotland, and foreign wars often unpopular at home.

Joining me, is George Owers, and as you heard he describes a fantastic romp through the period, which is the subject of his book The Rage of Party.

George Owers Links

Rage of Party: How Whig Versus Tory Made Modern Britain

Oliver Webb-Carter Links

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⁠⁠Who Cares Who Wins? ⁠⁠

⁠⁠Paean to Patrick Leigh Fermor⁠⁠

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Email me: [email protected]
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