Engelsberg Ideas podcasts bring together leading writers, thinkers and historians to discuss the biggest issues facing the world today. You’ll find calm conversations and thought-provoking analysis.
242 Available Episodes (242 Total)Average duration: 00:31:54
May 03, 2024
EI Weekly Listen — Lawrence James on the invention of jingoism
00:33:43
Jingoism was a natural offshoot of late Victorian imperialism. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Image: Poster for a British imperial railway company. Credit: Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo
May 02, 2024
EI Talks... Caravaggio
00:36:35
A small but riveting exhibition at London's National Gallery tells the dramatic story of the troubled Renaissance master's 'last' painting.
Image: The Martyrdom of St Ursula, 1610. Credit: incamerastock / Alamy Stock Photo
Apr 26, 2024
EI Weekly Listen — Steven Grosby on the persistence of nationhood
00:22:15
What is a nation, what is its significance, and to what problems of life is its persistence a response? Read by Leighton Pugh.
Image: Lucas Cranach's The Crossing of the Red Sea, 1530. Credit: Heritage Image Partnership Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo
Apr 25, 2024
EI Portraits — Nehemiah Wallington: Puritan chronicler who had far less fun than Pepys
00:13:09
Vanessa Harding on the God-fearing diarist Nehemiah Wallington whose personality was far removed from the cosmopolitanism of Samuel Pepys, his fast-living contemporary. Read by Sebastian Brown.
Image: An excerpt from Nehemiah Wallington's diary, dated 1654. Credit: Folger Shakespeare Library.
Apr 19, 2024
EI Weekly Listen — Adrian Wooldridge on meritocracy
00:29:45
The biggest division in modern society is between the meritocracy and the people, the cognitive elite and the masses, the exam-passers and the exam-flunkers. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Image: Caricature of a Cambridge University library in the Georgian era. Credit: Thomas Rowlandson / Alamy Stock Photo
Apr 18, 2024
EI Talks... the Entente Cordiale
00:36:13
Self-interest, imperial competition and new threats in Europe - T.G. Otte examines the complex 120-year long history of the Entente Cordiale with EI's senior editor, Paul Lay.
Image: First prize winner at the Covent Garden fancy dress ball in 1905, a lady dressed in an elaborate costume as the Entente Cordiale. Credit: Chronicle / Alamy Stock Photo
Apr 12, 2024
EI Weekly Listen — Mariano Sigman on how language has shaped human consciousness
00:13:30
How did our ancestors think? Read by Leighton Pugh.
Image: A play is performed in an ancient Greek theatre. Credit: Classic Image / Alamy Stock Photo
Apr 12, 2024
EI Portraits — Anna Komnene: the princess who chronicled Byzantium’s changing fortunes
00:13:08
Peter Frankopan on the Byzantine princess Anna Komnene who, banished to a convent for her political ambition, devoted her gifts of observation to charting the fortunes of her father's empire – etching her legacy as Europe's first female historian. Read by Sebastian Brown.
Image: Anna Komnene, a Byzantine princess and scholar. Credit: history_docu_photo / Alamy Stock Photo
Apr 05, 2024
EI Weekly Listen — Nathan Shachar on ideology in science
00:20:04
There is no linear, moral progress in knowledge and science. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Image: Triple-microscope made by the optician Camille Sebastien Nachet in Paris. Credit: gameover / Alamy Stock Photo
Apr 05, 2024
EI Talks... terrorism
00:37:18
EI's Deputy Editor Alastair Benn speaks to Suzanne Raine, visiting professor in the Department of War Studies at King's College London, about the evolution of the terrorist threat and its long history.
Image: Anarchist outrage at the Liceo theatre in Barcelona, 1893. Credit: Photo 12 / Alamy Stock Photo
May 03 | 00:33:43
EI Weekly Listen — Lawrence James on the invention of jingoism
May 02 | 00:36:35
EI Talks... Caravaggio
Apr 26 | 00:22:15
EI Weekly Listen — Steven Grosby on the persistence of nationhood
Apr 25 | 00:13:09
EI Portraits — Nehemiah Wallington: Puritan chronicler who had far less fun than Pepys
Apr 19 | 00:29:45
EI Weekly Listen — Adrian Wooldridge on meritocracy
Apr 18 | 00:36:13
EI Talks... the Entente Cordiale
Apr 12 | 00:13:30
EI Weekly Listen — Mariano Sigman on how language has shaped human consciousness
Apr 12 | 00:13:08
EI Portraits — Anna Komnene: the princess who chronicled Byzantium’s changing fortunes
Apr 05 | 00:20:04
EI Weekly Listen — Nathan Shachar on ideology in science
Apr 05 | 00:37:18
EI Talks... terrorism
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