Western Civ
Adam Walsh
A fast-moving history of the western world from the ancient world to the present day. Examine how the emergence of the western world as a global dominant power was not something that should ever have been taken for granted. This podcast traces the development of western civilization starting in the ancient Near East, through Greece and Rome, past the collapse of the Western Roman Empire into the Dark Ages, and then follows European and, ultimately, American history as the western world moved into a dominant world position.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Dec 9, 2025 • 27min
Episode 500: A Whiff of Grapeshot
It is about time to introduce the man who will change it all: Napoleon Bonaparte.Western Civ 2.0 Free Trial
Dec 8, 2025 • 18min
Episode 499: The Rise of Louverture
Toussaint Louverture changes the situation in Haiti from a rebellion to a full-on revolution.Support Western Civ
Dec 5, 2025 • 44min
Episode 498: The Terror
Maximilien Robespierre leads France into the maw of violence and blood. His death ends this period of the French Revolution.Western Civ 2.0 Support
Nov 29, 2025 • 18min
Episode 497: The Terror Begins
France sleepwalks into one of the vicious periods of the French Revolution as the countryside erupts in revolt.Western Civ Podcast 2.0 Support
Nov 28, 2025 • 24min
Episode 496: The Trial of Louis XVI
The trial of Louis XVI ends with the last Bourbon monarch being led to the guillotine. The reaction of the rest of Europe is not good. Hence, the War of the First Coalition.Western Civ 2.0 Free Trial
Nov 27, 2025 • 19min
Episode 495: The Fall of the King
Europe finally reacts to the French Revolution, and a startling discovery sets in motion events which will condemn Louis XVI to death.Western Civ 2.0
Nov 24, 2025 • 23min
Episode 494: Saint-Dominque
Saint-Dominque, soon to be Haiti, erupts in its own revolution.Western Civ 2.0 Free Trial
Nov 21, 2025 • 39min
Episode 493: The Flight of the Royals
Louis XVI makes a break for it. France passes a new Constitution into law. And the storm clouds continue to grow around the French Revolution.Western Civ 2.0
Nov 14, 2025 • 28min
Episode 492: Bread and the Church
Riots in Paris provoke unrest, while in the countryside French peasants recoil at attacks upon the Catholic Church.Western Civ Podcast 2.0
Nov 11, 2025 • 37min
Diogenes: The Rebellious Life and Revolutionary Philosophy of the Original Cynic
Buy The BookIn his own day, the ancient philosopher Diogenes the Cynic had a reputation for eccentricity, heckling his fellow philosophers in the marketplace, living in a clay pot, and relieving himself in public. Since his death in 323 BCE, devoted followers made him and his ideas famous the world over. But what we think we know about Diogenes remains distorted and sanitized.In Diogenes, classicist Inger N.I. Kuin scours all existing evidence of Diogenes and his followers to offer an in-depth account of Diogenes’ life and thought, revealing a man whose innovative ideas about power, death, nature, and the body have much to teach the contemporary world. He pioneered a vision of simplicity and autonomy in his day-to-day life, stressing the importance of living in the here and now, and of always thinking for oneself. Diogenes stands apart as history’s first recorded critic of slavery and a proud exile from polite society whose challenging thought proved foundational for the Stoics and their successors.Diogenes rehabilitates Diogenes as a compelling thinker for the twenty-first century, one who demands that we look at our society with fresh eyes and be unafraid of change—starting with ourselves.
