The EI Podcast
Engelsberg Ideas
The EI Podcast brings you weekly conversations and audio essays from leading writers, thinkers and historians. Hosted by Alastair Benn and Paul Lay. Find the EI Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or search The EI Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Dec 19, 2020 • 38min
11: GCHQ – John Ferris on the official history
Mattias Hessérus is in conversation with John Ferris, the historian 'behind the enigma' of Britain's signals intelligence agency.
Dec 15, 2020 • 36min
10: MI9 – Helen Fry on wartime escape
Mattias Hessérus is in conversation with Helen Fry on the ingenious exploits of MI9 – the secret service for escape and evasion.
Dec 14, 2020 • 45min
9: David Omand on what it takes to think like a secret agent
Mattias Hessérus is in conversation with David Omand, former director of GCHQ, on how we can all learn to think like a spy.
Dec 4, 2020 • 49min
8: Fredrik Logevall on JFK
Over 40,000 books have been written on JFK since his assassination, yet none have succeeded in getting behind the myth of Camelot. Join Mattias Hessérus in discussion with Fredrik Logevall on the making of the man who enchanted America.
Nov 13, 2020 • 46min
7: Covid and reform: can the West fix its governing systems?
Iain Martin with guests Adrian Wooldridge and Vernon Bogdanor discusses the covid crisis and the long-term impact that it might have on the development of the West.
Sep 28, 2020 • 50min
6: Alexander Lee on Machiavelli
In this episode of History Lessons, Mattias Hesserus is joined by Alexander Lee to discuss Machiavelli’s life and works. Was he always an adept politician? Was he as immoral as is often claimed?
Sep 11, 2020 • 37min
5: Asian Philosophies of Rebirth with Jessica Frazier
In this episode of History Lessons, Mattias Hesserus and Jessica Frazier are in conversation about the differences between Eastern and Western philosophies of crisis. Is the desire for a return to ’normal’ inherently western? What can we learn from narratives of rebirth? And, was the global lockdown a mass-participation yogic experiment?
Jul 23, 2020 • 49min
4: Can the West be revived?
How did the West land in, what we might politely call, a 'sub-optimal' condition? And is a revival of the West feasible? To discuss these questions Iain Martin is joined by Peter Frankopan and David Frum.
This is an Engeslberg Ideas podcast.
Jul 10, 2020 • 27min
3: Leadership in a Crisis with Andrew Roberts
On this episode of History Lessons, Mattias Hessérus is joined by the historian and author Andrew Roberts to look through the careers of great figures like Napoleon Bonaparte, Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher (as well as some of history's great villains, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin) and see how they handled the pressure of a crisis.
History Lessons is an Engelsberg Ideas podcast.
Hosted by Mattias Hessérus.
With Andrew Roberts.
Produced by Nick Hilton for Podot.
Jul 1, 2020 • 26min
2: The History of Quarantine with Lincoln Paine
On this episode of History Lessons, Mattias Hessérus speaks to the maritime historian Lincoln Paine, author of The Sea and Civilization, about the history of quarantine, how pandemics have affected trade and travel in the past, and whether globalisation can survive the current moment.
Hosted by Mattias Hessérus.
With Lincoln Paine.
Produced by Nick Hilton for Podot.
