In the latest issue of the LRB, Jeremy Harding reviews How to Write about Africa, a posthumous collection of essays and stories by Binyavanga Wainaina, one of postcolonial Africa’s great anglophone satirists. Jeremy joins Tom to talk about Wainaina’s life and work, including the title essay and his ambivalent response to its popularity (‘I went viral,’ he later said, ‘I became spam’); his reporting from South Sudan; the ‘lost chapter’ from his memoir in which he imagines coming out to his parents; and his account of travelling to Senegal to interview the musician Youssou N'Dour, a piece that Harding describes as both ‘beautifully done’ and ‘extremely funny’.Find further reading and external links on the episode page: https://lrb.me/wainainapodSponsored links:Use the code ’LRB’ to get £100 off Serious Readers lights here: https://www.seriousreaders.com/lrbFind out more about ACE Cultural Tours: https://aceculturaltours.co.ukSee Hansel and Gretel at the Royal Opera House: https://www.rbo.org.uk/tickets-and-events/hansel-and-gretel-details Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In his third conversation looking at the crisis in the Middle East, Adam talks to Mohamad Bazzi about Israel’s expansion of its war into Lebanon and the recent assassinations of Yahya Sinwar and Hassan Nasrallah. They discuss the factors behind Israel’s unprecedented aggression and why, as in Gaza, it’s able to operate without restraint, not least from the Biden administration.Mohamad Bazzi is director of the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies and a professor of journalism at New York University.Read Adam Shatz on the death of Nasrallah in the latest LRB.https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n20/adam-shatz/after-nasrallah Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second of three conversations about the crisis in the Middle East, recorded shortly before the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was reported, Yezid Sayigh talks to Adam Shatz about why he sees Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October as an inflection point both for the Palestinian movement and global history. Sayigh believes that the attacks reflected an erosion of Palestinian leadership, as well as a moral and strategic crisis. Only a new vision of Palestinian liberation, rooted in progressive ideals rather than in the ethno-religious project of Hamas, he argues, can lead to genuine Palestinian freedom and sovereignty.Read Adam Shatz on the death of Nasrallah in the latest LRB:https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n20/adam-shatz/after-nasrallah Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the first of two episodes on the crisis in the Middle East, Adam Shatz is joined by Mairav Zonszein and Amjad Iraqi to discuss the experiences of Israeli Jews and Palestinian citizens of Israel. While the Netanyahu government is opposed by many Israeli Jews, and increasing numbers have left the country, support for Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon remains high because few can imagine an alternative. For Palestinian citizens of Israel, who have long suffered restrictions on their democratic rights, the escalating crisis has intensified that discrimination, while stirring a deep sense of fear regarding their future. Mairav and Amjad talk to Adam about the tensions in Israeli society, not least between the government and military, and why Netanyahu has shown so little interest in the lives of the hostages still held by Hamas.Read Adam Shatz on the death of Nasrallah:https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n20/adam-shatz/after-nasrallah Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

‘The department store is dying,’ Rosemary Hill wrote recently in the LRB, reviewing an exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris on the origins of the grands magasins. She joins Tom to talk about their 19th and 20th-century heyday as cathedrals of consumerism as well as places where women could spend time away from home, and away from men, safely and respectably. She also recalls the Christmas she worked in the toy department at Selfridges, demonstrating wind-up bath toys.Sponsored links:Use the code ’LRB’ to get £100 off Serious Readers lights here: https://www.seriousreaders.com/lrbFind out more about ACE Cultural Tours: https://aceculturaltours.co.ukSee Maddaddam at the Royal Opera House: https://www.rbo.org.uk/tickets-and-events/maddaddam-details Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The final report of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry established that the fire on 14 June 2017, which killed 72 people, was the ‘culmination of decades of failure’. Every death was avoidable, and every death was the result of choices made by corporations, individuals and elected officials. James Butler, who writes about the report and its findings in the current issue of the LRB, joins Tom to discuss the causes and consequences of the fire and whether those responsible will be brought to justice.Read James's piece: https://lrb.me/butlergrenfellSponsored links:Use the code 'LRB' to get £100 off Serious Readers lights here: https://www.seriousreaders.com/lrbTo find out about financial support for professional writers visit the Royal Literary Fund here: https://www.rlf.org.uk/Discover the LRB's subscription podcast, Close Readings, and audiobooks here: https://lrb.me/audio Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In November 2022, archaeologists excavating the ancient city of Philadelphia, two hours south of Cairo, discovered a clump of papyri in a shallow grave. On one of them were written nearly a hundred lines from two lost plays by Euripides. Robert Cioffi, who has been working with the same team on a new archaeological mission, joins Tom to discuss the find, the precarious transmission of ancient manuscripts, and the time he tried to make papyrus in his kitchen.Find further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/euripidespodSponsored links:Find out more about ACE Cultural Tours: https://aceculturaltours.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Singing, acting, directing, writing: Barbra Streisand always insisted on doing it her way (men like that get called geniuses; it gave Streisand a reputation for being difficult). Malin Hay, who recently reviewed Streisand’s thousand-page autobiography, joins Tom to discuss her performances on stage and screen, her prodigious voice, and why her best movie may be one where she doesn’t sing at all.Find further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/barbrapodMalin’s Streisand playlist: https://lrb.me/barbraplaylistSponsored links:Find out more about ACE Cultural Tours: https://aceculturaltours.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jane Ellen Harrison was Britain’s first female career academic, a maverick public intellectual burdened with the label ‘the cleverest woman in England’. Her quips and quirks became legendary, but many of those anecdotes were promulgated by Harrison herself. Mary Beard joins Tom to discuss Harrison’s legacy, the challenges in writing her life and the careful cultivation of her voice.Find further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/jeharrisonpodSponsored Links:The Kluge Prize: https://loc.gov/klugeToronto University Press: https://utorontopress.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is a chapter from Complicated Women by Bee Wilson, a new LRB audiobook, based on pieces first published in the London Review of Books. Wilson explores the lives of ten figures, from Lola Montez to Vivienne Westwood, who challenged the limitations imposed on women in dramatically different ways. In this free chapter, she describes the ways that Edith Piaf’s life and art embodied the needs of her public, and how she became a symbol of postwar French resilience.Podcast listeners can get 20% off using the code POD20 at checkout.Buy the audiobook here and listen in your preferred podcast app: https://lrb.me/audio Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, a chapter from a new LRB audiobook, Becoming a Philosopher: Spinoza to Sartre by Jonathan Rée. This collection of ten biographical pieces, read by Rée, describes the lives of some of most influential thinkers of the past four hundred years and the radical and sometimes bizarre ideas that emerged from them. The audiobook also includes an introductory conversation between Rée and Thomas Jones, host of the LRB Podcast. In this free chapter, Rée looks at the life of Jean-Paul Sartre up to the publication of his first major philosophical work, Being and Nothingness, in 1943.Podcast listeners can get 20% off using the code POD20 at checkout.Buy the audiobook here and listen in your preferred podcast app: https://lrb.me/audio Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The great auk was a flightless, populous and reportedly delicious bird, once found widely across the rocky outcrops of the North Atlantic. By the 1860s it was extinct, its decline sharpened by specimen collectors and at least one volcanic eruption. Human-driven extinction was ‘almost unthinkable’ until the auk’s disappearance, Liam Shaw writes. He joins Tom to discuss when, where and why the great auk died out.Find further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/aukspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What do Jane Austen, Simone de Beauvoir and Herodotus have in common? They all appear in three of this year’s Close Readings series, in which a pair of LRB contributors explore an area of literature through a selection of key works. This week, we’re revisiting some of the highlights from subscriber-only episodes: Clare Bucknell and Colin Burrow on Emma, Judith Butler and Adam Shatz on The Second Sex, and Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones on Herodotus’ Histories.To listen to these episodes in full, subscribe to Close Readings:Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3Md5fd5In other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/audio Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Book of Genesis begins with the creation of the universe and ends with the death of Jacob, patriarch of the Israelites. Between these two events, successive generations confront the moral tests set for them by God, and in doing so usher in the Abrahamic religious tradition. In Reading Genesis, Marilynne Robinson argues for the continued relevance of Genesis as a foundational text of Western culture. James Butler joins Malin to discuss Robinson’s account in the light of a long, rich and conflicted history of interpretation.Find further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/genesispodSponsored link:Learn more about the Royal Literary Fund here: https://rlf.org.uk/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the 160s CE, Rome was struck by a devastating disease which, a new book argues, may have been the world’s first pandemic. Galen began his career treating ’the protracted plague’ with viper flesh, opium and urine, but despite his extensive documentation, we still don’t know what a modern diagnosis would be. Josephine Quinn joins Malin to discuss contemporary theories about the Antonine Plague and what ice cores and amulets can tell us about the disease’s impact.Further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/romanplaguepod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Wittgenstein published his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus in 1921, he claimed to have solved all philosophical problems. One problem that hasn’t been solved though is how best to translate this notoriously difficult work. The expiry of the book’s copyright in 2021 has brought three new English translations in less than a year, each grappling with the difficulties posed by a philosopher who frequently undermined his own use of language to demonstrate the limitations of what can be represented. Adrian Moore joins Malin Hay to discuss what Wittgenstein hoped to achieve with the only work he published in his lifetime and to consider how much we should trust his assertion that everything it contains is nonsensical.Find further reading and listening on the episode page: https://lrb.me/tractatuspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Patrick McGuinness reads his diary from our 6th June issue about his family’s hometown of Bouillon in Belgium. He reflects on the linguistic and national barriers he crossed to return there each year; on the changes wrought on the town by the end of the industrial era; and on the ways that history and global politics can shape a locality beyond recognition.Read the diary here: https://lrb.me/mcguinnesspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s the final day of the Republican National Convention. Andrew O'Hagan and Deborah Friedell dissect Trump’s marathon acceptance speech and ask what a second term could look like. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At day three of the Republican National Convention, Andrew O'Hagan and Deborah Friedell discuss what a second Trump presidency would mean for American foreign policy. They compare notes on J.D. Vance's memoir Hillbilly Elegy, and reflect on his keynote speech. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew O'Hagan and Deborah Friedell return to the Republican National Convention. They explore second day's theme, Make America Safe Again, and discuss how this convention compares to the last one Andrew attended, the RNC in 2004. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew O'Hagan and Deborah Friedell report on day one of the Republican National Convention. They react to Trump's choice of vice president and reflect on the key note speech by Sean O'Brien, the first time the head of the Teamsters' Union has ever addressed the RNC. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The worst thing you can say to anyone who works in hospitality, Mendez writes, is ‘Maybe you’ll meet someone!’ But a chance encounter while waiting tables lead to their new niche. In this episode, Mendez reads their recent piece about the art of audiobook narration and how they became the voice of Pelé.Find the original piece and further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/mendezpodLearn more about the Charleston Trust: https://www.charleston.org.uk/exhibition/anne-rothenstein/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Lanchester, Tom Crewe and Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite join James Butler to dissect Keir Starmer's victory and the historic collapse of the Conservative Party. They discuss what the result tells us about the needs and frustrations of the country, the ways in which the new Labour government might achieve some of the things it’s promised and why comparisons with Harold Wilson have been so prevalent.Read Tom Crewe on fourteen years of the Tories:https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n12/tom-crewe/carnival-of-self-harm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The day before the election, James Butler is joined by William Davies to talk about something everyone seems to agree on: the very poor state of the UK’s public finances. The past fourteen years of Conservative rule began with the technocratic austerity of George Osborne and ended with the return of the ‘grown-ups’, Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak, to inflict more pain. In between came the chaos of Brexit and the Truss-Kwarteng ‘mini-budget’. What will a likely Labour government pick up from this? Are we still stuck in the age of Osborne, or will something resembling the public investment strategy of Bidenomics emerge through initiatives such as the National Wealth Fund and Great British Energy, as Rachel Reeves has promised?Read Will's latest LRB piece: https://lrb.me/davieselectionpod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

‘The world is growing more dangerous’ warns the Conservative manifesto, which puts security at the heart of its pitch. The Labour manifesto, on the other hand, doesn’t mention the world beyond the UK at all in its five ‘missions’. Are the Tories simply being honest with voters, or trying to distract from their domestic record? In this episode, James Butler is joined by Tom Stevenson and Iona Craig to discuss the challenges facing the next foreign secretary, from Gaza to the pressures of a possible Trump presidency. Labour’s current approach seems to promise ‘Blair without the Iraq War’, but how far will this allow UK foreign policy to depart from its normal attitude of subservience to the United States?Read more in the LRB:Tom Stevenson on diplomacy: https://lrb.me/stevensonelectionpodJames Butler's latest election post: https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2024/june/new-order Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For forty years, Thomas James Wise made a fortune forging copies of books that had never existed, sometimes even convincing their authors they were the real deal. Despite a damning exposé by amateur detectives in the 1930s, Wise never confessed or faced legal repercussions, and his fakes have become collectors’ pieces in their own right. Gill Partington joins Tom to explain Wise’s success and final undoing, and to discuss the value of forgeries, hoaxes and reproductions as art.Find further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/wisepodFind out more about the Royal Literary Fund: https://rlf.org.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the second episode of our series on the UK election, James Butler is joined by Sam Freedman to talk about the enormous challenges facing the next government. From hospital waiting lists to criminal court backlogs and even potholes, the fabric of the British state seems to be beyond repair. It’s not simply a problem of funding: poor management, a lack of scrutiny and extreme centralisation combined with the almost total destruction of local government have all played a part. James and Sam consider if there’s anything to be done about this chronic dysfunction, and whether the next official opposition could in fact be the Liberal Democrats.Read more from James Butler the LRB:James Butler on the crisis in care: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v45/n05/james-butler/this-concerns-everyoneSponsored LinkGet £100 off your Serious Readers order: https://www.seriousreaders.com/LRB Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the first in a series of episodes on the UK general election, James Butler is joined by Ann Pettifor and Adrienne Buller to discuss climate policy and its apparent absence from the campaign so far. Several years ago the Labour Party was committed to a Green New Deal but has since backed away from that promise, while the Conservatives have decided that abandoning their own climate commitments is a vote-winner. Ann, Adrienne and James consider why political leadership and courage have disappeared on this issue, what environmental policy might look like with a Labour government, and how Chinese bicycles demonstrate the problem of international climate action.Read James's latest blog post on the election: https://lrb.me/butlersunakpodAnd more on climate in the LRB:Will Davies on why capitalism won't save the planet: https://lrb.me/daviesclimatepodJames Butler on Andreas Malm and ecoterrorism: https://lrb.me/butlerclimatepod2 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From the ghetto's creation in 1516 until its dissolution at the end of the 18th century, Jews in Venice were confined to a district enclosed by canals, patrolled by guards and locked at night. Yet its residents were essential players in Venetian life, and in practice the ghetto saw far more traffic through its gates than its founders intended. Erin Maglaque joins Tom to discuss what life in the ghetto was like, and why an open-air prison could be considered relatively tolerant by the standards of early modern Europe.Find further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/ghettopodSponsored links:Find out more about Solved from the University of Toronto Press: https://utorontopress.com/9781487506827/solved/Learn more about Serious Readers: https://seriousreaders.com/lrb/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The D-Day planners said that everything would depended the weather. They needed 'a quiet day with not more than moderate winds and seas and not too much cloud for the airmen, to be followed by three more quiet days'. But who would make the forecast? The Meteorological Office? The US Air Force? The Royal Navy? In the event, it was all three. In this diary piece published in 1994, Lawrence Hogben, a New Zealand-born meteorologist and Royal Navy officer, describes the way this forecasting by committee worked, and why they very almost chose the wrong day.Read by Stephen DillaneFind the article and further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/ddaypodWatch the short film based on this piece: https://lrb.me/ddayytSponsored links:Learn more about Serious Readers: www.seriousreaders.com/lrbSign up to the LRB's Close Readings subscription:In Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

J.G. Ballard’s life and work contains many incongruities, outraging the Daily Mail and being offered a CBE (which he rejected), and variously appealing to both Spielberg and Cronenberg. In a recent piece, Edmund Gordon unpicks the contradictions and contrarianism in Ballard’s non-fiction writing, and he joins Tom to continue the dissection. They explore Ballard’s strange combination of ‘whisky and soda’ conservatism and the avant-garde, what he was trying to achieve through his fiction, and how ‘Ballardian’ Empire of the Sun really is.Sponsored links:Find out more about Pace Gallery London’s Kiki Kogelnik exhibition here: https://www.pacegallery.com/exhibitions/kiki-kogelnik-the-dance/Learn more about Serious Readers: https://try.seriousreaders.com/pages/lrb/Sign up to the LRB's Close Readings subscription:In Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Marilyn Nance was 23 when she photographed Festac ’77, a global celebration of Black and African art that she described as ‘the Olympics, plus a Biennial, plus Woodstock’. In his review of Nance’s book, Sean Jacobs traces a more fraught history of the festival than her photographs would suggest. Sean joins Tom to discuss what Festac meant for politicians, attendees and the proponents of négritude, third worldism and pan-Africanism.Find further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/festacpodFind out more about Serious Readers: https://www.seriousreaders.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rebecca Solnit has lived in San Francisco since 1980, but the city she used to know is fast disappearing, ‘fully annexed’, as she puts it, by the tech firms from Silicon Valley. In this episode of the LRB podcast, Solnit reads her piece from the 8 February issue of the paper, both a eulogy for the city that’s been lost and a dissection of the dystopia that’s replacing it, ‘returning us’, as she puts it, ‘to a kind of feudalism’.Find further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/solnitpodFind out more about Serious Readers: https://www.seriousreaders.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We tend to associate the recovery of history’s ‘lost’ women with the advent of feminism, but, Sophie Smith writes, women’s contributions to Western philosophy have been regularly rediscovered since at least the 14th century. She joins Tom to discuss this cycle of forgetting and what we can learn from the women who held their own alongside Plato, Descartes and Hume.Find Sophie’s piece and further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/sophiesmithpodFind out more about Pace Gallery’s upcoming exhibitions here: https://www.pacegallery.com/exhibitions/Find out more about Coram Boy at Chichister Festival Theatre here: https://www.cft.org.uk/events/coram-boy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Pratt and John Smith were the last men hanged in England for the crime of sodomy, reported to the authorities by nosy landlords who later petitioned for clemency. Tom Crewe joins Thomas Jones to explain how exceptional – and unexceptional – the case was, the historical forces that led to the death sentence and the surprising ambivalence many Londoners felt about ‘unnatural crimes’ in the 1830s.Find out more about Bluets at the Royal Court theatre here: https://royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/bluets/Find Tom Crewe’s piece and further reading at the episode page: https://lrb.me/prattsmithpod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The word ‘culture’ now drags the term ‘wars’ in its wake, but this is too narrow an approach to a concept with a much more capacious history. In the closing LRB Winter Lecture for 2024, Terry Eagleton examines various aspects of that history – culture and power, culture and ethics, culture and critique, culture and ideology – in an attempt to broaden the argument and understand where we are now.Terry Eagleton delivered this lecture as part of the LRB's Winter Lecture series at St James's Church, Clerkenwell, London on 27 March 2024.Read Terry Eagleton’s lecture in the LRB: https://lrb.me/eagletonwlFind out more about Bluets here: https://royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/bluets/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In her recent LRB Winter Lecture, Hazel V. Carby discussed ways contemporary Indigenous artists are rendering the ordinarily invisible repercussions of ecocide and genocide visible. She joins Adam Shatz to expand on the artists discussed in her lecture, and how they disrupt the ways we’re accustomed to seeing borders, landmasses, and landscapes empty – or emptied – of people.Find the lecture and further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/carbypodFind out more about Bluets at the Royal Court theatre here: https://royalcourttheatre.com/whats-on/bluets/Listen to the We Society Podcast here: https://acss.org.uk/we-society-podcast/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Since the 2010 earthquake, ordinary life in Haiti has become increasingly untenable: in January this year, armed gangs controlled around 80 per cent of the capital. Pooja Bhatia joins Tom to discuss Haitian immigration to Chile and the US, the self-defeating nature of US immigration policy and the double binds Haitian refugees find themselves in. Should you pay a bribe if it marks you out as a candidate for kidnapping? Can you be deported to a country without an operating airport? And if asylum laws protect people who are being persecuted, what happens when that covers an entire nation?Find Pooja's Haiti coverage on the episode page: lrb.me/haitipodFind out more about Bluets at the Royal Court theatre here.Listen to the We Society Podcast here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Modern English speakers struggle to find sexual terms that aren’t either obscene or scientific, but that wasn’t always the case. In a recent review of Jenni Nuttall’s Mother Tongue, Mary Wellesley connects our linguistic squeamishness to changing ideas about women and sexuality. She joins Tom to discuss the changing language of women’s anatomy, work and lives.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/gurletalkListen to Mary Wellesley and Irina Dumitrescu on medieval humour: lrb.me/millerstale Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Argentina invades the Falkland Islands, Margaret Thatcher sends a huge flotilla on an 8000-mile rescue mission – to save a forgotten remnant of the empire, and her premiership. Onboard the nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror, Lieutenant Narendra Sethia starts to keep a diary.This is an extract from the first episode. To listen to the rest of it, and the full series, find 'The Belgrano Diary' in:Apple PodcastsSpotifyor wherever you get your podcasts.Archive:‘Good Morning Britain’/ITV/TV-Am, ‘Newsnight’/BBC/BBC News, ‘Falkands War – The Untold Story’/ITV/Yorkshire Television, ‘Leach, Henry Conyers (Oral history)’/Imperial War Museum, ‘President Regan’s Press Briefing in the Oval Office on April 5, 1982’/White House Television Office, ‘Diary’/James M. Rentschler, TV Publica/Radio y Televisión Argentina S.E, The Falklands War: Recordings from the Archive/BBC Worldwide, Parliamentary Recording Unit Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rosemary Hill, reviewing Steven Brindle’s Architecture in Britain and Ireland, 1530-1830, celebrates his approach to architecture as a social, collaborative endeavour, where human need (and human greed) stymies starchitectural vision. Rosemary takes Tom on a tour of British and Irish architecture, from the Reformation through industrialisation, featuring big egos, unexpected outcomes and at least one architect she thinks it’s ‘completely fair’ to call a villain. Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/brindlepodListen to Rosemary on the design of Bath: lrb.me/stonehengepodAnd on Salisbury Cathedral: lrb.me/salisburypod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On 2 May 1982, the British submarine HMS Conqueror sank the Argentinian warship, the General Belgrano, killing 323 men. It was the bloodiest event of the Falklands War – and the most controversial.The account of the sinking given by Thatcher's government was inaccurate in every crucial detail – and the truth would only emerge from the pages of a private diary, written by an officer onboard the submarine.The Belgrano Diary is a story of war in the South Atlantic, iron leadership, cover-ups and conspiracies, crusading politicians and competing journalists, and an unlikely whistleblower.A new six-part series from the Documentary Team at the London Review of Books, hosted by Andrew O’Hagan.Episode One coming 28 March. Find it wherever you're listening to this podcast.Archive:‘Good Morning Britain’/ITV/TV-AmParliamentary Recording Unit Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pankaj Mishra joins Adam Shatz to discuss his recent LRB Winter Lecture, in which he explores Israel’s instrumentalisation of the Holocaust. He expands on his readings of Jean Améry and Primo Levi, the crisis as understood by the Global South and Zionism’s appeal for Hindu nationalists.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/aftergazapodWatch the lecture on YouTube: lrb.me/mishraytSubscribe to Close Readings:Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Between 1988 and 1994, the UK scrambled to make sense of acid house, with its radical new sounds, new drugs and new ways of partying. In a recent piece for the paper, Chal Ravens considers a reappraisal of the origins and political ramifications of the Second Summer of Love. She joins Tom to unpack the social currents channelled through the free party scene and the long history of countercultural ‘collective festivity’ in England.Read more, and listen ad free, on the LRB website: lrb.me/acidhousepod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When is giving up not failure, but a way of succeeding at something else? In his new book, which began as a piece for the LRB, the psychoanalyst and critic Adam Phillips explores the ways in which knowing our limitations can be an act of heroism. This episode was recorded at the London Review Bookshop, where Phillips was joined by the biographer and critic Hermione Lee in a conversation about giving up and On Giving Up, his approach to writing and the purpose of psychoanalysis.Find Phillips’s 2022 piece On Giving Up and further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/ongivingupFind future events at the Bookshop: lrb.me/eventspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Deborah Friedell and Adam Thirlwell met twenty years ago, they started a discussion about Jewish identity they are still puzzling over today. Revisiting Philip Roth’s The Counterlife (1986), an American take on British antisemitism and the escapist allure of aliyah, Adam and Deborah discuss the nuances of Jewish experience and novel-writing across the Atlantic.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/jewishnovelpodWatch Judith Butler’s 2011 Winter Lecture: ‘Who owns Kafka?’ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gerontologist, pacifist, novelist, medical doctor and mollusc expert – Alex Comfort was far more than just the author of the staggeringly popular Joy of Sex. In her review of a new biography, Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite navigates the convictions and contradictions of this bewilderingly polymathic thinker. She joins Tom to trace Comfort’s life from evangelical child prodigy to the anarchist free love advocate who became emblematic of the sexual liberation movement.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/comfortpod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Enheduana was a Sumerian princess who lived around 2300 BCE and composed what is now regarded as the earliest poetry by a known author. Her father, Sargon of Akkad, is said to have created the world’s first empire, stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean, and as part of his imperial mission he installed his daughter as the high priestess of the temple of the moon god, Nanna, in the city of Ur. In that capacity, Enheduana composed hymns of remarkable beauty, often governed by a powerful authorial voice.Anna Della Subin joins Tom to discuss a new translation of Enheduana’s complete poems, read some of them in the original Sumerian, and consider the ways in which they challenge our ideas of authorship and literary history.Read more, and listen ad free, on the LRB website: https://lrb.me/enheduanapod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From the Egyptian Revolution to Extinction Rebellion, the 2010s were marked by a global wave of spontaneous and largely structureless mass protests. Despite overwhelming numbers and popular support, most of these movements failed to achieve their aims, and in many cases led to worse conditions. James Butler joins Tom to make sense of the ‘mass protest decade’, sharing historical examples, theoretical approaches and first-hand experiences that help explain the defeats of the 2010s.Find further reading and listen ad free on the episode page: lrb.me/protestdecadeFind the Close Readings podcast in Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, or just search 'Close Readings'.Sign up to the Close Readings subscription to listen to all our series in full:Directly in Apple PodcastsIn other podcast apps Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the first episode of their new Close Readings series on political poetry, Seamus Perry and Mark Ford look at ‘An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell’s Return from Ireland’ by Andrew Marvell, described by Frank Kermode as ‘braced against folly by the power and intelligence that make it possible to think it the greatest political poem in the language’.Sign up to the Close Readings subscription to listen ad free and to all our series in full:Directly in Apple PodcastsIn other podcast appsRead the poem hereFurther reading in the LRB:Blair Worden: Double TonguedFrank Kermode: Hard LabourDavid Norbrook: Political Verse Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ethiopia is one of the world’s most populous countries, and yet the 2020-22 Tigray War and ongoing suffering in the region has been largely ignored by the world at large. Tom Stevenson joins the podcast to break down the history of the conflict, and explore why Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a Nobel laureate, has come to preside over such a brutal civil war. He also considers Abiy’s future intentions, both within and beyond his country’s borders.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/tigraypod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Were the Middle Ages funny? Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley begin their series in quest of the medieval sense of humour with Chaucer’s 'Miller’s Tale', a story that is surely still (almost) as funny as when it was written six hundred years ago. But who is the real butt of the joke? Mary and Irina look in detail at the mechanics of the plot and its needless but pleasurable complexity, and consider the social significance of clothes and pubic hair in the tale.Find the Close Readings podcast in Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, or just search 'Close Readings'.Sign up to the Close Readings subscription to listen to all our series in full:Directly in Apple PodcastsIn other podcast apps Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did the foundational event of Proust’s great novel really happen? Michael Wood talks to Tom about several English translations of In Search of Lost Time, old and new, and the ways in which they question what the novel does. If the dipping of the madeleine in his tea conjures an overwhelming memory of the narrator’s childhood, it is also a challenge to the conscious mind, a product of chance that Proust suggests might easily not have occurred at all. Michael unpicks the implications of this, and argues that the self-reflexive qualities associated with modernist fiction have been common throughout the history of the novel.Find more by Michael on Proust here: lrb.me/woodproustpodSign up to Close Readings Plus: lrb.me/plus Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Meek joins Tom to talk about a recent book by Peter Biskind on ‘the New TV’, reviewed by James in the latest issue of the paper. They discuss the rise of cable TV in the 1990s, the emergence of the streaming giants, the power of the showrunner and whether the golden age of television drama is really coming to an end.Read James's piece: https://lrb.me/meektvpodSign up to Close Readings: lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Crewe, Patricia Lockwood, Deborah Friedell, John Lanchester, Rosemary Hill and Colm Tóibín talk to Tom about some of their favourite LRB pieces, including Terry Castle’s 1995 essay on Jane Austen's letters, Hilary Mantel’s account of how she became a writer, and Alan Bennett’s uncompromising take on Philip Larkin.Read the pieces:Terry Castle on Jane AustenWendy Doniger: Calf and Other LovesHilary Mantel: Giving up the GhostAngela Carter: Noovs' hoovs in the troughPenelope Fitzgerald on Stevie SmithAlan Bennett on Philip LarkinSubscribe to the LRB: https://lrb.me/now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Byron’s early poems – his so-called ’dark tales’ – have been dismissed by critics as the tawdry, slapdash products of an uninteresting mind, and readers ever since have found it difficult not to see them in light of the poet’s dramatic and public later life. In a recent piece for the LRB, Clare Bucknell looked past the famous biography to observe the youthful Byron’s mind at work in poems such as The Giaour (1813), The Corsair (1814) and Lara (1814), where early versions of the Byronic hero were often characterised by passivity, rumination and choicelessness.Clare discusses the piece with Tom, and talks about her new Close Readings series, On Satire, with Colin Burrow, which features Don Juan alongside works by Jane Austen, Laurence Sterne, John Donne, Muriel Spark and others.Read Clare's piece on Byron: https://lrb.me/byronpodJoin Clare and Colin Burrow for their series on satire next year, and receive all the books under discussion, access to online seminars and the rest of the Close Readings audio, with Close Readings Plus: https://lrb.me/plusytTo subscribe to the audio only, and access all our other Close Readings series:Sign up directly in Apple here: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/byronsc Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Renaissance Venice, Aldus Manutius turned his mid-life crisis into a publishing revolution, printing books that permanently changed the way we read. In a recent review, Erin Maglaque celebrates Aldus as the progenitor of the paperback and a model for late bloomers. She tells Tom about Aldus’s achievements, his monumental ego and his part in the creation of one of the most bizarre books in publishing history.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/manutiuspodSubscribe to Close Readings Plus here: https://lrb.me/plusOr just sign up to the Close Readings podcast subscription:In Apple Podcasts: lrb.me/camusappleIn other podcast apps: lrb.me/camussc Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Feverish, homesick, bored, awed and on rollerskates: Albert Camus’s travel diaries are a fascinating window into an easily mythologised life. Camus visited the New World twice, and a new translation of his journals reveals his struggle to make sense of his experiences. Adam Shatz joins Tom to explain the ways Camus’s ambivalence towards the Americas sheds light on his tumultuous personal life, his conflicted stance on colonialism and where his humanism deviates from his existentialist peers.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/camuspodIf you want to join Adam Shatz, Judith Butler, Pankaj Mishra and Brent Hayes Edwards on revolutionary thinkers next year, and receive all the books under discussion, access to online seminars and the rest of the Close Readings audio, you can sign up to Close Readings Plus here: https://lrb.me/plusOr just sign up to the Close Readings podcast subscription:In Apple Podcasts: lrb.me/camusappleIn other podcast apps: lrb.me/camussc Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In June, the pope invited dozens of artists to Rome for the 50th anniversary of the Vatican Museum’s contemporary art collection. Patricia Lockwood, the author of Priestdaddy and a contributing editor at the LRB, was one of them. She tells Tom more about the surreal experience and why irony, in the words of Pope Francis, is ‘a marvellous virtue’.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/popepodRead John Lanchester’s pick from the archive: lrb.me/lanchesterpickSubscribe to the LRB here: lrb.me/nowFind out about the Colour Revolution exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum here:https://www.ashmolean.org/exhibition/colour-revolution-victorian-art-fashion-design Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

George Orwell wasn’t afraid to speak against totalitarianism – but what was he for? Colin Burrow joins Tom to unpick the cultural conservatism and crackling violence underpinning Orwell’s writing, to reassess his vision of socialism and to figure out why teenagers love him so much.If you want to join Colin Burrow and Clare Bucknell for their series on satire next year, and receive all the books under discussion, access to online seminars and the rest of the Close Readings audio, you can sign up to Close Readings Plus here: https://lrb.me/plusOr just sign up to the Close Readings podcast subscription:In Apple Podcasts: https://lrb.me/orwellappleIn other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/orwellscFind further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/orwellpodFind out about the Colour Revolution exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum here:https://www.ashmolean.org/exhibition/colour-revolution-victorian-art-fashion-design Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the final introduction to next year’s full Close Readings programme, Emily Wilson, celebrated classicist and translator of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, returns for a second season of Among the Ancients, to take on another twelve vital works of Greek and Roman literature with the LRB’s Thomas Jones, loosely themed around ‘truth and lies’ – from Aesop’s Fables to Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations.Authors covered: Hesiod, Aesop, Herodotus, Pindar, Plato, Lucian, Plautus, Terence, Lucan, Tacitus, Juvenal, Apuleius, Marcus Aurelius.First episode released on 24 January 2024, then on the 24th of each month for the rest of the year.How to ListenClose Readings subscriptionDirectly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadingsClose Readings PlusIn addition to the episodes, receive all the books under discussion; access to webinars with Emily, Tom and special guests including Amia Srinivasan; and shownotes and further reading from the LRB archive.On sale here from 22 November: lrb.me/plus Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second of three introductions to our full Close Readings programme for 2024, Adam Shatz presents his series, Human Conditions, in which he’ll be talking separately to three guests – Judith Butler, Pankaj Mishra and Brent Hayes Edwards – about some of the most revolutionary thought of the 20th century.Judith, Pankaj and Brent will each discuss four texts over four episodes, as they uncover the inner life of the 20th century through works that have sought to find freedom in different ways and remake the world around them. They explore, among other things, the development of arguments against racism and colonialism, the experience of artistic expression in oppressive conditions and how language has been used in politically substantive ways.Authors covered: Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Frantz Fanon, Hannah Arendt, V. S. Naipaul, Ashis Nandy, Doris Lessing, Nadezhda Mandelstam, W. E. B. Du Bois, Aimé Césaire, Amiri Baraka and Audre Lorde.First episode released on 14 January 2024, then on the fourteenth of each month for the rest of the year.How to ListenClose Readings subscriptionDirectly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadingsClose Readings PlusIn addition to the episodes, receive all the books under discussion; access to webinars with Adam and his guests; and shownotes and further reading from the LRB archive.On sale here from 22 November: lrb.me/plus Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the first of three introductions to our full 2024 Close Readings programme, starting in January, Colin Burrow and Clare Bucknell present their series, On Satire. Over twelve episodes, Colin and Clare will attempt to chart a stable course through some of the most unruly, vulgar, incoherent, savage and outright hilarious works in English literature, as they ask what satire is, what it’s for and why we seem to like it so much.Authors covered: Erasmus, John Donne, Ben Jonson, Earl of Rochester, John Gay, Alexander Pope, Laurence Sterne, Jane Austen, Lord Byron, Oscar Wilde, Evelyn Waugh and Muriel Spark.Colin Burrow and Clare Bucknell are both fellows of All Souls College, Oxford, and regular contributors to the LRB.First episode released on 4 January 2024, then on the fourth of each month for the rest of the year.How to ListenClose Readings subscriptionDirectly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadingsClose Readings PlusIn addition to the episodes, receive all the books under discussion; access to webinars with Colin, Clare and special guests including Lucy Prebble and Katherine Rundell; and shownotes and further reading from the LRB archive.On sale here from 22 November: lrb.me/plus Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the 1970s and '80s, thousands of haemophiliacs in the UK were infected with HIV and hepatitis C through blood products known to be contaminated. In a recent piece, Florence Sutcliffe-Braithewaite outlines the magnitude of the scandal, exacerbated by carelessness, corporate greed and, in one instance, deliberate human experimentation. She joins Malin to discuss the findings and what they mean for survivors. They are joined by Tom Crewe, who reckoned with the Aids crisis in his 2018 article ‘Here was a plague’.Find Florence and Tom’s articles on the episode page: lrb.me/bloodinquirypodRead Colm Tóibín's pick from the LRB archive: lrb.me/colmpodSubscribe to the LRB here: lrb.me/nowFind out about the Colour Revolution exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum here:https://www.ashmolean.org/exhibition/colour-revolution-victorian-art-fashion-design Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty of fraud last week, the only surprise was how quickly the jury reached their verdict. John Lanchester joins Tom to discuss how the former cypto billionaire ended up facing a life sentence, from his early career in finance and embrace of Effective Altruism to the simple but audacious nature of his crime, and why he found himself in a US court, even though US citizens were banned from using his trading company, FTX.Read John Lanchester on Sam Bankman-Fried: lrb.me/sbfpodRead Rosemary Hill's pick from the LRB archive: lrb.me/rosemarypodSubscribe to the LRB here: lrb.me/nowFind out about the Colour Revolution exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum here:https://www.ashmolean.org/exhibition/colour-revolution-victorian-art-fashion-design Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anglophiles abroad love the British sense of humour – but what does that actually mean? In a recent review for the paper, Jonathan Coe takes a scalpel to the satire boom and its aftermath to find out what, if anything, sets British comedy apart. He joins Malin for a serious chat about comedy and its double-edged role in the UK’s political life.Further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/coecomedySubscribe to Close Readings:In Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

19th century Britain is often imagined as gloomy and dark, epitomised by Dickensian grime and Queen Victoria’s prolonged state of black-clad mourning. But in reality this period saw an explosion of colour, following a number of scientific discoveries.In this short discussion, Charlotte Ribeyrol, co-curator of Colour Revolution, a major new exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, talks about some of those technical advances and the dazzling objects visitors will find on display at the show, from jewel-like Pre-Raphaelite paintings to bookcases and socks, as well as some of the debates of the time – between Ruskin, Darwin and others – about the meaning of colour in nature and society.Colour Revolution runs at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford until 18th February 2024. Find out more here:https://www.ashmolean.org/exhibition/colour-revolution-victorian-art-fashion-design Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Compiling the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was a seventy-year endeavour that called on thousands of volunteers from all walks of life. The Dictionary People, reviewed by Daisy Hay in the LRB, is a recent attempt to track down the various characters who made the OED possible. Daisy joins Tom to discuss how contributors and their enthusiasms shaped the dictionary to this day.Further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/dictionarypodLearn more about the Irish Pages Press: irishpages.org/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the siege on Gaza intensifies, many observers are describing the current Hamas-Israel conflict as a complete overhaul of the region’s status quo. Amjad Iraqi, a senior editor at +972 Magazine, and Michael Sfard, a leading human rights lawyer, join Adam Shatz to discuss the roots and ramifications of the current crisis. This conversation was recorded on 17 October.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/waringazapod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Crass, violent, misogynistic, dumb, fake – and irresistible. Tom Crewe was one of many unlikely diehards who fell sway to the theatre of pro-wrestling, despite and because of its excesses. Here, he reads his 2021 diary piece unpacking his youthful obsession with a sport both ‘hideous’ and ‘Homeric’.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/wrestlingdaysSubscribe to Close Readings:In Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Between 1630 and 1944, Mount Vesuvius was continually erupting, and remains one of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes. Yet, as Rosemary Hill explains in a recent piece, the volcano exerted an irresistible pull on poets, tourists and statesmen. She tells Tom how the 19th century’s obsession with Vesuvius spawned scientific disciplines, artistic innovations and nude intracrater picnics.Further reading and listening on the episode page: lrb.me/intothevolcanoListen to Rosemary’s recent series on Stonehenge: lrb.me/stonehengepodoneSign up to our Close Readings podcast:In Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For many on the right, Arif Naqvi epitomises the idea of the 'woke capitalist'. The private equity multimillionaire has promoted sustainable development and donated heavily to the Gates Foundation to invest in healthcare, but now awaits possible extradition to the US on fraud charges. Laleh Khalili joins Tom to discuss Naqvi’s story, and what goes wrong when private equity firms look to profit from public services.Read Laleh's piece here: https://lrb.me/khalilipod2Sign up to our Close Readings podcast:In Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a world where communication is only as effective as its ‘truthiness’, numbers are vital to political success. But, as John Lanchester explains on this week’s episode, some of the most influential stats in UK politics are ‘pants’. John joins Tom to discuss why GDP, immigration numbers and English Premier League odds are so frequently misleading, and how we can be better attuned to the misuse of data.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/thinkofanumberSubscribe to Close Readings:In Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adolfo Kaminsky, a first-class forger while still a teenager, saved thousands of lives as an agent of the French Resistance. After the war, he turned his counterfeiting skills towards anticolonialist causes while building his reputation as a photographer. In this episode of the LRB podcast, Adam Shatz reads his piece on Kaminsky, whom he met in 2019. 'Forgery wasn‘t just an art he perfected,' Shatz writes, 'but a vocation and an ethics.'Find more by Adam Shatz at the episode page: lrb.me/beyondbordersSubscribe to Close Readings:In Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Armed with Thom’s Directory, James Joyce strove to recreate 1904 Dublin as accurately as possible, down to the last solicitor and street railing. But, as Colm Tóibín explains in a recent piece, the novel is pockmarked with errors, only some intentional. Colm joins Tom to discuss Joyce’s deliberate and accidental mistakes, Trieste’s essential influence on the novel, and why a queer reading of Ulysses really does hold water.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/factcheckingjoyceSubscribe to Close Readings:In Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

‘Octopuses,’ Amia Srinivasan writes, ‘are the closest we can come, on earth, to knowing what it might be like to encounter intelligent aliens.’ In our third summer reading, Srinivasan explores the paradoxical nature of octopus lives, and the difficulties humans have in understanding them.Read more by Amia Srinivasan in the LRB: lrb.me/srinivasanpodLet us know your thoughts: lrb.me/podsurveyProduced by Zoe Kilbourn; editing by Sarah SahimSubscribe to Close Readings:In Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Agatha Christie, writes John Lanchester, ‘is the only writer by whom I’ve read more than fifty books. So – why?’ In the second of our summer readings, Lanchester dissects Christie’s compulsive readability, and considers why, despite her brazen lack of style, she was a great experimental formalist.Read more John Lanchester in the LRB: lrb.me/lanchesterpodLet us know your thoughts: lrb.me/podsurveyProduced by Zoe Kilbourn; editing by Sarah SahimSubscribe to Close Readings:In Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the first of our summer readings, Terry Castle reads her 2005 piece about her “on-again, off-again, semi-friendship” with Susan Sontag. She remembers Sontag as a “great comic character”: a high-minded hobnobber, a moralist and a gossip, seductive and snobbish and a catalytic force for modern feminism.Read more Terry Castle in the LRB: lrb.me/castlepodLet us know your thoughts: lrb.me/podsurveySubscribe to Close Readings:In Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Almost eighteen months since Russia invaded Ukraine, Kyiv residents have resumed something resembling pre-war life. James Meek recently returned to the city, and joins Tom to discuss the new normal: how language is changing and ravers are rebuilding destroyed villages, and what we can expect in the coming months of warfare.Find further reading, and an example of Repair Together in action, on the episode page: lrb.me/lifeinkyivLet us know what you think via our survey: lrb.me/podsurveySubscribe to Close Readings:In Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Irina Dumitrescu joins Tom for a Close Readings fusion episode looking at Chaucer’s classical mind, and in particular his use of Ovid’s Heroides in The Legend of Good Women, in which the poet does penance for his poor depictions of women by retelling the stories of Ariadne, Phaedra, Lucrece and others in a more sympathetic light. They discuss Chaucer’s playful attitude to his sources and his mix of humour with serious observations on the presentation of women and their suffering in the classical tradition.Subscribe to Close Readings:In Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover exercised a dictatorial influence over the department – and, it seems, everyone else. Meticulous and vindictive, he frequently weaponised secrets while carefully guarding his own. Deborah Friedell grapples with his overwhelming and disturbing legacy in her sweeping review of G-Man, the first Hoover biography in thirty years. She joins Tom to discuss some of the most puzzling features of Hoover’s personality and approach to policing. Should he have known about Pearl Harbor? Was he in cahoots with the Mafia? And what was his problem with bald men?Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/hooverpodSubscribe to Close Readings:Directly in Apple Podcasts here: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps here: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In her recent piece for the paper, Patricia Lockwood revisits David Foster Wallace’s work in the light of posthumous publications and the shadow of #MeToo. Lockwood joined Joanne O’Leary, an editor at the paper, to discuss Wallace’s troubled status as Saint Dave, where his writing was at its best and whether a novel can benefit from being left unfinished.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/dfwpodSubscribe to Close Readings:Directly in Apple Podcasts here: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps here: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As inflation continues to outstrip wage growth for all but the top ten per cent of earners, interest rates look set to keep rising at least until February 2024. The political economist William Davies joins Tom to consider the reasons for high inflation and the Bank of England’s response, what government policies could alleviate the crisis and whether next year’s general election will lead to any significant change.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/inflationfixationSubscribe to Close Readings:Directly in Apple Podcasts here: https://apple.co/3pJoFPqIn other podcast apps here: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last month, the UK government appointed their first “free speech tsar”, whose stated mission is to protect free speech and academic freedom in universities. But, as Amia Srinivasan argues in a recent article, there's an inherent conflict in those goals. Amia joins Malin to discuss the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) act, whether students are increasingly leaning left and how activists across the political spectrum weaponise the concept of harm.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/cancelledSubscribe to Close Readings Plus: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For her final leg across Salisbury Plain, Rosemary Hill is joined by folklorist Jeremy Harte to look at the many groups and stories that have emerged throughout the 20th century to challenge the narratives about Stonehenge presented by archaeologists. From astro-archaeology to the Earth Mysteries Movement, they look out how colonial models of Stonehenge’s history have been overturned and the whole notion of public ownership repeatedly tested, sometimes with violent consequences, since the stone circle was gifted to the nation in 1918, and why it (almost) always comes back to druids.Buy Rosemary Hill's book Stonehenge: lrb.me/stonehengebook Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the third episode in her short series on Stonehenge, Rosemary Hill is joined by Seamus Perry to experience the stone circle through the mind and eyes of a Romantic, with the likes of Wordsworth, Blake, Turner and Constable. For these poets and artists, Salisbury Plain took on a gloomy and richly psychological presence, lit with intense personal and political drama, and animated with revolutionary thought.Buy Rosemary Hill's book Stonehenge from the LRB Bookshop here: lrb.me/stonehengebookSign up to the LRB's Close Readings podcast here: lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kevin Okoth and Jeremy Harding join Tom to discuss two recent books reassessing decolonisation. Textbook histories used to describe African independence as more or less complete by the mid-1960s, but millions of people were fighting white minority rule into the 1970s and 1980s, while Cold War rivalry between the US, the Soviet Union and China played out across the continent, often with catastrophic consequences. As countries continue to vie for Africa’s natural resources, its postcolonial future remains, at best, unresolved.Find further reading, and listen ad-free, on the LRB website: lrb.me/africascoldwarpodSign up to the LRB's Close Readings podcast here: lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second episode of her short series looking at why Stonehenge has occupied such an important place in the story of Britain, Rosemary Hill talks to Kate Bennett about the two antiquarians, John Aubrey and William Stukeley, who first treated the stone circle as a material object whose secrets could be revealed through careful measurement, observation and comparison, and so pioneered many of the practices of modern archaeology.Find further reading on the LRB website: lrb.me/stonehengepodtwoSign up to the LRB's Close Readings subscription here: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Following the Turkish president’s success in the run-off election on Sunday, Izzy Finkel and Tom Stevenson join Tom to discuss whether Erdoğan’s victory was ever in doubt, why the recent devastating earthquakes and economic turmoil seem to have had so little impact on his support, the challenges faced by the opposition, and the growing importance of xenophobia in Turkey’s politics.Find further reading, and listen ad-free, on the LRB website: lrb.me/erdoganpodSign up to the LRB's Close Readings podcast here: lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rosemary Hill begins a new four-part series looking at what people have thought about Stonehenge over the past few hundred years, and why it’s come to matter so much in the story of Britain. In the first episode she talks to architectural historian Vaughan Hart about how Inigo Jones and John Wood were inspired by Stonehenge in their designs for Covent Garden and Bath, and how those in turn had an enormous influence on the way British towns and cities look today, from squares and circuses to oversized acorns and the idea of architecture itself.Buy Rosemary Hill's book Stonehenge here: lrb.me/stonehengebookVaughan Hart is the author of numerous books on the history of architecture, including Inigo Jones: the Architect of Kings; Christopher Wren: In Search of Eastern Antiquity and Nicholas Hawksmoor: Rebuilding Ancient Wonders.Sign up to the LRB's Close Readings podcast here: lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rory Scothorne joins Tom to discuss the evolution of Scottish politics over the past century or so, and how best to understand a country that’s shifted from a centre right electoral majority in the 1950s to a Labour stronghold in the 1980s, to being governed by the SNP since 2007. Is Scotland’s left-wing tradition a myth? And with the loss of Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader, and the recent scandals hitting the party, what are the prospects for Scottish independence?Read Rory's piece in the LRB: https://lrb.me/scothornepodSign up for the LRB's Close Readings podcast here: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Spotify, a company worth $23 billion, has come out on top of the streaming wars, and yet it’s never made a profit. Daniel Cohen joins Malin to discuss the history of the platform and how it's changed the way music is made and listened to, and the strangeness of streaming culture, rife with ethical dilemmas.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/spotifypodSubscribe to Close Readings: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Accused of ‘the largest con in corporate history’, Indian magnate Gautam Adani has lost half his net worth and the indulgence of financial journalists. As Adani comes under increasing scrutiny, so do his troubling political connections – not least with India's prime minister, Narendra Modi. Pankaj Mishra joins Tom to discuss Adani and Modi’s intertwined careers, and their shared role in shaping an increasingly ethnonationalist, plutocratic India.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/modipodSubscribe to Close Readings Plus: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Two worlds collide in this Close Readings fusion episode in which Mary Wellesley talks to Mark Ford about the medieval in Thomas Hardy and the wider Victorian imagination. They discuss why Hardy liked to present himself as an Arthurian knight, his satirisation of the chivalric ideal in his novel A Pair of Blue Eyes, and the way his training as an architect influenced his devotion to poetic spontaneity and experimentation.Sign up for Close Readings here: https://lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Past Present Future is a new weekly podcast with David Runciman, host of Talking Politics, exploring the history of ideas from politics to philosophy, culture to technology. David talks to historians, novelists, scientists and many others about where the most interesting ideas come from, what they mean, and why they matter.Ideas from the past, questions about the present, shaping the future.Brought to you in partnership with the London Review of Books.New episodes every Thursday. Just subscribe to Past Present Future wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In his introduction to our twelfth collection of LRB archive pieces, Sisters Come Second, Colm Tóibín writes that most siblings dream of being only children. Malin Hay explores this idea with Colm and Andrew O’Hagan, both younger sons in big families. Their conversation considers the examples of the brothers Mann, Yeats, James and Windsor, and why, as Evelyn Waugh observed, when there’s a writer in the family, that family is finished.You can buy Sisters Come Second from the LRB Store for just £5.99: lrb.me/siblingsFind further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/siblingspodMusic by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Zoe Kilbourn, Anthony Wilks and Sam Kinchin-Smith Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Miranda Carter joins Tom to talk about the life and historical fiction of Mary Renault, whose popular and ingenious retellings of stories from Ancient Greece have never been out of print. They discuss her eventful life, which took her from Edwardian East London to apartheid South Africa, and her meticulous classical reconstructions.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/maryrenaultpodSubscribe to Close Readings Plus: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the run up to the local elections, and following his recent piece on the care crisis, James Butler joins Tom to discuss some of the other problems facing the UK, and what the two major parties are promising to do to alleviate (or exacerbate) them.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/sorrystateSubscribe to Close Readings Plus: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Francis Gooding joins Tom to discuss Pirate Enlightenment, David Graeber’s posthumously published study of 17th- and 18th-century piracy. Golden Age pirates maintained surprisingly egalitarian working practices, Graeber argues, and legendary pirate republics may have been run on similar grounds. Tom and Francis talk about Graeber’s Madagascar-centred research, sift through myth and fact, and ask: was piracy a bullshit job?Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/pirateenlightenmentSubscribe to Close Readings Plus: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With the future of TikTok increasingly uncertain in the US and other countries, Malin Hay talks to Tom about the app’s powerful reading-focused corner, BookTok: what it is, how it works, and the tropes which dominate its favourite genre, romance fiction. They also look at some recent emails from listeners.Find further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/booktokpodSign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspodGet in touch with the podcasts team: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Expanding on her recent Winter Lecture, Clair Wills talks to Tom about the stories people tell about abortions – stories conditioned by tradition, coerced by the courts, compelled by politics and shared in solidarity. They discuss some of the radical reframings and reimaginings of abortion in art, literature and private life.Find further reading, including the lecture, on the episode page: lrb.me/clairwillspodWatch the lecture on YouTube: lrb.me/abortionplotSubscribe to Close Readings: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the final episode of this series on climate chaos and reproductive justice, Meehan Crist speaks to the feminist scholar Jade Sasser. Jade discusses how advocates for population control harness the language of social justice, her students’ highly personal responses to climate change, and the ways scholarship on climate anxiety has neglected questions of race.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/jadesasserpodRead the lecture that inspired this series: lrb.me/meehancristlectureSubscribe to Close Readings: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

William Davies talks to Tom about his recent LRB Winter Lecture, looking at why reactions – facial expressions, gestures or emojis – have become the main currency of the digital public sphere. Ubiquitous surveillance and smartphones have made the spontaneous reaction a thing to be cultivated, collected and stored. How did we come to endow reaction with such significance, and what might an escape from the reaction economy look like?Watch the lecture here: https://youtu.be/bNCYo_mEzfQSign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspodGet in touch with the podcasts team: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the third episode of a four-part series exploring the intersection of climate chaos and reproductive justice, Meehan Crist speaks to historian Alison Bashford. Alison discusses the history of efforts to control population size, how population is thought about in the Anthropocene, and how suspending critique of the past can give valuable insight into the present.Find the full conversation and further reading at the episode page: lrb.me/bashfordpodSign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The screen legend and salad dressing philanthropist Paul Newman recorded hundreds of personal interviews before destroying the tapes. The surviving transcripts, worked into a recent memoir and documentary series, reveal a more complex Newman than his on-screen laconicism would suggest. Bee Wilson speaks to Malin Hay about Newman’s mystique – his passivity, his domesticity and his irresistible blue eyes.Find Bee's article and further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/paulnewmanpodSign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspodGet in touch with the podcasts team: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second episode of a four-part series on climate chaos and reproductive justice, Meehan Crist speaks to Banu Subramaniam, the evolutionary biologist and feminist science scholar. They discuss the global persistence of Malthusian thinking, why the focus of policymakers on population often means focusing on the bodies of poor and marginalised women, and how historical anxiety about ‘invasive’ plant species has mirrored the formation of national borders and attitudes towards human migrants.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/banusubramaniamSign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Long before Margaret Thatcher told her cabinet that The Constitution of Liberty was “what we believe”, neoliberal poster boy Friedrich Hayek had been denounced by his mentor as a socialist. Following his review of a new biography, Jonathan Rée speaks to Tom about Hayek’s celebrity and infamy, and the ways close reading reveals surprising nuance in his work.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/hayekreeSign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspodGet in touch with the podcasts team: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the first episode of a four-part series exploring the intersection of climate chaos and reproductive justice, Meehan Crist talks to activist and feminist scholar Loretta J. Ross. Ross discusses how she's worked to prevent sexual violence by talking to perpetrators, the problems with today’s call out culture, why the Clinton administration’s healthcare plan prompted the development of the reproductive justice movement in the 1990s, and how to challenge arguments that link fertility with environmental crisis.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/lorettarossLearn more about SisterSong on their website: https://sistersong.netSign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspodGet in touch with the podcasts team: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1939, Dorothy Thompson was on the cover of Time, the ‘First Lady of American journalism’ and a major celebrity. By 1945, she’d been widely dismissed as a crank.Deborah Friedell joins Tom to discuss Thompson’s enormous influence in interwar America, and her idiosyncratic mix of prescience and short-sightedness.See further reading on the podcast page: https://lrb.me/dorothythompsonSign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspodGet in touch: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Laleh Khalili, a former management consultant, talks to Tom about how firms such as McKinsey, Accenture and Bain go about their business, the consequences of their relentless quest for ‘efficiency’, and the role these ‘class war mercenaries’ have played in supporting various governments all over the world. Find further reading on the podcast page: https://lrb.me/mckinseypodSign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspodGet in touch! Email us at [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Wood talks to Malin Hay about the recent list from Sight and Sound of the ‘greatest films of all time’ (in which he voted), and what considerations could, or should, go into compiling such a chart. They also discuss Wood’s most recent review for the LRB, of Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander, and whether there is such a thing as a Christmas movie.Find more from Michael Wood in the LRB on the episode page: https://lrb.me/greatestfilmpodSign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspodGet in touch! Email us at [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alan Bennett reads his 2022 diary (with some extra bits), in which he buys his dad a violin, goes to Venice with a goat, and tries to make the queen laugh.Listen without ads, and find more from Alan Bennett, on the LRB website: https://lrb.me/2022diarypodSign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspodGet in touch! Email us at [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thomas B. Edsall, a columnist for the New York Times, talks to Adam Shatz about the landscape of US politics following the recent elections. They consider some of the historic causes for the apparent polarisation of today’s electorate, and look ahead to the vote in 2024. Will Biden be a credible candidate for re-election? And what would a Trump or DeSantis (or even a Youngkin) candidacy mean for both the Republican and Democratic parties?Sign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Listen to a sample from the first episode of our twelve-part Close Readings series, Among the Ancients, with Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones, which we'll be re-running from January next year. With a new episode each month, Among the Ancients will consider some of the greatest works of Ancient Greek and Roman literature, from Homer to Horace. In this sample Emily and Tom discuss the Iliad.Sign up to all our Close Readings series here: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Roald Dahl's key skill, as Colin Burrow puts it, 'was his ability to repress nastiness while keeping it visible'. Following his review of a new biography, Burrow talks to Tom Jones about Dahl’s limitations, his successes, and his 'marvellous medicine' approach to fiction.Find further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/dahlSign up to our Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Irina Dumitrescu and Mary Wellesley return with a new twelve-part Close Readings series, Medieval Beginnings, exploring the strange and wonderful literary landscape of the Middle Ages. Starting in January 2023, the series will consider well-known works such as Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, as well as many lesser-known texts, from across the European continent, that have all helped to lay the foundations of English literature. Listen to a sample here from their first episode, on Beowulf.Sign up to our Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jane Stanford, the co-founder of Stanford University, was murdered with strychnine in 1905. Her killer was never discovered – until now (perhaps). James Lasdun talks to Malin Hay about a new book by Richard White that investigates the story and looks into the extraordinary history of the Stanford family.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/stanfordpodSign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Seamus Perry and Mark Ford return with a new twelve-part Close Readings series, The Long and Short, taking a fresh look at 19th and 20th-century literature through the lens of short stories and long poems. Starting in January 2023, the series will look at twelve writers, from Tennyson and Henry James to Elizabeth Bowen and Alice Oswald, with a new episode appearing each month. This sample is from the first episode, on Tennyson’s ‘Maud’.Sign up to our Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Katherine Rundell has been writing about endangered animals in the LRB since 2018. Her new book, The Golden Mole, gathers those essays and new pieces into a bestiary of unusual and underappreciated creatures.Katherine was joined by LRB editor Alice Spawls in a discussion touching on Elizabethan celebrity bears, Amelia Earhart’s bones, and the greatest lie we’ve ever told: that the world is ours for the taking.You can read Katherine’s work in the LRB archives: lrb.me/rundellSign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Corals have held our fascination for thousands of years, but much of what we know about them has only been discovered recently. Liam Shaw talks to Tom about what corals are and how they form, and their extraordinary variety (over two thousand species have so far been described). They look at some of the milestones in our knowledge of this flower-animal, including Darwin’s account of coral atoll formation, and the importance of the oral history of Indigenous peoples around the coast of Australia in understanding the development of the Great Barrier Reef. As coral reefs now face almost total destruction from climate change, they also consider some of the fixes people have come up with to protect them, and whether it’s possible to put a monetary value on such natural phenomena.Find further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/coralpodSign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The writer and human rights lawyer Raja Shehadeh talks to Adam Shatz about his recent memoir, We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I, which reflects on Shehadeh’s relationship with his father, Aziz, a lawyer who, before his murder in 1985, fought numerous cases for Palestinian rights and was one of the first to advocate a two-state solution.Find pieces by Raja Shehadeh for the LRB on the episode page: https://lrb.me/shehadehpodSign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Azadeh Moaveni talks to Tom about the demonstrations in Iran following the killingof Mahsa Amini in September. They discuss the degree to which the protesters have a shared purpose, the history and significance of the veil in Iranian state policy, the effects of government oppression in the border areas of the country, and how Iran might change after Ayatollah Khamenei.Find further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/iranprotestspodSign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sheila Fitzpatrick talks to Tom about the perils of doing archive research in the Soviet Union, how she used Moscow telephone directories to investigate Stalin’s purges, and the multiple passports and identities she’s gone through in her academic career.Find further reading in the LRB on the episode page: https://lrb.me/fitzpatrickpodSign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Following Nasa’s Dart mission, which successfully fired a spacecraft into the asteroid Dimorphos last month, Chris Lintott talks to Tom about what asteroids can tell us about the history of our planet, how scared we should be of them, and why you should be grateful if one hits your car (so long as you aren’t inside it at the time).Find further reading, or listen ad-free, on the episode page: https://lrb.me/asteroidpodSign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspodMore information about the Nine Dots Prize: https://ninedotsprize.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Forrest Hylton talks to Tom about the presidential elections in Brazil, where former president Lula faces the incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro, in the final round of voting. They consider the history of both candidates, their supporters and campaigns, and what’s at stake in the contest.Find further reading, and listen ad-free, on the episode page: https://lrb.me/brazilpodSign up to our Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Daniel Soar talks to Tom about Ian McEwan’s latest novel, Lessons – how it fits with his earlier fiction, the relationship between world events and private histories, and McEwan’s addiction to ‘moments of maximum thrill’.Find further reading, and listen ad-free, on the episode page: https://lrb.me/mcewanpodSign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Claire Denis and J. Hoberman join Adam Shatz to talk about the work and legacy of Jean-Luc Godard. They discuss Godard’s early fascination with American cinema, his extraordinary run of films in the 1960s from À bout de souffle to Week-end, and subsequent periods of restless experimentation which continued to confound both audiences and critics until his death this month.Find further reading on Godard in the LRB on the episode page: https://lrb.me/godardpodSign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Writer and filmmaker Jonathan Meades introduces and reads his review of Tina Brown's book about the royal family, The Palace Papers, from April this year.Read the piece here: https://lrb.me/meadespodSign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Britain acquires a new king and new prime minister, and ordinary people are arrested for expressing dislike of the royal family, James Butler and Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite join Tom to consider whether this might be a perilous time for the monarchy, and how the Truss government will go about selling its old-fashioned Thatcherite vision in an era of increasing demands on the state.Find James's and Florence's pieces via the episode page: https://lrb.me/griefpodSign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspodTitle music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Zoe Kilbourn and Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jon Day talks to Tom about the history and psychology of the accumulation of objects, from Anglo-Saxon treasure to the Collyer twins of Harlem, by way of Freud, Marie Kondo and Day’s own father. When does clutter become a hoard? Are we all digital hoarders now? And should we worry about it?Read Jon Day's diary, and see the Clutter Image Rating, here: lrb.me/hoardingpodSign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspodTitle music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the 20th century, the pursuit of economic growth became central to political decision making. As the environmental consequences of this obsession have become increasingly clear, ideas of ‘green growth’ and ‘degrowth’ have emerged as ways of re-organising economies to try to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change. Geoff Mann talks to James Butler about these related but often competing approaches, and whether the political structures exist for them to be implemented.Find further reading, and listen ad free, on our website: lrb.me/degrowthpodSign up to our Close Readings podcast subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspodTitle music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, a guest episode from the London Review Bookshop Podcast, featuring Elif Batuman talking to Merve Emre about her latest book, Either/Or. The London Review Bookshop podcast comes out every week and has hundreds of events in its archive. Find it wherever you get your podcast.Some events from the London Review Bookshop are broadcast online as well as in person, so you can watch live from anywhere in the world. On Wednesday this week, you can watch food writers Rebecca May Johnson and Jonathan Nunn.Buy tickets here: https://lrb.me/eventspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Meek, recently returned from Mykolaiv, talks to Tom about the area of southern Ukraine that has become a crucial battleground in the war, as Russian forces seek to maintain control of the land they’ve occupied west of the Dnieper, and the Ukrainians try to push them back across the river.Read James's report from Mykolaiv here: https://lrb.me/mykolaivpodWatch the short film here: https://lrb.me/mykolaivfilmpod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Lanchester talks to Tom about the recent scandals involving two DAX-listed companies, Volkswagen and Wirecard, and the ways in which they challenge the stereotypes of German business.Find further reading, and listen ad free, on our website: lrb.me/fraudpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bTitle music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emma John and Natasha Chahal join Tom to discuss England’s victory in Euro 2022, the long history of women’s football – mentioned in a poem by Philip Sidney in the 16th century, banned by the FA for half of the 20th – and what may happen next.Find further reading, and listen ad free, on the episode page: https://lrb.me/euro22podSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bTitle music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Miranda Carter talks to Tom about the history of the world’s longest-running interview show, Desert Island Discs, from its early scripted days on the BBC Forces Programme in the 1940s, in the hands of its creator, Roy Plomley, to the more probing and revealing styles of Sue Lawley and Kirsty Young. They also consider some of its more memorable guests, including Marlene Dietrich, Tony Blair, Enoch Powell, Hugh Grant and Margaret Thatcher.Find further reading and a list of LRB castaways here: https://lrb.me/carterpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bTitle music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew Liu talks to Tom about the Chinese workers who followed the gold rush to California, Australia and South Africa, the racial stereotypes about them promoted by local politicians, and their role in the huge economic shifts of the late 19th century, as described in a new book by Mae Ngai, The Chinese Question.Find further reading, and listen ad free, on the episode page: https://lrb.me/goldrushpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bFind Andrew's piece in n+1 here.Title music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Butler joins Tom to consider the fall of Boris Johnson, the candidates hoping to replace him, and what the next few years of British politics might look like.Find more pieces on Boris Johnson in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/afterjohnsonpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bTitle music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Laura Beers and Deborah Friedell talk to Tom about the recent decision by the US Supreme Court in Dobbs v. Jackson, which removed the constitutional right to abortion. They consider the history of Roe v. Wade and its legal arguments, how abortion became such a partisan issue, and the possible consequences both of the ruling itself and the willingness of the current court to overturn precedent.Find further reading, and listen ad free, on the episode page: https://lrb.me/roevwadepodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bTitle music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bee Wilson talks to Tom about palm oil, which can be found in everything from pot noodles to shaving foam. In its purest state, squeezed from the fruit and kernels of the oil palm, it has a deep red colour and rich fragrance. By the time it reaches our supermarkets, in ultra-processed foods and cosmetics, it’s been refined, bleached, deodorised and relabelled, appearing in multiple different forms. Bee and Tom look at the reasons for its ubiquity, the consequences for those involved in its production and whether a sustainable palm oil industry is possible.Find more to read on the episode page: https://lrb.me/palmoilpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bTitle music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adam Shatz, the LRB’s US editor, talks to Sindre Bangstad and Reza Zia-Ebrahimi about the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, from its origins in the high tide of French colonial expansionism in the 19th century and propagation through writers such as Jean Raspail and Renaud Camus, to its influence on mass murderers in Norway, New Zealand and the United States.Find further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/grtheorypodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bTitle music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Madeleine Schwartz talks to Tom about the trial of twenty men accused of involvement in the Paris terrorist attacks of 13 November 2015, which left 130 dead. It’s the largest criminal trial France has ever seen, and its scope has ranged far beyond the guilt or innocence of the accused. With thousands of plaintiffs, and witnesses including the former president François Hollande, are expectations for what the proceedings might achieve realistic? And how have the attacks, and the trial, changed French politics?Find further readings and listening here: https://lrb.me/bataclanpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bTitle music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ahead of the NBA finals next month, LRB contributor, novelist and former basketball player Benjamin Markovits talks to sports journalists Ben Cohen and Kevin Arnovitz about the role of data in the game. Why did it take teams so long to realise the value of the three-point shot? What's the difference between a 32% shooter and a 37% shooter? And is there anything more exciting in sport than watching Steph Curry’s pre-game warm-up?Find further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/nbapodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bTitle music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Romm talks to Tom about the site of the Ancient Greek games, the subject of a new book by Judith Berringer, Olympia: A Cultural History. They discuss the various contests in which athletes competed, the punishment for those found cheating, the importance of the games as a political platform, and the colossal statue of Zeus in whose honour they were held.Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bTitle music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rupert Beale returns to the podcast to talk to Tom about the current state of SARS-CoV-2 in the UK. They discuss what ‘living with Covid’ means, the chances of future waves and lockdowns, the different experiences of long Covid, and whether we’re better placed to tackle another pandemic.Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bTitle music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Azadeh Moaveni talks to Tom about the situation on the Polish border, where women and children fleeing Ukraine face numerous dangers, including kidnapping, trafficking and forced labour. Moaveni describes the way social media has changed the way traffickers work, the dramatic range of conditions refugees face in Poland, and how this displacement crisis compares to others she’s seen.Read Azadeh's piece: https://lrb.me/moavenipodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bTitle music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Julian Barnes reads his memoir about a lifetime of reading Flaubert.Read the piece, and listen to the reading without ads, here: https://lrb.me/flaubertpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bTitle music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the final episode in our series looking at the way history was transformed in the Romantic period, Neil MacGregor joins Rosemary Hill to discuss the circulation of artefacts throughout Europe in the years after Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo, and the growth of public collections. They consider how the questions that museums grapple with today – concerning ownership, restitution and the role ordinary people should play in the stories they tell – were inherent in their creation in the 18th and 19th centuries.Buy Rosemary Hill's book, Time's Witness, from the London Review Bookshop here: https://lrb.me/hillSubscribe to the LRB and get 79% off the cover price plus a free tote bag: https://lrb.me/history Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew O’Hagan talks to Tom about the power of defunct objects, from the life-enhancing gadgets of his childhood to Seamus Heaney’s fax machine, and the role lost things play in fiction.Find Andrew O'Hagan's pieces mentioned in this episode here: https://lrb.me/mixtapespodSubscribe to the LRB and save 79% off the cover price: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bTitle music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Who put the arrow in Harold’s eye? Why did Dick Whittington have a cat? Where did the pointed arch come from? These are all questions that the curious and energetic antiquarians of the late 18th and early 19th centuries asked, and often managed to answer.In the third episode of her series looking at the way history was transformed in the Romantic period, Rosemary Hill talks to Roey Sweet about the new breed of multi-disciplinary investigators, who, in the years after the French Revolution, studied everything from woollen threads to tombstones in their efforts to imagine the past.Buy Rosemary Hill's book, Time's Witness, from the London Review Bookshop here: https://lrb.me/hillSubscribe to the LRB and get 79% off the cover price plus a free tote bag: https://lrb.me/history Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite talks to Tom about how events in the 1960s, including the Aberfan disaster and a shift in strategy by the Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru, helped pave the way for devolution in Wales, where the Labour-led administration now has one of the most progressive policy agendas in the world.Read Florence's piece here: https://lrb.me/walespodSubscribe to the LRB and save 79% off the cover price: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bTitle music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Stevenson talks to Thomas Jones about the situation in Ukraine, the effectiveness of some of the weapons in use, from anti-tank missiles to economic sanctions, and the risk of nuclear escalation.Find Tom Stevenson's recent pieces for the LRB here: https://lrb.me/stevensonpodListen to this podcast ad free on our website: https://lrb.me/weaponsofwarSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the 1740s the Scots were invading England and the wearing of tartan was banned. By the 1850s, Queen Victoria had built her Gothic fantasy in Aberdeenshire and tartan was everywhere. What happened in between?In the second episode of her series on Romantic history, Rosemary Hill talks to Colin Kidd about the myths and traditions of Scottish history created in the 19th century, and the central role of Walter Scott in forging his country’s identity.Buy Rosemary Hill's book, Time's Witness, from the London Review Bookshop here: https://lrb.me/hillSubscribe to the LRB and get 79% off the cover price plus a free tote bag: https://lrb.me/history Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the first episode of a new four-part series looking at the way history was transformed in the Romantic period, Rosemary Hill is joined by Tom Stammers to consider how an argument over the ‘improvement’ of Salisbury Cathedral in 1789 launched a new attitude to the past and its artefacts. Those sentiments were echoed in revolutionary France, where antiquarians risked the guillotine to preserve the monuments of the Ancien Régime.Buy Rosemary Hill's book, Time's Witness, from the London Review Bookshop here: https://lrb.me/hillSubscribe to the LRB and get 79% off the cover price plus a free tote bag: https://lrb.me/history Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Meek talks to Tom about the events leading up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, from the fall of Yanukovych to the wars in the Donbas and Nagorno-Karabakh, and considers what may happen next.Read more by James Meek here: https://lrb.me/jamesmeekpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bTitle music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Laleh Khalili talks to Tom about the mythology of covert military operatives, through romance novels, self-help books and, more recently, the business guru, in the form of retired US army general Stanley McChrystal, who earns millions writing books and advising boards on how to inject warlike thinking into their business plans.Find pieces mentioned in this episode here: https://lrb.me/khaliliSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bTitle music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's discussion, with Laleh Khalili, will be out on Thursday. In the meantime, here's Jorie Graham reading her latest poem for the LRB, 'One the Last Day'. Find more readings of poems and pieces here: https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/lrb-readings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Geoff Mann talks to James Butler about the economic models developed by William Nordhaus and others, widely used by governments around the world as a tool to tackle climate change. They discuss the moral and practical limitations of Nordhaus’s methods, the danger of relying on their predictions, and whether the use of such models is even an appropriate way of confronting environmental crisis.Read Geoff Mann's piece here: https://lrb.me/mannpodRead two pieces from the next issue early:Laleh Khalili on Stanley McChrystal's business guide: https://lrb.me/khalilipodPaul Theroux on V.S. Naipaul: https://lrb.me/therouxpod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jeremy Harding talks to Tom about the long and repressive reign of King Hassan II of Morocco, as described in a new book by Aziz BineBine, who suffered 18 years of brutal detention in Tazmamart, a secret prison. They discuss Hassan’s accession to the throne in 1961, his efforts to suppress Morocco’s radical anti-colonialist elements, the occupation of Western Sahara, and the survival of his dynasty beyond the Cold War era.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/hardingpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bTitle music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colm Tóibín talks to Tom about the life and work of the novelist John McGahern through his recently published correspondence, which includes letters to Tóibín. They discuss his family, his banned work, his style, and his unusually honest opinions of other writers.Read more on McGahern in the LRB: lrb.me/mcgahernpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bMusic by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rivka Galchen talks to Tom about two recent books on the history of vaccine opposition and reluctance, from smallpox to covid, including the role of 'Big Supplement' and the effectiveness of mandates.Find further reading here: https://lrb.me/antivaxpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bMusic by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Les Mommsen and Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the third and final guest episode from a new podcast series, Myself with Others, food writer Claudia Roden talks to Adam Shatz about her early life in Cairo and Paris, her obsession with collecting recipes, how politics informs her understanding of food, and the secret Jewish origins of fish and chips.Subscribe to Myself with Others wherever you're listening to this podcast.Find out more about the series here: https://www.myselfwithothers.com/Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this second guest episode from a new podcast series, Myself with Others, novelist, memoirist and poet James Lasdun talks to Adam Shatz about his taste for the Middle Ages, the power of Patricia Highsmith, and his memoir about being stalked.Subscribe to Myself With Others wherever you're listening to this podcast.Find out more about the series here: https://www.myselfwithothers.com/Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the first of three guest episodes from a new podcast, Myself with Others, hosted by Adam Shatz, writer and critic Margo Jefferson talks about her childhood in Chicago, her early experiences in radical theatre at Brandeis University, her relationship to the feminist and Black Power movements, her emergence as a writer, and her battles with melancholia. Produced by Richard Sears.Subscribe to Myself with Others wherever you're listening to this podcast.Find out more about the series here: https://www.myselfwithothers.com/Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alan Bennett reads his diary for 2021, in which he falls over Philip Roth, changes the course of English history, and considers selling his har on eBay.Bennett read the first part of this diary earlier this year, for his Diary from the Pandemic Year.Read it here: https://lrb.me/bennett2021podSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Lanchester and Rupert Beale talk to Tom about the spread of the latest variant, where we might stand in the story of Covid, and the failures of the state in coping with the pandemic.Find their pieces on the episode page: https://lrb.me/omicronpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bMusic by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Les Mommsen and Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rachel Nolan talks to Tom about the overthrow of President Árbenz in Guatemala in 1954, its importance as a model for CIA-backed regime change across Latin America, and a new novel about it by Mario Vargas Llosa.Find Rachel Nolan's piece and others here: https://lrb.me/guatemalapodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bMusic by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Enzo Traverso talks to Adam Shatz about his new book on the history of revolutionary passions, images and ideas, from Haiti’s emancipatory slave rebellion in 1791 to Stalin’s top-down authoritarianism. Are revolutions, as Marx suggested, the ‘locomotives of history’, or, as Walter Benjamin saw it, the emergency brake? And what can modern political movements learn from their revolutionary forebears?Find further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/revolutionpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bMusic by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Clair Wills talks to Tom about Netherne psychiatric hospital, where her mother and grandparents worked, and which became a national centre for art therapy. Wills asks how asylums such as Netherne – ‘total institutions’ as Erving Goffman described them – became normalised, and considers the role of art in revealing people’s experiences of them. They also discuss Wills’s related piece about the scandal of the Irish Mother and Baby Homes, published in the LRB in May.Find further reading on the episode page: lrb.me/willspodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bMusic by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom talks to Charles Nicholl about the craze in the 1590s for plays representing real-life murder on the London stage, from the first known example, Arden of Faversham, to the genre's influence on Hamlet, Macbeth and, perhaps, the death of Christopher Marlowe.Find further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/truecrimepodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bMusic by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rosemary Hill talks to Tom about the painter John Craxton: why he wasn’t a romantic, why he wasn’t interested in being famous, and his relationship with Lucian Freud, who very much was. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom talks to Colin Burrow about a new book by Christopher Ricks, regarded by some as the greatest living literary critic. They also look back at his previous studies of, among others, Milton, T.S. Eliot and Bob Dylan, and consider the rewards and limitations of the Ricks critical method, characterised by close verbal analysis.Find related articles on episode page: https://lrb.me/rickspodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bMusic by Kieran Brunt / Episode produced by Eliane Glaser / Series Producer: Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Runciman talks to Thomas Jones about Silicon Valley’s best known investor-provocateur, his prescience, his mistakes, and why, despite his ultra-libertarian ideology, he owes so much to the state.Listen without ads, and find further reading, on our website: https://lrb.me/thielpodFind details of our forthcoming podcast series, Close Readings: Encounters with Medieval Women, here: lrb.me/medievalSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bMusic by Kieran Brunt / Episode produced by Eliane Glaser / Series Producer: Anthony Wilks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dominic West reads Patrick Leigh Fermor's piece about the olive harvest on the Mani peninsula, written in the 1950s but first published in 2021 in the LRB.Read it here: https://lrb.me/leighfermorpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://lrb.me/travel Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Daniel Soar talks to Thomas Jones about the sixth taste, variously translated as ‘mouthfulness’, ‘thickness’ and ‘lingeringness’, apparently discovered by the Japanese company Ajinomoto, and its origins in the twisty and opaque story of MSG in North America.Read Daniel Soar's piece here: https://lrb.me/kokumipodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lydia Davis reads her essay on Arles, recorded for the Trilling Lecture at Columbia University in 2019.Read the piece here: https://lrb.me/lydiadavisarlespodSubscribe to the LRB and get a 79% discount: https://lrb.me/travel Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colm Tóibín reads his diary from November 2020, about visiting Venice during the pandemic.Read the piece here: https://lrb.me/aloneinvenicepodSubscribe to the LRB and save 79% on the cover price: https://lrb.me/travel Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the first of four summer readings visiting different places in Europe, Rosemary Hill explores the history of London's West End.Read the piece here: https://lrb.me/hillwestendpodSubscribe to the LRB and save 79% off the cover price: https://lrb.me/travel Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Trotter talks to Joanne O’Leary about the novels and stories of Elizabeth Bowen, from her weird families and idiosyncrasies of style, to her mastery of atmospherics and prescient use of technology to shape her characters.Find David's piece and more on Elizabeth Bowen in the LRB: https://lrb.me/bowenpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stephen Frears talks to Andrew O’Hagan about making movies in America, to mark the publication of a new collection of LRB essays on Hollywood. He describes being protected by Scorsese, learning from Billy Wilder, and why films often had budgets of $39 million.Buy the collection here: lrb.me/hollywoodFind more on the episode page: https://lrb.me/frearspodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Lanchester talks to Thomas Jones about ‘visible’ cheating in sport, that is, the kind which is against the rules but within the ethos of the game, from diving in football to bodyline bowling in cricket.Read John's piece in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/lanchestersportpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pooja Bhatia talks to Thomas Jones about the assassination of President Moïse in Haiti, the recent history of US involvement in the country, and the difference between elections and democracy.Find Pooja Bhatia's writing on Haiti in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/seizeduppodSign up to our Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Meek talks to Thomas Jones about the connected fates of two wind tower factories, one in Scotland, the other in Vietnam, and asks why the determination to achieve a green future isn’t matched by a determination to ensure fair wages and good conditions for the workers who will make it possible.Meek also describes the challenges of reporting on the story remotely during the pandemic. You can find his piece and watch some of the video shot by his researcher, Chi Mai, of the CS Wind factory in Phu My, here: https://lrb.me/windfarmspodSign up to our Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Toril Moi talks to Joanna Biggs about the French philosopher Simone Weil, whose short and uncompromising life became a workshop for her revolutionary ideas about labour, human suffering and the power of paying attention.Read Toril Moi on Simone Weil in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/weilpodSign up to our Close Readings subscription here: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Deborah Friedell talks to Thomas Jones about the Rosenbergs, from their early years on the Lower East Side of New York to their executions for conspiracy to commit espionage in 1953, and the significance of their trial in American public life, not least as a platform for Donald Trump’s future lawyer, Roy Cohn.Read Deborah's piece on the Rosenbergs and more here: https://lrb.me/rosenbergspodSign up to our Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Niamh Gallagher talks to Thomas Jones about the history of the Irish border, from its origins in the 1920s to today, the way it has shaped Irish politics in both the south and north, and why the Troubles can’t be repeated.Find Niamh Gallagher's piece in the LRB and more here: https://lrb.me/irishborderpodSign up to our Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tariq Ali talks to Thomas Jones about a newly reissued biography of the Prophet by Maxime Rodinson, and the historic prevalence of Arabic culture in the West, from Don Quixote to Trafalgar Square.Find Tariq Ali's review and other related pieces in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/muhammadcervantespodSign up to our Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The legendary cartoonist talks to Thomas Jones about his latest book, Street Cop, a collaboration with Robert Coover, and looks back on previous work including Maus and In the Shadow of No Towers, which was originally published in the LRB.Find related pieces in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/spiegelmanpodBuy Street Cop here: https://isolarii.com/Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alan Bennett reads selections from his diary from March 2020 to March 2021.Read more Alan Bennett in the LRB here: lrb.me/alanbennettpodSign up to our Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adam Shatz talks to Tareq Baconi and Henriette Chacar about the crisis in Israel-Palestine, the significance of the ceasefire, the context of the war, the politics inside Israel and the Gaza Strip, and the response in Washington.Read Tareq Baconi on the LRB blog: https://lrb.me/afterceasefirepodSign up to our Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Claire Hall talks to Thomas Jones about Ancient Greek horoscopy, the Ptolemaic model, the mysteries of the Antikythera mechanism, and why astrology was the first data science.Find Claire's LRB pieces and more here: https://lrb.me/perfectcirclespodSign up to our Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rosa Lyster talks to Thomas Jones about the global water crisis, from the severe droughts in her home city of Cape Town, to the sinking of Mexico City and the damming of the Nile, and the need for all countries to prepare for future shortages.Find Rosa Lyster's pieces (and listen ad free to this podcast) on our website here: https://lrb.me/waterpodSign up to our Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peter Geoghegan talks to Thomas Jones about the Greensill lobbying scandal, the refurbishment of Boris Johnson’s flat, the unhealthy relationship between successive British governments and the private sector, and what it might all mean for the future of the Union.Find Peter's pieces others in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/onebigpaydaypodSign up to our Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/closereadingspod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jesse McCarthy talks to Adam Shatz about his studies of Black diasporic culture, from Juan de Pareja to Audre Lorde, and his critique of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s case for reparations.Find related pieces in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/blindspotspodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Irina Dumitrescu talks to Thomas Jones about female authorship in early medieval England, and how the power and freedom that (some) women had in the eighth century challenges the idea of linear social progress.Find more by Irina Dumitrescu in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/dumitrescupodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Lanchester talks to Thomas Jones about his experience of being on a cargo ship blocked from entering the Suez Canal in 1967, his subsequent journey round the Cape of Good Hope, and the modern-day business of containers.Read John's piece and more in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/longwayroundpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Diane Williams talks to Thomas Jones about her short stories, and reads her latest two published in the LRB.Find more stories by Diane Williams in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/williamspodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gill Partington and Thomas Jones explore Kenneth Goldsmith’s online avant-garde archive, UbuWeb, listen to some of the things you can find on it, and consider what might not be found there.Find Gill's piece and more relevant LRB pieces here: https://lrb.me/ubuwebpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mouin Rabbani and Nathan Thrall talk to Adam Shatz about Israel’s vaccination programme, the system of apartheid that now effectively exists between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea, the legacy of Trump’s policies, and how the Biden administration may or may not exert its influence.Read Mouin Rabbani in the LRB: https://lrb.me/rabbanipodRead Nathan Thrall in the LRB: https://lrb.me/thrallpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this extra episode, Jorie Graham reads her poem ‘To 2040’, published in the latest issue of the LRB.You can listen to Jorie Graham reading twelve more of her poems from the LRB on our website here: https://lrb.me/grahamSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Terry Castle talks to Thomas Jones about Patricia Highsmith.Find Castle's piece on Highsmith, and pieces by Highsmith, in the LRB here: lrb.me/highsmithpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Catherine Moore, a consultant clinical virologist at Public Health Wales, and Rupert Beale, a clinician scientist group leader at the Francis Crick Institute, talk to Thomas Jones about the vaccine rollout for Sars-CoV-2, the new variant originally found in Brazil, and whether the virus might ever be eliminated.Find Rupert Beale's latest piece and others here: lrb.me/bealemoorepodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mary-Kay Wilmers, who retired as editor of the LRB last month, talks to Andrew O’Hagan about her career, first at Faber and Faber, then the Listener, then for 42 years at the London Review of Books. She talks about working with T.S. Eliot, the importance of being teased, and how a joke by Alan Bennett changed her life.The episode also contains extracts from Wilmers’s 1988 diary for the LRB, ‘Putting in the Commas’, and O’Hagan’s piece about Wilmers in the latest issue of the paper. Read and listen to them in full here:Mary-Kay Wilmers: Putting in the CommasAndrew O'Hagan: Miss SkippitSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Raphaëlle Branche talks to Adam Shatz about her new book, Papa, qu’as-tu fait en Algérie? (Daddy, What Did You Do in Algeria?). In it, Branche investigates the experiences of French conscripts in the Algerian war, what they saw and did, and, more important, how they did and didn’t talk about it afterwards.Shatz reviews Branche's book in the latest issue of the LRB. Find it and other related pieces here: https://lrb.me/branchepodcastSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Forrest Hylton talks to Thomas Jones about what’s happening in Brazil: the oxygen shortage in Manaus, Bolsonaro’s disastrous response to the pandemic, why Trump’s departure won’t hurt him, and the prospects for the left in next year’s general election.Find pieces by Forrest Hylton and others on Brazil in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/viewfromsalvadorpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Erin Maglaque talks to Thomas Jones about abortion in 16th-century Italy, the stories of women who experienced it, how it was investigated, and why attitudes to pregnancy 400 years ago were in some ways preferable to those now.Find more LRB pieces by Erin Maglaque here: lrb.me/erinmaglaquepodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew O‘Hagan reads his review of Sea State by Tabitha Lasley, a portrait of the oil rig industry, those who work in it, and a journalist‘s intensely close relationship with her subject.Read the review here: https://lrb.me/seastatepodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colin Burrow talks to Thomas Jones about the work of Ursula Le Guin. They discuss the way she brought anthropology into speculative fiction, her explorations of power and moral responsibility in the Earthsea books, and what it was like for Burrow growing up with another writer of fantasy and speculative fiction: his mother, Diana Wynne Jones.Find Burrow's piece on Le Guin and more here: https://lrb.me/ursulaleguinpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hazel Carby talks to Adam Shatz about the increasing nationalisation of racial histories, and the way African-American studies in the United States have been influenced by ideas of American exceptionalism. She argues instead for a broader, global view of race and African culture.Carby explores these ideas in her review of Isabel Wilkerson's Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents: https://lrb.me/hazelcarbypodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Wood talks to Thomas Jones about Beethoven, drawing on his review of three recent books on the composer. They discuss some of the apparently immovable Beethoven mythologies – the keyboard pedagogy, the heroic glower, the many appropriations of the 9th Symphony – and the blend of Viennese tradition and radical invention which characterises his music, particularly the piano sonatas, from the ethereal melodic sweetness of The Tempest to the terrifying, thumping trills of the Hammerklavier.Read James Wood's piece here: https://lrb.me/beethovenpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bPieces and recordings featured in this episode:5th Symphony: Berlin Philharmonic / Furtwängler (1954)3rd Symphony: Berlin Philharmonic / Furtwängler (1952)Piano Sonata No. 29 (‘Hammerklavier’): Barenboim (1984)Piano Sonata No. 29 (‘Hammerklavier’): Solomon (1952)Piano Sonata No. 17 (‘The Tempest’): Gould (1960)9th Symphony: Beyreuth Festival Orchestra / Furtwängler (1951)Piano Sonata No. 7: Horowitz (1959)Piano Sonata No. 26 (‘Les Adieux’): Kempff (1951)Piano Sonata No. 31: Hess (1953) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Lanchester reads his review of Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art by Rebecca Wragg Sykes.Read the piece here: lrb.me/neanderthalspodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Diane Williams reads nine of her (very) short stories published in the LRB, the most recent, ‘Tassel Rue’, from our Christmas issue.Find these stories and more, as well as a conversation between Williams and Lara Pawson from the London Review Bookshop, on our website: https://lrb.me/dianewilliamspodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thomas Jones reads his homage to Maradona, with help from some 1980s commentators.Read the piece here: https://lrb.me/maradonapodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rupert Beale talks to Thomas Jones about the new Sars-CoV-2 vaccines, how the mRNA technology works, why social distancing still matters, and why he’s worried about Christmas. (The conversation was recorded before the publication of the AstraZeneca/Oxford trial data.)Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ange Mlinko talks to Joanne O’Leary about the work of Denise Riley, following the publication last year of Riley’s Selected Poems: 1976-2016 and her essay Time Lived, without Its Flow. They look in particular at Riley’s celebrated poem ‘A Part Song’, a long elegy for her adult son, Jacob, who died from undiagnosed cardiomyopathy in 2008. ‘A Part Song’ was published first in the LRB in 2012 and won the Forward Prize for best poem in that year, and this discussion features extracts of Riley reading from the poem.Click here for more by Ange Mlinko and Denise RileyThis episode of the LRB Podcast is supported by The Week magazine. To try your first 6 issues of The Week for free, visit theweek.co.uk/offer and enter offer code LONDONSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pooja Bhatia talks to Thomas Jones about the Haitian revolution of 1791, the world-historical debut of the movement for Black liberation. They discuss the early insurrections, the leadership of Toussaint Louverture and his complicated legacy, the post-revolutionary land reforms and their traces in modern Haiti’s mango industry, and how Bhatia managed to get an interview with former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide after his return from exile.Find more by Pooja Bhatia on Haiti in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/haitirevolutionpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Randall Kennedy and Mike Davis talk to Adam Shatz about the results of the US elections. They consider the achievement of Stacey Abrams in Georgia, why the pandemic didn’t make much difference, how Democrats failed to understand changing Latino demographics, the role of progressives in Biden’s victory, and the intransigent, exurban core of the Republican base.Find more on the US elections in the LRB on the episode page for this podcast: https://lrb.me/kennedydavispodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Patricia Lockwood talks to Joanne O’Leary about being possessed by Vladimir Nabokov, reading Lolita as a teenage girl, the diagnostic value of Bend Sinister, and her anxiety about writing after having Covid-19.Read Patricia Lockwood on Nabokov and more in the LRB: https://lrb.me/lockwoodnabokovpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adam Shatz talks to Mike Davis about some of the underlying and long-term political shifts at play in next week’s US elections. They discuss both traditional and emerging swing voters, the obstacles to majority rule, the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett as the latest move in an ongoing civil war within the Catholic Church in the United States, the critical failure of the left to challenge the philosophy of the Reagan revolution, the death cult at the core of today’s Republican base, the importance of Bernie Sanders’s presidential run and the Black Lives Matter movement, and why, fifteen years ago, Davis predicted an age of pandemics.Find LRB pieces related to this episode here: https://lrb.me/mikedavispodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alex Abramovich talks to Thomas Jones about the history of country from Jimmie Rodgers to Lil Nas X, by way of Dolly Parton (and Eddie Van Halen), and the problems with the labels that get applied to American vernacular music.Find Alex Abramovich's piece on Ken Burns' series here: https://lrb.me/countrymusicpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To mark the publication of the latest LRB Collection of essays, about sport, David Runciman, on loan from Talking Politics, talks to Ben Markovits about Michael Jordan, home advantage, how basketball has tackled racial inequality, the difference between writing about sport in fiction and non-fiction, and why it turns out that players really are sometimes hot and sometimes not.Pre-order the LRB's collection of sports writing here: https://lrb.me/sportFind the pieces mentioned in this episode here: https://lrb.me/sportpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily Wilson talks to Thomas Jones about three new translations of the Oresteia. They discuss what the texts of the tragedies may tell us about the state of democracy in fifth-century Athens, the difficulties of Aeschylus’ language, why Hamilton may be the best modern analogue to Ancient Greek drama, and how Wilson came to do her own translation of the Odyssey.Find Emily Wilson's piece on Aeschylus and more here: https://lrb.me/emilywilsonpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jenny Turner talks to Joanna Biggs about the history of the Women’s Liberation Movement, the loneliness of feminist work, and the seemingly unavoidable question: How do you think your life compares to your mother’s?Find Jenny Turner’s piece and other related pieces on the episode page for this podcast: https://lrb.me/jennyturnerpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Deborah Friedell talks to Thomas Jones about the origins, and origin myths, of the National Rifle Association, how it spends its money, and why it's wary of winning.Read Deborah Friedell on the NRA here: https://lrb.me/friedellnrapodAnd you can find her other pieces for the LRB here: https://lrb.me/friedellpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Katherine Rundell reads her study of the Greenland shark, which can live for 500 years.You can find all the pieces in Katherine Rundell's series of animal studies on her author page on the LRB website: https://lrb.me/rundellpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rupert Beale talks to Thomas Jones about Covid-19 vaccine candidates, and reasons not to rush them; how worried we should be about reported cases of re-infection; possible reasons for the apparent drop in the infection fatality rate; and the prospects for reopening schools.Read more by Rupert Beale in the LRB: https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/lrb-conversations/covidologySubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Patricia Lockwood reads her diary about catching and recovering from Covid-19.Read more by Patricia Lockwood in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/lockwoodpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adam Shatz talks to Paul Gilroy about his intellectual background and the recent anti-racist protests in the UK and US. They discuss Gilroy’s experience growing up in North London in the 1950s and 1960s, the influence of African-American culture on his understanding of racial ordering, the role of Turner’s painting The Slave Ship in the history of the ‘Black Atlantic’, the shifting use of terms such as ‘racism’ and ‘anti-blackness’, and how the imminent threats of climate change might affect racial identity.Find material related to this podcast on our website: https://lrb.me/paulgilroypodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stefan Collini talks to Thomas Jones about the life and work of Frank Kermode, and Mary-Kay Wilmers remembers him as a contributor to the LRB.Find LRB pieces related to this episode here: lrb.me/frankkermodepodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bBuy the LRB’s selection of Frank Kermode’s essays from the LRB Store: lrb.me/kermodeselectionpod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Following his piece in the latest issue of the LRB, William Davies talks to Thomas Jones about the new political polarisation, and what it owes to the online culture of instant feedback. What does politics look like, Davies asks, once the provocation of reaction, positive or negative, precedes the slow work of excavation, research, reporting and administration?They discuss the anticipation of this modern politics in the ideas of the Nazi theorist Carl Schmitt, the seductive appeal of referendums as relief from the quagmire of parliamentary liberalism, and the way that demanding people take sides in the ‘culture wars’ inhibits meaningful discussion where it’s most needed.Read William Davies' piece here: https://lrb.me/daviesredbuttonpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pankaj Mishra talks to Adam Shatz about his latest piece for the LRB, which looks at the ways the US and UK have responded to the Covid-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests, and what those botched responses reveal about the broader failures of Anglo-America.Their discussion also touches on the recent ‘open debate’ letter to Harper’s, the lingering prevalence of Cold War thinking among Western intellectuals, and the extent to which a Biden administration may or may not bring change.Read Pankaj Mishra's piece here: https://lrb.me/pnakajmishrapodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Katherine Rundell reads her study of the lemur.You can find all the pieces in Katherine Rundell's series of animal studies on her author page on the LRB website: https://lrb.me/rundellpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amia Srinivasan talks to Thomas Jones about the long search for a third person singular, gender-neutral pronoun, and the resurgence of the pronoun debate in recent years.Read more by Amia Srinivasan in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/amiasrinivasanpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor talks to Adam Shatz about the intellectual and historical background to the Black Lives Matter movement, and why she’s optimistic that the current protests might bring change.Find further reading and a full transcript of this episode on the LRB website: https://lrb.me/howdoyouchangethingsSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Katherine Rundell reads her study of the common swift, which flies about two million kilometres in its lifetime.You can find all Katherine Rundell's pieces on animals for the LRB here: https://lrb.me/rundellpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gaby Wood reads her diary from the latest issue of the LRB, in which she tries to draw an albatross using a camera lucida.Read the diary and much more in a latest issue: https://lrb.me/latestlrbSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Susan Pedersen talks to Joanna Biggs about Shelagh Delaney and her landmark 1958 play, A Taste of Honey.Read Susan Pedersen on Shelagh Delaney in the LRB: https://lrb.me/delaneypodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20bThe first two clips in this episode are from the 1961 film, the third clip is from The White Bus (1967) directed by Lindsay Anderson, and the fourth clip is from a 1959 interview with Delaney for ITN. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Lanchester talks to Thomas Jones about Georges Simenon, whose output was so prodigious that even he didn’t know how many books he wrote.Find links to related articles and a full transcript on the podcast episode page: https://lrb.me/maigretreturnspodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sonia Gandhi and Rupert Beale, scientists at the Francis Crick Institute, talk to Thomas Jones about the ways Covid-19 can affect the nervous system, the steps required to reopen the NHS after lockdown, the state of testing, and reasons for optimism about a vaccine.Read Rupert Beale’s latest piece on the coronavirus here: How to Block SpikeSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew O’Hagan talks to Thomas Jones about the friendship between Robert Louis Stevenson and Henry James, and the time they spent together in Bournemouth.Find a full transcript of this episode and links to related articles here: http://lrb.me/ohaganrlspodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Wood talks to Adam Shatz about critical theory, its origins, developments and various diversions, and where it stands today. The conversation marks the publication of the eighth volume in the LRB Collections series, The Meaninglessness of Meaning: Writing about the theory wars from the ‘London Review of Books’ by contributors including Pierre Bourdieau, Judith Butler, Richard Rorty, Lorna Sage, John Sturrock and Michael Wood.You can buy the book on the LRB Store here: lrb.me/theoryFind a full transcript and list of related articles for this episode here: https://lrb.me/theorytrucepodUse the code ‘collect8’ at checkout to buy all eight LRB collections for just £40.Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colm Tóibín talks to Thomas Jones about the breakdown of Elizabeth Hardwick’s marriage to Robert Lowell, and its literary consequences.Find the pieces mentioned in this episode here: lrb.me/toibinhardwickpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mary Wellesley talks to Joanna Biggs about islands, blessed and not so blessed, from Homer to the Fyre Festival.Read more by Mary Wellesley in the LRB:On Blessed IslesOn anchoritesOn Sir Gawain and the Green KnightSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joanna Biggs talks to Thomas Jones about the life of Simone de Beauvoir.Further reading on Beauvoir in the LRB:Joanna Biggs: https://lrb.me/biggsdebeauvoirpodMichael Rogin: https://lrb.me/rogindebeauvoirpodToril Moi: https://lrb.me/torilmoipodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lana Spawls talks to Thomas Jones about working on a paediatric ward during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the ways hospitals have changed in response to the virus.Read Lana's latest piece in the LRB: Lana Spawls: How to set up an ICUSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rupert Beale talks again to Thomas Jones about his work at the Francis Crick Institute, where he’s helping to set up a testing lab for Covid-19. He talks about the challenges of creating a scalable process, explains why a successful antibody test could be hard to achieve, and finds some reasons to be hopeful.You can find a full transcript of this episode HERE.Read more in the LRB:Rupert Beale: Wash Your HandsLana Spawls: How to set up an ICUThomas Jones: QuaresimaSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Erin Maglaque talks to Thomas Jones about the lockdown imposed by the city of Florence in January 1631 in response to a plague outbreak, the similarities with our current situation, and the differences.Maglaque wrote about the plague in Florence in a recent issue of the LRB, reviewing Florence Under Siege: Surviving Plague in an Early Modern City by John Henderson.Read her piece here: https://lrb.me/maglaquepodRead Tom's piece on Italy and the coronavirus pandemic: https://lrb.me/jonesitalypodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Following his piece for the LRB about Covid-19, Rupert Beale talks to Thomas Jones about what the novel coronavirus is, how well countries are dealing with it, and what hopes there are for stopping the contagion.Read Rupert's piece here: https://lrb.me/bealecoronaviruspodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Akihito, who abdicated in April, was a paradoxical figure: a hereditary monarch, the son of the wartime emperor, Hirohito, strictly barred from political utterance, who even so stood out against the historical revisionism of the nationalist right. Richard Lloyd Parry considers the former emperor’s part in the intellectual and political debate over Japan’s wartime record, and its history of apology – or non-apology – for its conduct in East Asia.Find more from Richard Lloyd Parry in the LRB here: lrb.me/richardlloydparrypodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Given what we know about the future of the planet, is having children a matter of consumer choice, of political conviction, or something an authority will eventually decide for us? Meehan Crist explores the debate about the ethics of childbearing in the age of climate crisis. She addresses the relationship between BP and the British Museum, the implications of culture-washing, and the logic of cultural divestment initiatives.Read more from Meehan Crist in the LRB here: lrb.me/meehancristarticlespodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The line between making a fiction and telling a lie has been blurry at least since Homer, and liars – from Odysseus and Iago to Austen’s Wickham and beyond – have often played central parts within fictions. This lecture will aim to tell some (though not all) of the truth about the relationship between lies and fiction from Homer to Ian McEwan, and will ask if fiction has responded adequately to the maggoty abundance of lies in public life at the present time.Read more by Colin Burrow in the LRB: lrb.me/colinburrowpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alan Bennett reads his Diary for 2019, with a few little extra bits.Read more by Alan Bennett in the LRB: lrb.me/bennettpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the last of a series of events marking the LRB's 40th anniversary, Jeremy Harding and Adam Shatz talk to Nikita Lalwani about their work for the paper, with a focus on North Africa and the Middle East.Due to some problems with the audio recording, this is a slightly abridged version of the event.Read more Jeremy Harding in the LRB: lrb.me/jhardingpodRead more Adam Shatz in the LRB: lrb.me/shatzpod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As part of a series of events marking the LRB's 40th anniversary, Nell Dunn and Tessa Hadley talk to Joanna Biggs, one of the LRB's editors, about fictional representations of women’s everyday lives.Read more in the LRB from:Tessa HadleyNell DunnJoanna Biggs Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As part of our series of events marking the 40th anniversary of the LRB, longtime contributors Rosemary Hill and Iain Sinclair talked to the LRB’s digital editor, Sam Kinchin-Smith, about London, through the lens of pieces they've written for the paper.Read more by Rosemary Hill in the LRB: lrb.me/hillpodRead more by Iain Sincliar in the LRB: lrb.me/sinclairpodSign up to the LRB's newsletter: lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As part of our series of events marking the LRB's 40th anniversary, Katrina Forrester and William Davies discuss political crisis, and in particular the crisis of liberalism, through the lens of pieces they've written for the paper.Read more by Katrina Forrester in the LRB: https://lrb.me/forresterpodRead more by William Davies in the LRB: https://lrb.me/daviespod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the London Review of Books, and mark the publication of The London Review of Books: An Incomplete History, the LRB’s editor, Mary-Kay Wilmers, along with Alan Bennett, Andrew O’Hagan, John Lanchester and Sheng Yun, talk to LRB publisher Nicholas Spice about the history and character of the paper. The London Review of Books: An Incomplete History is available to buy on the LRB store:https://lrb.me/storepodRead more Alan Bennett in the LRB here: https;//lrb.me/bennettpod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bee Wilson on eating out in late Victorian London.Read more by Bee Wilson in the LRB: https://lrb.me/beewilsonpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Wood recalls his time at the college, with David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg and others.Read more by James Wood in the LRB: https://lrb.me/jameswoodpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew O'Hagan goes to the fashion designer's memorial at the Grand Palais in Paris.Read more by Andrew O'Hagan in the LRB: https://lrb.me/ohaganpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mary Wellesley looks inside the cell of a medieval anchorite, and considers why so many women shut themselves away to devote themselves to prayer and contemplation, and what their lives were like.Read Mary Wellesley in the LRB: lrb.me/wellesleypodSign up to the LRB newsletter: lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

‘Instead of shaking all over, I read the newspapers. I listened to the radio. I had my lunch.’ Colm Tóibín reads his account of being treated for cancer.Read more by Colm Tóibín in the LRB archive: lrb.me/colmtoibinpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alan Bennett puts on a new play and finds himself on someone’s arm, in his 2018 diary.Read more by Alan Bennett in the LRB: https://lrb.me/bennettpodSubscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rosemary Hill explores frock consciousness in life and literature in her LRB Winter Lecture, delivered at the British Museum.Read more by Rosemary Hill in the LRB: https://lrb.me/hillpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Linda Colley argues that the prospect of Brexit makes history more important than ever in her LRB Winter Lecture, delivered at the British Museum.Read more by Linda Colley in the LRB: https://lrb.me/colleypodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Anne Enright delivers her Winter Lecture on the corruptions of the Adam and Eve story in her LRB Winter Lecture, delivered at the British Museum.Read more by Anne Enright in the LRB: https://lrb.me/enrightpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Toby Jones reads John Lanchester’s ghost story.Read more from John Lanchester in the LRB: https://lrb.me/lanchesterpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alan Bennett finds his métier at last in 2017.Read more by Alan Bennett in the LRB: https://lrb.me/bennettpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the latest instalment of the LRB podcast, recorded in Seoul, Richard Lloyd Parry talks to the Korean-American novelist Krys Lee about Christianity, plastic surgery and mutual incomprehension in the Korean borderlands.Read more by Richard Lloyd Parry in the LRB; https://lrb.me/lloydparrypodSign up to the LRB newsletter: lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jane Campbell reads a story about dispossession in paradise.Sign up to the LRB newsletter: lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucy Prebble describes meeting Harvey Weinstein.Sign up to the LRB newsletter: lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second part of their conversation, Olivier Roy and Adam Shatz discuss the deculturation of Islam, and why it has led to the radicalisation of so many second-generation immigrants and converts.Read more by Adam Shatz in the LRB: lrb.me/shatzpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the first of two podcasts, Olivier Roy tells Adam Shatz about his experiences with the Gauche prolétarienne in the 1960s and his early travels in Afghanistan.Read more by Adam Shatz in the LRB: lrb.me/shatzpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Carmen Callil, writer, editor and founder of Virago, tells Rosemary Hill how she made her way in 1960s London.Read more by Rosemary Hill in the LRB: lrb.me/hillpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ferdinand Mount on how India was governed strictly for the benefit of Britain.Read more by Ferdinand Mount in the LRB: lrb.me/mountpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Writer and actor Wallace Shawn talks to Adam Shatz about ‘the thin line between entertainment and cruelty’ in the age of Trump.Read more by Adam Shatz in the LRB: https://lrb.me/shatzpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

William Davies talks to Tom Crewe about politics in the new media age.Read more by William Davies in the LRB: https://lrb.me/daviespodRead more by Tom Crewe in the LRB: https://lrb.me/crewepodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elaine Mokhtefi tells Jeremy Harding about her time working in Algeria in the 1960s when she met Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

‘Bohemia was never a safe country for women. If they didn’t all die of consumption in a garret, many of them might as well have done’ – Rosemary Hill on the letters of Ida John.Read more by Rosemary Hill in the LRB: lrb.me/hillpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

‘It’s like the drunken lout at a party who can’t get anyone to like him.’ Andrew O’Hagan reads the Daily Mail.Read more by Andrew O'Hagan in the LRB: lrb.me/ohaganpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Crewe talks to Lorna Finlayson about Jeremy Corbyn and Labour’s prospects in the general election and beyond.Read more by Tom Crewe in the LRB: lrb.me/crewepodRead more by Lorna Finlayson in the LRB: https://lrb.me/finlaysonpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

‘Once you start seeing everyday behaviour as having the potential to draw people into terrorism, you’re inside the problem’ – Karma Nabulsi on the British government’s Prevent programme.Read more by Karma Nabulsi in the LRB: https://lrb.me/nabulsipodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Julian Barnes on Georges Simenon and Brexit.Read more by Julian Barnes in the LRB: lrb.me/barnespodSign up to the LRB newsletter: lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adam Shatz talks to Joshua Landis about the war in Syria.Read more by Adam Shatz in the LRB: https://lrb.me/shatzpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Runciman talks to John Lanchester about banks, Europe and technology in this latest collaboration with Talking Politics.Read John Lanchester in the LRB: https://lrb.me/lanchesterpodRead David Runciman in the LRB: https://lrb.me/runcimanpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Iain Sinclair delivers his lecture on ‘The Last London’ at the British Museum, as part of the LRB’s Winter Lecture series.Read more by Iain Sinclair in the LRB: https://lrb.me/sinclairpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mary Beard delivers her lecture ‘Women in Power’ at the British Museum.Read Mary Beard in the LRB: https://lrb.me/beardpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the first of our ongoing and occasional collaboration with the Talking Politics podcast, David Runciman talks to Mary Beard about women in power.Read Mary Beard in the LRB: https://lrb.me/beardpodRead David Runciman in the LRB: https://lrb.me/runcimanpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily Witt goes to the Burning Man gathering in Nevada, from our 17 July 2014 issue.Sign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alan Bennett reads his diary for 2016.Read more by Alan Bennett in the LRB: https://lrb.me/bennettpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To mark John Berger’s 90th birthday, the London Review Bookshop and Verso Books organised a discussion of his work with Mike Dibb, Yasmin Gunaratnam and Tom Overton, hosted by Gareth Evans.Read John Berger in the LRB: https://lrb.me/bergerpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Frederick Seidel reads his poem ‘In Late December’.Read Frederck Seidel in the LRB: https://lrb.me/seidelpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hal Foster reviews the Robert Rauschenberg exhibition at Tate Modern.Read Hal Foster in the LRB: https://lrb.me/fosterpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Susan Pedersen on the birth of ‘International Relations’.Read Susan Pedersen in the LRB: https://lrb.me/pedersenpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mary-Kay Wilmers, Andrew O’Hagan and Ben Eastham talk to Sarah Howe about ‘Long-Form Essays in the Digital Age’.Sign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acastRead Mary-Kay Wilmers in the LRB: https://lrb.me/wilmerspodRead Andrew O'Hagan in the LRB: https://lrb.me/ohaganpod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Lanchester on the implications of the UK’s EU referendum.Read John Lanchester in the LRB: https://lrb.me/lanchesterpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gavin Francis observes the autopsy of a man pulled from a river.Read Gavin Francis in the LRB: https://lrb.me/francispodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew O'Hagan watches Craig Wright show Gavin Andresen, one of the most respected bitcoin core developers, that he holds the Satoshi key.Read Andrew O'Hagan in the LRB: https://lrb.me/ohaganpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Frederick Seidel reads his poem ‘Trump for President!’.Read Frederick Seidel in the LRB: https://lrb.me/seidelpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peter Pomerantsev remembers his time in the 'English section' at the European School in Munich.Read Peter Pomerantsev in the LRB: https://lrb.me/pomerantsevpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Naomi Klein examines how Edward Said’s ideas of racial hierarchy, including Orientalism, have long been the silent partners to climate change.Read Naomi Klein in the LRB: https://lrb.me/kleinpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colm Tóibín on the story of Easter 1916.Read Colm Tóibín in the LRB: https://lrb.me/toibinpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Charles Hope on Giorgione, 'a sort of Venetian counterpart to Leonardo'.Read Charles Hope in the LRB: https://lrb.me/hopepodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Julian Bell discusses Delacroix and his heirs.Read Julian Bell in the LRB: https://lrb.me/bellpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Frances Stonor Saunders examines the crossing of borders, in her LRB Winter Lecture delivered at the British Museum.Read Frances Stonor Saunders in the LRB: https://lrb.me/stonorsaundersodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Meek asks how, in a time of austerity economics, we define the robber and the robbed, in his LRB Winter Lecture delivered at the British Museum.Read James Meek in the LRB: https://lrb.me/meekpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alan Bennett works the line, in his LRB Diary for 2015.Read Alan Bennett in the LRB: https://lrb.me/bennettpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Runciman on Margaret Thatcher.Read David Runciman in the LRB: https://lrb.me/runcimanpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chaohua Wang on justice in China.Read Chaohua Wang in the LRB: https://lrb.me/chaohuawangpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew O'Hagan crosses the road.Read Andrew O'Hagan in the LRB: https://lrb.me/ohaganpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Robert Hanks on the pleasures and pains of putting things off.Read Robert Hanks in the LRB: https://lrb.me/hankspodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Julian Barnes on Van Gogh.Read Julian Barnes in the LRB: https://lrb.me/barnespodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Seymour Hersh talks to Christian Lorentzen about his pieces for the LRB, collected in a new book, The Killing of Osama bin Laden.Read Seymour Hersh in the LRB: https://lrb.me/hershpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ghaith Abdul-Ahad on the rise of the Houthis in Yemen.Read Gaith Abdul-Ahad: https://lrb.me/abdulahadytSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hilary Mantel reads her short story, ‘The School of English’.Read Hilary Mantel in the LRB: https://lrb.me/mantelytSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In his 2015 Winter Lecture, Tariq Ali argues that we are living in the twilight period of democracy.Read more Tariq Ali in the LRB: https://lrb.me/tariqalipodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In her 2015 Winter Lecture, Marina Warner shows how higher education in the UK has been betrayed.Read more Marina Warner in the LRB: https://lrb.me/warnerpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In his 2015 Winter Lecture, Adam Phillips reflects on the ways we hate ourselves.Read more by Adam Phillips in the LRB: https://lrb.me/phillipspodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peter Pomerantsev on images and myths of Maidan.Read more by Peter Pomerantsev in the LRB: https://lrb.me/pomerantsevpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rosemary Hill on the life and disappearance of Lord Lucan.Read more Rosemary Hill in the LRB: https://lrb.me/hillpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Owen Bennett-Jones on the messengers that paved the way for the Northern Ireland peace process.Read more by Owen Bennett-Jones in the LRB: https://lrb.me/bennettjonespodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alan Bennett on what he did in 2014.Read more Alan Bennett in the LRB: https://lrb.me/bennettpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Meek on the British army’s eight years in Afghanistan.Read more James Meek in the LRB: https://lrb.me/meekpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: https://lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

T.J. Clark comes face to face with Rembrandt.Read more T.J. Clark in the LRB: lrb.me/tjclarkpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alan Bennett read this sermon on private educations before the University, King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, 1 June 2014.Read more Alan Bennett in the LRB: lrb.me/bennettpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mary Beard reflects on the way women are heard – and have been heard – in public, from Homer’s Odyssey through Margaret Thatcher to internet trolls.Read more Mary Beard in the LRB: lrb.me/beardpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew O’Hagan spent six months with Julian Assange helping him write his autobiography, though in the event Assange didn’t want the book published. O’Hagan speaks about those six months for the first time.Read more Andrew O'Hagan in the LRB: lrb.me/ohaganpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

James Wood explores the estrangement of voluntary emigration: the puzzling sense of losing the country you leave and failing to find another. Homelessness, in a word.Read more James Wood in the LRB: lrb.me/jameswoodpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alan Bennett reluctantly pays some overdue bills.Read more Alan Bennett in the LRB: lrb.me/bennettpodSign up to the LRB newsletter: lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jenny Turner on Penelope Fitzgerald Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adam Shatz on the life and death of Juliano Mer-Khamis. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew O’Hagan remembers Norman Mailer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jacqueline Rose on what links Frank Kermode and Nigel Farage. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In August, as Australian politicians hung tough on asylum seekers, the Melbourne Writers Festival asked Jeremy Harding how far governments can patrol migration. With grateful acknowledgments to the Alan Missen Foundation and Liberty Victoria. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recognised for her writing on subjects including Sylvia Plath, feminism, Proust, psychoanalysis, Zionism, the Middle East conflict and Jewish identity, Rose discusses her work with Justin Clemens, co-editor (wtih Ben Naparstek) of the Jacqueline Rose Reader.Read Jacqueline Rose in the LRB: lrb.me/jrosepodSign up to the LRB newsletter: lrb.me/acast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jacqueline Rose draws parallels between revolutionary 19th-century socialist Rosa Luxemburg and Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe. She explains how each of these remarkable women straddled the divide between their political and inner lives. Chaired by Hilary Harper. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Author, essayist and poet Colm Tóibín is one of Ireland’s greatest living writers. He discusses his life and work, including his recent book The Testament of Mary, in which he re-imagines the life of Christ through the eyes of the holiest of saints. With Michael McGirr. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michael Wood reconsiders ‘Cleopatra’ – its expense, its quarrelling stars, its length, its success – on the release of a restored print for the film’s fiftieth anniversary. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lavinia Greenlaw tells the story of singer Tracey Thorn’s rise from bedroom rehearsals and an ad in the NME to indie label Cherry Red (who also signed Greenlaw’s band), the top ten and a platinum record. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Marina Warner explores Emily Davison’s legacy as the suffragettes’ first martyr in a talk given at the inaugural Wilding Festival at St George’s Bloomsbury, where Davison’s memorial service was held. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On the centenary of Wagner’s birth, Nicholas Spice asks in his Winter Lecture at the British Museum how his music works on us and what this tells us about music in general. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

David Runciman on the impossibility and persistence of the US political system. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In his 2013 Edward W. Said lecture Noam Chomsky reflects on 65 years of violence in the Middle East. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alan Bennett considers the banana skin and is mistaken for ‘another Alan’ in his Diary for 2011. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew O’Hagan chaired this discussion between Linda Colley, R.W. Johnson and Tom Devine about national histories and the ways they should, and should not, be taught. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In his 2011 Winter Lecture at the British Museum, T.J. Clark shows how the painting of Guernica in May and June 1937 changed the way Picasso imagined space. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.