Black's History Week

In this week's Black's History Week podcast, Professor Jeremy Black, author of Altered States, talks to The Critic's political editor, Graham Stewart, about how posterity - or at any rate some historians - will treat the presidency of Donald Trump. Revolutionary? Visionary? Perpetuator of a long-established isolationist tradition or the architect of a realist foreign policy for the 21st century? An aberration? Or a symptom of deeper and unresolved divisions in American society that consensus politics did not - and may not - overcome?

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Image: Donald Trump, (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

Music: Radetzky March by Human Symphony Orchestra (premiumbeat.com)

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In this fifth podcast to mark the presidential election, Professor Jeremy Black, author of Altered States, talks to The Critic‘s political editor, Graham Stewart, about how the power of the US president has been exercised since the end of the Cold War.

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Right now we’re offering 3 months for just £5. Go to thecritic.imbmsubscriptions.com/ for details.

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Image: Bill Clinton

Music: Radetzky March by Human Symphony Orchestra (premiumbeat.com)

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In this fourth podcast to mark the coming presidential election, Professor Jeremy Black, author of Altered States, talks to The Critic‘s political editor, Graham Stewart, about how the power of the US president has been exercised since the Second World War.  

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Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and iTunes to ensure you never you never miss an episode.

Right now we’re offering 3 months for just £5. Go to thecritic.imbmsubscriptions.com/ for details.

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Image: Harry Truman

Music: Radetzky March by Human Symphony Orchestra (premiumbeat.com)

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In the third of four podcasts to mark the coming presidential election, Professor Jeremy Black, author of Fighting for America and Altered States, talks to The Critic's political editor, Graham Stewart, about how the power of the US president was exercised in the first half of the twentieth century, from Teddy Roosevelt to FDR.

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Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and iTunes to ensure you never you never miss an episode.

Right now we’re offering 3 months for just £5. Go to thecritic.imbmsubscriptions.com/ for details.

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Image: Teddy Roosevelt

Music: Radetzky March by Human Symphony Orchestra (premiumbeat.com)

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In the second of three podcasts to mark the coming presidential election, the first of which can be found here, Professor Jeremy Black, author of Fighting for America and Altered States, talks to The Critic's political editor, Graham Stewart, about how the power of the US president was exercised during the Civil War and its aftermath.

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Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and iTunes to ensure you never you never miss an episode.

Right now we’re offering 3 months for just £5. Go to thecritic.imbmsubscriptions.com/ for details.

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Image: President Abraham Lincoln, photo by Hulton/Archive/Getty Images

Music: Radetzky March by Human Symphony Orchestra (premiumbeat.com)

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With less than four weeks to go before American voters elect their next president, how has executive authority developed since George Washington was sworn in as the federal republic's first president in 1789?

In this first of three podcasts to mark the coming presidential election, Professor Jeremy Black, author of Fighting for America and Altered States, talks to The Critic's political editor, Graham Stewart, about where power lay in the period between the United States achieving independence and the outbreak of Civil War in 1861.

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Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and iTunes to ensure you never you never miss an episode.

Right now we’re offering 3 months for just £5. Go to thecritic.imbmsubscriptions.com/ for details.

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Image: George Washington on horseback in front of a map of the United States, by James Montgomery Flagg, c. 1935. Screen print. (Illustration by GraphicaArtis/Getty Images)

Music: Radetzky March by Human Symphony Orchestra (premiumbeat.com)

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In a week when backbench MPs and the government clashed over the right to debate Coronavirus regulations before they become law, how does the role of the modern MP compare with that of an eighteenth century honourable member? Were MPs a check upon - or a rubber-stamp for - successive Whig governments and how diligently did they perform their duties?  

In this week's Black's History Week podcast, Professor Jeremy Black, author of Walpole in Power and Parliament and Foreign Policy in the Eighteenth Century, talks to The Critic's political editor, Graham Stewart, about the nature of parliamentary government in Georgian Britain.

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Image: Sir Robert Walpole in the House of Commons, circa 1700s

Music: Radetzky March by Human Symphony Orchestra (premiumbeat.com)

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Has scientific development become so specialised and academic roles so minutely research-focused that there is no longer a role for the inter-disciplinary polymath who prioritises breadth of knowledge and making connections between different subjects?

In this week's Black's History Week, Professor Jeremy Black talks to The Critic's political editor, Graham Stewart, about the idea of the Renaissance Man and how he personally developed such breadth in his own wide-ranging career as a historian. 

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Music: Radetzky March by Human Symphony Orchestra (premiumbeat.com)

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Welcome to the first episode of Black’s History Week: the latest podcast series from us here at The Critic.

The former prime ministers, John Major, Tony Blair and Theresa May have all criticised Boris Johnson's handling of the Internal Market Bill and the Withdrawal Agreement. But how common is it for ex-prime ministers to continue to play a prominent part in British politics after they have left Downing Street? And do American presidents mostly find it easier to resist the urge to influence political debate after their White House tenure expires?

In this podcast, Professor Jeremy Black, biographer of Robert Walpole and Pitt the Elder, talks to The Critic's editor, Graham Stewart, about the ruling passion and which of the pastmasters have successfully influenced politics after their time in office elapsed.

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Image: William Pitt the Elder, (Image from Studio of William Hoare, held at the National Portrait Gallery, image obtained via Wikipedia)

Music: Radetzky March by Human Symphony Orchestra (premiumbeat.com)

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