The Burning Archive

The Burning Archive

By Jeff RichHistory
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The Burning Archive episodes

  • 123. In a time of war, nurture empathy with history

    The Israel-Gaza Crisis, as the United Nations describes the situation, has shocked the world, and confronted us with the difficulties of living in a time of war. How can we respond to these shocking events mindfully, given the torrents of emotion coursing around the world? How can we use history not to nurse grievance, but to nurture empathy, and so to restore peace? I address these questions through many viewpoints in this show - the debates this week at the United Nations Security Council, the reflections of historian Simon Schama, the insights of a new history of World War II, and the grief and wisdom of two great woman poets.

    Read more of my writing and join my free weekly newsletter, Fragments of the Burning Archive at jeffrich.substack.com.

    40 min
  • 122. Six Intriguing New History Books from the Wolfson History Prize. Please Discuss.

    Are you looking for a new, readable, intriguing history book to read? I introduce you to a shortlist of 6 top history books from 2023. All 6 books come from the shortlist for the 2023 Wolfson History Prize, Britain and the UK's most prestigious history book prize.

    I also invite you to help me shape my idea for an online history reading club, where you can learn and read with me. Would you like to see the world more clearly with some quality world history. Please discuss.

    You can follow me at jeffrich.substack.com and theburningarchive.com

    52 min
  • 121. Jon Fosse's Slow Prose. My reaction to 2023 Nobel Prize for Literature Announcement

    The 2023 Nobel Prize for Literature is announced. Relive world literature's night of nights with this edited live reaction to the announcement. It covers all the predictions, the actual announcement, and an emotional introduction to why you might want to read the works of this year's winner. Whether you do not know who won, or do not know anything about who won, this podcast will offer you some insights, and even some inspiration.

    Follow my free and exclusive writing at jeffrich.substack.com and check all my work at theburningarchive.com.

    Read my latest article on the winner of the 1973 Nobel Prize for Literature, Patrick White, Australia’s aborted cultural decolonisation.

    Subscribe on Spotify for regular bonus content.

    44 min
  • 120. Why read Olga Tokarczuk, 2018 Nobel Prize for Literature?

    Why read Olga Tokarczuk, Winner of 2018 Nobel Prize for Literature? Find out in this fourth episode of my series on the Nobel Prize for Literature. It discusses the life of the 2018 Nobel Prize for Literature Laureate, the novelist Olga Tokarczuk. I give you 10 reasons to read one of the most celebrated Nobel winners of recent years. I give a guide to her works: The Books of Jacob (the best historical fiction of this century), Flights and Drive your Plow over the Bones of the Dead. And you will hear Tokarczuk speak in her own voice about the issues of importance to this Polish woman writer.

    Read more at www.theburningarchive.com

    And become a paid supporter of The Burning Archive by subscribing at Spotify or at patreon.com to get exclusive bonus content.

    Become an Angel of History, learn with me about the history and culture of the multipolar world, and receive a bonus episode going into depth on Tokarczuk's great novel of historical fiction, The Books of Jacob.

    39 min
  • 119. Why read Patrick White, 1973 Nobel Prize for Literature, the Exile at Home?

    Why read Patrick White, Winner of 1973 Nobel Prize for Literature? Find out in this third episode of my series on the Nobel Prize for Literature. It discusses the life and works of the 1973 Nobel Prize for Literature Laureate, the novelist Patrick White, the only Australian to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

    You will hear White react to the news of the prize in his own voice, and learn how this great writer was an uneasy exile at home, in more ways than one.

    Read more at www.theburningarchive.com

    And become a paid supporter of The Burning Archive by subscribing at Spotify or at patreon.com to get exclusive bonus content.

    Become an Angel of History, learn with me about the history and culture of the multipolar world, and receive the first bonus episode on Patrick White and Australian cultural nationalism on 25 September.

    46 min
  • 118. Why read WB Yeats, Winner of 1923 Nobel Prize for Literature?

    Why should you read W.B. Yeats, Winner of 1923 Nobel Prize for Literature? Find out in this second of my series on the Nobel Prize for Literature. It discusses the life and works of the 1923 Nobel Prize for Literature Laureate, William Butler (W.B.) Yeats, including a rare recording of Yeats in his own voice and the surprising story of his poem, The Second Coming. Find out about this intriguing poet, spiritualist and politician whose verse still speaks to us today.

    Read more at www.theburningarchive.com

    41 min
  • 116. Professions vs. Managers. The rise and fall of the professions. Interview with Hannah Forsyth

    What is the history behind the rise and fall of the professions? How is their story linked to the rise of management especially since the 1970s? And how does it all relate to what happens in the modern university?

    Find out answers to all these questions in this in-depth interview with historian Dr Hannah Forsyth, author of Virtue Capitalists: the rise and fall of the professional class in the Anglophone world c.1870-2008  (2023).

    For more ways to see the world more clearly with some quality history, subscribe to my free weekly newsletter at jeffrich.substack.com, and check all my content at theburningarchive.com

    1 hr 5 min
  • 115. Exploring World History with Leading Historian Felipe Fernández-Armesto - Part 2

    The Burning Archive brings you the second in a special two-part interview with the esteemed world historian, Felipe Fernández-Armesto.

    Is the world changing in ways not seen for 100 years? How can America's Hispanic past and present inform how it responds to this changing world of more equally distributed power? And what makes explorers like Magellan, Columbus and Captain James Cook such intriguing figures in world history?

    In this second episode we discuss

    1. Hispanic America in the Multipolar World - How has America's Hispanic History shaped its people and culture, and how can it be a basis to come to terms with a changing balance of power in the world
    2. Exploration, Cultural Exchange and the Past - What fascinates people about the history of exploration, and how can it contribute to cross-cultural understanding and a sense of the past?

    ⁠Felipe Fernández-Armesto⁠'s latest book is Straits: Beyond the Myth of Magellan (Bloomsbury, 2022). He has written some of the best history books, including these discussed in the podcast:

    • Civilizations (Macmillan, 2000) or Civilizations: Culture, Ambition, and the Transformation of Nature (Free Press, 2001)
      • Food: A History (Macmillan, 2001) or Near a Thousand Tables: A History of Food (Free Press, 2002)
      • The Americas: A Hemispheric History (Modern Library, 2003) or The Americas: A History of A Hemisphere (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003)
      • Ideas That Changed the World (Dorling Kindersley, 2003)
      • Humankind: A Brief History (Oxford University Press, 2004)
      • Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration (W. W. Norton, 2006; Oxford University Press, 2007)
      • Amerigo: The Man Who Gave His Name to America (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006; Random House, 2007)
      • The World: A Brief History (Pearson, 2007)
      • 1492. The Year the World Began (HarperOne, 2009; Bloomsbury, 2010)
      • Our America: A Hispanic History of the United States (W. W. Norton & Co., 2014)
      • A Foot in the River: Why Our Lives Change–and the Limits of Evolution (Oxford University Press, 2015)
      • The Oxford Illustrated History of the World (Oxford University Press, 2019)
      • Out of Our Minds: What We Think and How We Came to Think It (Oneworld, 2019)

        • Keywords: history, world history, best history books, best historians, civilization, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, agricultural revolution, culture, social change, environment, climate change, mental health.

        Author and Podcast Website: www.theburningarchive.com

        Substack: jeffrich.substack.com

        X: @ArchiveBurning

        YouTube: @theburningarchive

        Check out my online course on Mindful History at https://multipolar-mastery.getlearnworlds.com/home

        Subscribe now and see the world more clearly with some quality world history!

        57 min
      • 114. Exploring World History with Leading Historian Felipe Fernández-Armesto - Part 1

        The Burning Archive brings you a special two-part interview with the esteemed world historian, Felipe Fernández-Armesto.

        Did you know the first case of animal farming was the humble snail? How does the world's leading historian of the world see the accelerating pace of change today affecting identity and mental health?

        In this first episode we discuss

        1. World History, Food, Environment and Civilizations - how no civilization is better than another, and all civilizations adapt the environment to human needs - sometimes disastrously
        2. Ideas, Culture and Change in World History - how human imagination and ideas drive history, and why do things change so much?

        Felipe Fernández-Armesto's latest book is Straits: Beyond the Myth of Magellan (Bloomsbury, 2022). He has written some of the best history books, including these discussed in the podcast:

        • Civilizations (Macmillan, 2000) or Civilizations: Culture, Ambition, and the Transformation of Nature (Free Press, 2001)
          • Food: A History (Macmillan, 2001) or Near a Thousand Tables: A History of Food (Free Press, 2002)
          • The Americas: A Hemispheric History (Modern Library, 2003) or The Americas: A History of A Hemisphere (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003)
          • Ideas That Changed the World (Dorling Kindersley, 2003)
          • Humankind: A Brief History (Oxford University Press, 2004)
          • Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration (W. W. Norton, 2006; Oxford University Press, 2007)
          • Amerigo: The Man Who Gave His Name to America (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006; Random House, 2007)
          • The World: A Brief History (Pearson, 2007)
          • 1492. The Year the World Began (HarperOne, 2009; Bloomsbury, 2010)
          • Our America: A Hispanic History of the United States (W. W. Norton & Co., 2014)
          • A Foot in the River: Why Our Lives Change–and the Limits of Evolution (Oxford University Press, 2015)
          • The Oxford Illustrated History of the World (Oxford University Press, 2019)
          • Out of Our Minds: What We Think and How We Came to Think It (Oneworld, 2019)

            • Keywords: history, world history, best history books, best historians, civilization, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, agricultural revolution, culture, social change, environment, climate change, mental health.

            Author and Podcast Website: www.theburningarchive.com

            Substack: jeffrich.substack.com

            X: @ArchiveBurning

            YouTube: @theburningarchive

            Subscribe now and see the world more clearly with some quality world history!

            53 min

          About The Burning Archive

          From the publisher's feed

          History helps us understand the cultures and conflicts of the changing multipolar world. But there is so much to read! Where to begin? Let Jeff Rich, writer historian, and ex-government official, be…