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/hill

Subscribe to the LRB and get 79% off the cover price plus a free tote bag: https://lrb.me/history

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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/jamesmeekpod

Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b

Title music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks

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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/khalili

Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b

Title music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks

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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

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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/mannpod

Read two pieces from the next issue early:

Laleh Khalili on Stanley McChrystal's business guide: https://lrb.me/khalilipod

Paul Theroux on V.S. Naipaul: https://lrb.me/therouxpod

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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/hardingpod

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Title music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks

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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/mcgahernpod

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Music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Anthony Wilks

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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/antivaxpod

Subscribe to the LRB from just £1 per issue: https://mylrb.co.uk/podcast20b

Music by Kieran Brunt / Produced by Les Mommsen and Anthony Wilks

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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

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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

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