The EI Podcast
The EI Podcast brings you weekly conversations and audio essays from leading writers, thinkers and historians. Hosted by Alastair Benn, Jack Dickens and Paul Lay. Find the EI Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or search The EI Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
America’s universalist document: a curious history
Marking 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, Michael Auslin speaks to Paul Lay about the document’s powerful yet often strange afterlife. From Philadelphia in 1776, through the Civil War, the Gilded Age, both World Wars and the Cold War, America’s founding document has been a perennial symbol of hope.
Image: An illustration from ‘Columbia's Courtship: A Picture History of the United States in Twelve Emblematic Designs in Color with Accompanying Verses’ by Walter Crane (1983). Credit: Alamy
The alien world of Homer’s Odyssey
What does Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of ‘The Odyssey’ have in common with Homer’s poem? Classicist and actor Orlando Gibbs speaks to Alastair Benn about the strangeness of this ancient epic, which depicts a moral world far removed from Nolan’s secular and post-Christian worldview, and discusses whether its popularity will lead to a renewed interest in the classical world.
Image: Odysseus and the Sirens, represented on an ancient Greek vase. Credit: Alamy
How wine made the modern world
Historian Kathleen Burk speaks to Max Mitchell about the long history of humanity's relationship with wine, taking us on a journey from the ancient Near East to modern France.
Image: A vineyard near the Temple of Zeus at Ancient Nemea, Korinthia, Greece. Credit: Alamy
The struggle for Saudi Arabia’s buried past
Saudi Arabia’s expensive investment in its future has come with a concurrent focus on its archaeological past but its ambitions risk eradicating the remnants of pre-Islamic history. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Read the essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-struggle-for-saudi-arabias-buried-past/.
Image: The Qasr Al Farid tomb in Saudi Arabia. Credit: Alamy
The diplomats who defeated Hitler
Peter Ricketts, Britain’s former ambassador to France, speaks with Paul Lay about a golden age of diplomacy.
Image: Archibald Clark Kerr (Britain’s Ambassador to the Soviet Union) and Alexander Cadogan (Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs) at the Potsdam Conference, 1945. Credit: Alamy.
The political power of knowing your enemy
In war and diplomacy, personal relationships between leaders can shape the course of events in unpredictable ways. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Read the essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/notebook/the-political-power-of-knowing-your-enemy/.
Image: Cartoon from Punch showing from Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill at the Yalta Conference in February 1945. Credit: Alamy
The return of the Great Powers
Brendan Simms talks to EI’s Jack Dickens about a new age of geopolitical rivalry.
Image: Xi Jinping and Donald Trump. Credit: Alamy
Germany’s new old nuclear dilemma
When it comes to nuclear weapons, the concerns that West Germany’s first chancellor wrestled with during the Cold War have not disappeared. In this audio essay, Marina E. Henke suggests that they have simply re-emerged in new forms. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Read it here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/germanys-new-old-nuclear-dilemma/
Image: A nuclear power plant in Bavaria, circa 1985. Credit: INTERFOTO
250 years of the American experiment
Paul Lay speaks to Phil Tinline, author of Ghosts of Iron Mountain: The Hoax that Duped America and its Sinister Legacy, about the variety and violence of a country built on high ideals and low conspiracies.
Image: The interior of the United States Capitol. Credit: Alamy
Where is Russia’s place in the world?
Russia is a Near Eastern country now subordinated to East Asia. But Stephen Kotkin argues that historically it has prospered most when tied closely to Europe.
Read the original essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/where-is-russias-place-in-the-world/.
Image: Map of Russia, 1562. Credit: Alamy
Christianity’s debt to Rome
What does Christ’s Kingdom owe to the culture of the Roman Empire? Tim Whitmarsh speaks to EI’s Alastair Benn about his new book, Rome’s Age of Revolution: Augustus, Empire and the Making of Christianity.
Image: A statue of Augustus Caesar in Turin. Credit: Alamy
Jean Eustache: the outsider who reshaped French cinema
The filmmaker Jean Eustache’s interest in rural France and his sardonic scepticism about the May ’68 ideologues mark him out from his Nouvelle Vague contemporaries. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Read the original essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/portraits/jean-eustache-the-outsider-who-reshaped-french-cinema/.
Image: The film director Jean Eustache. Credit: Alamy
How to end a war
Margaret MacMillan speaks to EI’s Jack Dickens about how wars – and attempts to bring about peace – have shaped every era of human history.
Image: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference, 1945. Credit: Alamy
Testament to doomed media
The old media has failed to rise to the challenge of tech, but we'll miss it when it's gone.
Read the original essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/testament-to-doomed-media/.
Image: Woman reading a newspaper. Credit: Alamy
Why Armenia’s elections matter
Thomas de Waal joins EI’s Jack Dickens to discuss how the recent elections in Armenia could reshape geopolitics in the Caucasus and beyond.
Image: Armenian flag with Mount Ararat in background. Credit: Alamy
Len Deighton’s spycraft
The late Len Deighton produced novels that were packed with excitement and suspense but also infused with moral complexity and psychological insight. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Read the essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/len-deightons-spycraft/.
Image: Michael Caine in The Ipcress File. Credit: Allstar Picture Library Ltd
China's bid for economic supremacy
George Magnus speaks to EI’s Jack Dickens about the geopolitical logic behind China’s economic strategy.
Image: A container ship from China. Credit: Rudmer Zwerver
A Jewish-American dream
The largest Jewish community in the world is defined by its deep integration into America's national story, its liberal traditions and scepticism towards Israeli governments. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Read the essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/a-jewish-american-dream/
Image: A member of the American Jewish Congress participating in the 1965 Montgomery March, advocating for civil rights. Credit: Image Bank
Muslims and Jews' shared inheritance
Marc David Baer speaks to EI’s Paul Lay about his new book 'Children of Abraham: The Story of Jewish-Muslim Relations', and the deep historical connection between two faiths, bound by common roots.
Image: Tiles at Ali Ben Youssef Medersa in Marrakech, Morocco. Credit: Stelios Michael.
Finding Turkey in Narnia
Re-reading CS Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, Hannah Lucinda Smith discovers glimmers of the culture and history of the Turkic peoples in the author's work. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Read the essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/finding-turkey-in-narnia/
Image: Puffin paperback editions of the Narnia tales by author CS Lewis. Credit: NearTheCoast.com / Alamy Stock Photo
The life and legacy of Steve Schapiro
Filmmaker Maura Smith discusses Steve Schapiro: Being Everywhere, her documentary on the photographer who captured modern America.
Image: Steve Schapiro in the 1960s. Credit: Steve Schapiro
Agent Zo, the spy who saved Poland
Elżbieta Zawacka, who played a key role in the Home Army’s resistance efforts, was one of the most highly decorated women in Polish history. Clare Mulley assesses her legacy. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Read the essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/portraits/agent-zo-the-spy-who-saved-poland/.
Image: Monument to Agent Zo. Credit: Alamy
Lewis and Clark’s American Odyssey
Craig Fehrman speaks to EI’s Max Mitchell about his new book ‘This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark’, shedding light on one of America’s founding myths.
Image: ‘America in the Making: Lewis and Clark’ by Newell Convers Wyeth (1938). Credit: Alamy
Why powerful individuals are dominating politics
From Xi Jinping in China to Narendra Modi in India and Donald Trump in the US, Nicholas Wright explores how powerful leaders are reshaping the rules of the global great game. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Read the original essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/why-powerful-individuals-are-dominating-politics/.
Image: Caspar David Friedrich’s ‘Wanderer above the Sea of Fog’. Credit: incamerastock
Weimar’s descent into darkness
How did Weimar, the town of Goethe and Schiller, become the crucible of Germany's moral collapse? Katja Hoyer, author of Weimar: Life on the Edge of Catastrophe, speaks to EI's Alastair Benn about the town's role in the rise of the Third Reich.
Image: Adolf Hitler at the ‘Haus Elephant’ in Weimar, 1936. Credit: Alamy
The civilising wonders of wine
Amid the rise of individualistic technologies and weight-loss drugs, there has been a steady decline in alcohol consumption in Western societies. Yet, Henry Jeffreys argues that this is no good thing. Instead, it suggests a gradual weakening of a shared civilisational inheritance. This audio essay is read by Leighton Pugh.
Read it here: https://engelsbergideas.com/notebook/the-civilising-wonders-of-wine/.
Image: Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s ‘Luncheon of the Boating Party’. Credit: Maidun Collection
Can Europe thrive in a multipolar world?
Mark Leonard, co-founder and director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, speaks to EI’s Jack Dickens about Europe’s place in a changing world order.
Image: The EU flag in Siracusa, Sicily. Credit: Alamy
The long shadow of the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials
In the courtrooms of Nuremberg and Tokyo, the victorious Allies declared that civilisation must not merely win wars but also judge them, leaving a legal and moral legacy that persists to this day. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Image: The defendants at the Nuremberg Trial in 1946. Credit: PictureLux / The Hollywood Archive.
Universities are at crisis point
Daisy Christodoulou and Nicholas Wright join EI’s Paul Lay to discuss the crisis in British universities and how to fix it.
Image: Sightseers outside the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. Credit: Alamy
The anatomy of the spy novel
From the gung-ho glamour of Ian Fleming’s James Bond to the decline and disorder of Mick Herron’s Slow Horses, postwar spy novels have captured the shifting myths, legends and caricatures surrounding the secret world. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Read the essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-anatomy-of-the-spy-novel/.
Image: Sean Connery as James Bond in Dr No (1962). Credit: Alamy
The roots of the West’s identity crisis
Marie Kawthar Daouda, author of Not Your Victim: How our Obsession with Race Entraps and Divides Us, speaks to EI’s Alastair Benn about the historical illiteracy of attempts to ‘decolonise’ Western culture. Instead, she argues that the moral complexities of history must be accepted in order to develop a genuine appreciation of the Western tradition.
Image: ‘Ruins with an Obelisk in the distance’ by Hubert Robert (1775). Credit: Alamy
Iran’s strange Scottish obsession
From placard-waving crowds in Yazd to troll farms on social media, the Islamic Republic has long tried to wield Scottish nationalism as a weapon against the UK. This audio essay is read by Leighton Pugh.
Read the essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/notebook/irans-strange-scottish-obsession/.
Image: Royal Scots Guards military pipers. Credit: Alamy
Washington’s return to Latin America
Following the capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro earlier this year, President Donald Trump has warned that Cuba is ‘next’. What exactly does he mean by that? Joseph Ledford, Fellow at the Hoover Institution, speaks to EI’s Jack Dickens about a new age of US interventionism in Latin America.
Image: Protesters outside the White House following the arrest of Nicolás Maduro, January 2026. Credit: Alamy
The Houthis’ forever war
Elisabeth Kendall speaks to EI’s Jack Dickens about what motivates the Houthis. Following the outbreak of the war in Iran, the Yemeni militant group now has an outsized ability to disrupt global trade and threaten regional stability in the Middle East. But who are they and what do they really want?
Image: A protester at a pro-Palestine demonstration in Sanaa, Yemen. Credit: Alamy
Can epic poetry revive History?
When combined, as the ancients knew, history and poetry offer an incomparable insight into the human condition. Michael Auslin laments the demise of poetry as a form for exploring great moments in history.
Read the essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/can-epic-poetry-revive-history/.
Image: Hector taking leave of Andromache. Credit: Alamy Stock Photo
The need for muscular liberalism
Adrian Wooldridge speaks to EI’s Paul Lay about his new book, Centrists of the World Unite! The Lost Genius of Liberalism. He believes that the West can only overcome its current malaise by rediscovering and reviving the liberal tradition.
Image: Engraving of the frontispiece from Thomas Hobbes’s ‘Leviathan’ (1651). Credit: Alamy
The first butterfly collectors
The Society of Aurelians brought butterflies out of their undeserved obscurity. Nigel Andrew’s audio essay sheds new light on Britain’s first entomological society. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Read the original essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/notebook/the-first-butterfly-collectors/.
Image: Detail from ‘The Aurelian; a Natural History of English Moths and Butterflies’, published by Henry Bohn, London, 1840. Credit: Getty
Trump’s imperial worldview
What is driving Donald Trump’s increasingly volatile foreign policy? Brendan Simms examines the US President and his ideological roots with EI’s Jack Dickens.
Image: Donald Trump at the White House, July 2025. Credit: Alamy
The strange death of private life
In the early 1970s, the idea of a private life – that citizens ought to be left alone by the state – began to disappear. In this audio essay, Tiffany Jenkins argues that we should mourn its absence. Read by Leighton Pugh.
Read the original essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-strange-death-of-private-life/.
Image: 1930s poster for the London Underground. Credit: Alamy
The Gulf’s Iran dilemma
Shiraz Maher examines how the fallout from the US-Iran conflict is reshaping the Gulf States and the wider Middle East, with EI’s Jack Dickens.
Image: Close-up vintage map of the Middle East. Credit: Alamy
