The EI Podcast

Episodios

• The struggle for Saudi Arabia’s buried past 20.07.2026 19m

  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 16.07.2026 35m

  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 13.07.2026 15m

  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 09.07.2026 1h 3m

  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 06.07.2026 20m

  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 02.07.2026 46m

  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? 29.06.2026 42m

  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 25.06.2026 46m

  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 22.06.2026 16m

  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 18.06.2026 43m

  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 15.06.2026 17m

  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 11.06.2026 33m

  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 08.06.2026 33m

  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 04.06.2026 47m

  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 01.06.2026 24m

  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 28.05.2026 42m

  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 26.05.2026 17m

  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 21.05.2026 37m

  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 18.05.2026 13m

  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 14.05.2026 1h

  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