Giles Milton is one of my favourite authors producing narrative history today. The stories he tells are just jaw dropping.... more

David Parnell and I wrap up the story of Belisarius and Antonina. We are now on to the liberation of... more

David Parnell has a wonderful new book out called Belisarius and Antonina. This is the story of a real husband... more

Frank Dikötter is the author of a series of brilliant and harrowing books about communist China. He is not only... more

This is the story of Anson's voyage around the world in the 1740's. In particular it is about the ship... more

Jasper Sharp is probably the UK's leading expert on Japanese film and he joined me on the show today with... more

John McWhorter and Tom Holland are a perfect pairing. They are absolutely delightful company both with a dry sense of... more

Roger Crowley is one on the best (if not the best) narrative historians of the Middle Ages. Here is on... more

Stacy Schiff is one of America's most acclaimed historians and biographers. Her book The Witches is a detailed, almost forensic, history... more

Christopher de Bellaigue's book The Lion House is a brilliant history of the first part of Suleiman the Magnificent's reign. I... more

Professor David Abulafia's wonderful book The Great Sea covers so many topics. Today we talked about slavery. Until recently I... more

Scott Sumner is an economist with a well known and much quoted blog. But it is the bit of the... more

I have always found the war Octavian fought against Antony and Cleopatra hard to understand. How did Antony find himself... more

Anna Keay's book The Restless Republic is just brilliant. It covers the period following the execution of Charles I when... more

Following on from last week in this episode things reach boiling point. Marriage alliances are discarded, invasions undertaken D day... more

Tristan Hughes has writen a brilliant book about the years immediately following the Death of Alexander the Great. As Tristan... more

Really thrilled to have Bret Devereaux and Ed Watts on the podcast together. We looked at Gladiator as a film... more

I chatted to Battleship Bean and John Schilling about nuclear war. We discussed the wonderful Dr Strangleove and tried to... more

In part 1 of the story Napoleon III persuaded Maximilian and Carlotta to accept the Mexican crown and become emperor... more

Karl Marx called it 'one of the most monstrous enterprises in the annals of international history'. This seems unfair to... more