Épisodes

  • Episode 513: Slavery's Long Shadow

    Episode 513: Slavery's Long Shadow
    Jan 23 2026
    There is no issue that dominated American politics like chattel slavery between the American War of Independence and the American Civil War. Today we go back to Bacon's Rebellion to try and explain why and then work our way all the way through the administration of John Quincy Adams.

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    44 min
  • Worlds of Islam: A Global History

    Worlds of Islam: A Global History
    Jan 20 2026
    Today I sit down with author and historian James McDougall and talk about his most recent book: Worlds of Islam: A Global History.

    From its birth in seventh-century Arabia, Islam has been a faith on the move. Over the span of a thousand years, armies, missionaries, and merchants carried it to the edges of Europe, the coasts of Southeast Asia, and the remote interior of China. By the nineteenth century, Islam encompassed a world of great diversity, from Muslim-ruled empires to new nations where Muslims lived out their faith among many others. As empires fell and new superpowers rose, Muslims proved to be as adaptable and dynamic as modernity itself.

    In Worlds of Islam, historian James McDougall explores Islam’s origins and transformations as Muslims adapted to changing times and conditions, from Late Antiquity to the digital age. In the twentieth century, while monarchs in the Gulf asserted dynastic privilege and fundamentalists in Egypt and Pakistan preached social morality, revolutionaries from Algeria to Indonesia fought for national self-determination, and activists in North America and Europe campaigned for civil liberties and social justice.

    Sweeping and authoritative, Worlds of Islam narrates the epic story of how Muslims emerged as a community, built empires, traversed the globe, came to number in the billions, and became modern.

    Buy The Book HERE.

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    51 min
  • Episode 512: The Congress of Vienna

    Episode 512: The Congress of Vienna
    Jan 18 2026
    The Congress of Vienna sought to put Europe back together after the Napoleonic Wars. It was not an easy task. But, by and large, the delegates were successful and peace prevailed for 99 years until the outbreak of World War One.

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    21 min
  • Episode 511: The Hundred Days

    Episode 511: The Hundred Days
    Jan 17 2026
    Napoleon returns from exile for one last chance at empire. His defeat at Waterloo, however, seals his fate.

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    21 min
  • Episode 510: The March to Moscow

    Episode 510: The March to Moscow
    Jan 16 2026
    Desperate to enforce his Continental System, Napoleon invades Russia. But Tsar Alexander will not fight and, instead, Napoleon finds himself cornered and finally beaten.

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    30 min
  • Episode 509: The War of 1812

    Episode 509: The War of 1812
    Jan 14 2026
    James Madison watches as Washington DC burns. But America emerges from the War of 1812 more united and confident than ever before.

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    25 min
  • Episode 508: The Jefferson Administration

    Episode 508: The Jefferson Administration
    Jan 11 2026
    Thomas Jefferson's administration was full of contradictions and sweeping successes.

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    27 min
  • Episode 507: France Ascendant

    Episode 507: France Ascendant
    Jan 9 2026
    France, under Napoleon, reaches the apex of its power. But, within the empire, the Spanish Ulcer and Continental System begin to unravel everything he had built.

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    28 min