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This month Brian Wilson, one of the most gifted song writers and composers of the 20th Century passed away. In order to explore his work and the social and cultural context behind it, along with the meaning of the surfer sound of the early 1960s Toby Manning joins the podcast to talk about Pet Sounds, Smile, Surf’s Up and more. *****STOP PRESS*****I only ever talk about history on this podcast but I also have another life, yes, that of aspirant fantasy author and if that’s your thing you can get
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Question:What would have happened to Europe in the past two and a half centuries if it hadn’t plundered the global south? What would have happened if Europeans had paid for the labour of Africans instead of stealing it? What would have happened if they had purchased cotton, tea, spices and other commodities at a price that reflected the labour used to produce it? Answer: Europe would be one of the poorer regions of the worldThomas Piketty, the world renowned economist and author of Capital in th
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Mao’s ideas presented a clear challenge to western imperialism throughout the 20th Century and became a rallying cry to national liberation movements and anti imperialist groups wiithin western countries from the Baader Meinhof Gang to the Yippees. *****STOP PRESS*****I only ever talk about history on this podcast but I also have another life, yes, that of aspirant fantasy author and if that’s your thing you can get a copy of my debut novel The Blood of Tharta, right here:Help the podcast to con
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Margaret Thatcher sought to revive Britain’s fortunes during the 1980s, she was a social conservative and a free market fundamentalist; a contradictory set of ideological positions. The liberation of market forces devastated the social structures that Thatcher claimed to uphold, principally the family, which underwent dramatic transformations throughout the decade as individualism, urbanisation, mobility, rising expectations and declining ideas of deference transformed it. *****STOP PRESS*****I
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Britain’s political class have realised that the writing is on the wall for them in the past week as Trump’s tariffs as imposed. This podcast explores the contemporary state of international affairs between Britain, America and the EU.Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you want to go ad-free, you can tak
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Since the beginning of the 21st Century, American internationalism has been in crisis and Trump’s recent verbal and economic threats towards allies has accelerated this trend. This podcast explores America’s 20th and 21st Century internationalist moments and crises.Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you
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In this episode of The Explaining History Podcast we were fortunate enough to speak with Dr Surekha Davies, historian of art, science and ideas, whose new book, Humans: A Monstrous History explores the darker aspects of human imagining and how we see ourselves through the filter of the monstrous.Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting i
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This episode is the forth in our isms and ologies series on Anarchism and gives an explanation of anarchist thought on managerialism and state bureaucracyHelp the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership hereOrYou can support the podcast via Patreon hereOr you can j
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This episode is the third in our isms and ologies series on Anarchism and gives an explanation of anarchist thought on society, the state, communism and how the state and individuals interact.Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership hereOrYou can support th
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There are two main ways that historians have conceived of the causes of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, both as a struggle between liberalism and authoritarianism and between a people’s socialism and a new rising state capitalism. This episode explores the arguments of Yueran Zhang, who suggests that there is a different explanation that can be understood from the motivations of the students and workers who stood up to the regime. Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each wee