Earlylands in Conversation

Earlylands in Conversation - Ep. 30 - "Allies at War": Award-Winning Historian Tim Bouverie on Power, Diplomacy, and Global Leadership

For this episode, we are joined by award-winning historian and author Tim Bouverie. Tim has recently received widespread acclaim for his book Allies at War, which some listeners may have spotted prominently positioned beside Prime Minister Netanyahu in the now widely circulated photograph of the Israeli leader speaking with President Trump on the night of the first military strikes on Iran. The book does exactly what it promises: it delivers a sweeping narrative history of the alliance that defeated Hitler. While one might reasonably ask what new could still be written about the Second World War, Tim answers that question on nearly every page. Critics have overwhelmingly agreed. The book won the prestigious 2026 Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize, while The Economist named it one of its Books of the Year for 2025, calling it “a masterful diplomatic history of the second world war… packed with fresh detail and gossipy anecdotes.” While we spend plenty of time discussing the fascinating personalities and rivalries of Churchill, Stalin, and FDR, Tim also draws out broader lessons from history’s most successful political and military alliance — lessons that remain deeply relevant to today’s increasingly turbulent global order. Books Mentioned on the Podcast --All of Tim's non-fiction histories can be found at Penguin [https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/238898/tim-bouverie] --Perfect Pitch by Tim can be found here [https://www.hachette.com.au/tim-bouverie/perfect-pitch-100-pieces-of-classical-music-to-bring-joy-tears-solace-empathy-inspiration-and-everything-in-between] --Jock Colville, The Fringes of Power: Downing Street Diaries 1939–1955 [https://www.amazon.com/Fringes-Power-Downing-Diaries-1939-1955/dp/0393022234] --Lord Alan Francis Brooke, War Diaries, 1939-1945: Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke [https://thestrategybridge.org/the-bridge/2020/7/22/in-a-time-of-global-crisis-lessons-from-an-unhappy-warrior-reviewing-a-biography-of-alanbrooke]

Earlylands in Conversation - Ep. 29 - Journalist and Author Howard Amos on Daily Life in the Real Russia

We’ve spent multiple episodes discussing the Ukrainian perspective on Russia’s brutal war. For this episode we shift our focus to a look at how the average Russian views not only the war, but more broadly life in Putin’s autocratic state. Our guest is the journalist Howard Amos, whose book Russia Starts Here: Real Lives in the Ruins of Empire [https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/russia-starts-here-9781472991379/], tries to understand life in modern Russia not by looking at the high politics and motivations of the Putin regime, but instead what life is like in the Pskov region of Russia, an economically struggling area that encompasses the country’s frontier with the Baltic states. The book has received wide acclaim, with Foreign Affairs stating that, “Amos sketches Pskov’s residents with deep interest and sympathy, yet without condescension or sentimentality.” And The Times of London notes that, “Few westerners venture into this tragic, frustrating world, separated from the hurly-burly of Moscow or St Petersburg by chasms of experience and expectation. Even fewer would be able to describe it as well as Amos.” Books Mentioned in the Episode High Caucasus: A Mountain Quest in Russia's Haunted Hinterland [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/aug/02/high-caucasus-by-tom-parfitt-review-beauty-and-trauma-in-the-russian-south] by Tom Parfitt Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World's Largest Owl [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jul/22/owls-of-the-eastern-ice-by-jonathan-c-slaght-review-an-extraordinary-quest] by Jonathan Slaght Black Earth City [https://www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571340781-black-earth-city/?srsltid=AfmBOor8lTovHKyODfG3Rp2UXHlNQCzWXvM9LYg9tMLfxuYZYFipieK0] by Charlotte Hobson Stork's Nest [https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/book-review-the-storks-nest-life-and-love-in-the-russian-countryside/]by Laura Lynne Williams

Earlylands in Conversation - Ep. 28 - Snake Island Institute Co-founder Maryna Hrytsenko on Bringing Ukraine's Battlefield Innovations to Western End Users

For this episode of the podcast we go back to Ukraine. Our guest today sets a new standard for what a highly intelligent, motivated, and deeply patriotic young person can do. Although only 25-years old, Maryna Hrytsenko has established herself as one of the leading advocates for Ukraine and its military in the global halls of power. She is a co-founder of the Snake Island Institute (SII), which in the matter of less than two years has become Ukraine’s leading security-focused think tank and also plays a hands-on role in linking Western defense manufacturers with Ukrainian military units and local Ukrainian defense technology companies. Equally at home in the halls of the US Congress or working alongside Ukraine’s men and women in uniform, Maryna is a force of nature in the very best sense of the phrase and we’re very lucky to have her on the podcast to tell her story. As always, if you enjoy this conversation, please check out our full catalogue of episodes – we have just passed our one-year anniversary – and like and subscribe. Also, we’re now available on YouTube along with all the usual podcast platforms. Publications Mentioned on the Podcast -SII's analytic library [https://www.snakeisland.org/reports]-Oleksandr Ivantsov (profile [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/09/escape-from-mariupol-how-one-ukrainian-soldier-fled-the-azovstal-steelworks-against-the-odds] in The Guardian - author of the Ukrainian language Flashback: Mariupol)

Earlylands in Conversation - Ep. 27 - Oxford Academic Richard Reid Reassesses the Nineteenth Century Scramble for Africa

For this episode of the podcast we turn our attention back to Africa and roll back the clock to the 19th century. Our guest today is Professor Richard Reid of St. Cross College, Oxford.Richard is a specialist in 19th and 20th century African history and author of the 2025 book The African Revolution: A History of the Long Nineteenth Century. In the book, Richard makes the case for a new lens through which to view African history, notably arguing that the infamous “Scramble for Africa” and the follow-on period of colonialism can’t be understood without an in-depth appreciation of Africa’s own transformative nineteenth century, independent of Europe. The book has met high critical praise ranging from Foreign Affairs calling it an “an authoritative survey” to The Irish Times labelling it “clever, full of ideas and insights and stimulating, as well as provocative.” Books Mentioned in the Podcast The African Revolution: A History of the Long Nineteenth Century [https://press.princeton.edu/books/ebook/9780691266954/the-african-revolution-0], Richard Reid How Colonialism Preempted Modernity in Africa [https://iupress.org/9780253221308/how-colonialism-preempted-modernity-in-africa/], Olúfémi Táíwò Violent Intermediaries: African Soldiers, Conquest, and Everyday Colonialism in German East Africa, [https://history.indiana.edu/faculty_staff/books/moyd-violent-intermediaries-2014.html] Michelle Moyd Empire of Sentiment [https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/empire-of-sentiment/097BBCDFF70FBCF3BFF3803B2DB71990], Joanna Lewis

(BREAKING) Earlylands in Conversation - Ep. 26 - Bloomberg Global Defense Editor Gerry Doyle on Key Trends from War in Iran, Ukraine, and Much Else

Today's episode is out of cycle, but as the issues under discussion are the very essence of timely, we wanted to bring them to you as soon as possible. Our conversation is with Bloomberg Global Defense Editor Gerry Doyle. Gerry is at the forefront of coverage of the wars in Iran and Ukraine and much else around the world when it comes to defense and security. We go deep on key trends and lessons learned from Iran and also on how the war in Ukraine is changing the global defense industry in locations as varied as Estonia and South Korea. Gerry is also the author of Carrier Killer: China's Anti-Ship Ballistic Missiles and Theater of Operations in the early 21st Century. I’m doubly pleased to welcome Gerry to the podcast as we are both proud University of Kansas Jayhawks havinggraduated in the same class long ago – “rock chalk” as they say in Lawrence, Kansas. Books Mentioned in the Podcast Carrier Killer: China's Anti-Ship Ballistic Missiles and Theater of Operations in the early 21st Century [https://www.helion.co.uk/military-history-books/carrier-killer-chinas-anti-ship-ballistic-missiles-and-theater-of-operations-in-the-early-21st-century.php], Gerry Doyle & Blake Herzinger The Big Sleep [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Sleep], Raymond Chandler A Canticle for Leibowitz [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Canticle_for_Leibowitz], Walter M. Miller Jr.