Why Armies Stopped Burning Libraries and Weap...

On December 7, 43 BCE, a sixty-three-year-old man was carried in a litter down a woodland path near the Italian coast, fleeing soldiers who had been sent to kill him. When they caught up, he ordered his attendants to set down the litter, put his head out, and offered them his nec ...  Show more

On March 13, 1930, Adolf Hitler was sitting in the passenger seat of his chauffeur-driven car when a trailer truck sped through an intersection and struck the vehicle, pushing it across the road and stopping just short of crushing it. Everyone survived. Three years later, Hitler ...  Show more

Books are often viewed as the pinnacle of civilization; war, on the other hand, is where civilization breaks down. What happens when these two forces encounter one another? In this episode, Jacke talks to esteemed literary historian Andrew Pettegree about his new book, The Book a ...  Show more

During World War II, as American publishers sought ways to support the troops abroad, they began printing small, pocket-sized books that soldiers could fit anywhere. In When Books Went to War, Molly Guptill Manning tells the story of these little printed editions and how they ser ...  Show more

In the first episode of 2023, Kate Whiting speaks to academics and authors Professor Andrew Pettegree and Dr Arthur der Weduwen about their book The Library: A Fragile History. They discuss why, despite our love of collecting books, they have often been neglected and become tools ...  Show more

Author, actor and senior fellow at the Modern War Institute Max Brooks joins Dan to discuss asymmetrical warfare and related societal issues. 1. "On War" by Gen. Carl von Clausewitz 2. "The Art of War" by Sun Tsu 3. "War and Anti-War: Survival at the Dawn of the 21st Century" by ...  Show more