Dani Belo, "Russian Warfare in the 21st Centu...

KGB Literati: Spy Fiction and State Security in the Soviet Union (University of Toronto Press, 2025) offers a first-ever glimpse into the mysterious and long-ignored world and work of Soviet spies- and counterspies-turned-writers. Once out of active service, many former spies hav ...  Show more

In this episode, host Andrea Talabér (CEU Press) sat down with Lucy Jeffery and Anna Váradi to talk about their edited volume, Replaying Communism: Trauma and Nostalgia in European Cultural Production. The volume explores the lasting impact of the communist era across Central and ...  Show more

The story of the Vikings who travelled to eastern Europe is just as thrilling as the story of those who headed west. It's also just as important – still being relevant today through deep rooted connections to the ongoing war in Ukraine. But what are those long-lasting links, exac ...  Show more

Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia wrap up the week, analyzing the events and rhetoric of the past days. They discuss to what degree the atrocities in Bucha were ordered by the Russian military, and to what degree they reflect a poorly organized military withdrawal. Our hosts compare Ru ...  Show more

Stepan Bandera: The Life and Afterlife of a Ukrainian Nationalist (Ibidem Verlag, 2014) is the first comprehensive and scholarly biography of the Ukrainian far-right leader Stepan Bandera and the first in-depth study of his political cult. In this fascinating book, Grzegorz Rosso ...  Show more

Sept 5, 1698. Tsar Peter the Great of Russia returns home from a year-long European tour. When noblemen, religious figures, and friends gather to welcome him home, Peter pulls out a straight razor, holds it to their throats, and…forcibly shaves their beards. This event will go do ...  Show more