x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

The Book Club

Literary interviews and discussions on the latest releases in the world of publishing, from poetry through to physics. Presented weekly by Sam Leith. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

arts books

All Episodes

30:26

Helen Parr: Our Boys

The Book Club ·

2018/09/13

In this week’s books podcast Sam talks to Helen Parr about her remarkable new book Our Boys: The Story of A Paratrooper, which blends memoir, social history and military history to tell the story of the paratroopers who fought in the Falklands War and what happened when they came home — or, as in the case of Parr’s 19-year-old uncle, didn’t. Helen talks about what civilians can and can’t know of the experience of men who kill and risk death in combat, about the history of the paratroop regiment, and

en

22:51

Sebastian Faulks: Paris Echo

The Book Club ·

2018/09/06

In this week’s books podcast, Sam talks to Sebastian Faulks about his brilliant new novel Paris Echo, which describes the twined stories of a Moroccan teenager and an American academic in the French capital – and the way that the ghosts of the past, from the Occupation to the decolonisation of North Africa, still play out in the present. Sam and Sebastian talk about whether writing from the point of view of a 19-year-old Moroccan means he’s going to be chucked in the Lionel Shriver High Security

en

27:59

Ian Kershaw: Rollercoaster: Europe 1950-2017

The Book Club ·

2018/08/30

In this week’s books podcast, Sam Leith talks to Sir Ian Kershaw about his new book Rollercoaster: Europe 1950-2017. Here from one of our most distinguished historians, is a history of Europe that goes from the postwar period right up to the present. Is he aiming at a moving target? How can you meaningfully speak about “Europe” as one thing when for much of the period under discussion half of it was behind the iron curtain? Were the machinations of powerful individuals, or sheer chance, the great

en

31:23

Adam Tooze: How a decade of financial crises changed...

The Book Club ·

2018/08/23

How are the subprime collapse in the US and the Eurozone crisis that came after linked? Why did a cartel of mega-wealthy businessmen do a good job at rescuing the US from disaster, and a group of well-intentioned political technocrats make such a hash of it in Europe? And how is the Balance of Financial Terror between the US and China holding up these days? Adam Tooze, author of 'Crashed: How A Decade of Financial Crises Changed The World', joins Sam Leith

en

29:56

Can graphic novels be considered literature?

The Book Club ·

2018/08/16

Among the biggest surprises of this year’s Man Booker Prize longlist was the inclusion, for the first time in the prize’s 50-year history, of a “graphic novel”. Nick Drnaso’s Sabrina — a chillingly claustrophobic account of the aftermath of a murder in post-truth America — is undoubtedly a brilliant example of its form. But does a comic belong in contention for a fiction prize? Sam didn’t think so (and wrote as much in the FT. In this week’s Books Podcast the Man Booker Prize’s Literary Director,

en

31:28

Simon Heffer: The Age of Decadence

The Book Club ·

2018/08/09

In this summer rewind, Sam Leith talks to the journalist and historian Simon Heffer, originally released in October 2017. He is the author of the magisterial The Age of Decadence: Britain 1880-1914. The second part in his trilogy of books about the Victorian and Edwardian ages, it works to explode the myth that the pre-war years were an endless Merchant Ivory Summer’s afternoon. They talk about imperial decline, savage industrial unrest and aristocratic complacency… and how one writes a history of

en

27:52

Philip Collins: When They Go Low

The Book Club ·

2018/08/03

In this summer rewind, hear Sam Leith talk to Times columnist and former speechwriter for Tony Blair, Philip Collins, originally released last October. His book When They Go Low, We Go High is a fascinating look at political oratory from Pericles to (Michelle) Obama, and a vigorous argument for politics itself as a bulwark against the false promises of populism. We talk about what it was like writing for Blair, the greatest speech he wrote that was never delivered, how a speechwriter can trick a

en

28:49

Jesse Norman: Adam Smith

The Book Club ·

2018/07/26

Adam Smith is the most quoted and misquoted economist of all time. Sam Leith talks to Jesse Norman, author of the new Adam Smith: What He Thought and Why It Matters (reviewed in last week’s Spectator by Simon Heffer). Norman argues that we can only understand Smith in the round by reading his Theory of Moral Sentiments as well as the Wealth of Nations; and by putting him in the context of the Scottish Enlightenment and the thinkers such as Hume who surrounded and influenced him. But he also says

en

29:22

Ben Rhodes: The World As It Is

The Book Club ·

2018/07/19

In this week’s Spectator Books, Sam talks to a man who has spent more time on Air Force One than even Piers Morgan: President Obama’s former foreign policy speechwriter and deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes, author of new memoir The World As It Is: Inside the Obama White House. What is it really like writing speeches for Obama — and when did the President insist on writing his own words? How did Obama really greet the election of Donald Trump, away from the public magnanimity? And why

en

27:57

Margo Jefferson on Michael Jackson

The Book Club ·

2018/07/12

This week’s episode sees Sam Leith joined by Margo Jefferson, author of 'On Michael Jackson' and the memoir Negroland, to moonwalk back to the glory days of Michael Jackson. Jackson was one of the central figures in pop culture, but what was it that made him so captivating? And can his artistic legacy ever be disentangled from the gruesome murk of the last years?

en

22:26

Jay Rubin: The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories

The Book Club ·

2018/07/05

Sam talks to the distinguished scholar of Japanese literature Jay Rubin, editor of the new Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories. Many of us in the West know little of Japanese literature beyond, perhaps, Haruki Murakami, Yukio Mishima and perhaps Banana Yoshimoto and Kenzaburo Oe. Jay fills in the blanks. Did you know the Japanese novel got going centuries before Don Quixote? That Japanese novelists were producing pitiless self-portraits decades before Knausgaard's voguish 'auto-fictions'? All

en

29:15

Judith Kerr and Matthew Kneale

The Book Club ·

2018/06/28

This week’s episode is a family affair: Sam talks to the children’s writer and illustrator Judith Kerr (Mog The Forgetful Cat; When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit; and The Tiger Who Came To Tea), and her son the novelist and historian Matthew Kneale, author of English Passengers and Sweet Thames, and most recently, Rome: A History in Seven Sackings. They talk about fiction and nonfiction, hereditary writers, whether what we’re seeing now answers the definition of fascism — and the bit that Judith’s

en

33:52

Michael Pollan: How to change your mind

The Book Club ·

2018/06/21

Is LSD good for you? Sam Leith is joined by the author Michael Pollan, who talks about the fascinating lost history of psychedelic drugs, speculates on what they may tell us about the human mind and the universe, recalls his own mind-blowing encounter with toad venom, and reveals that serious scientific research is even now being done into whether the “machine elves” that DMT users meet are hallucinations or visitors from another dimension. Plus, we learn why “enough LSD to kill an elephant” isn’t

en

34:15

William Dalrymple: Koh-i-Noor

The Book Club ·

2018/06/14

Sam Leith is joined by William Dalrymple, co-author with Anita Anand of Koh-i-Noor: The History of the World’s Most Famous Diamond

en

27:09

Paul Kildea: Chopin's Piano

The Book Club ·

2018/06/07

It’s a first for the Spectator Books podcast this week: music! We’ve temporarily dispensed with our usual intro jingle to allow this week’s guest, Paul Kildea, to play us in. Paul’s new book Chopin’s Piano: A Journey Into Romanticism is a fascinating and unusual piece of non-fiction that sheds light on Chopin’s life and music, and on their afterlife, as its author pursues an Ahab-like pursuit of the piano on which he composed his Preludes in Majorca. Sam Leith speaks to Paul at the Royal Overseas

en

26:11

Carl Hiaasen: Assume the Worst

The Book Club ·

2018/05/31

In this week’s Spectator Books I’m talking to the journalist and comic novelist Carl Hiaasen about his latest book, a splenetic broadside against feelgood commencement speeches called Assume The Worst that serves as a joyous corrective to “you can be anything you want to be” boosterism. Our conversation ranges to his take on the state of journalism and politics, the time Donald Trump chatted up his wife, and (for fans) the possibility of a return of Skink...

en

29:34

Sarah Churchwell: Behold, America

The Book Club ·

2018/05/24

Is the "American Dream", as Donald Trump claims, dead? Is “America First” a policy of national pride or a dogwhistle to white supremacists? In this week’s Spectator Books, we take the long view. My guest, Sarah Churchwell, excavates the long histories and surprisingly variable meanings of these two phrases in her new book Behold, America: A History of America First and the American Dream — and shows how central they have been to the United States’s long argument with itself about the meaning of the

en

24:33

Antony Beevor: Arnhem

The Book Club ·

2018/05/17

In this week’s Spectator Books, Sam Leith talks to the military historian Antony Beevor about his latest book, Arnhem: The Battle for the Bridges, 1944.

en

20:02

Richard Overy: The Birth of the RAF

The Book Club ·

2018/05/10

Sam Leith talks to historian Richard Overy about his new book The Birth of the RAF, 1918. 100 years ago this spring, the Royal Air Force took to the skies for the first time. Yet it was far from inevitable that it would come into being, that having done so it would continue to exist beyond the end of the First World War, or even that the Royal Air Force would be Royal. He disentangles a forgotten history of political and public-relations manoeuvring and inter-service rivalry, before looking at

en

25:37

Carlo Rovelli: The Order of Time

The Book Club ·

2018/05/03

Sam Leith talks to physicist Carlo Rovelli about the nature of time. Do we have free will? Can you understand physics without maths? Just what is Roger Penrose on about? We tackle all these questions and more. And gosh he’s a good talker. So go on: take the time.

en

456 results

Similar Podcasts

Start The Breakthrough Full Audiobook Now, Thriller Fans!

thebookvoice.com

Get Hooked On The Life-Enhancing Full Audiobook Experience!

thebookvoice.com

西四五条

主播郑捕头

Podcast Patapoe

0d0a

On Mic Podcast

Jordan Rich