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PODCAST

BlomCast

The BlomCast looks at turning points in history, which have always fascinated me. My name is Philipp Blom, I am a historian and broadcaster and author of many books about the Enlightenment, the story of modernity and climate history. The climate catastrophe places us at the greatest historical turning point hin human history. What, if anything, can we learn from moments in the past in which a model of life seemed to change, or had to change, in which whole societies were transformed?If you want to

society & culture social sciences

All Episodes

59:18

[60] Natasha Wheatley — How States Live and Die

BlomCast ·

2026/01/11

Yes, sometimes history has echos, and sometimes they become almost deafening. What does it take to make as state? It is not just the borders. What makes people into citizens, what gives the whole legitimacy? For the Habsburg empire in its dying days just before the end of World War I these were very urgent questions. Natasha Wheatley has analysed the end of empire and the beginning of the republic of Austria and shows brilliantly why the new state and its laws were both far sighted and deeply...

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69:26

[59] Georgios Varouxakis — The West, History of an Idea

BlomCast ·

2025/12/14

In this wide ranging conversation, Georgios and I delve into the history of the concept of the west, as opposed to Christendom or Europe, its two predecessors. When did people start talking about the West and when did it become a thing? And what on earth did they mean by it? Beginning with the ancient Greeks we tried to tease out different ways in which this concept was filled. On the way we encounter an amazing gallery of protagonists, from French philosophers such as Simone Weil and Auguste...

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58:41

[58] Mark Galeotti — On Russia, Historical...

BlomCast ·

2025/12/07

In this episode of the BlomCast, I engage with historian Mark Galeotti to explore the complexities of Russian history, military strategy, and the interplay of crime and society. They discuss the continuities in Russian military tactics, the cultural narratives that shape Russian identity, and the role of the Orthodox Church. The conversation also delves into the impact of globalization on organized crime and the challenges Russia will face post-war, and into the remarkable connections between...

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39:58

[57] Europa 2050 — die Herausforderungen

BlomCast ·

2025/11/16

Europa findet sich in einer neuen Welt, in der große Imperien alles untereinander aufteilen: Wer keinen Platz am Tisch hat, ist auf der Speisekarte. Aber wie können europäische Demokratien überleben? In dieser Folge denke ich über drei fundamentale Säulen nach: Autonomie, Nachhaltigkeit und Demokratie. Die Herausforderungen sind enorm und die Europäer:innen werden sich entscheiden müssen, ob sie bereit sind, sich für ihre Autonomie einsetzen, oder ob der Kontinent der Kolonisatoren jetzt endl...

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48:23

[57] Europe 2050 — the Challenges

BlomCast ·

2025/11/16

In an imperial world in which a few powers divide the globals spoils among them, Europe is faced with huge challenges. Those who do not have a place at the table find themselves on the menu. In this episode I think about the fundamental challenges of autonomy, sustainability and democracy. Europeans will have to decide whether they are willing to fight for their autonomy or whether they are happy to see the continent of the former colonisers finally turn into a colony itself. Support the show

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63:24

[56] Stuart Gillespie — Food Fight: How Corporate...

BlomCast ·

2025/11/02

The current regime of agriculture leads to a paradoxical situation: not only does this system destroy more in terms of natural resources than it creates in terms of food, it also leads to hundreds of millions of people being overfed while simultaneously being undernourished. There are now more obese children in the world than undernourished ones, and the effects on their physical and mental health are severe. But how did we get here? Stuart’s changing point lies at the end of the Second World...

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84:52

[55] Philippe Sands — Impunity: International Justice...

BlomCast ·

2025/10/26

Few people have shaped the public perception and debate about with as much eloquence and precision as Philippe Sands, who combines a distinguished career as a human rights lawyer with writing a series of books on themes such as justice, memory, and personal and family history. During the discussion series MQ Gespräche a the Museumsquartier in Vienna I spoke to Philippe about his new book 38 Londes Street, Nazi War Criminals and the Pinochet dictatorship, and about the arch of history that spa...

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62:58

[54] Sarah Newman — Did We Learn Culture from Animals?

BlomCast ·

2025/09/27

Sarah Newman is a zooarcheologist, specialising in animal remains and what they tell about the interaction between humans and animals in the distant past. Her research projects took her to investigate the impact of humans on the landscape and on natural systems among the ancient Mayans and the inhabitants of ancient Jordan. Working on ancient beaver dams and early wooden buildings in which humans had clearly reused tree trunks felled by beavers, she had a fascinating idea: what if early human...

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58:04

[53] Colombe Cahen-Salvador — A New Age of Democracy?

BlomCast ·

2025/09/13

Colombe Cahen-Salvador is driven by the vision to create a turning point in the near future: to reform not only the European Union to make it stronger, more federal, and above all more democratic, but to create a global political movement. Oh, and she is also standing to become secretary general of the United Nations. This is not megalomania, but tactic, she explains. It is not about being elected, but about making a statement about the democratisation of an institution that is no longer fit ...

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60:11

[52] Karl Schlögel — Der Historiker und die Annexion

BlomCast ·

2025/09/07

Karl Schlögel, Träger des Friedenspreises des deutschen Buchhandels 2025, ist einer der ganz wichtigen historischen Autoren in Europa. Er hat sein Lebenswerk der intellektuellen Geschichte Russlands gewidmet, eine Geschichte, die er immer wieder als eine Topografie beschreibt, die sich in großen Städten lesen lässt. Sein Wendepunkt ist die Annexion der Krim 2014, ein Moment, in dem sich seine eigene, tiefe Beziehung zu Russland radikal änderte. Wir sprechen über die kulturelle Geographie Russ...

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60:44

[51] Ussama Makdisi — Creating the Modern Middle...

BlomCast ·

2025/08/31

Present political structures, powers, and peoples are better understood through their history. Ussama Makdisi, a historian of the Middle East and distinguished professor at the University of California at Berkeley, has spent much of his research on the formation of the modern Middle East out of the ruins of the Ottoman empire. He now writes on the peace conference of 1919 and its effects on the lands of the collapsing Ottoman empire, including the often-ignored fact finding mission that asked...

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60:59

[50] Beatrice de Graaf – 1815 and the Security State

BlomCast ·

2025/08/24

Beatrice de Graaf is fascinated by the tensions between terror and statehood and she asks what it really takes to maintain vibrant democracies in a neo-imperial world. Her turning point lies in the early 19th century. When Napoleon was finally defeated at Waterloo in 1815, the allies drew up a new political order in Europe. Its architecture not only shaped the patterns of alliances of Western powers and Russia engaged in a series of more or less difficult dances while leaving the Russian part...

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70:36

[49] Luke Kemp — Elites and the Collapse of Empires

BlomCast ·

2025/08/10

Luke Kemp works at the Center for the study of existential risk at Cambridge University, the kind of place that works out how close humanity is to killing itself and what the strategies might be for avoiding this. In his new book, Goliath’s Curse — Pst and Future of Societal Collapse, he makes a brilliant case for the role of elites in hastening the end of empire. But how did empires and even states come about? Are they a natural state of human development? Not so, says Luke, and points to th...

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72:48

[48] David Bell — Charismatic Leaders and Revolutions

BlomCast ·

2025/08/03

David Bell is Professor for the Era of North American Revolutions at Princeton University. He has written a biography of Napoleon Bonaparte, and much of his research is focussed on the French Revolution, the history of the Enlightenment, and on the importance of charisma in political leadership. In our conversation we discuss what makes a charismatic leader and why some historical moments tilt the balance of power towards charismatic leaders, past and present. How much is the Enlightenment le...

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70:58

[47] Tim Mackintosh-Smith: Being Arab Throughout...

BlomCast ·

2025/07/27

As a scholar of Arabic language and literature, Tim has made classic Arabic literature his life’s work, and has lived in Yemen until 2019. His special interest at the moment is the great scholar Ibn Khaldoun, who lived in the 14th century and who was one of the great thinkers about power, society, and, yes, being Arab, a concept linked to language more than to territory or ethnicity — or even religion. Ibn Khaldoun created an analytical lens through which societal dynamics and turning points ...

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65:10

[46] Gerd Schwerhoff — Die Bauernkriege, ein Wendepunkt?

BlomCast ·

2025/07/13

Im frühen 16. Jahrhundert erhoben sich im süddeutschen Raum tausende von Bauern, Bergwerksknappen und Bürgern gegen ihre adeligen oder kirchlichen Herren. Sie stürmten Burgen und Klöster und forderten mehr Rechte, weniger Frondienste, weniger Steuern und die freie Ernennung von Priestern. Gerd Schwerhoff hat diese Welle von Rebellionen, durch die innerhalb von wenig mehr als einem Jahr 70.000 Menschen zu Tode kamen, untersucht und nacherzählt. War dies die erste Sozialrevolution Europas oder ...

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62:13

[45] Laura Spinney — The First Human Language and How...

BlomCast ·

2025/07/06

Once more a dive into deep history, this time into the question how languages developed, and how it is possible to reconstruct the history and genesis of languages, and with them of abstract thinking and civilisation. Laura Spinney is a distinguished and bestselling science writer. In her new book Proto she looks at the world of languages before the indo-european and sino-tibetan language families that today represent the bulk of the 7000 or so languages still spoken today. But apart from the...

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55:56

[44] Ian Buruma — Where Did the West Begin?

BlomCast ·

2025/06/28

Ian Buruma is a historian, biographer, memorialist and essayist between “East” and “West" whose insights and intellectual precision make him a joy to discuss with. In his recent biography of Spinoza he argues that the great Enlightenment philosopher has a message that is more urgent today than ever. The idea of a West, of a realm of rational rule and individual choice, of emancipation and liberty, began with these early Enlightenment thinkers as well as with Protestantism which eliminated the...

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61:30

[43] Julian Baggini — What happened to the...

BlomCast ·

2025/06/22

Send us a text Julian Baggini is one of the most insightful writers on philosophy in general and the Enlightenment in particular I know. We talk about the Enlightenment, and in how far it was the radical turning point as which it is often seen, or whether it does not mask great continuities under the guise of dramatic change. Has the Enlightenment released a vast liberating energy or was it just another mask of power? And does Western culture have a god-shaped hole at its heart. And how does ...

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47:35

[42] Misha Glenny — Highways and Byways of History

BlomCast ·

2025/06/15

Send us a text A historian and journalist, Misha Glenny has written about the history of the Balkans the wars in Yugoslavia, about cybercrime, and about international organised crime in “McMafia” which also became a TV series. In this free-ranging conversation we not only revisit his fascination with history and with accelerating change, but we also discuss what will be next for an international order at the brink of collapse. Support the show

en

72 results

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