In this penultimate part of my review of Sven Beckert's Capitalism: A Global History looks at the golden age of capitalism in the West, the period from 1945-1970s. What ever happened to the "Affluent Society"? Maybe we will find out.

The panel discusses the concluding chapters (20–24) of The Sword in the Stone, with special attention to Arthur's martial inclinations (and what they mean for a broader society), Kay's personal failings (and fundamental goodness), and Merlin's robes.Continue reading

This episode we discuss John le Carré’s 1979 novel Smiley’s People with guest Charles Beaumont, a former undercover MI6 operative and author of A Spy Alone and A Spy at War. Beaumont describes first discovering le Carré at university through The Honorable Schoolboy and argues the Cold War novels still illuminate modern Russia’s state cruelty […]

In this episode of The Write Place, I’m joined once again by author Gemma Denham to talk about her new psychological thriller, The Inheritance. Kate and Patrick are struggling financially when an unexpected inheritance seems to offer the perfect escape: a Victorian townhouse on the north-east coast. But from the moment they arrive, things feel wrong. Objects disappear, footsteps sound in the night, and Kate begins to wonder whether someone is getting into the locked house, whether something m...

On today’s show we recap a couple of weekend getaways and recommend Whistler by Ann Patchett, Rings of the Matriarch by S.D. McKittrick, and Small Ceremonies by Kyle Edwards. Audiobook of the Week is L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy. ITUNES – SPOTIFY

Hunter Harris is the creator of Hung Up, the twice-weekly Substack newsletter where she takes a forensic lens to our culture’s obsessions and her own. She says she and her audience of nearly 200,000 subscribers share the same “disease”—insatiability—and that they’re bonded by a specific tunnel vision: her willingness to write a dozen pieces about A Star Is Born or spend time tracking down the marriage license of Taylor Swift’s publicist, if that’s what curiosity demands. Hung Up is part cultural

In this part of my review of Sven Beckert's Capitalism: A Global History I finish chapter 14 and read through chapter 15, exploring the response to the Great Depression and the rise of "insurgent" capitalisms in the colonial world.

E114 清醒梦：让孤独温柔地守候主播/策划：彭千郡技术指导：SpitwaterMk14美术设计：TonySkyOP：Higher TigerED：《为爱痴狂》刘若英延伸阅读：吴明益《光影》

Part 7 of my review of Sven Beckert's Capitalism: A Global History. In this section of the book we explore Beckert's commentary on state expansion and the origins of the Great Depression.

O Autores e Livros desta semana reúne lançamentos e sugestões de leitura que transitam entre a crítica social, a fantasia, a poesia, a memória e a valorização da cultura brasileira. Entre os destaques está “O País dos Canibais Embriagados”, de Turíbio Silveira Neto, romance que utiliza a sátira política para refletir sobre crises sociais e institucionais contemporâneas. A edição também apresenta a adaptação em quadrinhos de “O Falso Francês”, de Ítalo Damasceno. A HQ transforma em imagens a

The panel discusses chapters 14–19 of The Sword in the Stone, with special attention to White's romanticised depiction of feudalism and the historical setting of the action, and with a comparison of the pacifistic views of the geese vs. the warlike ants.Continue reading

As anyone who listened to our March episode on three film adaptations of Agatha Christie’s whodunits can tell: no one at A Damn Fine Cup of Culture is a big fan of Kenneth Branagh’s Hercule Poirot. The erstwhile Shakespeare wunderkind… Continue reading →

A fun chat with Rob Hart all about his new book Three Hitmen and a Baby, how to find a snake expert, living in the age of surveillance, and crying at movies. Plus – Dave is roasted at school, Laura recaps the Mumford & Sons concert, and Andrew accidentally opens up his Father’s Day present … Continue reading Ep. 332 Crying At The Movies With Rob Hart

In part 6 of this 10 part review of Sven Beckert's Capitalism: A Global History I read the chapters on the "reconstructions" of capital and labor in the later 19th century. It is in these reconstructions that the foundations of modern capitalism were laid

Wow, we are half done with this massive book. The next part of my review of Capitalism: A Global History by Sven Beckert. This section focuses on the emergence of a capitalist culture and the rebellions that brought the "old regime capitalism" to an end. It is fascinating stuff.

O Autores e Livros desta semana convida os ouvintes a mergulharem em histórias de suspense, mistério, ficção reflexiva e poesia, em uma edição que reúne autores brasileiros e estrangeiros em torno de temas como justiça, memória, violência, tecnologia e condição humana. O programa abre com uma entrevista com o escritor Humberto Pimentel sobre o romance “Morte na fronteira”. Na obra, um ex-perito criminal e advogado se envolve em uma investigação marcada por segredos, dilemas éticos e ambiguidades

These chapters of Sven Beckert's Capitalism: A Global History explore the revolutions we often lump together as the Industrial Revolution and the growing expansion of capitalism into the hinterland. It is increasingly clear we need to take a hinterland first view of capitalism's spread.

The panel reads chapters 8–13 of The Sword in the Stone, with a focus on the precise nature of Merlin's magic and the 'transformations' experienced by the Wart (but not by Kay), and a detailed examination of the episode of the Ants and their collectivism.Continue reading

This episode I’m joined by author David Goodman, author of A Reluctant Spy and the new sequel Solitary Agents. We talk about reading John le Carré as a kind of travelogue and why place matters so much in spy fiction. David shares how his dissertation on spy novels was a stepping stone to writing espionage […]