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Richard Aldous

Richard Aldous

Richard Aldous is Eugene Meyer Professor of British History and Literature at Bard College, and host of the “Bookstack” podcast at American Purpose.

He is the author of eleven books, including Schlesinger: The Imperial Historian (2017); Reagan and Thatcher: The Difficult Relationship (2012); Macmillan, Eisenhower and the Cold War (2005); The Lion and the Unicorn: Gladstone vs. Disraeli (2007); and biographies of Malcolm Sargent and Tony Ryan.

Podcasts and Articles

Ian Buruma on the Relevance of Spinoza

Ian Buruma on the Relevance of Spinoza

Rejected in official circles in his day and embraced in modern times by a motley array of admirers, Spinoza was in many ways ahead of his time. His commitment to truth, universal principles, and freedom lie at the heart of Western liberal thinking. As those ideas come under attack on

Richard Aldous
Maria Popova on Ukraine and Russia’s Diverging Paths

Maria Popova on Ukraine and Russia’s Diverging Paths

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine and Russia not only embarked on very different political paths at home, but they viewed the future of their relationship in starkly divergent terms. In Russia and Ukraine: Entangled Histories, Diverging States, authors Maria Popova and Oxana Shevel show how Russia’s

Richard Aldous
Postponed: Bookstack Live Taping with Seth D. Kaplan

Postponed: Bookstack Live Taping with Seth D. Kaplan

This event is being temporarily postponed. Please stay tuned for a new date and time. Join Richard Aldous for a live recording of his latest Bookstack podcast. Richard will be interviewing Seth D. Kaplan, author of Fragile Neighborhoods: Repairing American Society, One Zip Code at a Time, which offers a

Richard Aldous
Lorraine Daston on the History of Scientific Collaboration

Lorraine Daston on the History of Scientific Collaboration

Large threats to the well-being of humankind such as the pandemic and climate change have cemented the notion that scientists across the globe naturally work together to solve the world’s most pressing problems. In Rivals: How Scientists Learned to Cooperate, historian of science Lorraine Daston traces the trajectory of

Richard Aldous
David Reynolds on Winston Churchill

David Reynolds on Winston Churchill

Amidst all the positive and negative ink dedicated to Winston Churchill, Cambridge emeritus professor of international history David Reynolds offers a new dimension. He places the leader for whom history was determined by “great men” among the other greats who both inspired and enervated him. Reynolds joins host Richard Aldous

Richard Aldous
Joshua Green on the Populism of the Democratic Party

Joshua Green on the Populism of the Democratic Party

The remarkable shift in the economic ideas at the heart of the Democratic Party—from the embrace of neoliberalism in the ’90s to the left-wing populism that Joe Biden accommodates today—traces its origins to the 2008 financial crisis. Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders and AOC after her, put the

Richard Aldous
Azam Ahmed on Mexico’s Violent Cartels

Azam Ahmed on Mexico’s Violent Cartels

For tens of thousands of people, living in Mexico today means living in a country where criminal violence begets state-sponsored violence, and where law and justice have so failed ordinary citizens that they often take matters into their own hands. In his new book Fear Is Just a Word: A

Richard Aldous
Raymond Arsenault on John Lewis

Raymond Arsenault on John Lewis

Freedom Rider and Congressman John Lewis was widely viewed as a saint no less than a civil rights icon. How to capture the full humanity of such a legendary figure, whose life was intertwined with some of America’s lowest lows and highest highs? Civil rights historian Raymond Arsenault does

Richard Aldous