Friday, April 16, 2010

Quick podcast reviews - Anne is a Man

Now that I have so much less time to write for the blog, I feel bad I let my audience miss out on some of the listening I manage to do. And it is worth give a couple of quick mentions, so here goes:

The Writing Show - I hadn't listened to the writing show in years. I couldn't resist to listen to Melissa Hart, writer of an autobiographical novel (Gringa) about a white, straight girl who desperately tries to be Hispanic and lesbian. (feed)

Entitled Opinions tackled Karl Marx. Robert Harrison gives his view why Marx is more relevant today than ever and his guest Mark Mancall saves him from sounding too superficial and turns this conversation is a really indispensable one about Marx. Who really seems to be more relevant today than ever.

Veertien Achttien. For those who understand Dutch. A biography of Petain you have to hear.

SALT podcast (Seminars About Long Term Thinking) aka The Long Now. Guest Speaker David Eagleman give a stunningly optimistic talk how the internet is going to prevent civilization collapses as we know from the past. Not a word about how the internet may become our downfall, only a few about how we need to make sure there will be no lapses. In spite of this naiveté still a commendable listen. Oh, and I had no patience for the Q&A, so maybe somebody asked about the dangers of the internet there.

New Books in History - Currently my favorite podcast. I have done a ton of listening. Eight shows rolled through my ears that I didn't manage to review. And they are all worth it. A similar amount is still waiting in the playlist. Can you imagine?
Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern, “The Anti-Imperial Choice: The Making of the Ukrainian Jew”; Ukrainian culture is known to be anti-semitic, yet some Jews count as promoters of Ukranian literature.
David Aaronovitch, “Voodoo Histories: The Role of Conspiracy Theory in the Shaping of Modern History”; This is lovely; how you just have to love conspiracy theories - but never believe them.
Robert Gellately, “Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe”; the finer details of ruining society.
Nicholas Thompson, “The Hawk and the Dove: Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War”; NBIH has many cold ware issues you should not miss - this is one of them.
Mark Mazower, “Hitler’s Empire: Nazi Rule in Occupied Europe”; So we know how they conquered Europe, but how could they rule so vast a realm with so few forces?
Joel Wolfe, “Autos and Progress: The Brazilian Search for Modernity”; History of Brazil, filling an omission in my knowledge.
David Day, “Conquest: How Societies Overwhelm Others”; a tough interview to swallow for an Israeli - we are constantly mentioned in line with the endless list of peoples who trampled others to steal their land.
David Laskin, “The Long Way Home. An American Journey from Ellis Island to the Great War” Immigrants fighting for the US in WW1 and thus obtaining citizenship - and it still happens today.