Heads-up for 4 October 2010

The History of Rome
111- Phase One Complete
After the Battle of Abrittus, Trebonianus Gallus was proclaimed Emperor. After reigning for two years he was ousted by Aemilianus, who lasted less than a month on the throne before being ousted by Valerian.
(review, feed)

Here is a tip that has also been put forward by the DIY Scholar: check out the content of the UChannel podcast. This is a podcast that aggregates academic lecture from a wide series of institutions. Almost invariably you get here excellent content from the best people in their fields that share their insight. Unfortunately this podcast is going to podfade on November 3rd. So this is the time to pull up its great content while you still can.
(review, feed)

A History of the World in 100 Objects (BBC)
AHOW: 086 Asante Drum 4 Oct 2010
An 18th century drum from Africa. Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, examines an African drum that was taken to America during the slave trade and later brought to England by the physician and collector Hans Sloane. He looks at how these African drums were to profoundly influence American culture. With contributions by historian Anthony Appiah and writer Bonnie Greer.
(review, feed)

In Our Time is back again

In case you had not noticed yet, here is to let you know that BBC's In Our Time is back. This is a podcast that is universally regarded as one of the most interesting and worth to follow productions around. Melvyn Bragg speaks every week for 45 minutes with assorted specialists on a subject in the history of ideas. There is hardly a better way thinkable to get a handle on an important topic than getting it on a silver platter through In Our Time. (feed)

The listener needs to be warned though: issues of In Our Time are only available as a podcast in the week immediately after its publication. After that it will only be available on line as a stream. It is therefore my advice to take a subscription, download each issue as it comes out and keep it for listening.

In Our Time also gives fantastic complementary listening to academic or other podcasts that cover the same topic. For example, next week the subject will be the Spanish Armada and in case we may expect that the focus will be either on Spain or England, it will be nice to also listen to the Irish perspective as can be found in the podcast Hidden Heritage.

More In Our Time:
The Indian Rebellion of 1857,
Frankfurt School,
The history of the Royal Society,
The weekly treat,
New season of In Our Time.