Hellenism - FITJ podcast review

The podcast series From Israelite to Jew by Michael Satlow, has reached a very interesting stage. Satlow has finished the Persian era in the history of the Jews and has begun talking about the Greek era. Whereas, from what we can know, under the Persians, the Jews kept developing their own culture, religion and cultural definitions. Even if they took over the lingua franca of the day, Aramaic, they seem rather independent. In Greek times, however, the ruling language, culture and institutions come to heavily influence Judaism.

Hellenism, it is called and as we find out by the end of the podcast, the Jews were possibly more aware of this complex whole of Greek culture. It was a Jew who invented the term Hellenism, as to oppose it to Judaism, but before embarking on how the Jews struggled with Hellenism, this podcast shows how the Greek culture invaded the Jewish one and became just as formative as the age-old traditions.

One of the greatest and obvious products is the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Tanakh. But Satlow shows many more signs and examples of sheer Greekness in the heart of Judaism. This is a most informative, deep and engaging podcast that I enjoy very much. I cannot wait until the next installment.

More FITJ:
Jews of the Persian Empire,
The fox and the hedgehog,
Looking for a Persian History podcast.

Dan Carlin about the East Front

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History is back with the first part of a series about the horrors of the East Front in World War II. Enough drama for this podcast that specializes in the narrative side of history to get a good bite from.

The drama contains two evil leaders, Hitler and Stalin, millions of soldiers dragged into the war, soldiers that are perpetrators and victims at the same time. If they are not the good guys, then at least they are the sad guys. And in this tale of the bad and the sad, there is this literary figure of the warning, the historic example of Napoleon's debacle in 1812. An example that is to be avoided and nevertheless comes true.

Carlin thrives on these dramas for his impressionistic tales, but it can be argued he goes over the top here and there. When the facts are grim and sad in themselves, too much emphasis turns the drama into melodrama and I feel he walks a thin line here. So, whether you will appreciate this version of the largest land battles of WW2, is probably a matter of taste. By all means, for those who were not sufficiently informed about the huge Soviet contribution to Hitler's defeat, it is a must listen.

More Hardcore History:
Slavery,
Gwynne Dyer Interview,
Interview with Victor Davis Hanson,
Punic Nightmares III,
Punic Nightmares II.

Connie Palmen bij Simek 's Nachts (Elsevier)

Ik had er een hard hoofd in, maar Simek is terug. Waar ik me weer niet over verbaas, is dat hij nu uitsluitend podcast en internet-stream is. Bij Elsevier heeft hij een thuis gevonden en de eerste uitzending is meteen raak. Simek is weer fris en scherp en gemotiveerd. (feed)

Gast Connie Palmen laat op zeker moment vallen dat ze weliswaar niet graag spreekt en al benoemd is dat interviews haar vermoeien, maar aan de nieuwe Simek 's Nachts werkt ze mee om het programma te redden. De vriendendienst wordt niet plichtmatig opgevoerd en het is ook geen nummertje gemakkelijk scoren voor Martin Simek. Het is een echt gesprek en het is een goed gesprek. We leren Palmen goed kennen en er zijn een paar prikkelende gedachtes over dood, over conventies en over verhalen. De verhalen die we verzinnen om het onbegrijpelijke te vangen.

Simek krijgt voor elkaar waar in het VPRO Marathon Interview drie uur voor nodig was. Al vullen de interviews elkaar goed aan. Simek met de gevoelsmatige en persoonlijke inhoud en meer cerebraal en filosofisch het gesprek met Wim Brands op de VPRO.

Ten slotte blijkt ook dat Simek 's Nachts als podcast bij Elsevier een kort leven beschoren zal zijn als er niet snel een sponsor wordt gevonden en liefst ook een radio-zender. Laten we hopen dat dat goed komt, want Simek heeft weer meer pit en levert de betere Nederlandse podcast op.

Meer Simek:
Dhyan Sutorius,
Louis Tas,
Piet Hein Eek,
Ernst van de Wetering,
Ageeth Veenemans.

Meer Marathon Interview:
Karel van het Reve,
Jan Montyn,
Arthur Japin, Johannes van Dam,
Mr. G.B.J. Hiltermann
en: Connie Palmen.

Who will write our history?

Because today in Israel it is the holocaust remembrance day, I will re-post a relevant review of an excellent podcast:

The recently discovered podcast New Books in History (NBIH) is putting out new issues weekly. In the mean while I am trying to catch up with the backlog and as a consequence, I have still to cover all of its work. And I want to, as this is an outstanding new podcast on my horizon.

One of those podcasts from the backlog had host Marshall Poe interview the historian Samuel Kassow. Kassow wrote a book titled: Who will write our history. It puts a finger on a very ironic, almost too sad to contemplate point that the historiography of the holocaust is mostly based upon the sources provided by the perpetrators. The Germans kept good records and the Jews that were whisked away in the shoah hardly had the time to sit down and write their history.

Kassow wrote his book about an exception to this rule. Emanuel Ringelblum was a historian of the Warsaw Ghetto who set up a team of contemporary historians and they all made efforts to chronicle their fate as long as they could. Only when this became impossible, Ringelblum hid their archives and they were sent off to the destruction camps. Part of the archives have been discovered and Kassow's book is based upon this.

Marshall Poe's interview with Kassow spends a lot of time on setting the stage in order to have the clear frame of reference in which Ringelblum and his crew worked. Apart from being a fascinating interiew, this is also a great incentive to read the book.

More NBIH:
Sentiments in International Relations,
Ronald Reagan,
Prokofiev,
Evolution, genetics and history,
Kees Boterbloem about Jan Struys.

Hoor Geschiedenis op iTunes (hersteld)

Voor het weekend meldde ik dat Hoor! Geschiedenis van Feico Houweling op iTunes niet meer aangeleverd werd. Dit probleem is inmiddels verholpen. Alle aflevering zijn weer beschikbaar. Nu kan ik er vijf achter elkaar afluisteren.

Meer Hoor! Geschiedenis:
Plakkaat van Verlating,
Willem van Oranje als Bijbelfiguur,
Dagelijks genoegen: hoor! geschiedenis,
Hoor! Geschiedenis - historische podcast recensie.

Disasters and Peace - UChannel Podcast

Some time ago, someone said to me: "The only thing that will give a good turn to the Arab-Israeli conflict will be a great natural disaster. It will show how the Israelis and Palestinians are in the same boat, it will force them to cooperate and this in turn will produce a basis of mutual trust and respect." I was surprised by this idea and at the same time not completely convinced. Besides why must we wait for disaster to strik?

Can disasters have such an unexpected good side-effect? On UChannel Podcast was a lecture by Michael Renner given at NYU Wagner that addressed exactly this phenomenon. Renner uses the 2004 Tsunami as the example disaster and looks at Aceh and at Sri Lanka to see the peace effects. The result is mixed. Somehow on Aceh, peace could be given a new impulse and this development looks sustainable. On Sri Lanka however, although also here the impulse was put in place, the peace process got stuck for lack of political commitment.

If political commitment is a prerequisite for the success, not only is a peace turn out of a disaster no easy result, neither is it one that can be achieved with the right amount of grass roots or external effort. The Sri Lanka case shows how the ruling elite somehow holds a power of veto. It is conceivable that also in the Middle East there are enough political streams that are so profoundly not interesting in peace that a disaster may not change this at all. And then they can sabotage whatever peace developments spring up.

More UChannel Podcast:
Enclosing the commons of the mind,
Middle East challenges,
Good climate for everyone (global warming),
Robots and War,
Sudan and the fallacy of nationhood.