Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Sean A. Mirski, Visiting Scholar at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, to discuss his new book, We May Dominate the World: Ambition, Anxiety, and the Rise of the American Colossus. They discuss how the United States became a regional hegemon in the century following the Civil War, which no other great power in the modern era has managed to achieve. They also chat about what America’s rise to hegemon status can teach us about the United States faces from China, Russia, and Iran today.

Get the book here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/sean-a-mirski/we-may-dominate-the-world/9781541758438/?lens=publicaffairs

Show Notes:
The Spectator: David J. Garrow – “Visiting a forgotten chapter in American history”
https://thespectator.com/book-and-art/visiting-forgotten-chapter-american-history-sean-mirski/

Washington Examiner: Jackson Lopez – “Review: We May Dominate the World by Sean Mirski”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2441248/review-we-may-dominate-the-world-by-sean-mirski/

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Robert K.D. Colby, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Mississippi, to discuss his new book, An Unholy Traffic: Slave Trading in the Civil War South. They discuss how Southerners made the internal slave trade a cornerstone of Confederate society, a bulwark of the Rebel economy, and a central part of the experience of the Civil War. They also chat about how slave trading helped Southerners survive and fight the war by using this commerce to navigate food shortages and mitigate the demands of military service and other hardships on the home front.

Get the book here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/an-unholy-traffic-9780197578261?cc=us&lang=en&

Show Notes:
The Guardian: Rich Tenorio – “An Unholy Traffic: how the slave trade continued through the US civil war”
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/28/robert-colby-unholy-traffic-slave-trade-civil-war

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by award-winning novelist, critic, and biographer D.J. Taylor to discuss his new book, Who Is Big Brother? A Reader’s Guide to George Orwell. They discuss Orwell’s books, life and thought, including his conflicted relationship with religion to his competing anti-imperialism and fascination with empire. They also discuss Taylor’s recently released, completely overhauled biography, Orwell: The New Life.

Get the books here: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300272987/who-is-big-brother/ & https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Orwell/D-J-Taylor/9781639364510

Show Notes:

The Critic: Andrew Doyle – “The making of a modern prophet”
https://thecritic.co.uk/The-making-of-a-modern-prophet/

First Things: John Wilson – “The Lure of Orwell”
https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2023/05/the-lure-of-orwell

The Guardian: Blake Morrison – “Orwell by DJ Taylor review – a very English socialist”
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jun/01/orwell-by-dj-taylor-review-a-very-english-socialist

Law & Liberty: Theodore Dalrymple – “Orwell's Arresting Ambiguities”
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/orwells-arresting-ambiguities/

Literary Review: David Dwan – “An Unsociable Socialist”
https://literaryreview.co.uk/an-unsociable-socialist

The Spectator: Camilla Cassidy – “Will we ever know the real George Orwell?”
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/will-we-ever-know-the-real-george-orwell/

The Times: John Carey – “Orwell: The New Life by DJ Taylor review — great writer, terrible husband”
https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/orwell-the-new-life-by-dj-taylor-review-great-writer-terrible-husband-0t8w7qrlx

Wall Street Journal: Dominic Green – “‘Orwell’ Review: A Fresh Biography of Truth’s Champion”
https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/orwell-review-champion-of-an-ordinary-truth-e439ecf9