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

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Kurt Weyland, Mike Hogg Professor in Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin, to discuss his new book, Democracy's Resilience to Populism's Threat: Countering Global Alarmism. They discuss how populist leaders can only destroy democracy under special, restrictive conditions, which many never face. They also chat about how left-wing populists typically suffocate democracy only when benefitting from huge revenue windfalls, whereas right-wing populists must perform the heroic feat of resolving acute, severe crises.

Get the book here: https://www.cambridge.org/us/universitypress/subjects/politics-international-relations/comparative-politics/democracys-resilience-populisms-threat-countering-global-alarmism?format=HB

Show Notes:

National Constitution Center: Democracy, Populism, and the Tyranny of the Minority (VIDEO)
https://constitutioncenter.org/news-debate/podcasts/democracy-populism-and-the-tyranny-of-the-minority

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by David Blackbourn, Cornelius Vanderbilt Distinguished Chair of History Emeritus at Vanderbilt University, to discuss his new book, Germany in the World: A Global History, 1500-2000. They discuss the existence of a distinctly German presence in the world centuries before its unification. They also chat about Germany’s leading role in creating modern universities and its sinister involvement in slave-trade economies, as well as how Germany has maintained its pivotal place for the world, even after its tragic and criminal Twentieth Century.

Get the book here: https://wwnorton.com/books/9781631491832

Show Notes:

The Guardian: Neal Ascherson – “Germany in the World by David Blackbourn review – a rich and full-throated account of the past 500 years”
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jul/02/germany-in-the-world-by-david-blackbourn-review-a-rich-and-full-throated-account-of-the-past-500-years

Literary Review: Iain Bamforth – “From Brandenburg to Brazil”
https://literaryreview.co.uk/from-brandenburg-to-brazil

London Review of Books: Richard J. Evans – “Not So Special”
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n05/richard-j.-evans/not-so-special

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by David Stahel, senior lecturer in history at the University of New South Wales, to discuss his new book, Hitler's Panzer Generals: Guderian, Hoepner, Reinhardt and Schmidt Unguarded. They discuss the significance of the unpublished wartime correspondence of these generals and what it reveals about their personalities, their private fears, and the public pressures they were under. They also chat about their response to the criminal dimension of the Nazi way of war as well as their role as leading military commanders conducting large-scale operations.

Get the book here: https://www.cambridge.org/us/universitypress/subjects/history/military-history/hitlers-panzer-generals-guderian-hoepner-reinhardt-and-schmidt-unguarded?format=HB

Show Notes:

The Past: Calum Henderson – “Hitler’s Panzer Generals: Guderian, Hoepner, Reinhardt, and Schmidt unguarded”
https://the-past.com/review/books/hitlers-panzer-generals-guderian-hoepner-reinhardt-and-schmidt-unguarded/

In Episode 146 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with Scott Walter, author ofArabella: The Dark Money Network of Leftist Billionaires Secretly Transforming America.

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Scott Walter, president of the capital Research Center, to discuss his new book, Arabella: The Dark Money Network of Leftist Billionaires Secretly Transforming America. They chat about what is the Arabella Advisors network, who its chief backers are, how it functions, and what exactly is “dark money.” They also discuss why Arabella is different than right-wing “dark money” networks, and what impact it has on American politics and policy.

Get the book here: https://www.encounterbooks.com/books/arabella/

Show Notes:

Wall Street Journal: Scott Walter – “Inside the Left’s Web of ‘Dark Money’”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/inside-the-lefts-web-of-dark-money-11603408114