Historically Thinking

We believe that when people think historically, they are engaging in a disciplined way of thinking about the world and its past. We believe it gives thinkers a knack for recognizing nonsense; and that it cultivates not only intellectual curiosity and rigo

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Episode 180: Great State, or, China and the World since 1250

Posted October 7, 202001:02:09

In Xanadu, Kublai Khan had a leopard. Well, it wasn’t a leopard really, it was a cheetah. And upon that fact, and upon many other anecdotes and material...

Episode 179: What’s the Good of Ambition, or, Socrates and Alcibiades

Posted September 30, 202001:23:09

In 415 BC, Athens sent a fleet of over 100 ships and 5,000 hoplites to attack the city of Syracuse, in Sicily, an expedition that would result in catastrophe....

Episode 178: Medieval Mediterranean Slavery

Posted September 23, 202001:27:41

“Medieval Mediterranean slavery”  is a phrase that might seem a bit puzzling to some listeners—surely there wasn’t slavery in the medieval...

Episode 177: The Forgotten City

Posted September 16, 202001:28:14

In the history of ancient Greece, three cities dominated its politics, society, and culture. Of these, Athens and Sparta are now best known. But set...

Episode 176: Men on Horseback, or, What Charisma Has To Do With It

Posted September 9, 202001:09:54

In 1763, James Boswell was accompanied by his new friend Samuel Johnson to Harwich, from which the young Scot then travelled to Utrecht in the Netherlands....