Anna Funder on Stasiland, the US, Australia and Whether Writers Are Like Spies

Lowry Institute | 14 May 2020 | 0h 33m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Anna Funder about her book Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall. Discusses the Stasi and East Germany, the differences between the United States and Australia, life in a pandemic – and whether writers are a bit like spies.

This is the first of what will be several posts with the remarkable mind that is Anna Funder.

Posted on by

Rachel Chrastil on the Franco-Prussian War

History Extra | 1 July 2023 | 0h 40m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Rachel Chrastil about her book Bismarck’s War: The Franco-Prussian War and the Making of Modern Europe. Discusses the Franco-Prussian War, which Prussia quickly won, but which left consequences that played out over the following century. Covers Bismarck’s leadership, the Paris Commune and why it fell, whether Prussian victory made German unification inevitable, and whether the French desire for revenge contributed to the First World War.

Posted on by

Peter Wilson on the Military History of the German-Speaking Peoples

School of War | 11 April 2023 | 0h 42m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Peter Wilson about his book Iron and Blood: A Military History of the German-Speaking Peoples since 1500. Discusses Germany, Germans, and German speakers at war, covering The Holy Roman Empire, The Thirty Years War, the Treaty of Westphalia, Prussia’s emergence, Bismarck, and the World Wars.

Posted on by

Katja Hoyer: Beyond the Wall

The Book Club | 5 April 2023 | 0h 49m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Katja Hoyer about her book Beyond The Wall: East Germany 1949-1990. Explains that there is much more to the East German state than the Berlin Wall, the Stasi, and the grey totalitarian dystopia of popular imagination. Discusses Erich Honecker’s wild side, the importance of coffee to East German morale, and how inevitable or otherwise were the historical forces that saw Germany first divided, and then reunited.

See also Dan Snow’s interview with her about her book Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire 1871–1918.

Posted on by

Iain MacGregor: Checkpoint Charlie

The Book Club | 4 August 2021 | 0h 54m | Listen Later | iTunes | Spotify
Interview with Iain MacGregor about his book Checkpoint Charlie: The Cold War, The Berlin Wall And The Most Dangerous Place On Earth. Discusses how, and why, the Russians cut a city in half overnight; and why we let them. Describes how events in Tiananmen Square reached Friedrichstrasse. Includes a lovely story about a single British soldier looking after the Red Army that they never forgot.

Posted on by

The Second Reich

Dan Snow’s History Hit | 18 January 2021 | 0h 38m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with Katja Hoyer about her book Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire 1871–1918. Discusses the events (and Bismark’s machinations) leading up to the proclamation of King Wilhelm I of Prussia as Emperor of the German Empire in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles in 1871.

Posted on by

John Kampfner on Why the Germans Do it Better

The Bunker | 28 September 2020 | 0h 25m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with John Kampfner about his book Why the Germans Do it Better. Discusses the German political miracle, Merkel, relations with the UK, and why Germany is so much better than the UK at industry, political debate and social cohesion.

Posted on by

David Henderson on the German Economic Miracle

Economics Detective Radio | 21 October 2017 | 0h 52m | Listen Later | iTunes
Interview with David Henderson setting out the critical role of currency reforms, the elimination of price controls, and reduced marginal tax rates to the post-war German economic miracle. Downplays the role of the Marshall Plan. Lots of interesting anecdotes. Finishes with background on the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.

Posted on by