Experts on History cover art

Experts on History

Experts on History

By: World History Encyclopedia
Listen for free

About this listen

Join your host Dr Fiona Richards as she interviews our Experts on History!

We'll meet historians, archaeologists and curators who are experts in their field and hear about the lives of people who have made history their jobs, learn fascinating facts about the past, and go on a journey through world history. Fiona also includes questions for our experts that were sent in by WHE readers. 

World History Encyclopedia World
Episodes
  • Kutuzov: A Life in War and Peace with Alexander Mikaberidze

    Kutuzov: A Life in War and Peace with Alexander Mikaberidze
    Oct 4 2025
    Kutuzov: A Life in War and Peace by Alexander Mikaberidze is about a character, a historical figure, but also the main protagonist of the book that many people claim to have read, but very few actually manage to get through, War and Peace. Those who are familiar with the novel know that the Russian field marshal who leads the Russian armies both in 1805 and then in the decisive showdown with Napoleon in 1812 was Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov, this very interesting character that Tolstoy uses to create his own vision of what a historical figure should be like. This book is the first modern biography of this figure. For some reason, not much attention has been paid to him. The book looks at his entire life. He was born in 1747 and passed away in 1813 so he didn't live long enough in that sense. But it was a career that was fascinating to really explore, because he joined the military when he was just twelve years old, spent the rest of his life in the military service, fought in numerous campaigns, and really went through the entirety of the military system. I jokingly refer to him as a jack of all trades because in the military service he was essentially employed in every branch, in every capacity you can imagine — BUY THE BOOK HERE — Oxford University Press https://global.oup.com/academic/product/kutuzov-9780197546734?utm_campaign=1430284817574935310&utm_source=third%20party&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=banner+link&utm_term=WHE — MORE FROM ALEX — Twitter: https://twitter.com/AMikaberidze The Napoleonic Quarterly Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-napoleonic-quarterly/id1547058446 - This is an innovative history podcast that Alex and a group of his colleagues are producing covering the entire Napoleonic era. — SUPPORT US VIA OUR PATREON— https://www.patreon.com/join/whencyclopedia — BUY OUR MERCH — https://www.worldhistory.store​/​ — CHAPTERS — 0:00​ Introduction 0:41 What is the book all about? 3:35 Why hasn't anyone written a biography of Kutuzon in over fifty years? 6:46 Are there many primary sources available from the Russian point of view? 8:36 How did you come to write this book on Kutuzov? 14:24 Did anything really surprise or fascinate you whilst researching for this book? 17:40 What is one thing you want people to know about your book and Kutuzov? 19:31 Outro — WANT TO KNOW MORE? — Napoleon Bonaparte During the Early French Revolution (1789-1794) https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2036/napoleon-bonaparte-during-the-early-french-revolut/ — WATCH — Rome: Strategy of Empire with James Lacey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo6yLYC4bKo Norse America: The Story of a Founding Myth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldOtYQOqCw8 The First Black Archaeologist: A Life of John Wesley Gilbert with John Lee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZSZHzpaXog Rome: An Empire's Story with Greg Woolf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTQSrskjPRs — ATTRIBUTIONS — The music used in this recording is the intellectual copyright of Michael Levy, a prolific composer for the recreated lyres of antiquity, and used with the creator's permission. Michael Levy's music is available to stream at all the major digital music platforms. Find out more on: https://www.ancientlyre.com https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A — THUMBNAIL IMAGE — Kutuzov: A Life in War and Peace by Alexander Mikaberidze Oxford University Press World History Encyclopedia www.worldhistory.org #kutuzov #napoleonicwars #alexandermikaberidze
    Show More Show Less
    20 mins
  • Norse America: The Story of a Founding Myth, with Gordon Campbell

    Norse America: The Story of a Founding Myth, with Gordon Campbell
    Dec 16 2024

    In our interview with Gordon Campbell, we chat all about his new book Norse America: The Story of a Founding Myth. The book tells two stories. One story is that of the Norse proceeding in the 10th and 11th century from mainland Scandinavia to the Faroes and Iceland and Greenland, and from Greenland they sail, hunting in many cases to what is now the Eastern Arctic in Canada. And they famously, as we have known since the 1060s, had a sort of camp in Northern Newfoundland at a site called L'Anse aux Meadows.

    The other story is the appropriation of the first story by Canadians and Americans who want to have been discovered by people with white North European origins rather than by Columbus, who was Italian, sailed for Spain, and did all kinds of other suspicious things. So, there is a racial narrative, which is potentially pernicious in the huge attraction of having the Norse discover America. I became interested in the attraction as much as I did in the actual voyages themselves.

    — BUY NORSE AMERICA: THE STORY OF A FOUNDING MYTH —

    https://www.worldhistory.org/books/B08YZ5M8YY/

    — GORDON'S WEBSITE —

    https://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/english/people/gordoncampbell

    — SUPPORT US VIA OUR PATREON —

    https://www.patreon.com/join/whencyclopedia

    — BUY OUR MERCH —

    https://www.worldhistory.store​/​

    — WANT TO KNOW MORE? —

    The Norse in America: Fact and Fiction https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1880/the-norse-in-america-fact-and-fiction/

    Leif Erikson https://www.worldhistory.org/Leif_Erikson/

    Vinland https://www.worldhistory.org/Vinland/

    — ATTRIBUTIONS —

    The music used in this recording is the intellectual copyright of Michael Levy, a prolific composer for the recreated lyres of antiquity, and used with the creator's permission. Michael Levy's music is available to stream at all the major digital music platforms. Find out more on:

    https://www.ancientlyre.com

    https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9

    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A
    Show More Show Less
    39 mins
  • Egyptian Mythology: A Travelers Guide From Aswan to Alexandria, with Garry Shaw

    Egyptian Mythology: A Travelers Guide From Aswan to Alexandria, with Garry Shaw
    Dec 9 2024

    Join World History Encyclopedia as we talk to Garry Shaw, an Egyptologist and author of a brand new book Egyptian Mythology: A Travelers Guide From Aswan to Alexandria. Garry's book on Egyptian mythology starts with a journey beginning in the south of Egypt, which is the traditional border in the region of Aswan, and then you travel northward to the Mediterranean Sea, stopping at various locations along the way, which have religious importance or a lot of mythology behind them.

    It's a fun, different approach to Egyptian mythology than what you normally find in other Egyptian mythology books. Looking at the book as a whole, and also deep-diving into the sites of Saqqara, Pi-Ramesses and Tell-el-Amarna, just us as we take a journey down the Nile river with Garry Shaw!

    — BUY THE BOOK —

    https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0500252289/

    Egyptian Mythology: A Traveler's Guide from Aswan to Alexandria Book Review https://www.worldhistory.org/review/255/egyptian-mythology-a-travelers-guide-from-aswan-to/

    — GARRY'S LINKS —

    Website https://garryshawegypt.blogspot.com/p/books.html

    Twitter https://twitter.com/GarryShawEgypt

    Instagram https://www.instagram.com/garryjshaw/

    — SUPPORT US VIA OUR PATREON —

    https://www.patreon.com/join/whencyclopedia

    — BUY OUR MERCH —

    https://www.worldhistory.store​/​

    — WANT TO KNOW MORE? —

    Ancient Egyptian Mythology https://www.worldhistory.org/Egyptian_Mythology/

    Ancient Egyptian Religion https://www.worldhistory.org/Egyptian_Religion/

    Egyptian Gods - The Complete List https://www.worldhistory.org/article/885/egyptian-gods---the-complete-list/

    — ATTRIBUTIONS —

    The music used in this recording is the intellectual copyright of Michael Levy, a prolific composer for the recreated lyres of antiquity, and used with the creator's permission. Michael Levy's music is available to stream at all the major digital music platforms. Find out more on:

    https://www.ancientlyre.com

    https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v?si=emacIH9CRieFNGXRUyJ9

    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1X6F7lGMEadnNETSzTv8A
    Show More Show Less
    37 mins
No reviews yet
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.