Best About Postwar Podcasts (2025)

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Ofer Ashkenazi and Thomas Pegelow Kaplan, "Rethinking Jewish History and Memory Through Photography" (SUNY Press, 2025) 52:11

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2d ago52:11

52:11

Ofer Ashkenazi is a Professor of History and the director of the Richard Koebner-Minerva Center for German History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. While on sabbatical, in 2025-2026 he is the Mosse Visiting Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the co-author of the recently published monograph Still Lives: Jewish Photography…

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Gorbachev's diplomacy 1985-88 25:08

1h ago25:08

25:08

In this episode of Explaining History, we explore Mikhail Gorbachev’s bold diplomatic strategy during the mid-1980s. Between 1985 and 1988, Gorbachev sought to end the crippling arms race with the United States and ease the immense economic burden of Cold War militarisation on the Soviet Union. We examine the key moments of his diplomacy: the Genev…

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Occupied Vietnam 1940-45 26:21

17h ago26:21

26:21

In 1940, when France fell to the Nazi invasion its colonies became Vichy satellites and in Asia, Vietnam rapidly fell under Japanese control. The French colonial elites saw their power gradually stripped away from them but it was the Vietnamese people that suffered terribly from Japanese rule with over a million dying in a famine created by the occ…

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Ep. 346: Venice 2025 - Jonathan Romney on L’Etranger, The Voice of Hind Rajab, Remake, A House of Dynamite 35:21

22h ago35:21

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Ep. 346: Venice 2025 - Jonathan Romney on L’Etranger, The Voice of Hind Rajab, Remake, A House of DynamiteWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I have been busily watching movies at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, and for my latest episode, I sit down with critic Jonathan Romney, who is writing about the festival…

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Tony Benn on Marxism and the Labour Party 30:21

2d ago30:21

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Tony Benn was one of the most important political figures in the second half of the 20th Century in Britain. His journey from the centreground of Labour politics to the left and his understanding of the various traditions and ideas within the Labour movement is the topic of today's podcast. In this episode we look at the collection of Benn's postum…

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Ep. 345: Venice 2025: Chloe Lizotte on A House of Dynamite, Dead Man’s Wire, Claire Simon, Wayne McGregor, Le Souffleur, More Late Fame 43:19

2d ago43:19

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Ep. 345: Venice 2025: Chloe Lizotte on A House of Dynamite, Dead Man’s Wire, Claire Simon, Wayne McGregor, Le Souffleur, More Late FameWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I have been busily watching movies at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, and for my latest episode, I sit down with Chloe Lizotte, the deputy ed…

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Episode 734: ACOUSTIC BLUES CLUB, #655 SEPTEMBER 03, 2025 59:00

2d ago59:00

59:00

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Episode 733: WEDNESDAY'S EVEN WORSE, #720 SEPTEMBER 03 2025 58:59

2d ago58:59

58:59

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Vic Reeves & Bob Mortimer 1:14:00

2d ago1:14:00

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This week a bit of a diversion. MJ Price of Quite A Boast podcast - all things Reeves & Mortimer - joins Tyler to talk about his love of the Goons and considers what sort of influence or impact (or otherwise) they may have had on future comedians, specifically Vic Reeves & Bob Mortimer. Later the chat turns more generally towards R&M and their body…

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Ep. 344: Venice 2025: Jordan Cronk on The Smashing Machine, Late Fame, Nuestra Tierra, Below the Clouds, Barrio Triste, and more 46:14

2d ago46:14

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Ep. 344: Venice 2025: Jordan Cronk on The Smashing Machine, Late Fame, Nuestra Tierra, Below the Clouds, Barrio Triste, and moreWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I have been busily watching movies at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, and for my latest episode, I sit down with critic Jordan Cronk. Among the Veni…

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The British Left's Revival in 2025 29:25

3d ago29:25

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Something is happening in Britain, and it's not going to go down well with the established parties, the media, or the far right Reform Party that the country's elite class are placing their hopes in. There are the seeds of a new left emerging around the Green Party and a new and so far unformed movement 'Your Party' pioneered by Jeremy Corbyn and Z…

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Alice Lovejoy, "Tales of Militant Chemistry" (U California Press, 2025) 36:42

3d ago36:42

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In Tales of Militant Chemistry (U of California Press, 2025), Alice Lovejoy tells the untold story of film as a chemical cousin to poison gas and nuclear weapons, shaped by centuries of violent extraction. The history of film calls to mind unforgettable photographs, famous directors, and the glitz and hustle of the media business. But there is anot…

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Ep. 343: Venice 2025: Guy Lodge on Father Mother Sister Brother, The Testament of Ann Lee, The Wizard of the Kremlin, Rose of Nevada 41:02

3d ago41:02

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Ep. 343: Venice 2025: Guy Lodge on Father Mother Sister Brother, The Testament of Ann Lee, The Wizard of the Kremlin, Rose of NevadaWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I have been busily watching movies at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, and for my latest episode, I sit down with critic Guy Lodge of Variety. Am…

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Black Britain and Roots 37:08

6d ago37:08

37:08

In this episode of Explaining History, we explore how the 1970s became a turning point for Black Britain. Drawing on Eddie Chambers’ Roots and Culture, we examine how a new generation of Black British people embraced the politics of Pan-Africanism and Rastafari, forging cultural and political identities rooted in pride, resistance, and global solid…

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Ep. 342: Venice 2025 - Glenn Kenny on Frankenstein, Bugonia, No Other Choice, Jay Kelly, After the Hunt, Broken English, Lo Spettro 47:18

4d ago47:18

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Ep. 342: Venice 2025: Glenn Kenny on Frankenstein, Bugonia, Jay Kelly, After the Hunt, No Other Choice, Broken English, Lo SpettroWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I have been busily watching movies at the Venice Film Festival, and for my first episode, I sit down with critic Glenn Kenny, who’s writing for R…

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Aliyah Khan, "Far From Mecca: Globalizing the Muslim Caribbean" (Rutgers UP, 2020) 45:03

5d ago45:03

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Muslims have lived in the Caribbean for centuries. Far From Mecca: Globalizing the Muslim Caribbean (Rutgers University Press, 2020) examines the archive of autobiography, literature, music and public celebrations in Guyana and Trinidad, offering an analysis of the ways Islam became integral to the Caribbean, and the ways the Caribbean shaped Islam…

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Episode 732: ACOUSTIC BLUES CLUB, #654 AUGUST 27, 2025 59:00

9d ago59:00

59:00

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Episode 731: WEDNESDAY'S EVEN WORSE, #719 AUGUST 27 2025 59:00

9d ago59:00

59:00

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ONE of ONE with Ben Bertucci and So Naito 44:12

9d ago44:12

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On a narrow street in Tokyo, there's a nondescript little workshop known as Naito Engineering, where some of the world's most desirable sports and racing cars are cared for by a small team of men. Founded by Shinichi Naito in 1952, it's now a third generation business where, on any given day, you might find a Ferrari 250LM on the lift or a Porsche …

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Adolf Hitler - My Part In His Downfall (film, 1973) 1:22:31

9d ago1:22:31

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Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall is a 1973 British comedy film directed by Norman Cohen and starring Jim Dale, Arthur Lowe and Spike Milligan. It is based on Milligan's best-selling first volume of war memoir of the same name but differs markedly in several respects. It was adapted by Milligan, Cohen and Johnny Byrne; Byrne said of the film: “…

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What Plato can teach us about the crises of the 21st Century 37:08

10d ago37:08

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What Plato Can Teach Us About the Crises of the 21st Century — with Professor Angie Hobbs In this special episode of Explaining History, I’m joined by Professor Angie Hobbs to discuss her new book Why Plato Matters Now. Together we explore Plato’s life and thought, and the urgent relevance of his ideas in today’s world. From the dangers of oligarch…

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War Reporting in Vietnam 26:05

11d ago26:05

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In this episode of Explaining History, we explore the fraught world of war reporting in Vietnam during the decade before full-scale U.S. involvement. Drawing on Philip Knightley’s classic study The First Casualty, we examine how embedded American correspondents were constrained by censorship, official manipulation, and the Pentagon’s control over i…

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Rethinking Art Fairs with First Thursday’s Callum Hale-Thomson 18:30

11d ago18:30

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In this week's episode of the ArtTactic Podcast, host Adam Green speaks with Callum Hale-Thomson, founder of First Thursday, about The 2025 Art Fair Report, a new survey capturing galleries’ candid views on the state of art fairs. They discuss why many galleries feel the current model is unsustainable, what’s driving weak returns on investment, and…

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Ep. 341: Amy Taubin on My Undesirable Friends, Highest 2 Lowest, Terence Stamp, Chantal Akerman, What Could Go Wrong, The Pitt 1:22:37

11d ago1:22:37

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Ep. 341: Amy Taubin on My Undesirable Friends, Highest 2 Lowest, Terence Stamp, Chantal Akerman, What Could Go Wrong, The PittWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I welcome back the one and only Amy Taubin to the podcast for a catch-up about what she’s been watching (and a few words about things to come). Among…

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Fascist Yoga: The far right and its intersections with the wellness movement 37:36

14d ago37:36

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In this episode I speak with writer and cultural critic Stewart Home about his new book Fascist Yoga. Our conversation traces the modern origins of yoga and the surprising, often disturbing ways it has intersected with the history of ideas—from early twentieth-century Aryanist fantasies and far-right esotericism to today’s conspiracy-laden online s…

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Kathleen Wilson, "Strolling Players of Empire: Theater and Performances of Power in the British Imperial Provinces, 1656–1833" (Cambridge UP, 2022) 55:38

18d ago55:38

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Why did Britons get up a play wherever they went? In Strolling Players of Empire: Theater and Performances of Power in the British Imperial Provinces, 1656–1833 (Cambridge UP, 2022), Dr. Kathleen Wilson reveals how the performance of English theater and a theatricalized way of viewing the world shaped the geopolitics and culture of empire in the lo…

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Episode 730: ACOUSTIC BLUES CLUB, #653 AUGUST 20 2025 59:00

18d ago59:00

59:00

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Episode 729: WEDNESDAY'S EVEN WORSE, #718 AUGUST 20 2025 59:01

18d ago59:01

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Roger Lewis on The Life & Death of Peter Sellers 1:26:49

16d ago1:26:49

1:26:49

The Life & Death of Peter Sellers caused something of a stir upon original publication in 1994. Rather than being a dispassionate account of the actor's life and work it leaned in quite heavily on his failings as a man and the author himself wasn't afraid to offer his personal views. That author, Roger Lewis, joins Tyler this week as the book is ou…

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Disco's "Latin Tinge" 1:01:02

17d ago1:01:02

1:01:02

In the 1930s, musical Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton identified the influence of Latin American rhythms like the habanera in jazz, as a sonic “tinge” that fundamentally shaped his style as a stride pianist. In the Seventies, disco presented its own Latin tinge. The Latin American and Latino influence on 1970s New York disco extended far beyond the f…

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Jo Lawson-Tancred of Artnet News on How Emerging Artists Can Get Noticed 18:03

18d ago18:03

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In this episode of the ArtTactic Podcast, host Adam Green speaks with Jo Lawson-Tancred, News Reporter at Artnet News, about her recent article offering practical advice for emerging artists. Jo shares insights from curators and successful artists on why visibility remains such a challenge even in the age of Instagram, the importance of adopting an…

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Zionism and Palestine 25:31

18d ago25:31

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In this episode, I draw on My Palestine by Mohammad Tarbush to examine two often-overlooked episodes in the history of Zionism and its global reception. First, we revisit the 1975 United Nations General Assembly vote that declared Zionism a form of racism—an extraordinary moment that sent shockwaves through international diplomacy, reshaped allianc…

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Ep. 340: Ehsan Khoshbakht on Locarno 2025's Great Expectations retrospective of postwar British cinema 25:12

20d ago25:12

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Ep. 340: Ehsan Khoshbakht on Great Expectations, the British retrospective of Locarno 2025Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I’m reporting from the Locarno film festival, where the annual retrospective has once again been quite popular. So I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to speak with the retrospective’s p…

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Mel Harder, President and General Manager of Laguna Seca Raceway 1:01:12

21d ago1:01:12

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One of the most historic racing circuits in the United States has a new helmsman. Mel Harder is a motorsports management veteran who began his career at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and went on to manage Circuit of the Americas and the Chip Ganassi Racing Team. In this episode, Mel talks about the past, present and future of Weathertech Raceway …

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Ep. 339: Jordan Cronk on Locarno 2025: Dry Leaf, Mare’s Nest, Le Lac, Sorella di Clausura, Two Seasons Two Strangers 35:28

21d ago35:28

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Ep. 339: Jordan Cronk on Locarno 2025: Dry Leaf, Mare’s Nest, Le Lac, Sorella di Clausura, Two Seasons Two StrangersWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I’m reporting from the Locarno film festival, where the second week has not disappointed. I sat down again to chat with Jordan Cronk, critic and founder of Acr…

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Ep. 338: Jessica Kiang on Locarno 2025: The Best of the Postwar British Retrospective + Becoming 1:10:43

22d ago1:10:43

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Ep. 338: Jessica Kiang on Locarno 2025: The Best of the Postwar British Retrospective + Becoming Welcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I’m reporting from the Locarno film festival, which every year has an outstanding retrospective that’s a parallel essential to the premieres of new films. To discuss this year’s …

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Episode 728: ACOUSTIC BLUES CLUB, #652 AUGUST 13 2025 58:59

25d ago58:59

58:59

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Episode 727: WEDNESDAY'S EVEN WORSE, #717 AUGUST 13 2025 58:59

25d ago58:59

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Liberalism and the Global South 34:58

23d ago34:58

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In this episode, I read from Pankaj Mishra’s Bland Fanatics, a searing critique of liberalism and its reception beyond the West. Mishra explores how, across much of the Global South, liberalism is not the triumphant, self-evident good it is often assumed to be in Euro-American discourse, but instead a system bound up with histories of empire, inequ…

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Pickwick - with Tim Worthington 1:27:32

23d ago1:27:32

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“I like the Pickwick score, it’s robust and British. I’ve often been offered parts in American musicals but I’ve always turned them down. No matter how good they are, I always feel they are not part of us. That’s why I waited and thought of this idea of making a musical of ‘Pickwick.” - Harry Secombe, 1963. And so the idea was realised, based on th…

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Ep. 337: Keva York on Locarno 2025: Dracula, Legend of the Happy Worker, plus The Seasons 24:42

24d ago24:42

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Ep. 337: Keva York on Locarno 2025: Dracula, Legend of the Happy Worker, plus The SeasonsWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I’m reporting from the Locarno film festival, which annually rolls out an adventuresome sale of films. For my latest episode I’m joined by Keva York, a critic and an editor of the festiv…

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Rentier Capitalism and neo feudalism 26:44

25d ago26:44

26:44

Is modern capitalism beginning to resemble a feudal system? This episode of Explaining History explores the provocative argument, drawn from the work of the late anthropologist David Graeber, that contemporary capitalism has evolved into a new form of feudalism. This episode delves into a lecture by David Graeber, where he contended that modern "re…

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Ep. 336: Jordan Cronk on Locarno 2025: With Hasan in Gaza, Mektoub My Love, Blue Heron, Balearic, Phantoms of July 38:18

27d ago38:18

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Ep. 336: Jordan Cronk on Locarno 2025: With Hasan in Gaza, Mektoub My Love, Blue Heron, Balearic, Phantoms of JulyWelcome to The Last Thing I Saw, with your host, Nicolas Rapold. This week I report from the Locarno film festival, which annually rolls out an adventuresome sale of films. For my first episode I’m joined by Jordan Cronk, critic and pro…

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Manuel Barcia, "The Yellow Demon of Fever: Fighting Disease in the 19th-Century Transatlantic Slave Trade" (Yale UP, 2020) 48:40

30d ago48:40

48:40

As we now know, epidemics and pandemics are not new phenomena. In her new book The Yellow Demon of Fever: Fighting Disease in the 19th-Century Transatlantic Slave Trade (Yale University Press, 2020), Manuel Barcia offers a striking rendition of the diseases that swept through the illegal slave trade Atlantic World. In fact, Barcia argues that the h…