Favourite podcasts
Confessions with Giles Fraser. [link]
I thoroughly enjoy this conversation-based podcast. Haven’t come across a bad one yet. Dr. Fraser is a very insightful interviewer.
John Anderson Conversations [link]
This podcast covers politics and cultural matters, with a Down Under flavour. Mr Anderson, who is a former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, is an excellent interviewer.
Oxford Union. [link]
Interesting conversations with public figures from a range of fields.
So What You’re Saying Is… [link]
A relatively new interview podcast with a focus on politics and cultural issues.
Talking politics. [link]
Hands down the best podcast on British politics that I’ve encountered to date. The host, Prof. David Runciman, does a great job of leading the conversations, and regular contributor Prof. Helen Thompson is outstanding.
The Editors. [link]
Consistently good conversations about US politics from a centre-right perspective.
Triggernometry [link]
The quality of this interview-based podcast is a bit variable, but it has featured some excellent guests.
*****
Top 10 books
Attenborough, D. (2002) Life on Air: Memoirs of a Broadcaster. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Le Roy Ladurie, E. (1980) Montaillou: The World Famous Portrait of Life in a Medieval Village by Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie. London: Penguin.
Murray, D.K. (2017) The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Desmond, A. and Moore, J. (1992) Darwin. London: Penguin.
Hemingway, E. (1940) For Whom The Bell Tolls. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Orwell, G. (1949) Nineteen Eighty-Four. London: Secker and Warburg.
Strachen, H. (2004) The First World War. New York: Viking.
Hanson, V.D. (2017) The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won. New York: Basic Books.
Toole, J.K. (1980) A Confederacy of Dunces. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
Haidt, J. (2012) The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. New York: Pantheon.
*****
Fiction
Hemingway, E. (1940) For Whom The Bell Tolls. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Orwell, G. (1945) Animal Farm: A Fairy Story. London: Secker and Warburg.
Orwell, G. (1949) Nineteen Eighty-Four. London: Secker and Warburg.
Toole, J.K. (1980) A Confederacy of Dunces. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
*****
Freedom of expression and academic freedom
Mill, J.S. (1859) On Liberty. London: John W. Parker and Son.
*****
George Orwell
BBC Four (2003) George Orwell: A life in pictures. [link]
Interesting documentary on Orwell, featuring a fake interview with the great man. One has to keep reminding oneself that the interviewee is an actor. It’s a bit discombobulating.
Cavendish, D. (2020) How George Orwell’s hop-picking days sowed the seeds for his genius. The Telegraph, 17 May 2020. [link]
Hitchens, C. (2002) Why Orwell matters. Lecture at The Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco, 21 October 2002. [link]
Orwell, G. (1933) Down and Out in Paris and London. London: Victor Gollancz.
Orwell, G. (1937) The Road to Wigan Pier. London: Victor Gollancz.
Orwell, G. (1938) Homage to Catalonia. London: Secker and Warburg.
Orwell, G. (1945) Animal Farm: A Fairy Story. London: Secker and Warburg.
Orwell, G. (1949) Nineteen Eighty-Four. London: Secker and Warburg.
Rodden, J. (2018) Searching for the soul of George Orwell. The American Conservative, 22 March 2018. [link]
Sixsmith, B. (2017) George Orwell would dislike you, me, and our opinions. Areo Magazine, 17 September 2017. [link]
*****
Human evolutionary studies
Desmond, A. and Moore, J. (1992) Darwin. London: Penguin.
Haidt, J. (2012) The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. New York: Pantheon.
*****
Military history
Asbridge, T. (2010) The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land. New York: Ecco.
Hanson, V.D. (2017) The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won. New York: Basic Books.
Lewis, D. (2014) Churchill’s Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWII. London: Quercus.
Lewis, D. (2015) The Nazi Hunters: The Ultra-Secret SAS Unit and the Hunt for Hitler’s War Criminals. London: Quercus.
McCarten, A. (2017) Darkest Hour: How Churchill Brought England Back from the Brink. New York: Harper.
Milton, G. (2017) Churchill’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: The Mavericks Who Plotted Hitler’s Defeat. New York: Picador.
Orwell, G. (1938) Homage to Catalonia. London: Secker and Warburg.
Sebag-Montefiore, H. (2007) Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man. London: Penguin.
Strachen, H. (2004) The First World War. New York: Viking.
*****
Politics
Bloodworth, J. (2020) Today’s liberals dream of a workerless paradise. UnHerd 03-Feb-20. [link]
Cooke, C.C.W. (2015) The Conservatarian Manifesto: Libertarians, Conservatives, and the Fight for the Right’s Future. New York: Crown Forum.
Deneen, P.J. (2018) Why Liberalism Failed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Dougherty, M.B. (2020) Why Brexit matters. National Review 31-Jan-20. [link]
Goodwin, M. (2020) All the lies about Leavers. UnHerd 31-Jan-20. [link]
Haidt, J. (2012) The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. New York: Pantheon.
Lilla, M. (2017) The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics. New York: Harper.
Mill, J.S. (1859) On Liberty. London: John W. Parker and Son.
Murray, D.K. (2017) The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
I strongly recommend this book if you’re interested in recent European politics. It also provides a useful perspective on the technocratic, borderless form of liberalism that has dominated Western democracies for most of the last 30 years.
Murray, D.K. (2019) The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
The audiobook version of this book, which features Murray as the narrator, is particularly good.
Orwell, G. (1933) Down and Out in Paris and London. London: Victor Gollancz.
Orwell, G. (1937) The Road to Wigan Pier. London: Victor Gollancz.
Orwell, G. (1938) Homage to Catalonia. London: Secker and Warburg.
Orwell, G. (1945) Animal Farm: A Fairy Story. London: Secker and Warburg.
Orwell, G. (1949) Nineteen Eighty-Four. London: Secker and Warburg.
Sayers, F. (2020) The two faces of Boris Johnson. UnHerd 03-Feb-20. [link]
Scruton, R. (2014) How to Be a Conservative. London: Bloomsbury.
Scruton, R. (2018) Conservatism: An Invitation to the Great Tradition. New York: All Points Books.
Scruton, R. and Yusuf, H. (2018) What conservatism really means. Renovatio: The Journal of Zaytuna College. [link]
Snyder, T. (2017) On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. New York: Tim Duggan Books.
Vance, J.D. (2016) Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. New York: Harper.
*****
Social and political history
Brown, N.M. (2015) Ivory Vikings: The Mystery of the Most Famous Chessmen in the World and the Woman Who Made Them. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Desmond, A. and Moore, J. (1992) Darwin. London: Penguin.
Evans, R.J. (2016) The Pursuit of Power Europe: 1815-1914. New York: Viking.
Le Roy Ladurie, E. (1980) Montaillou: The World Famous Portrait of Life in a Medieval Village by Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie. London: Penguin.
Orwell, G. (1933) Down and Out in Paris and London. London: Victor Gollancz.
Orwell, G. (1937) The Road to Wigan Pier. London: Victor Gollancz.
Orwell, G. (1938) Homage to Catalonia. London: Secker and Warburg.
Woodard, C. (2008) The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down. Boston: Mariner Books.
Wootton, D. (2015) The Invention of Science: A New History of the Scientific Revolution. New York: Harper.
*****
University matters
Perry, L. (2020) The strange world of the radically left-wing Soas. The Spectator 29-Jan-20. [link]
Scruton, R. (2015) The end of the university. First Things 01-Apr-15. [link]
*****