Dan Snow’s History Hit
Historian Dan Snow investigates the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of history’s defining moments.
From the Colosseum of Ancient Rome and the battlefields of Waterloo to the tomb of Tutankhamun, Dan journeys across the globe to share the greatest stories from the past that help us understand the present.
New episodes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
You can get in touch with us at ds.hh@historyhit.com
A podcast by History Hit, the world’s best history channel and creators of award-winning podcasts The Ancients, Gone Medieval, and Betwixt the Sheets.
Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.
Why Do Empires Fall?
For centuries, the Roman Empire commanded unparalleled control over the world around it. It expanded its borders through trade and conquest, sucking resources from the periphery into its thriving centre – Rome. And then, suddenly, everything changed. The Empire entered a state of crisis and rapidly disintegrated. The West has experienced a similarly dramatic rise and fall over the last 3 centuries, moving from an era of global dominance to one of economic stagnation and political division. But is the decline and fall of empires inevitable? And what can be done to avoid the fate of Rome? In this episode, historian Peter Heather and political economist John Rapley join Dan to compare the West’s current crisis with that of Rome and discuss what comes next.
Produced by James Hickmann and edited by Dougal Patmore.
Join Dan and the team for the first-ever LIVE recording of Dan Snow’s History Hit on Friday 12th September 2025!
To celebrate 10 years of the podcast, Dan is putting on a special show of signature storytelling, never-before-heard anecdotes from his often stranger-than-fiction career as well as answering the burning questions you’ve always wanted to ask! Get tickets here, before they sell out: https://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/words/dan-snows-history-hit/
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In Our Time
Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Melvyn Bragg and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.
History fans can learn about pivotal wars and societal upheavals, such as the rise and fall of Napoleon, the Sack of Rome in 1527, and the political intrigue of the Russian Revolution. Those fascinated by the lives of kings and queens can journey to Versailles to meet Marie Antoinette and Louis XIV the Sun King, or to Ancient Egypt to meet Cleopatra and Nerfertiti. Or perhaps you’re looking to explore the history of religion, from Buddhism’s early teachings to the Protestant Reformation.
If you’re interested in the stories behind iconic works of art, music and literature, dive in to discussions on the artistic genius of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel and Van Gogh’s famous Sunflowers. From Gothic architecture to the works of Shakespeare, each episode of In Our Time offers new insight into humanity’s cultural achievements.
Those looking to enrich their scientific knowledge can hear episodes on black holes, the Periodic Table, and classical theories of gravity, motion, evolution and relativity. Learn how the discovery of penicillin revolutionised medicine, and how the death of stars can lead to the formation of new planets.
Lovers of philosophy will find episodes on the big issues that define existence, from free will and ethics, to liberty and justice. In what ways did celebrated philosophers such as Mary Wollstonecraft and Karl Marx push forward radical new ideas? How has the concept of karma evolved from the ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism to today? What was Plato’s concept of an ideal republic, and how did he explore this through the legend of the lost city of Atlantis?
In Our Time celebrates the pursuit of knowledge and the enduring power of ideas.
The Vienna Secession
In 1897, Gustav Klimt led a group of radical artists to break free from the cultural establishment of Vienna and found a movement that became known as the Vienna Secession.
In the vibrant atmosphere of coffee houses, Freudian psychoanalysis and the music of Wagner and Mahler, the Secession sought to bring together fine art and music with applied arts such as architecture and design.
The movement was characterized by Klimt’s stylised paintings, richly decorated with gold leaf, and the art nouveau buildings that began to appear in the city, most notably the Secession Building, which housed influential exhibitions of avant-garde art and was a prototype of the modern art gallery. The Secessionists themselves were pioneers in their philosophy and way of life, aiming to immerse audiences in unified artistic experiences that brought together visual arts, design, and architecture.
With:
Mark Berry, Professor of Music and Intellectual History at Royal Holloway, University of London
Leslie Topp, Professor Emerita in History of Architecture at Birkbeck, University of London
And
Diane Silverthorne, art historian and ‘Vienna 1900’ scholar
Producer: Eliane Glaser
Reading list:
Mark Berry, Arnold Schoenberg: Critical Lives (Reaktion Books, 2018)
Gemma Blackshaw, Facing the Modern: The Portrait in Vienna 1900 (National Gallery Company, 2013)
Elizabeth Clegg, Art, Design and Architecture in Central Europe, 1890-1920 (Yale University Press, 2006)
Richard Cockett, Vienna: How the City of Ideas Created the Modern World (Yale University Press, 2023)
Stephen Downes, Gustav Mahler (Reaktion Books, 2025)
Peter Gay, Freud, Jews, and Other Germans: Masters and Victims in Modernist Culture (Oxford University Press, 1979)
Tag Gronberg, Vienna: City of Modernity, 1890-1914 (Peter Lang, 2007)
Allan S. Janik and Hans Veigl, Wittgenstein in Vienna: A Biographical Excursion Through the City and its History (Springer/Wien, 1998)
Jill Lloyd and Christian Witt-Dörring (eds.), Vienna 1900: Style and Identity (Hirmer Verlag, 2011)
William J. McGrath, Dionysian Art and Populist Politics in Austria (Yale University Press, 1974)
Tobias Natter and Christoph Grunenberg (eds.), Gustav Klimt: Painting, Design and Modern Life (Tate, 2008)
Carl E. Schorske, Fin-de-siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture (Vintage, 1979)
Elana Shapira, Style and Seduction: Jewish Patrons, Architecture and Design in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna (Brandeis University Press, 2016)
Diane V Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds and Megan Brandow-Faller, Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902-1911 (Letterform Archive, 2023)
Edward Timms, Karl Kraus: Apocalyptic Satirist: Culture & Catastrophe in Habsburg Vienna (Yale University Press, 1989)
Leslie Topp, Architecture and Truth in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna (Cambridge University Press, 2004)
Peter Vergo, Art in Vienna, 1898-1918: Klimt, Kokoschka, Schiele and Their Contemporaries (4th ed., Phaidon, 2015)
Hans-Peter Wipplinger (ed.), Vienna 1900: Birth of Modernism (Walther & Franz König, 2019)
Hans-Peter Wipplinger (ed.), Masterpieces from the Leopold Museum (Walther & Franz König)
Stefan Zweig, The World of Yesterday: An Autobiography (University of Nebraska Press, 1964)
In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio Production
Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Melvyn Bragg and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.
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June 26, 2025
June 19, 2025
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POLITICO Tech
The POLITICO Tech podcast is your download on the disruption that technology is bringing to politics and policy. New episodes on Thursdays.
Apple’s China dilemma
Patrick McGee has written the definitive book on how Apple supercharged China’s development into a global manufacturing colossus and leveraged its relationship with Beijing to become one of the most iconic consumer tech brands in history. Now, the author of “Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company” joins POLITICO Tech guest host Phelim Kine to break down how Apple’s reliance on China has become a toxic codependency that has trapped the company at the center of U.S.-China trade tensions that have upended a decades-old business model hinged on a “Made in China” export production model.
Phelim Kine is POLITICO’s DC-based China and Indo-Pacific Affairs correspondent.
Nirmal Mulaikal is the co-host and producer of POLITICO Energy and producer of POLITICO Tech.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
July 3, 2025
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The Daily
This is what the news should sound like. The biggest stories of our time, told by the best journalists in the world. Hosted by Michael Barbaro, Rachel Abrams and Natalie Kitroeff. Twenty minutes a day, five days a week, ready by 6 a.m.
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Listen to this podcast in New York Times Audio, our new iOS app for news subscribers. Download now at nytimes.com/audioapp
Trump’s Top Aides Spread the Epstein Conspiracy. Now They Are Trying to Kill It.
For months, President Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi suggested that they would expose the hidden, potentially sinister truth about Jeffrey Epstein’s death in 2019.
But over the past few days, the Trump administrationWhite House decided to shut down has poured cold water on the conspiracy theories surrounding the financier.
Glenn Thrush, who covers the Justice Department for The Times, explains what happened.
Guest: Glenn Thrush, who reports on the Justice Department for The New York Times.
Background reading:
- The Trump administration acknowledged a lack of evidence from Epstein documents.
- Confronted over the Epstein files, President Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi tell their supporters to move on.
For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.
Photo: Pete Marovich for The New York Times
Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
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