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The EI Podcast

Engelsberg Ideas
The EI Podcast
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392 episodes

  • The EI Podcast

    Germany’s new old nuclear dilemma

    06/07/2026 | 20 mins.
    When it comes to nuclear weapons, the concerns that West Germany’s first chancellor wrestled with during the Cold War have not disappeared. In this audio essay, Marina E. Henke suggests that they have simply re-emerged in new forms. Read by Leighton Pugh. 
    Read it here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/germanys-new-old-nuclear-dilemma/
    Image: A nuclear power plant in Bavaria, circa 1985. Credit: INTERFOTO
  • The EI Podcast

    250 years of the American experiment

    02/07/2026 | 46 mins.
    Paul Lay speaks to Phil Tinline, author of Ghosts of Iron Mountain: The Hoax that Duped America and its Sinister Legacy, about the variety and violence of a country built on high ideals and low conspiracies.
    Image: The interior of the United States Capitol. Credit: Alamy
  • The EI Podcast

    Where is Russia’s place in the world?

    29/06/2026 | 42 mins.
    Russia is a Near Eastern country now subordinated to East Asia. But Stephen Kotkin argues that historically it has prospered most when tied closely to Europe.
    Read the original essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/essays/where-is-russias-place-in-the-world/.
    Image: Map of Russia, 1562. Credit: Alamy
  • The EI Podcast

    Christianity’s debt to Rome

    25/06/2026 | 46 mins.
    What does Christ’s Kingdom owe to the culture of the Roman Empire? Tim Whitmarsh speaks to EI’s Alastair Benn about his new book, Rome’s Age of Revolution: Augustus, Empire and the Making of Christianity.

    Image: A statue of Augustus Caesar in Turin. Credit: Alamy
  • The EI Podcast

    Jean Eustache: the outsider who reshaped French cinema

    22/06/2026 | 16 mins.
    The filmmaker Jean Eustache’s interest in rural France and his sardonic scepticism about the May ’68 ideologues mark him out from his Nouvelle Vague contemporaries. Read by Leighton Pugh.
    Read the original essay here: https://engelsbergideas.com/portraits/jean-eustache-the-outsider-who-reshaped-french-cinema/. 
    Image: The film director Jean Eustache. Credit: Alamy
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About The EI Podcast
The EI Podcast brings you weekly conversations and audio essays from leading writers, thinkers and historians. Hosted by Alastair Benn and Paul Lay. Find the EI Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or search The EI Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
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