BlomCast
The BlomCast looks at turning points in history, which have always fascinated me. My name is Philipp Blom, I am a historian and broadcaster and author of many books about the Enlightenment, the story of modernity and climate history. The climate catastrophe places us at the greatest historical turning point hin human history. What, if anything, can we learn from moments in the past in which a model of life seemed to change, or had to change, in which whole societies were transformed?
Podcasting since 2022 • 57 episodes
BlomCast
Latest Episodes
[46] Gerd Schwerhoff — Die Bauernkriege, ein Wendepunkt?
Im frühen 16. Jahrhundert erhoben sich im süddeutschen Raum tausende von Bauern, Bergwerksknappen und Bürgern gegen ihre adeligen oder kirchlichen Herren. Sie stürmten Burgen und Klöster und forderten mehr Rechte, weniger Frondienste, weniger S...
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Season 2
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Episode 15
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1:05:10
[45] Laura Spinney — The First Human Language and How We Think
Once more a dive into deep history, this time into the question how languages developed, and how it is possible to reconstruct the history and genesis of languages, and with them of abstract thinking and civilisation. Laura Spinney is a disting...
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Season 2
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Episode 14
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1:02:13
[44] Ian Buruma — Where Did the West Begin?
Ian Buruma is a historian, biographer, memorialist and essayist between “East” and “West" whose insights and intellectual precision make him a joy to discuss with. In his recent biography of Spinoza he argues that the great Enlightenment philos...
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Season 2
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Episode 13
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55:56
[43] Julian Baggini — What happened to the Enlightenment?
Julian Baggini is one of the most insightful writers on philosophy in general and the Enlightenment in particular I know. We talk about the Enlightenment, and in how far it was the radical turning point as which it is often seen, or whether it ...
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Season 2
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Episode 12
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1:01:30
[42] Misha Glenny — Highways and Byways of History
A historian and journalist, Misha Glenny has written about the history of the Balkans the wars in Yugoslavia, about cybercrime, and about international organised crime in “McMafia” which also became a TV series. In this free-ranging conversatio...
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Season 2
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Episode 11
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47:35