🎧Audio essay: Can epic poetry revive History? When combined, as the ancients knew, history and poetry offer an incomparable insight into the human condition. Michael Auslin laments the demise of poetry as a form for exploring great moments in history. audioboom.com/posts/888048...

It is half a century since Tom Wolfe coined the phrase the 'Me Decade'. The age of Me is over. The age of Them has begun | Bryan Appleyard engelsbergideas.com/notebook/the...

Istanbul’s descent into darkness | Hannah Lucinda Smith engelsbergideas.com/essays/istan...

The roots of the current conflict go back to the origins of the Islamic Republic and the seismic shockwaves it unleashed across the Middle East. Iran and America’s long war | @ibrahimpasha.bsky.social and @tanyagoudsouzian.bsky.social engelsbergideas.com/notebook/ira...

‘Metamorphoses’, the Rijksmuseum’s exhibition of art inspired by the works of Ovid, shows how the Roman poet's epic of change has resonated through the centuries. Ovid’s perpetual motion | Boyd Tonkin engelsbergideas.com/reviews/ovid...

US grand strategy was once guided by a sound understanding of the importance of chokepoints, a vital aspect of geopolitics that the Trump administration has neglected at its peril. America’s fatal chokepoint | @philtinline.bsky.social engelsbergideas.com/notebook/ame...

The Soviet Union was a society defined by the constant tension between revolutionary promise and everyday hardship. How the Soviet Union lived and died | Caroline Eden (@edentravels.bsky.social) engelsbergideas.com/reviews/how-...

The Soviet Union was a society defined by the constant tension between revolutionary promise and everyday hardship. How the Soviet Union lived and died | Caroline Eden (@edentravels.bsky.social) engelsbergideas.com/reviews/how-...

US grand strategy was once guided by a sound understanding of the importance of chokepoints, a vital aspect of geopolitics that the Trump administration has neglected at its peril. America’s fatal chokepoint | @philtinline.bsky.social engelsbergideas.com/notebook/ame...

‘Metamorphoses’, the Rijksmuseum’s exhibition of art inspired by the works of Ovid, shows how the Roman poet's epic of change has resonated through the centuries. Ovid’s perpetual motion | Boyd Tonkin engelsbergideas.com/reviews/ovid...

The roots of the current conflict go back to the origins of the Islamic Republic and the seismic shockwaves it unleashed across the Middle East. Iran and America’s long war | @ibrahimpasha.bsky.social and @tanyagoudsouzian.bsky.social engelsbergideas.com/notebook/ira...

"[T]his conflict is merely the latest chapter in a struggle that has unfolded for nearly 50 years." @ibrahimpasha.bsky.social & @tanyagoudsouzian.bsky.social for @engelsbergideas.bsky.social engelsbergideas.com/notebook/ira...

"If Trump is going to ape America’s domineering adventures of the late 19th century, he should have more of an eye on the thinking that was guiding it." Thoughts @engelsbergideas.bsky.social on how America developed a key geopolitical idea...then forgot it: engelsbergideas.com/notebook/ame...

In the face of the Iran war’s impact on global oil flows, Asian capitals are reassessing energy security and the broader geopolitical map. The Iran war through Asia’s eyes | @drchrisharding.bsky.social engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-i...

In Finland’s David vs Goliath struggle against the Soviet Union, Ernst Linder forged a legendary chapter in the history of Nordic solidarity and resistance. Ernst Linder: the Swedish general who rode into battle for Finland’s freedom | Gordon F. Sander engelsbergideas.com/portraits/er...

The leaders of Turkey and Syria face the challenge of maintaining close relations with President Trump, concerns about overt alignment with Israel, and fears of stoking the flames of Kurdish militancy. Turkey and Syria’s Iran crisis | @hannahluci.bsky.social engelsbergideas.com/notebook/tur...

Set during the drama of the French and Indian War, James Fenimore Cooper’s epic tale of survival, love and vengeance captures the many contradictions at the heart of America's national story. The Last of the Mohicans and the American soul | Alec Marsh engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-l...

🎧The EI Podcast: The need for muscular liberalism. Adrian Wooldridge speaks to EI’s Paul Lay about the need to rediscover and revive the liberal tradition. audioboom.com/posts/887906...

The great imagination of John Vanbrugh | Guy Stagg engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-g...

The great imagination of John Vanbrugh | Guy Stagg engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-g...

🎧The EI Podcast: The need for muscular liberalism. Adrian Wooldridge speaks to EI’s Paul Lay about the need to rediscover and revive the liberal tradition. audioboom.com/posts/887906...

Set during the drama of the French and Indian War, James Fenimore Cooper’s epic tale of survival, love and vengeance captures the many contradictions at the heart of America's national story. The Last of the Mohicans and the American soul | Alec Marsh engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-l...

The leaders of Turkey and Syria face the challenge of maintaining close relations with President Trump, concerns about overt alignment with Israel, and fears of stoking the flames of Kurdish militancy. Turkey and Syria’s Iran crisis | @hannahluci.bsky.social engelsbergideas.com/notebook/tur...

In Finland’s David vs Goliath struggle against the Soviet Union, Ernst Linder forged a legendary chapter in the history of Nordic solidarity and resistance. Ernst Linder: the Swedish general who rode into battle for Finland’s freedom | Gordon F. Sander engelsbergideas.com/portraits/er...

How does the war in Iran look from Asia? My take:

In the face of the Iran war’s impact on global oil flows, Asian capitals are reassessing energy security and the broader geopolitical map. The Iran war through Asia’s eyes | @drchrisharding.bsky.social engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-i...

For the excellent @engelsbergideas.bsky.social I reviewed a fascinating exhibition about sleep in art held at the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris. Many treasures and many avenues of thought! engelsbergideas.com/reviews/the-...

What does the US-Iran conflict tell us about American power in the Middle East and beyond? Make sure to read this excellent article by Ronan to find out:

Why the US remains a major Middle Eastern power | @ronanmainprize.bsky.social engelsbergideas.com/notebook/why...

George Kennan’s writings offers an alternative lens for understanding Washington’s contemporary approach to great-power competition in Africa. Kennan’s realistic approach to Washington’s Africa strategy | Sam Wilkins engelsbergideas.com/essays/kenna...

🎧 Audio essay: The first butterfly collectors The Society of Aurelians brought butterflies out of their undeserved obscurity. Nigel Andrew’s audio essay sheds new light on Britain’s first entomological society. audioboom.com/posts/887770...

In the 21st century, the post-Enlightenment ‘civilisational state’ may become the ideological model for aspiring great powers. How to navigate global disorder | Aaron McKeil engelsbergideas.com/essays/how-t...

Wagner’s Siegfried, a revolution in sound | Tim Bouverie engelsbergideas.com/reviews/wagn...

Make sure to read Shiraz Maher’s brilliant essay on the paradoxical consequences of the US-Iran conflict - applied history at its very best:

The great Brendan Simms explains how Trump 2.0 is attempting to transform the American-led world order:

📝 NEW | President Trump's siege of the Islamic Republic may ultimately weaken the Iranian regime's influence abroad while strengthening its hand at home. Read Dr Shiraz Maher's latest for @engelsbergideas.bsky.social: engelsbergideas.com/essays/ameri...

President Trump's siege of the Islamic Republic may ultimately weaken the Iranian regime's influence abroad while strengthening its hand at home. America’s paradoxical war in Iran | Shiraz Maher engelsbergideas.com/essays/ameri...

France’s quest for the ocean deep | Daniel Marc Janes engelsbergideas.com/reviews/fran...

Katsushika Oi: The hidden hand behind Hokusai | @kmgovier.bsky.social engelsbergideas.com/portraits/ka...

🎧 The EI Podcast: Trump’s imperial worldview What is driving Donald Trump’s increasingly volatile foreign policy? Brendan Simms examines the US President and his ideological roots with EI’s Jack Dickens. audioboom.com/posts/887602...

The world of sleep has long fascinated poets, writers, and artists, both as a realm of the imagination and a mysterious source of peril. The art of sleep | @murielzagha.bsky.social engelsbergideas.com/reviews/the-...

🎙️ NEW | Dr Shiraz Maher featured on the @engelsbergideas.bsky.social podcast with @jackfdickens.bsky.social last week. In this episode, he examines how the fallout from the US-Iran conflict is reshaping the Gulf States and the wider Middle East. ➡️ Listen here: engelsbergideas.com/podcast/ei-t...

🎧 The EI Podcast: Trump’s imperial worldview What is driving Donald Trump’s increasingly volatile foreign policy? Brendan Simms examines the US President and his ideological roots with EI’s Jack Dickens. audioboom.com/posts/887602...

Choosing culture over victimhood | Bijan Omrani engelsbergideas.com/reviews/choo...

The world of sleep has long fascinated poets, writers, and artists, both as a realm of the imagination and a mysterious source of peril. The art of sleep | @murielzagha.bsky.social engelsbergideas.com/reviews/the-...

In Europe, America and Russia, an unhealthy obsession with grand geopolitical schemes has often clouded the judgement of statesmen and scholars. The perils of perpetual geopolitics | Vladislav Zubok engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-p...

In Europe, America and Russia, an unhealthy obsession with grand geopolitical schemes has often clouded the judgement of statesmen and scholars. The perils of perpetual geopolitics | Vladislav Zubok engelsbergideas.com/essays/the-p...

It was a thrill to celebrate the launch of the brand new app from @engelsbergideas.bsky.social in the lovely setting of @thelondonlibrary.bsky.social. I am so delighted to be a contributor to the magazine. A tremendous cultural endeavour, and long may it flourish!

In the late playwright’s masterpiece, the humanities remain indispensable to any vision of human flourishing. Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia and the power of the humanities | Russ Roberts engelsbergideas.com/notebook/tom...

Len Deighton produced novels that were packed with excitement and suspense but also infused with moral complexity and psychological insight. Len Deighton’s spycraft | Malcolm Forbes engelsbergideas.com/essays/len-d...