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Engelsberg Ideas is the home to great writing from the world’s leading thinkers on history, culture, and ideas, featuring essays, historical portraits and regular podcasts.

03/09/2024

The Australian way of war and peace | Rory Medcalf

Australia stands at the forefront of a democratic resistance against China's expanding influence, reshaping its strategy and alliances to meet the challenges of a contested Indo-Pacific.

02/09/2024

How Arthur Ashe rewrote the script | Theo Zenou

Amid the turmoil of the 1968 election, Arthur Ashe's groundbreaking US Open win propelled him from tennis star to civil rights icon.

26/08/2024

Ukraine in Kursk: a lesson in strategic audacity | Mick Ryan

Ukraine's surprise offensive into Kursk has not only caught Russia off guard but also shocked Western allies, exposing the contrast between Ukrainian boldness and the West's timidity.

22/08/2024

Heavenly ambitions and earthly ruin: the lessons of the Taiping Rebellion | Michael Sheridan

The Taiping Rebellion, a 19th century conflict in which over 20 million Chinese died, stands as a stark warning against the perilous consequences of foreign intervention in a vast and volatile nation.

21/08/2024

Guercino and the business of art | Alexander Lee

Guercino's ascent from peasant boy to Italian Baroque master unveils a genius with both brush and business.

20/08/2024

Americana noir | Phil Tinline

Classic film noir exposed the dark and enduring urban-rural rift in American society that looms large over the 2024 presidential election.

19/08/2024

Unpicking imperial history | Samuel Rubinstein

Historians of the British Empire are engaged in an often ill-tempered war of words that reveals more about the certainties of contemporary moral mores than it does about the past itself.

19/08/2024

Mint condition | Alexandra Wilson

The forms, perceptions and uses of money over time convey a compelling narrative about wealth, morality, and cultural identity through the ages.

13/08/2024

The making of modern Ukraine | Jade McGlynn

The deep divergence between Ukrainian and Russian identity in the last decade illustrates the power of historical narrative to shape societies and should remind the West that liberal values are not inevitable and must be defended.

12/08/2024

Hydro-imperialism | Michael Ledger-Lomas

The imperial ventures of European powers were about the struggle for water almost as much as they were for land.

06/08/2024

The miracle of Tristan und Isolde | Paul Lay

Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde remains a timeless testament to the searing power of forbidden love and artistic genius.

05/08/2024

Beowulf's Scandinavia of the mind | Mathew Lyons

Beowulf is a mysterious and misunderstood work of Anglo-Saxon literature, but, once delved into, it offers a rich glimpse into the worlds of early medieval Scandinavia.

01/08/2024

Two assassinations and a world on the brink | Afshon Ostovar

The Middle East teeters on the brink of wider conflict as Israeli assassinations in Beirut and Tehran intensify the complex, multi-pronged war between Israel, Iran and their allies and proxies.

29/07/2024

Spies, lies and empires | Ronan Mainprize

In the twilight of empire, the CIA waged the Cold War in many of the same locales and with many of the same strategies as its imperial forebears.

26/07/2024

Kamala Harris and the empty language of international order | Angus Reilly

There is little that can be deciphered about Kamala Harris' views on foreign policy because she speaks with a carefully cultivated language of American exceptionalism and international order that obfuscates more than it illuminates.

25/07/2024

Gerald of Wales, chronicler of the Celtic world | Katherine Harvey

Gerald of Wales was a 12th-century chronicler whose mixed heritage and thwarted ambitions led him to pen vivid, controversial accounts of Ireland and Wales, forever shaping perceptions of lands on the edge of medieval Europe.

23/07/2024

Imagining the endgame of the US-China rivalry | Michael J. Mazarr

The United States' strategy towards China is premised on an unending rivalry. Yet strategic competitions do end and America needs to imagine how its conflict with China might one day do so.

18/07/2024

Evelyn Waugh and Anthony Powell – visions of a vanished Britain | Gerald Warner

Evelyn Waugh and Anthony Powells' visions of modernity differed in crucial respects, but taken together their work offers a vivid chronicle of Britain's secularising society caught between the ways of the new and the old.

17/07/2024

Abraham Lincoln's warning against mob rule | Suzanne Raine

In 1838, a young Abraham Lincoln delivered a speech warning of the dangers of mob violence and the fragility of the rule of law.

16/07/2024

The gerontology of power | Vladislav Zubok

From the 1970s onwards, the Soviet Union and Russia were debilitated by old, feeble and inept leaders. American risks following the same path.

15/07/2024

The dark spectacle of American political violence | Angus Reilly

Throughout American history, assassinations and attempted assassinations have been committed and treated as violent, public spectacles which blend theatricality, media fascination and the political psyche into powerful and unsettling drama.

12/07/2024

How LBJ stepped back | Luke A. Nichter

Joe Biden faces a dilemma experienced by Lyndon Johnson in 1968: how does a president withdraw from an election while preserving their power and legacy?

05/07/2024

An uncertain idea of Britain | Angus Reilly

Neither major party campaigned in the general election with a clear sense of British economic and political identity. It is now up to the new Labour government to build one.

02/07/2024

The misfortunes of war | Mick Ryan

Recent military failures in Ukraine and the Middle East shed light on warfare's future while reaffirming the age-old truth that, in conflict, little is ever truly new.

01/07/2024

The true sources of Soviet conduct | Rodric Braithwaite

The Soviet Union believed that they were manifestly destined to lead the world to a higher future yet that masked a profound insecurity about their status in the international order.

01/07/2024

The constitutional casualties of the French election | Angus Brown

Facing an unprecedented defeat in the French Parliamentary election, Emmanuel Macron must confront the previously unthinkable: a government led by the far right.

27/06/2024

How the British elite lost its way | Munira Murza

Stagnation at home and turmoil abroad demand a radical rethink of how - and why - Britain forges its future leaders.

25/06/2024

Joe Biden and the long shadow of the Vietnam War | Thomas A. Schwartz

Joe Biden began his political career during the Vietnam War and that conflict has shaped his view of America's role in the world ever since.

24/06/2024

The Berlin Airlift's lessons for Taiwan | Elisabeth Braw

If China blockades the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan’s friends would need to launch an airlift even more comprehensive than the Berlin one.

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Videos

🎙Worldview from Engelsberg Ideas | Ukraine, two years on 🗣 Sergey Radchenko in conversation with Tim Marshall about the possible outcomes of the conflict 👉https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/worldview-ukraine-two-years-on/id1524774362?i=1000646370721

'What would it mean for a machine intelligence to have an id, or a superego or an unconscious?' In the first episode of the Engelsberg Ideas editorial podcast EI Talks... Iain Martin, Paul Lay and Alastair Benn discuss #AI and how it might shape the future for better... or worse. Listen here: https://audioboom.com/posts/8307227-ei-talks-ai

It's AI week on Engelsberg Ideas. https://engelsbergideas.com/ai-week-will-the-machines-take-over/

Should Germany worry about Ostalgie? Katja Hoyer and Mattias Hessérus discuss the legacy of the GDR today. Listen here: https://audioboom.com/posts/8270565-history-lessons-katja-hoyer-on-east-germany

Margaret MacMillan highlights how a collaboration between the US and China might help to end the war in Ukraine. Listen here to find out more: https://audioboom.com/posts/8264252-worldview-how-to-end-a-war

Is demography destiny? In our latest episode of Worldview Adam Boulton is joined by Paul Morland, Bill Emmott and Richard Assheton. Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts: https://audioboom.com/posts/8259460-people-power-dealing-with-demography

"I don't think anybody really appreciates yet, what's happening as a function of these new technologies that are being rolled out" Gary Marcus and Adam Boulton discuss the profound cultural and ethical implications of AI. Listen here: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-risks-and-the-rewards-of-ai/id1665214952?i=1000602090693

Margaret MacMillan on Nationalism

But so much of #nationalism is ethnically based. And what that does is draw a circle and say 'we're in, and you're out.' | Margaret MacMillan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKRiYNxuAJk&t=261s Hosted by Iain Martin Produced by Axess Magasin & TV

Worldview India and China

In our latest episode of Worldview, Adam Boulton is joined by Peter Frankopan, Rana Mitter and Tanvi Madan to examine India and China's shared history, and consider what the future holds for the two Asian giants. Listen here: https://engelsbergideas.com/podcast/worldview/china-and-india-a-new-struggle-for-dominance/

Worldview

'This war is very, very bad news for Russia.' Margarita Balmaceda and Adam Boulton discuss how Putin's weaponisation of energy infrastructure could come back to haunt him. https://engelsbergideas.com/podcast/worldview/worldview-pressure-on-the-power-network/

'There is a deep and complex interrelationship between China's pressure on Taiwan and Taiwan's role in the chip industry.' Adam Boulton and Chris Miller on the microchip power struggle between the US and China. Listen to the latest episode of Worldview here: https://engelsbergideas.com/podcast/worldview/worldview-the-global-struggle-for-microchip-supremacy/

What is motivating Russia's troops? | Rob Johnson on the spirit of liberty inspiring Ukrainian forces. You can watch the full interview here: https://engelsbergideas.com/video/fighting-against-all-the-odds-in-conversation-with-rob-johnson/ Hosted by Iain Martin Produced by Axess Magasin & TV

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Welcome to Engelsberg Ideas

Engelsberg Ideas is a new home for great writing and podcasts on history and culture, featuring leading writers and thinkers.

Although this is an exciting new publishing venture, it also has deep roots – in the Engelsberg Seminars that have taken place for more than two decades every June in Engelsberg, Sweden, at the centre owned by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation. An illustration of Engelsberg is above.

The Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit is a private foundation, founded in 1947, with the primary purpose of promoting scientific and scholarly research. Its focus today is on the humanities, and on social sciences, working with leading scholars and universities around the world.

Engelsberg Ideas features essays, historical portraits and notebooks from our editorial team. There is a regular podcast – History Lessons – each featuring a leading historian, and a monthly podcast on the big themes and trends shaping geopolitics.