Past Present Future

David Runciman
  • 4.9 (68)
  • HISTORY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY
Past Present Future Podcast

Past Present Future is a bi-weekly History of Ideas podcast with David Runciman, host and creator of Talking Politics, exploring the history of ideas from politics to philosophy, culture to technology. David talks to historians, novelists, scientists and many others about where the most interesting ideas come from, what they mean, and why they matter. Ideas from the past, questions about the present, shaping the future. Brought to you in partnership with the London Review of Books. New episodes every Thursday and Sunday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 11 HRS AGO

    What if… Scotland Had Voted for Independence?

    For our last episode in this series of historical counterfactuals, David talks to the historian Ben Jackson about what might have happened if the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum had gone the other way. How close was the vote and what could have swung it differently? Were the dark warnings about the consequences of independence likely to have been borne out? And what would an independent Scotland mean for the world today? To hear the second part of David’s conversation with Chris Clark about the fateful origins of the First World War sign up now to PPF+ and get ad-free listening and all our other bonuses too: £5 per month or £50 a year for 24 bonus episodes https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Coming next: a new series on the history of thinking about thinking machines, from films to novels to short stories, with Shannon Vallor, author of The AI Mirror. First up: Metropolis.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    58 min

  2. 4 DAYS AGO

    What if… The Berlin Wall Hadn’t Fallen?

    Our counterfactuals series moves forward to 1989: David talks to Lea Ypi about what might have happened if the Berlin Wall hadn’t fallen when it did. Was the night it came down really just one big accident? How long could the East German regime have lasted? And what does the fate of non-European communist states tell us about how it could have gone very differently?  To hear the second part of David’s conversation with Chris Clark about the fateful origins of the First World War sign up now to PPF+ and get ad-free listening and all our other bonuses too: £5 per month or £50 a year for 24 bonus episodes https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Sign up here for our free fortnightly newsletter: the new edition is out now to go with our latest counterfactual episodes https://www.ppfideas.com/newsletters Next time: What If… Scotland Had Voted For Independence in 2014?  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    54 min

  3. 12 SEPT

    What if… The 1919 Paris Peace Conference Had Actually Kept the Peace?

    David talks to historian Margaret MacMillan, author of the prize-winning Peacemakers, about whether the 1919 Paris Peace Conference deserves its reputation as a missed opportunity and the harbinger of another war. Could the peace have been fairer to the Germans? Could the League of Nations have been given real teeth? Could the Bolsheviks have been involved? Or did the peacemakers make the best of a bad job? To hear the second part of David’s conversation with Chris Clark about the fateful origins of the First World War, sign up now to PPF+ and get ad-free listening and all our other bonuses too: £5 per month or £50 a year for 24 bonus episodes: https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Sign up here for our free fortnightly newsletter: the new edition is out tomorrow to go with our latest counterfactual episodes: https://www.ppfideas.com/newsletters Next time: What If… The Berlin Wall Hadn’t Fallen?  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    56 min

  4. 8 SEPT

    What If… The Russian Revolution Hadn’t Been Bolshevik?

    Today’s episode is another big early twentieth-century counterfactual: David talks to the historian of Russia Edward Acton about how the Russian Revolution might have unfolded if the Left SRs and not the Bolsheviks had come out on top. Could Lenin have been sidelined? Might the Terror have been avoided? And what would it have meant to the wider world if revolutionary socialism had been liberated from Marxist communism? To hear the second part of David’s conversation with Chris Clark about the fateful origins of the First World War sign up now to PPF+ and get ad-free listening and all our other bonuses too: £5 per month or £50 a year for 24 bonus episodes https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Next time: What if… The 1919 Paris Peace Conference Had Actually Kept the Peace? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    56 min

  5. 5 SEPT

    What If… Franz Ferdinand Had Survived Sarajevo?

    We return to our series on historical counterfactuals with the big one: how might WWI have been avoided? David talks to Chris Clark, author of The Sleepwalkers, the definitive history of the July crisis of 1914, to explore how it might have turned out differently. What would have happened if Franz Ferdinand had survived the assassination attempt in Sarajevo? Why did his death spark the greatest European conflict of them all? To hear the second part of this conversation – where David and Chris discuss how the great powers responded to the assassination – sign up now to PPF+ and get ad-free listening and all our other bonus episodes https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Part 2 with Chris Clark will be out on PPF+ tomorrow.  Next time: What if… The Russian Revolution Hadn’t Been Bolshevik? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    52 min

  6. 1 SEPT

    Fifteen Fictions for Summer re-release: Hamilton

    Our Great Political Fictions re-release concludes with a musical: Lin-Manuel Miranda’s wildly popular and increasingly controversial Hamilton (2015). What does it get right and what does it get wrong about America’s founding fathers? How fair is it to judge a Broadway musical by the standards of academic history? And why does a product of the Obama era still resonate so powerfully in the age of Trump and Biden? Find out more about Past Present Future on our new website www.ppfideas.com where you can also join PPF+ to get bonus episodes and ad-free listening. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    55 min

  7. 31 AUG

    Fifteen Fictions for Summer re-release: American Wife

    The penultimate episode in our Great Political Fictions re-release is about Curtis Sittenfeld’s American Wife (2008), which re-imagines the life of First Lady Laura Bush.One of the great novels about the intimacy of power and the accidents of politics, it sticks to the historical record while radically retelling it. What does the standard version leave out about the Bush presidency? How does an ordinary life become an extraordinary one? And where is the line between fact and fiction? Tomorrow: Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton Find out more about Past Present Future on our new website www.ppfideas.com where you can also join PPF+ to get bonus episodes and ad-free listening. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    54 min

  8. 30 AUG

    Fifteen Fictions for Summer re-release: The Line of Beauty

    Today’s Great Political Fiction is Alan Hollinghurst’s The Line of Beauty (2004), which is set between Thatcher’s two dominant general election victories of 1983 and 1987. A novel about the intersection between gay life and Tory life, high politics and low conduct, beauty and betrayal, it explores the price of power and the risks of liberation. It also contains perhaps the greatest of all fictional portrayals of a real-life prime minster: Thatcher dancing the night away. Tomorrow: Curtis Sittingfield’s American Wife Find out more about Past Present Future on our new website www.ppfideas.com where you can also join PPF+ to get bonus episodes and ad-free listening. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    52 min
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Hosts & Guests

4.9
out of 5
68 Ratings

About

Past Present Future is a bi-weekly History of Ideas podcast with David Runciman, host and creator of Talking Politics, exploring the history of ideas from politics to philosophy, culture to technology. David talks to historians, novelists, scientists and many others about where the most interesting ideas come from, what they mean, and why they matter. Ideas from the past, questions about the present, shaping the future. Brought to you in partnership with the London Review of Books. New episodes every Thursday and Sunday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    David Runciman
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2024
  • Episodes
    130
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Past Present Future
  • Show Website
    Past Present Future

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