The History Book Buffs

Roger Moorhouse and Antonia Senior

Serious history. Serious books. Hosted by bestselling historian Roger Moorhouse and novelist & critic Antonia Senior, The History Book Buffs helps you discover the best history books — new releases and classic must-reads. We publish across three strands: 📖 Book Reviews Deep dives into major historical topics — WW2, the Cold War, Tudor intrigue, empire, revolution and more — with sharp analysis and curated reading recommendations. ⚡ Buffs in Brief Short, focused episodes on events that happened this day or this week in history . 🎙 Beyond the Book In-depth Author Interviews. SUBSCRIBE!

  1. 12 hr ago

    The Best History Books for Summer: 8 Classics, Fact and Fiction, That Every History Lover Should Read

    Forget the latest releases. For this special summer edition, The History Book Buffs are joined by Ollie Webb-Carter from the History Book Club to recommend the history books they've returned to again and again—the classics that have earned a permanent place on their bookshelves. From the Black Sea to Ancient Greece, from the English Civil War to Alexander the Great, from the American Revolution to Flashman, this episode is packed with books that combine outstanding scholarship with brilliant storytelling. Whether you're reading on a beach, in the garden or on a long train journey, these are the history books we think every history lover should own. 📚 Black Sea – Neil Asherson 📚 Alexander the Great – Robin Lane Fox 📚 God's Fury, England's Fire – Michael Braddick 📚 The March of Folly – Barbara Tuchman 📚 Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War – Robert K. Massie 📚 Flashman and the Redskins – George MacDonald Fraser 📚 Captain Corelli's Mandolin – Louis de Bernières Books discussed

  2. 2 Jul

    The Night of the Long Knives: On This Day. 2.7.1935

    Hitler's most dangerous enemies weren't outside the Nazi Party—they were inside it. In this episode, historian Roger Moorhouse takes us inside the dramatic events of 30 June–2 July 1934, when Hitler unleashed a wave of assassinations against his own comrades in what became known as the Night of the Long Knives. Except it wasn't just one night. It was a murderous long weekend that cemented his dictatorship and changed the course of history. Why did Hitler betray Ernst Röhm, one of his oldest allies? How did the SA become a threat to the regime it helped create? And what role did the army, conservative elites and Himmler play in one of the most shocking political purges of the twentieth century? We discuss: Why Hitler turned on his closest supporters.Ernst Röhm, the SA and the power struggle at the heart of the Nazi regime.The dawn raid at Bad Wiessee and the purge's most notorious killings.The murder of former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and the widening of the purge beyond the Nazi Party.How the Nazis dressed up political murder as an act of state.Why the purge marked the moment Hitler became untouchable.How ordinary Germans reacted as the true nature of the regime became impossible to ignore.Roger also reveals why he's writing the first major English-language history of the Night of the Long Knives in decades—and why this pivotal episode deserves far more attention than it has received.

  3. 18 Jun

    Churchill's Finest Hour: Leadership, Myth and Britain's Darkest Moment

    On 18 June 1940, with France collapsing and Britain seemingly standing alone against Nazi Germany, Winston Churchill delivered one of the most famous speeches in modern history: "Their Finest Hour". In this episode, Antonia Senior and historian Roger Moorhouse revisit the speech that became synonymous with British defiance. What was Churchill trying to achieve? Who was he speaking to? And how persuasive was his message to those living through the crisis of 1940? The conversation explores the political context of the speech, the arguments for and against fighting on, Churchill's appeal to American opinion, and the uncomfortable question of whether Britain's eventual victory justified the enormous sacrifices that followed. Along the way, Antonia and Roger discuss Churchill's reputation as an orator, contemporary reactions to the speech, the threat posed by Nazism before the Holocaust was fully understood, and the enduring tension between heroic national myth and historical reality. Books discussed: • The Roar of the Lion – Richard Toye • Churchill: Walking with Destiny – Andrew Roberts • Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions That Changed the World, 1940–1941 – Ian Kershaw Was this truly Britain's finest hour—or is that a story we have told ourselves ever since?

  4. 11 Jun

    BOOK review: How the Soviet Union Died. The August Coup, by Robert Service

    In August 1991, a group of hardliners inside the Soviet leadership launched a desperate bid to save the USSR. Led by the head of the KGB, they placed Mikhail Gorbachev under house arrest, declared a state of emergency, and attempted to reverse the reforms of perestroika and glasnost. Instead, they accelerated the collapse of the Soviet Union. This week on History Book Buffs, Antonia Senior and Roger Moorhouse discuss historian Robert Service's gripping new account of the August Coup: the dramatic three days that changed the course of world history. They explore: Why Gorbachev's reforms destabilised the Soviet systemThe secret KGB recordings that helped trigger the coupBoris Yeltsin's famous stand on a tankWhy the plotters failed to act decisivelyHow the coup directly led to the dissolution of the USSRWhether the roots of Putinism can be found in 1991Why history may judge Yeltsin more kindly than it does todayAlong the way they discuss Soviet decline, Russian nationalism, the Baltic states, corruption, and the extraordinary speed with which a superpower disappeared. Robert Service – The August Coup: The Plot to Overthrow GorbachevBuy the book here Featured Book

  5. 4 Jun

    The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich: Heroism, Terror and the Price of Resistance

    Antonia Senior and Roger Moorhouse examine one of the most dramatic episodes of the Second World War: the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the Nazi official known as the "Butcher of Prague" and one of the principal architects of the Holocaust. In May 1942, Czech and Slovak agents trained by Britain's Special Operations Executive launched Operation Anthropoid, a daring mission to kill one of Hitler's most feared lieutenants. The attack succeeded—but at a terrible cost. The Nazi reprisals that followed destroyed villages, killed thousands, and crushed much of the Czech resistance. Was the operation worth it? Did it advance the Allied cause, or was the human price simply too high? Antonia and Roger explore the difficult moral questions that continue to divide historians today. Along the way they discuss: Who Reinhard Heydrich really wasHow he rose to become one of the most powerful men in Nazi GermanyThe planning and execution of Operation AnthropoidThe role of Britain's Special Operations Executive (SOE)The destruction of Lidice and the wider Nazi reprisalsThe fate of the assassins Josef Gabčík and Jan KubišWhether political assassination can ever be justifiedHow historians assess resistance movements in occupied EuropeThe difficult question of whether the operation ultimately achieved its aims📚 Resistance: The Underground War in Europe 1939–1945 — Halik Kochanski 📚 The Killing of SS Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich — Callum MacDonald 📚 Hitler's Hangman: The Life of Heydrich — Robert Gerwarth 📚 HHhH (novel) — Laurent Binet 🎬 Anthropoid (2016), starring Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan History Book Buffs is the podcast where Antonia Senior and Roger Moorhouse explore the most fascinating events in history through the books that bring them to life. Each episode combines historical debate, book recommendations and lively discussion about the people, ideas and decisions that shaped our world. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review and share it with fellow history lovers. #HistoryPodcast #WorldWarII #SecondWorldWar #ReinhardHeydrich #OperationAnthropoid #SOE #CzechResistance #Lidice #NaziGermany #Holocaust #HistoryBooks #RogerMoorhouse #AntoniaSenior Books & Resources MentionedAbout History Book Buffs

  6. 21 May

    How Did Orwell Know? George Orwell, Stalin & the Power of Truth

    George Orwell wrote Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four before the full reality of Soviet domination in Eastern Europe had unfolded. So how did he see it coming? In this episode of History Book Buffs, Antonia Senior and Roger Moorhouse discuss Orwell’s extraordinary political insight, his warnings about Stalinism and totalitarianism, and why his work still shapes political writing today. Prompted by Antonia Senior’s Orwell Prize shortlist for Stalin’s Apostles, the discussion explores Orwell’s legacy through the worlds of espionage, Soviet propaganda and Cold War history. Did people already know about Stalin’s crimes in the 1930s? What did Orwell understand that so many intellectuals missed? And what separates Orwell’s democratic socialism from the revolutionary communism embraced by figures such as Kim Philby and the Cambridge Five? The conversation covers Animal Farm, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Why I Write, the Spanish Civil War, Soviet propaganda, Harry Peter Smollett, Alexander Orlov, Kim Philby, Václav Havel, samizdat publishing and the continuing battle between truth and political myth. Topics discussed: • George Orwell• Animal Farm• Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)• Why I Write• Stalin and Stalinism• The Cambridge Five and Kim Philby• Soviet propaganda• Harry Peter Smollett• Spanish Civil War• Eastern Europe and dissident movements• Political writing and truth

  7. 14 May

    On This Day 14 May 1955: The Signing of the Warsaw Pact

    Roger Moorhouse joins Antonia Senior for another episode of History Book Buffs: On This Day — and today we’re in Warsaw on 14 May 1955 for the signing of the Warsaw Pact. This was the treaty that formalised the Soviet bloc and defined the Cold War in Europe for the next 35 years. But why did the Soviet Union create the Warsaw Pact? Was it really a defensive alliance against NATO — or a mechanism for tightening Moscow’s grip on Eastern Europe after Stalin’s death? Antonia and Roger explore: Why the Warsaw Pact barely appears in many Cold War historiesThe crisis over Germany in the early 1950sWest Germany joining NATO and Soviet fears of encirclementThe death of Stalin and the instability inside the Soviet blocKhrushchev, Soviet control, and the “crystallisation” of the Iron CurtainWhy Austria escaped division but Germany did notThe strange reality behind Soviet military powerThe Hungarian Uprising and Prague SpringWhy the Warsaw Pact became “the only defensive alliance in history to invade itself”From Soviet propaganda to Cold War paranoia, this episode explains how one treaty helped lock Europe into two armed camps for an entire generation. Iron Curtain by Anne ApplebaumKhrushchev: The Man and His Era by William TaubmanThe World of the Cold War, by Vladislav ZubokExpansion and Coexistence: Soviet Foreign Policy, 1917–73 by Adam UlamSubscribe to History Book Buffs for weekly deep dives into espionage, dictators, revolutions, Cold War history, Nazi Germany, Stalinism and the hidden stories behind the 20th century. Warsaw Pact, Cold War, NATO, Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Khrushchev, Stalin, Iron Curtain, West Germany, East Germany, Warsaw Pact explained, Cold War history, Soviet history, Prague Spring, Hungarian Uprising, Anne Applebaum, Roger Moorhouse, Antonia Senior, History Book Buffs, communist Europe, Soviet bloc, NATO vs Warsaw Pact, Cold War podcast, history podcast, 1955, Warsaw Treaty, Soviet propaganda

  8. 7 May

    WEIMAR GERMANY: Chaos, Culture and the Collapse of Democracy. Katja Hoyer and Victor Sebestyen reviewed

    wo new books on Weimar Germany arrive at once: Victor Sebestyen’s Weimar Germany: Death of a Democracy and Katja Hoyer’s Weimar: Life on the Edge of Catastrophe. Antonia Senior and Roger Moorhouse discuss the fragile republic born after the First World War, the cultural explosion of 1920s Berlin, hyperinflation, the Great Depression, Hindenburg, Hitler’s rise to power, and the question historians return to again and again: how did ordinary people live through — and sometimes enable — the collapse of democracy? Sebestyen offers a sweeping political and cultural history of the Weimar Republic. Hoyer tells the story through the city of Weimar itself, following individual lives from Goethe’s city to the shadow of Buchenwald. Together, the books ask whether Weimar was doomed, whether Hitler’s rise was inevitable, and what it felt like to live inside history before anyone knew the ending. Weimar Germany, Weimar Republic, Katja Hoyer, Victor Sebestyen, Hitler rise to power, Nazi Germany, Buchenwald, German history, 20th century history, interwar Germany, Berlin 1920s, cabaret Berlin, hyperinflation Germany, Great Depression Germany, Hindenburg, democracy collapse, history books, History Book Buffs, Roger Moorhouse, Antonia Senior, book review, Weimar Life on the Edge of Catastrophe, Weimar Germany Death of a Democracy Tags / keywords

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About

Serious history. Serious books. Hosted by bestselling historian Roger Moorhouse and novelist & critic Antonia Senior, The History Book Buffs helps you discover the best history books — new releases and classic must-reads. We publish across three strands: 📖 Book Reviews Deep dives into major historical topics — WW2, the Cold War, Tudor intrigue, empire, revolution and more — with sharp analysis and curated reading recommendations. ⚡ Buffs in Brief Short, focused episodes on events that happened this day or this week in history . 🎙 Beyond the Book In-depth Author Interviews. SUBSCRIBE!

Information

  • Creator
    Roger Moorhouse and Antonia Senior
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    39
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Roger Moorhouse and Antonia Senior
  • Show Website
    The History Book Buffs

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