Smart Cookies Zaza

Chris Stringer is a physical anthropologist celebrated for his work on human evolution, as well as a research leader in human origins at the Natural History Museum in London.
He comes back to Smart Cookies to share of his vast knowledge on my favourite archaic humans, the Neanderthals.
We discuss their origins, culture, language, technology, interbreeding with Homo Sapiens, their eventual extinction... as well as the rise of garbage origin theories propagated by the likes of Graham Hancock.

In the second part of the fantastic conversation about the FRENCH REVOLUTION with historian David Andress, we discuss the downward spiral of Louis XVI, the relentless reign of terror, the bloody civil wars that rocked France... as well as the eventual rise of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Professor David Andress is a renowned historian of the French Revolution at the University of Portsmouth.
In this episode we talk about the prelude to arguably the most important revolution of all time, the deteriorating social conditions before the storm, the emerging class of urban revolutionaries, the that were ideas driving them... as well as the events that finally push France into irreversible turmoil.

Thomas Lockley is Associate Professor at Nihon University College of Law in Tokyo, where he teaches courses about the international and multicultural history of Japan and East Asia.
We talk about the REAL HISTORY behind the "Shogun" TV show, but also about feudal Japan, the Samurai, the arrival of Europeans... as well as Prof. Lockley's latest book "A Gentleman from Japan."

Peter Heather is Chair of Medieval History at King's College London. Some of his most famous books include The Fall of the Roman Empire, Rome Resurgent, Christendom, and most recently Why Empires Fall: Rome, America and the Future of the West.
We talk about the last days of the western Roman empire, the role of barbarians, the rise of the Persian empire, decadence, popular cliches, the worst Roman Emperor of all time and many parallels of falling Rome with the West today.

Alison Rowlands is a Professor of European history at the University of Essex researching witchcraft of the early modern period in central Europe.
We talk about medieval beliefs in the supernatural, witch trials, the Inquisition, torture, the role of gender in accusations of witchcraft, as well as witchcraft in popular culture.