History Does You Riley Callahan

The period between 1492--resonant for a number of reasons--and 1571, when the Ottoman navy was defeated in the Battle of Lepanto, embraces what we know as the Renaissance, one of the most dynamic and creatively explosive epochs in world history. Here is the period that gave rise to so many great artists and figures, and which by its connection to its classical heritage enabled a redefinition, even reinvention, of human potential. It was a moment both of violent struggle and great achievement, of Michelangelo and da Vinci as well as the Borgias and Machiavelli. At the hub of this cultural and intellectual ferment was Italy. To explore this period, we interview Dr. Catherine Fletcher who is a historian of Renaissance and early modern Europe. She has written numerous books including The Beauty and the Terror, The Black Prince of Florence, and Our Man in Rome/The Divorce of Henry VIII. She has also lectured at Durham University, the University of Sheffield, and Swansea University. In January 2020 she became Professor of History at Manchester Metropolitan University.

1774 was the critical, and often overlooked, period when colonists traditionally loyal to King George III began their discordant “discussions” that led them to their acceptance of the inevitability of war against the British Empire. Late in the year, conservatives mounted a vigorous campaign criticizing the First Continental Congress. But by then it was too late. In early 1775, colonial governors informed officials in London that they were unable to thwart the increasing power of local committees and their allied provincial congresses. Although the Declaration of Independence would not be formally adopted until July 1776, Americans had in effect “declared independence ” even before the outbreak of war in April 1775 .To help explain we interview Dr. Mary Beth Norton who is an American historian, specializing in American colonial history and well known for her work on women's history and the Salem witch trials. She is the Mary Donlon Professor Emeritus of American History at Cornell University. She was elected as president-elect of the American Historical Association in summer 2016. She served as president-elect during calendar 2017 and as president in 2018. Her book Founding Mothers and Fathers was a finalist for the 1997 Pulitzer Prize. She recently wrote 1774: The Long Year of Revolution, which was A WALL STREET JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

The Battle of Aachen was a major combat action of World War II, fought by American and German forces in and around Aachen, Germany, between 2–21 October 1944. The city had been incorporated into the Siegfried Line, the main defensive network on Germany's western border; the Allies had hoped to capture it quickly and advance into the industrialized Ruhr Basin. Although most of Aachen's civilian population was evacuated before the battle began, much of the city was destroyed and both sides suffered heavy losses. It was one of the largest urban battles fought by U.S. forces in World War II, and the first city on German soil to be captured by the Allies. The battle ended with a German surrender, but their tenacious defense significantly disrupted Allied plans for the advance into Germany. Incorporating after action reports and first hand accounts, we retell the story of Aachen from the generals to the regular soldiers of the First Infantry Division

Once the darling of U.S. statesmen, corporate elites, and academics, the People's Republic of China has evolved into America's most challenging strategic competitor. Its future appears increasingly dystopian. To wrap up our series and explain some of the basics of Chinese Grand Strategy, we interview Dr. Dan Blumenthal is a resident fellow and the director of Asian studies at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on East Asian security issues and Sino-American relations. He has served in and advised the US government on China issues for more than a decade. Before joining AEI, he served as senior director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia at the US Department of Defense. He served as a commissioner on the congressionally mandated US-China Economic and Security Review Commission from 2006 to 2012, and he was vice chairman of the commission in 2007. He also served on the Academic Advisory Board of the congressional US-China Working Group. He is the author of “The China Nightmare: The Grand Ambitions of a Decaying State” and coauthor of An Awkward Embrace: The United States and China in the 21st Century. Link to book below!

https://www.amazon.com/China-Nightmare-Dan-Blumenthal/dp/084475031X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=dan+blumenthal&qid=1616291163&sr=8-1

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has unleashed a powerful set of political and economic reforms: the centralization of power under Xi, himself, the expansion of the Communist Party's role in Chinese political, social, and economic life, and the construction of a virtual wall of regulations to control more closely the exchange of ideas and capital between China and the outside world. Beyond its borders, Beijing has recast itself as a great power, seeking to reclaim its past glory and to create a system of international norms that better serves its more ambitious geostrategic objectives. We also explore some of the most current issues including COVID, Hong Kong, and the upcoming Olympics. To help explain all of this, we interview Dr. Elizabeth Economy who is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and Hoover Institute. She has written numerous books on China including The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State. She is also author of By All Means Necessary: How China's Resource Quest is Changing the World with Michael Levi and The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China's Future. She has published articles and scholarly journals in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and the Harvard Business Review, and op-eds in the New York Times and Washington Post, among others. In June 2018, she was named one of the “10 Names That Matter on China Policy” by Politico Magazine.

Few books have had a wider sustained impact than Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War. More than 2,500 years after it was written, Thucydides is still read by academics, students, and policymakers looking for enduring lessons into everything from grand strategy to domestic politics and human nature. We apply those same lessons to the US-China relationship and what they might tell us about the future. To further explore, we interview Dr. Andrew Novo who is an Associate Professor of Strategic Studies at the National Defense University, Washington, D.C. An expert in ancient and modern European history and strategic studies, He also teaches for the Johns Hopkins University program in Global Security Studies and the Georgetown School of Foreign Service. He recently cowrote Restoring Thucydides: Testing familiar lessons and deriving new ones (2020) with Dr. Jay Parker. A regular contributor to the D.C. think tank circuit, presenting at the Brookings Institute, the Atlantic Council, and the European Institute of the Mediterranean. In addition, he also lectures widely in Europe and the United States, including at the University of Oxford, NATO Defense College (Rome), the University of Torino (Turin), the University of Macedonia (Thessaloniki), the United States Military Academy, and the United States Naval Academy.