This episode of The Burning Archive examines tragedy and comedy, the story of the story of stories, the seven basic plots, and how even historians write their histories with these plots. But can the inventiveness of great storytellers really be limited to seven basic plots. Will Scheherazade outwit, outlast and outplay the critics?
Podcast 30 of the Burning Archive discusses the claims of Judaism, Christianity and Islam on the State of Israel and the Universal City of Jerusalem.
Omricon, fear and crowd psychology. Jay Bhattacharya and the catastrophic errors of public health. Grieving memories of Stuart Macintyre. Szymborska on what matters. Paul Kingsnorth on fear, tyranny and the vaccine wars. Elena Shvarts on both hopelessness and hope.
What were the crusades and how did they give birth to modern European nations? What made the crusaders and their opponents believe faith justified violence, that they fought a just war, a holy war, a jihad?
Episode 27 of the Burning Archive podcast asks: How did the Byzantine Empire acquire the secrets of silk production from China, and what does it tell us about the history of silk, the diffusion of silk trade across the world, and the Silk Roads of Eurasia?
In October 1731 there was a fire in the Ashburnham House residence of the Keeper of the King’s libraries in Westminster London. The fire threatened the one and only manuscript of the Old English poem, Beowulf. It was rescued by the librarian and others leaping from the window, clasping manuscripts. Singed but intact, Beowulf was literally saved from a Burning Archive. The episode is available on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.
In Part I Jeff Rich sets out the story arc of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, and sets the scene for a more detailed discussion of why it fell and its legacy in Part II. The episode is available on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.
Michael Anton, Machiavelli, and the way. David Starkey, rootedness and Chaucer. Dalai Lama. Jordan B. Peterson and self-transformation. Zbigniew Herbert and dreams.
How did the eight hour working day come into being, and is it still relevant to us today? In this episode the Burning Archive Jeff Rich will talk about how the eight hour day emerged in response to the industrial revolution, and what it means in the stressed out contemporary world after the “fourth industrial revolution”.
This episode of The Burning Archive podcast features a special guest – young lawyer, Freya Rich, who speaks to the Burning Archive about the questions and topics from history and culture her generation would like to know more about; what from the past is not past for her; and what might become A Canon of her Own