Dialogues in International History

This podcast intends to contribute to public education by offering listeners thorough and serious conversations on topics in international history and the history of international relations. It features interviews with authors of new monographs and recent books by historians and specialists.

Dialogues in International History is a education podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 21 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Dialogues in International History, a education show with 21 episodes published.

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  Episode #21

  Alexandra Natapoff and Guy-Uriel Charles, *America Unfinished: 250 Years of Law and Governance: An Essay Collection from Harvard Law School Faculty*. Cambridge, MA: MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Press, 2026.

  Aug 19, 202656 min

  This year commemorates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, a time when the United States is grappling with profound challenges to its legal structure, governance systems, and civic values. The foundational principles of pluralism are being questioned. The nation is witnessing deep political divides, worries that the economic framework is failing to provide equal opportunities, and a technological upheaval that could transform our understanding of what it means to be human. This anthology brings together more than 50 legal scholars from the Harvard Law School faculty to explore this crucial moment in American law and governance. Edited by Alexandra Natapoff and Guy-Uriel Charles, this collection focuses on the audacious experiment in American legal governance that began in 1776, a topic that remains hotly contested after 250 years. Some essays examine the recent surge in executive power, particularly its alarming willingness to resort to violence, both domestically and internationally. Other essays probe the persistent divides among workers, consumers, and markets, posing difficult questions about democratic accountability in our market-driven economy. Furthermore, some contributors reflect on the future of our knowledge and governance institutions as they navigate the challenges posed by technological and informational disruptions. Engaging and thought-provoking, this collection not only enriches essential discussions crucial for a thriving democracy at this pivotal moment but also for the future.

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  Episode #20

  Reinhold Kramer and Tom Mitchell, *"P.S. Burn After Reading": The Kellock-Taschereau Commission and Soviet Espionage in Canada*. Toronto: University of Toronto Press and the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History, 2026.

  Aug 13, 20261h 32m

  Following the defection of Soviet cipher clerk Igor Gouzenko in 1945, Canada was stunned by the alarming revelation that some of its own citizens were engaged in espionage for the Soviet Union. This research explores how the Canadian government utilized the controversial Kellock-Taschereau Commission—sometimes judiciously and at other times recklessly—to uncover and eliminate domestic spies during the early Cold War period. Drawing on a diverse range of sources, including the Commission’s comprehensive records, GRU documents supplied by Gouzenko, American Venona decryptions, Soviet KGB archives, and recently declassified files from British MI5 and MI6, authors Reinhold Kramer and Tom Mitchell offer a detailed account of the crisis. They reveal that, despite certain errors concerning civil liberties, the government's suspicions were largely justified. The book intricately weaves together the evidence against the spies, the tactics of Soviet espionage, the complex legal challenges encountered by the state, and the resulting political fallout. With access to hundreds of newly released British intelligence documents, this study provides both experts and general readers with fresh insights into the espionage crisis of 1945–46 and its significant role in exposing Canada’s postwar security and intelligence vulnerabilities.

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  Episode #19

  Thomas Peace, *The Slow Rush of Colonization: Spaces of Power in the Maritime Peninsula, 1680-1790.* Vancouver: UBC (University of British Columbia) Press, 2023.

  Aug 13, 20261h 32m

  In 1760, after Montcalm's defeat at the Plains of Abraham, the French Empire was permanently ousted from the Saint Lawrence Valley. This historical event is well-known. However, it is less recognized that this pivotal victory traces back nearly a century earlier, when settler colonial systems began to take root on the edges of the Maritime Peninsula, which includes modern-day Quebec, Maritime Canada, and New England. Historian Thomas Peace employs the idea of spaces of power to demonstrate that, despite changes in imperial control and settler colonial advances into their lands, the local Mi’kmaw, Wabanaki, Peskotomuhkati, Wolastoqiyik, and Wendat nations viewed the contested Peninsula as a cohesive whole, rather than a territory divided by later colonial lines. This intriguing history illustrates how the intertwined concepts of space and power—deeply shaped by Indigenous agency and diplomacy—affected interactions in the eighteenth-century Maritime Peninsula. Additionally, it underscores how, following the end of the Seven Years’ War, this narrative was largely neglected as settlers flooded the Peninsula, laying the groundwork for the formation of Canada and the United States.

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  Episode #18

  Alan Mikhail, *God's Shadow: Sultan Selim, His Ottoman Empire, and the Making of the Modern World*. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2020.

  Jul 30, 20261h 10m

  Historically overlooked, the Ottoman Empire was a hub of intellectual engagement, geopolitical power, and progressive governance. At its zenith in the sixteenth century, the Ottomans demonstrated extraordinary military prowess and held exclusive control over vital trade routes, governing a territory and population larger than any other global entity, effectively driving Europeans from the Mediterranean to the New World. Yet, despite its profound influence and crucial role in shaping the contemporary world, the narrative of the Ottoman Empire has been misrepresented, distorted, and even suppressed in Western accounts for centuries. In light of this, Alan Mikhail presents a crucial reinterpretation of Ottoman history, detailing the empire's global conquests through the fascinating biography of Sultan Selim I (1470–1520). Born to a concubine and the fourth son among his father's ten children, Selim was not initially expected to ascend to the throne. However, through a blend of personal charisma, military acumen, and the backing of his exceptionally gifted mother, Gülbahar, Selim took control of the empire in 1512. His unyielding ambition led to nearly tripling the territory under Ottoman governance, establishing a political framework that endured into the twentieth century. At the same time, Selim, honored by his subjects as "God’s Shadow on Earth," fostered religious pluralism by welcoming Jews and other minority communities into the empire; he advocated for education and philosophy; and he even wrote his own poetry.

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  Episode #17

  Marcel Martel, Adrian Shubert and Tim Cook, *Wars of Conviction: A History of Canadian Transnational Fighters*. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2026

  Jul 27, 20261h 17m

  In 1867, Alfred LaRocque, a young man hailing from Quebec, left his home to defend the papacy in Rome. Fast forward to 1937, when journalist and communist Jean Watts traveled to Spain to report on the civil war. In 2023, former corporal Kyle Porter took up arms in Ukraine. Despite the variations in time and purpose, these three individuals are linked to tens of thousands of Canadians who have fought, supported, or lost their lives in defense of other nations or oppressed peoples. The stories of transnational fighters complicate Canada’s established war narrative, shedding light on the motivations and passions that drove individuals to fight abroad, as well as the legal and political ramifications that followed them home. Spanning a century and a half, "Wars of Conviction" delves into who fought, their reasons for doing so, and their experiences during and after the conflict. The decisions made by Canadians to join the Papal Zouaves, the Spanish Civil War, the Sino-Japanese War, Vietnam, Syria, and Ukraine ignited both admiration and outrage, attracted state scrutiny, and initiated lasting discussions about how such fighters should be honored. This volume provides a carefully crafted portrait of the fighters who committed to making foreign wars their own, challenging traditional military history to better understand an uncertain present.

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