Host of Empire
6 books recommended · 15 episodes
Books they recommend that someone else wrote.
“And we have this wonderful story at this period from Bob Service's Stalin biography of Stalin's incredible impatience about the boots. Do you know that story?”
Why: Provides wonderful historical stories about Stalin.
Stalin by Robert Service
Host on Empire396. Stalin: The Bolshevik Revolution (Part 2)
“I do know that because one of my favorite authors yeah um martin amos wrote a book about starling called coba the dread because he took on that as his nom de guerre didn't he…”
Why: Written by one of his favorite authors.
Koba the Dread by Martin Amis
Host on Empire395. Stalin: The Rise of A Tyrant (Part 1)
“And if you'd like to know more about that, you can listen to our wonderful friend Anne Applebaum in our Russian series from two years ago, drawing on her Pulitzer Prize winning book on the Red Famine.”
Why: It won a Pulitzer Prize and provides more details on the famine.
Red Famine by Anne Applebaum
Host on Empire395. Stalin: The Rise of A Tyrant (Part 1)
“called The Life of St. Patrick and His Place in History. And he wrote that as a historian of the later Roman Empire, of late antiquity.”
Why: It served as the standard account of Patrick for many years and was written as the last chapter in the history of the Roman Empire.
The Life of St. Patrick and His Place in History by John Bagnell Bury
Host on Empire385. Saint Patrick: Slave, Rebel, & Ireland’s Patron Saint (Ep 3)
“Andrew Hussey's French Intifada is the book which I have been absolutely gripped by, The Long War Between France and its Arabs.”
Why: The speaker was absolutely gripped by it and learned so much from it.
The French Intifada by Andrew Hussey
Host on Empire380. Algerian Revolution: The Rise of Le Pen (Ep 6)
“This is, again, Robert Service's biography is a treasure trove of these wonderful quotes from Stalin. to pick out one's enemy, to prepare all the details of the blow, to slake one's thirst for a cruel revenge and then go home to be. There is nothing sweeter.”
Trotsky by Robert Service
Host on Empire397. Stalin: Killing Trotsky (Part 3)
Their own books, or books they discussed with the author. Not counted as recommendations.
“Now, Peter, your first book was The First Crusade, The Call from the East. And we're now at that moment.”
The First Crusade by Peter Frankopan
Host on Empire406. Norman Conquest: The First Crusade (Part 6)
“and particularly looking in the next episode at his first book, The First Crusade, The Call from the East, which completely changed for many of us the way that we looked at the Normands…”
Why: It changed how people looked at the Normans.
The First Crusade by Peter Frankopan
Host on Empire405. Norman Conquest: Medieval Mafia Invade The East (Part 5)
“He's already the professor of global history at Oxford, the author of The Silk Roads.”
The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan
Host on Empire405. Norman Conquest: Medieval Mafia Invade The East (Part 5)
“And the Norman Conquest is very much the book which, well, certainly the British Museum welcomes you to its bookshop with a great wall of Mark Morris.”
Why: Recommended entirely to all Empire listeners as the great account of our time.
The Norman Conquest by Marc Morris
Host on Empire403. The Norman Conquests: The Battle of Hastings (Part 3)
“wonderful mark morris whose books on both the anglo-saxons which i've got my copy here with this wonderful cover. And the Norman Conquest is very much the book which,…”
Why: It is described as the great account of our time for the general reader.
The Anglo-Saxons by Marc Morris
Host on Empire403. The Norman Conquests: The Battle of Hastings (Part 3)
“And she wrote with Clifford Gaddy, the book many people reach for first when they want to understand this president. It's called Mr. Putin, Operative in the Kremlin.”
Why: It is the book many people reach for first when they want to understand Putin.
Mr. Putin by Fiona Hill
Host on Empire400. Stalin: A Poisonous Legacy (Part 6)
“has been our wonderful guide, and he is the author of The Stalin Affair, The Impossible Alliance That Won the War.”
Stalin Affair by Giles Milton
Host on Empire398. Stalin: The Great Terror (Part 4)
“Anyway, we are joined today by the wonderful Giles Milton, friend of the show and author of The Stalin Affair, The Impossible Alliance That Won the War.”
Stalin Affair by Giles Milton
Host on Empire397. Stalin: Killing Trotsky (Part 3)
“author of a wonderful book, The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden, which I just reread yesterday and which is just a spectacular summation of a long and complicated story.”
Why: It is a spectacular summation of a long and complicated story.
The Rise and Fall of Osama Bin Laden by Peter Bergen
Host on Empire393. Road To 9/11: Interviewing Bin Laden In The Caves of Tora Bora (Part 5)
“Al-Qaeda, The True Story of Radical Islam, the book that taught the world what this movement actually was, one of the first books out of the trap after 9-11 and most recently the award-winning revolutionists the story of the extremists who hijacked the 1970s which has just been shortlisted for the…”
Why: It is a brilliant gripping book and absolute catnip for empire fans.
The Revolutionists by Jason Burke
Host on Empire389. Road To 9/11: Origin of Al-Qaeda (Part 1)
“Al-Qaeda, The True Story of Radical Islam, the book that taught the world what this movement actually was, one of the first books out of the trap after 9-11 and most recently the award-winning revolutionists the story of the extremists who hijacked the 1970s which has just been shortlisted for the…”
Why: It taught the world what the movement actually was and was one of the first books out after 9-11.
Al-Qaeda by Jason Burke
Host on Empire389. Road To 9/11: Origin of Al-Qaeda (Part 1)
Named without an opinion attached.
“When I was at uni, I bought, I remember it cost me a fortune and I had to save up for it. But this is David Bates' Normandy before 1066.”
Normandy Before 1066 by David Bates
Host on Empire401. The Norman Conquests: Secrets of the Bayeux Tapestry (Part 1)
“I think when we were in the pub, we were talking about my old professor, a lovely man called John Porter, who did the translation of Beowulf.”
Beowulf by Anonymous
Host on Empire387. The Vikings Invade Britain (Ep 5)
“I said Mr. Tuminous as if everybody knows The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Mr. Tuminous as if he's our accountant, the podcast accountant. And he's a fawn character in a book you may not have read called The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
Host on Empire384. The Roman Invasion: Gods on Hadrian’s Wall (Ep 2)