National History: I have never witnessed the birth of a nation, but I have attended the death of one, Yugoslavia.

National History: Europe – what is “the” nation? What is the “nation-state”?

From the ashes of Brexit, questions: What is a Nation? What is Europe? Does Brexit really mean Britain is no longer part of Europe?

What would you say to an American tourist who visits Britain, France and Italy and asks “Where is Europe?” Would you say?Europe is the way the nations of the continent are now organized inside the EU? Europe is simply a geographical designation for a particular area of the Earth’s surface, no more no less? Is Europe the sum of its nations as the map is drawn today?

But the map of Europe is constantly changing. There are nations in the European Union that did not exist 25 years ago like Slovakia and there are nations that have existed for centuries like Catalonia which is not independent at all much less a member of the EU.

As Brexit moves forward and the entire EU project comes under threat this FRDH podcast looks at what it means to be a nation in the modern world.  What does national sovereignty mean when speculators in London or New York can destroy the economy of a sovereign state by attacking the value of its bonds.

What do borders mean in the 21st Century. What does the word “Europe” signify?


Cultural History: Buddha, Confucius and the first Greek taught man was responsible for his own fate not the gods. But then something strange happened: their teachings became the basis for religions anyway.


Faith Without God- Buddha, Confucius and the first Greek philosophers stood against the Gods. These teachers were the first to say that Man was responsible for his own fate. But then something strange happened: these Faiths Without God became religions. Why? In this programme originally made for the BBC, travel to India, China and the Aegean and find out.


Faith Without God Pt. 1- Cultural History: Buddha, Confucius and the first Greek philosophers all lived at precisely the same time. They were the first to say that man, not God or the gods, was the measure of all things. Coincidence? or were their civilizations in contact with each other? In this documentary, originally made for BBC Radio 3, archaeologists, historians and philosophers offer their answers.


Cultural History: Buddha, Confucius and the first Greek philosophers all lived at precisely the same time. They were the first to say that man, not God or the gods, was the measure of all things. Coincidence? or were their civilizations in contact with each other? In this documentary, originally made for BBC Radio 3, archaeologists, historians and philosophers offer their answers.