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In Our Time

In Our Time

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 Spanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world. History fans can learn about pivotal wars and societal upheavals, such as the rise and fall of Napoleon, the Sack of Rome in 1527, and the political intrigue of the Russian Revolution. Those fascinated by the lives of kings and queens can journey to Versailles to meet Marie Antoinette and Louis XIV the Sun King, or to Ancient Egypt to meet Cleopatra and Nefertiti. Or perhaps you're looking to explore the history of religion, from Buddhism's early teachings to the Protestant Reformation. If you're interested in the stories behind iconic works of art, music and literature, dive in to discussions on the artistic genius of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel and Van Gogh's famous Sunflowers. From Gothic architecture to the works of Shakespeare, each episode of In Our Time offers new insight into humanity's cultural achievements. Those looking to enrich their scientific knowledge can hear episodes on black holes, the Periodic Table, and classical theories of gravity, motion, evolution and relativity. Learn how the discovery of penicillin revolutionised medicine, and how the death of stars can lead to the formation of new planets. Lovers of philosophy will find episodes on the big issues that define existence, from free will and ethics, to liberty and justice. In what ways did celebrated philosophers such as Mary Wollstonecraft and Karl Marx push forward radical new ideas? How has the concept of karma evolved from the ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism to today? What was Plato's concept of an ideal republic, and how did he explore this through the legend of the lost city of Atlantis? In Our Time celebrates the pursuit of knowledge and the enduring power of ideas.Copyright In our time Art Literary History & Criticism World
Episodes
  • The Spanish-American War 1898

    The Spanish-American War 1898
    Apr 30 2026
    Misha Glenny and guests discuss a turning point in world affairs in 1898 that left Spain greatly reduced as an imperial power and the US the owner of the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico, with a significant influence over the newly independent Cuba where the war broke out. The US had been eyeing Cuba for decades, waiting for the right moment and the right kind of action, and in April 1898 intervened in the long-running fighting on the island for independence from Spain. With a much stronger navy it was a very uneven battle and the US soon triumphed over Spanish forces from Manila to Santiago de Cuba. This brief war confirmed the US as a power on the world stage and made a shocked Spain turn inwards to ask what had gone wrong. Meanwhile, people in the Philippines were about to attempt a new and bloody independence fight with the US.WithFrank Cogliano Professor of American History at the University of EdinburghMary Vincent Professor of Modern European History at the University of SheffieldAndStephen Wilkinson Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of BuckinghamProducer: Simon TillotsonReading list:Sebastian Balfour, The End of the Spanish Empire, 1898-1923 (Clarendon Press, 1997)Sebastian Balfour, ‘Riot, Regeneration and Reaction: Spain in the Aftermath of the 1898 Disaster’ (The Historical journal 38.2, 1995) Ada Ferrer, Cuba: An American History (Scribner, 2021)Greg Grandin, America, América: A New History of the New World (Torva, 2025)Richard Kluger, Seizing Destiny: How America Grew from Sea to Shining Sea (Alfred a Knopf Inc, 2007)Robert W. Merry, President McKinley: Architect of the American Century (Simon & Schuster, 2017)Walter Nugent, Habits of Empire: A History of American Expansion (Alfred a Knopf Inc, 2008)Louis A. Pérez Jr., Cuba Between Empires, 1878–1902 (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1983) John Lawrence Tone, War and Genocide in Cuba, 1895-1898 (University of North Carolina Press, 2006) Mary Vincent, Spain, 1833-2002: People and State (Oxford University Press, 2007), especially chapter 3In Our Time is a BBC Studios ProductionSpanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.

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    55 mins
  • Silicon

    Silicon
    Apr 23 2026
    Misha Glenny and guests discuss the physics, biology and chemistry of the element silicon which is at the heart of some of the most useful and beautiful objects on the planet. While it is still being created throughout the universe, the silicon we have here was made billions of years ago in dying stars. In its compounds we have long used silicon for glass and, more recently, purified silicon has become the foundation of modern electronics. Perhaps less appreciated is the role silicon compounds play in the biology of life on Earth, on the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the cycling of elements between land, oceans and atmosphere that sustains us.With Kate Hendry Oceanographer at the British Antarctic Survey and Bye-Fellow of Queen’s College, University of CambridgeAndrea Sella Professor of Chemistry at University College LondonAnd Monica Grady Professor Emerita in Planetary and Space Sciences at the Open UniversityProduced by Martha OwenReading list:Christina De La Rocha and Daniel J. Conley, Silica Stories (Springer, 2017)Bernard Quéguiner, The Biogeochemical Cycle of Silicon in the Ocean (John Wiley & Sons, 2016)In Our Time is a BBC Studios ProductionSpanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.

    Stop wasting time on brain-dead content.
    If you can’t handle 45 minutes of pure, unfiltered intelligence, keep scrolling. Otherwise, get on our level.
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    53 mins
  • Dadaism

    Dadaism
    Apr 16 2026
    Misha Glenny and guests discuss the provocative artistic phenomenon that first startled audiences in 1916 in Zurich. There, at the Cabaret Voltaire at the Holländische Meierei on the Spiegelgasse, Emmy Hennings and Hugo Ball and others gathered on a small stage, sometimes dressed in cardboard, often performing nonsense poems. This was the start of Dada, a spirit more than a movement which spread to other cities in Europe during the war. In part the Dadas (as they called themselves) were protesting against the inevitability of constant wars on the continent and in part this was an artistic experiment around the absurd; they were creating poems, songs, costumes and art that made no obvious sense, just as the war around them made no sense to the artists, designers and poets at the Cabaret Voltaire.With Dawn Ades Emeritus Professor of Art History and Theory at the University of EssexRuth Hemus Professor of French and Visual Culture at Royal Holloway, University of LondonAndStephen Forcer Professor of French at the University of GlasgowProduced by Martha OwenReading list:Dawn Ades (ed.), The Dada Reader: A Critical Anthology (Tate Publishing, 2006)Hugo Ball (trans. Ann Raimes and ed. John Elderfield), Flight out of Time: A Dada Diary (first published 1927; University of California Press, 1996)Stephen Forcer, Dada as Text, Thought and Theory (Legenda, 2015)Ruth Hemus, Dada's Women (Yale University Press, 2009)David Hopkins, Dada and Surrealism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2004)Jed Rasula, Destruction was my Beatrice: Dada and the Unmaking of the Twentieth Century (Basic Books, 2015)In Our Time is a BBC Studios ProductionSpanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.

    Stop wasting time on brain-dead content.
    If you can’t handle 45 minutes of pure, unfiltered intelligence, keep scrolling. Otherwise, get on our level.
    👉 GET SMARTER: LISTEN NOW
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    51 mins
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