Best Beatrice Institute Podcasts (2024)

1
Why Does Beauty Wound? with John-Paul Heil 46:29

16d ago46:29

46:29

You are marveling at a beautiful sunset, standing in awe before an Italian masterpiece, or gazing lovingly into the face of your beloved. These moments of beauty, however brief, impact our hearts, minds, and souls in a profound way. What exactly is occurring in these moments? John Paul Heil offers insight through a reading and discussion of his ess…

1
Can We Rebuild the American Trades? 42:17

2M ago42:17

42:17

What has become of the trades within our country? Where did the blue-collar workers go and what is the reason behind their disappearance? Is there anything we can do to rebuild and re-vitalize this crucial section of today’s society? A co-founder of the College of St. Joseph, the Worker, Jacob Imam helps to answer our questions. Join Grant and Jaco…

1
S4E21: Strategy’s Human Dimension, with Baroness Neville-Jones 34:27

2M ago34:27

34:27

To conclude Season Four of Talking Strategy, we talk to long-serving diplomat, policy adviser and politician The Rt Hon Baroness Neville-Jones. With intimate experience of the functioning of governments and the EU, Lady Neville-Jones compares the respective organisational cultures and human side of strategy, drawing on lessons from her career. Paul…

1
S4E20: Moshe Dayan, Master of Emergent Strategy? With Professor Eitan Shamir 31:29

3M ago31:29

31:29

Moshe Dayan (1915-1981) is a controversial figure in Israeli politics. Revered by some as a master strategist, he is criticised by others for his failure to foresee Egypt’s attack in 1973, and then for ‘giving up’ the Sinai in return for a peace treaty. Strategy-making can take two approaches. The first, ‘Deliberate Strategy’, is formulated and imp…

1
S4E19: Arthur Tedder: A Coalition Strategist of War and Warfare with Air Marshal Edward Stringer 33:11

3M ago33:11

33:11

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Arthur Tedder was General Eisenhower’s Deputy as Supreme Commander for Operation Overlord during the Second World War. A quiet and thoughtful leader, Tedder understood the difference between war and warfare and carefully orchestrated his campaigns – including the transportation plan concerning D-Day – in an alliance c…

1
S4E18: Qasim Soleimani and the Strategy of Militant Proxies with Dr Afshon Ostovar 33:38

4M ago33:38

33:38

Qasim Soleimani was arguably Iran’s most important military leader in modern history. He moved Iran’s overall strategy from a direct approach to an indirect one of proxy warfare using non-state actors. Born in 1957, General Soleimani rose from a humble background to become a key commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. His experience of …

1
S4E17: José de San Martín: the Hannibal of Latin America? with Lieutenant General Diego Suñer 32:57

4M ago32:57

32:57

José de San Martín gained his military experience serving Spain and fighting the French, sometimes with the British,meeting Wellington, Beresford, and Napoleon. Having served for 22 years in the Spanish Army, Jose de San Martin brilliantly led the armies that overthrew the Spanish to liberate the southern countries of South America. With naval expe…

1
S4E16: Alanbrooke, Churchill’s Right-Hand General with Dr Andrew Sangster 32:22

5M ago32:22

32:22

The relationship between Winston Churchill and his leading military advisor, the abrasive General ‘Shrapnel’ Alan Brooke (1883–1963), was one of the most productive yet tensest in the history of civil-military relations. This episode delves into some of their strategic debates. Viscount Alanbrooke’s relationship with Churchill was famously rocky, y…

1
Where Do Bioethics Begin? with Michael Deem 1:01:14

5M ago1:01:14

1:01:14

As a bioethicist and Catholic deacon-in-training, Dr. Michael Deem has spent years in the medical trenches as well as in theological and philosophical research. Michael Deem joins Grant in this episode to answer questions such as, “Do bioethicists actually change minds?” “Does healthcare flourish under a provider-of-services model?” and “Are bioeth…

1
S4E15: Generals Lee and Grant: Great Strategists of the American Civil War with Dr Christian Keller 33:54

5M ago33:54

33:54

Generals Ulysses S Grant and Robert E Lee commanded the opposing armies in the American Civil War, each the greatest military leader of their own side. Products of the Academy at West Point, they were both expert tacticians and, most importantly, understood their sides’ strategic goals, limitations and opportunities, and led them accordingly. But G…

1
S4E14: Lord Peach: Evolving, Adopting and Adapting Alliance Strategy 38:06

6M ago38:06

38:06

Air Chief Marshal Lord Peach, the former Chair of NATO’s Military Committee and architect of NATO’s first new military strategy in 50 years, joins us to discuss the process of strategy-making in an Alliance context. Lord Peach is the UK’s most experienced officer, having served in key 4-star appointments, including as the UK’s Chief of the Defence …

1
The Enemy of Morality Is Not Modernity, It’s Me 44:20

6M ago44:20

44:20

The great English essayist and linguist Samuel Johnson was writing during the Enlightenment – the period some historians identify as the beginning of the modern age. American author and philosopher David Foster Wallace worked more than two centuries later, in the “post-modern” style. But these two writers shared a common problem: once modernity fra…

1
S4E13: Sergey Gorshkov, Architect of the Soviet Navy with Captain (ret.) Dr Kevin Rowlands 31:06

6M ago31:06

31:06

Admiral Sergey Georgyevich Gorshkov (1910–1988) was a celebrated hero of the so-called Great Fatherland War (1941–1945). He was Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Navy from 1956 until 1985, which he built up to be a navy fit for a superpower with global ambitions. He also furnished the navy’s theoretical strategic underpinnings through a series of pu…

1
A Genealogy of Gun Violence 51:21

6M ago51:21

51:21

The problem of gun violence is as old as guns themselves. According to historian Priya Satia, America’s present epidemic of gun violence has its roots in the industrial revolution. Satia tells the story of British gun-maker Samuel Galton, Jr., who was called to task by his Quaker community for manufacturing rifles. As a professed pacifist, Galton h…

1
Is Mutualism Possible? with Sara Horowitz 46:37

6M ago46:37

46:37

How can we help locally, but in a way that works economically? This is the challenge that thwarts many solidaristic startups. Luckily, Sara Horowitz has picked up the gauntlet. Sara Horowitz has been both the chair of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the founder of the Freelancers Union and the Freelancers Insurance Company and…

1
A Medieval Anti-Racist 52:09

7M ago52:09

52:09

What if racism shared an origin with opposition to racism? What if the condemnation of injustice gave rise both to an early form of anti-racism and to the racial hierarchies that haunt the modern era? Rolena Adorno, David Orique, María Cristina Ríos Espinosa tell the story of how Bartolomé de las Casas, a Dominican missionary to New Spain, came to …

1
S4E12: Tecumseh: America’s First Whole-of-Society Strategy with Dr Kori Schake 33:06

7M ago33:06

33:06

In an epic achievement, Shawnee chief Tecumseh (1768–1813) brought together warring Native American tribes to stand up against the European settlers as they were pushing further West. His strategy included coalitions and the mobilisation of society as America had never seen before. In this episode, Beatrice and Paul are joined by Dr Kori Schake, Di…

1
How Are Numbers Beautiful? with Francis Su 38:45

7M ago38:45

38:45

How is mathematics a liberal art? How can being good at math translate into virtue? Dr. Francis Su, the Benediktsson-Karwa Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College, is well aware of mathematics’ place in human flourishing. In this episode, he and Grant converse over these questions. They also discuss the reverence evoked by math and the tran…

1
Picturing Race in Colonial Mexico 1:00:06

7M ago1:00:06

1:00:06

Race is sometimes treated as a biological fact. It is actually a modern invention. But for this concept to gain power, its logic had to be spread – and made visible. Art historian Ilona Katzew tells the story of how Spanish colonists of modern-day Mexico developed theories of blood purity and used the casta paintings – featuring family groups with …

1
Jamestown and the Myth of the Sovereign Family 45:28

7M ago45:28

45:28

What is the “traditional American family?” Popular images from the colonial and pioneer past suggest an isolated and self-sufficient nuclear family as the center of American identity and the source of American strength. But the idea of early American self-sufficiency is a myth. Caro Pirri tells the story of the precarious Jamestown settlement and h…

1
S4E11: Napoleon Bonaparte: Soldier, Strategist, Emperor with Professor Alan Forrest 33:53

7M ago33:53

33:53

Napoleon is admired as one of the greatest strategists ever; he won most of his battles and dictated the terms of the peace treaties that ended his individual wars. Yet in the end, he was defeated, and his empire fell apart. So how great a strategist was he really? Napoleon’s ‘system of war’ remained the point of reference for generations, interpre…

1
What Is Genealogy? 45:49

7M ago45:49

45:49

Genealogy, in Charles Darwin’s terms, is the study of “descent with modification.” Taken as an analogy for the study of history, genealogy can guard against the potential dangers of claiming modernity. Against the effort to erase the past, genealogy asserts that our ancestry will always be with us. Against the effort to master the past, genealogy r…

1
What Is Modernity? 36:01

7M ago36:01

36:01

We often think of modernity as a distinct time period in history – one that is said to start at different places, but which always includes us. Yet people have been claiming to be modern since at least the third century BC. Harvard scholar Michael Puett takes us back to ancient China, when a series of emperors laid claim to modernity in order to co…

1
Climbing the Mountains of Modernity 46:03

7M ago46:03

46:03

We all know many stories about how modernity came about. But what does it mean to be “modern?” This episode comes at the question through the test case of mountain climbing and rock climbing. Claims to becoming modern through climbing often point back to Italian humanist Francesco Petrarch’s ascent of Mt. Ventoux in 1336, a climb that made him, acc…

1
Genealogies of Modernity Episode 3: What Is Genealogy? 47:36

7M ago47:36

47:36

Modernity strives to break with the past, especially genealogy. However, is it possible for a society to break a genealogical thread? In this episode, we explore the meaning and value of genealogy, a way of thinking that will shape the rest of this series. We ask how different forms of genealogical thinking can reconnect us to the past without limi…

1
S4E10: Michiel de Ruyter: The Modest Admiral Who Kept the English at Bay with Dr David 'J.D.' Davis 33:03

8M ago33:03

33:03

Hailing from humble origins, Michiel Adrienszoon was later given the surname de Ruyter, the ‘raider’. His greatest triumph was the Battle of Solebay in 1672. There he launched a pre-emptive strike against and defeated the English fleet as it prepared to attack the Netherlands jointly with the French. Originally a merchant sailor, Michiel de Ruyter …

1
Genealogies of Modernity Episode 2: What Is Modernity? with Michael Puett 39:31

8M ago39:31

39:31

We often think of modernity as a time period in history. But people have been claiming to be modern since at least c. 550 AD, when the Roman writer Cassiodorus used the term modernus to mark off everything that had happened since the fall of the Roman Empire. Harvard scholar Michael Puett takes us back much further, to the third century BC in ancie…

1
S4E9: Catherine the Great: Russia’s Black Sea Expansion 33:48

8M ago33:48

33:48

Catherine II of Russia prided herself on being called ‘emperor’, not ‘empress’. Having dumped her weak husband, she deployed her lovers strategically: one she made king of Poland, one she sent to conquer Crimea, and one to rule over it. Here are the origins of Russia’s claims to Ukraine. Dr Kelly O’Neill, an historian of Russia at Harvard Universit…

1
Genealogies of Modernity Episode 1: Mountain Modernity 49:38

8M ago49:38

49:38

For the past three years, Ryan has been working with an interdisciplinary group of scholars to produce a narrative podcast about Genealogies of Modernity. Today’s episode is a sneak preview of the first episode of that series, which will be released in its own feed starting the first week of November. In the thread of the Beatrice Institute podcast…

1
What's Wrong with the Modern World? with Ryan McDermott on SpirituallyIncorrect 1:03:48

8M ago1:03:48

1:03:48

This episode is brought to us by SpirituallyIncorrect: We all love a good story. We watch movies, listen to friends talk about their last vacation, or listen to podcasts (this one included) just to hear an entertaining and provocative tale. But one story trumps them all: the story of how we have arrived at our modern world. With technology evolving…

1
S4E8: Gustavus Adolphus: Pioneer of Combined Arms Manoeuvre with Professor Gunnar Aselius 32:40

9M ago32:40

32:40

The Swedish campaigns in Central Europe in the Thirty Years’ War are remembered in folklore for their brutality, for massacres of civilians and ‘scorched earth’ tactics. And yet, as their leader, King Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden (1594 – 1632) is remembered almost as a saint, even in these very same regions. King Gustavus Adolphus, an experienced…

1
S4E7: Caesar: Rome's Defensive Expansion 33:30

9M ago33:30

33:30

Julius Caesar is famous for describing hugely complicated strategic problems, then adding his famous Vini, vidi, vici: ‘I came, I saw, I conquered’. But what did his strategic genius consist of? And how did he justify extending the Roman Empire right across Western Europe? Did Rome acquire her empire, not quite in a fit of absent-mindedness, but de…

1
Rerun: Race and American Christianity with Anthony Bradley 1:14:51

9M ago1:14:51

1:14:51

Anthony Bradley is a professor of religious studies and director of the Center for the Study of Human Flourishing at the King’s College in New York City. He gives a personalist analysis of the criminal justice system (touching on everything from architecture to food) and the Black Lives Matter movement. In this rerun episode, Anthony and Ryan discu…

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