“This is an intriguing podcast. In some ways it is utterly conventional and deeply America-centric in its framing of issues. Yet at the same time it can be deeply historicist, nuanced in the best inter-disciplinary intellectual tradition and at times deeply, marvellously comparative!
This oscillation likely reflects the tension between how the podcast was conceived - Foreign Policy is a rather unexceptionally ‘centerist’ US foreign policy/international affairs journal - and the intellectual abilities, predilections and indefatigable curiosity of Adam Tooze, who in one moment is making astonishing linkages and offering important insights, skewering aspects of American society that Americans think “natural”, and at others sliding into a maddening defence or tolerance of orthodoxy.
The topics are a mixed bag, often of less interest to those of us outside the US, but Tooze’s sheer force of intellectual vigour, eloquence and passion for being in the world makes most episodes work. It does have its global moments but while Adam talks the global talk, he actually walks a trans-Atlantic walk. As one of the best historians of modern Europe of his generation, it’s worth the price of admission just to hear him go deep on Europe. That’s when the show is truly at its best!”
Mitch Bernard via Apple Podcasts ·
Canada ·
06/26/22