Cover image of The Last Best Hope?

The Last Best Hope?

Historian and broadcaster Professor Adam Smith explores the America of today through the lens of the past. Is America - as Abraham Lincoln once claimed - the last best hope of Earth?Produced by Oxford... Read more

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Ranked #1

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The Geordie South: How Northumbrians shaped Appalachia

The Geordie South: How Northumbrians shaped Appalachia

Half a million Northumbrians, the proud people of the English-Scottish border region, settled in the Appalachian mountai... Read more

9 Jun 2023

36mins

Ranked #2

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A City on a Hill: The exceptional history of a powerful metaphor

A City on a Hill: The exceptional history of a powerful metaphor

It is one of America’s most powerful founding myths – the pilgrims on an errand into the wilderness to create a new mode... Read more

2 Jun 2023

45mins

Ranked #3

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America's role in Ukraine: a return to the last, best hope?

America's role in Ukraine: a return to the last, best hope?

What does the United States' support for Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion tell us about the state of America ... Read more

26 May 2023

43mins

Ranked #4

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Was there a Culture War in nineteenth century America?

Was there a Culture War in nineteenth century America?

The country is deeply polarised. Each party believes the other not just to be wrong on public policy questions but a pro... Read more

19 May 2023

47mins

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Ranked #5

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Are there lessons for Biden from the Presidency of Lyndon Johnson?

Are there lessons for Biden from the Presidency of Lyndon Johnson?

In 1968, an elderly Democrat President, with major legislative achievements behind him, who had served as Vice President... Read more

12 May 2023

51mins

Ranked #6

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The House Divided Episode

The House Divided Episode

The speech that triggered the Civil War? In a speech in the State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois, in 1858, Ab... Read more

30 Nov 2022

47mins

Ranked #7

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The Second Amendment Episode

The Second Amendment Episode

Why is gun control so hard to accomplish in American politics, despite the number of mass shootings now averaging one a ... Read more

23 Nov 2022

40mins

Ranked #8

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The Black Ships Episode

The Black Ships Episode

In the 1853, the closed society of Japan under the Tokugawa Shogunate was suddenly confronted by the naval reach of the ... Read more

16 Nov 2022

36mins

Ranked #9

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The Gettysburg Episode

The Gettysburg Episode

Why is Gettysburg the Civil War battle that everyone remembers? How did it come to be seen as the “turning point” of the... Read more

9 Nov 2022

40mins

Ranked #10

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The Polarisation Episode

The Polarisation Episode

It is conventional to say that the US is more polarised now than ever before – at least since the Civil War. But intense... Read more

2 Nov 2022

47mins

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