Roger Crowley is the author of the new book, Accursed Tower: The Crusaders' Last Battle for the Holy Land. The city of Acre, powerfully fortified and richly provisioned, was the last crusader stronghold. When it fell in 1291, two hundred years of Christian crusading in the Holy Land came to a bloody end. Dan had a chat with Roger, which was a nice complement to his podcast with Dan Jones on the Crusades as a whole, earlier in the year.
Lord Sumption, former Supreme Court judge, provides Dan a detailed run-through of the seisimic conflict that gripped England and France during the 14th and 15th centuries: from Edward III to Joan of Arc, from Crécy to Castillon.
Thomas Penn talks Dan through the rise, zenith and fall of the House of York during the latter half of the 15th century. They discuss some of the key figures of the polarising Wars of the Roses - including the charismatic Edward IV, the cunning Earl of Warwick, the incompetent Henry VI and the (s...
In the East Meets West season, this is the starting point. Frankopan's rightly lauded book has done what it said on the cover: created a new history of the world. For way too long we Westerners have been espying history through the lens of our own success. But truth is, Britain only had its momen...
