In Episode 143 of Ill Literacy, Tim Benson talks with Martyn Rady, author ofThe Middle Kingdoms: A New History of Central Europe. 

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Martyn Rady, Masaryk Professor Emeritus of Central European History at University College London, to discuss his new book, The Middle Kingdoms: A New History of Central Europe. They chat about how Central Europe has been more than just a fault line between the east and west and how the region developed its own cohesive identity and produced tremendous accomplishments in politics, society, and culture. They go on to discuss how Central Europeans launched the Reformation and Romanticism, developed the philosophy of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, and advanced some of the twentieth century’s most important artistic movements. 

Get the book here: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/martyn-rady/the-middle-kingdoms/9781541619784/?lens=basic-books

Show Notes: 

The Critic: Victor Sebestyen – “Why central Europe has always mattered”

https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/august-september-2023/why-central-europe-has-always-mattered/

Financial Times: Ivan Krastev – “Shadowlands of empire: central Europe’s nervous east-west gaze”

https://www.ft.com/content/bb9fbe29-00bc-47bf-946b-456ab77e3fa1

Literary Review: Tim Blanning – “Emperors, Mystics & Tomcats”

https://literaryreview.co.uk/emperors-mystics-tomcats

The New Criterion: Jeremy Black – “Middle march”

https://newcriterion.com/article/middle-march/

The Spectator: Peter Frankopan – “Central Europe has shaped our culture for centuries – yet we still find the region baffling”

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/central-europe-has-shaped-our-culture-for-centuries-yet-we-still-find-the-region-baffling/

The Telegraph: Noel Malcolm – “Fish, tobacco and bureaucrats: a mad, marvellous history of central Europe”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/the-middle-kingdoms-by-martyn-rady-review-a-mad-marvellous/

Times Literary Supplement: Larry Wolff – “Among the dogmen”

https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-middle-kingdoms-martyn-rady-book-review-larry-wolff/

The Wall Street Journal: Robert D. Kaplan – “‘The Middle Kingdoms’ Review: Europe’s Eternal Battlefield”

https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/books/the-middle-kingdoms-review-europes-eternal-battlefield-1a0d92a2

The Washington Free Beacon: Jakub Grygiel – “From World Wars to the Cold War to Ukraine: How Central Europe Survives”

https://freebeacon.com/culture/from-world-wars-to-the-cold-war-to-ukraine-how-central-europe-survives/