The Scriptorium

After reviewing the exceptional podcast 12 Byzantine Rulers, I contacted the publisher/author duo of Anders and Lars Brownworth to explore the possibility of interviewing the podcasting team about their efforts in the audio lecture field. Fortunately for our readers, they agreed to this request and the result is an exciting, insightful look into what it is to be an author, a publisher, and a pioneer in a new media.   

1) Why did you choose podcasting as your medium?

(Anders) Initially, the 12 Byzantine Rulers project was released as MP3 files for download from a website. We turned the project into a podcast shortly after that when Apple added podcast support in iTunes which gave us two primary advantages. Firstly, the podcast format was the most convenient way to disseminate lectures to our listeners. It took the pain out of keeping up to date with the lectures and we started to see greatly increased return rates from our listeners. Secondly, the podcast feed allowed us to submit our project to iTunes and other sites which greatly increased our visibility. Rather than relying on people finding us through Google searches, we were categorized with other educationally oriented podcasts which allowed us to be seen by a much larger and more targeted group of potential listeners. In hindsight, the podcasting decision has been very good for us. (more…)

Lawrence James is a British historian best known for his title Rise and Fall of the British Empire, which was published about ten years ago and had a military-historical focus. In Raj, James again focuses on the more military aspects of his subject, but does not ignore cultural or political topics either.  The book weighs in at a hefty 650 pages, but through some deft organization, much of the bulk of the book seems to fly by quickly. This is no small achievement, since there is such a host of peoples, places, and pageantry that it would become dangerously easy to get lost in the pages of a more tedious work.
            Details are not sacrificed, though. If the reader is interested in almost any particular point of the British rule of India from the rise of Robert Clive (mid-18^th century) to the departure of Viscount Mountbatten (1947), rest assured that it is romantically and intriguingly covered within the pages of Raj. Whether the reader wants to know the full story of the East India Company, is intrigued by the fall of the Mughal Empire, desires a full and detailed account of the 1857 mutiny, or fancies a sharp retelling of the Great Game between Victorian Great Britain and Imperial Russia, all of these topics are included in great detail with dashes of military flavor. (more…)

     For those searching for a relatively condensed exposition on the life and times of America’s most famous Founding Father, one need look no further than His Excellency: George Washington. Authored by Pulitzer Prize winner Joseph J. Ellis, His Excellency is an unbiased foray into Washington’s intricate and occasionally contradictory life.  Ellis masterfully synthesizes the many phases of Washington’s life into a potent brew of the principles that ruled Washington’s mind. The author is quick to inform his readers that he will cast a critical eye on Washington’s achievements, and attempt to avoid the pitfalls (deifying/vilifying) that beleaguer those who choose Washington as their subject. In my opinion, Ellis has fulfilled his oath, and presented his readers with an accurate, unbiased picture of the Father of America. (more…)