The LRB Podcast

Neal Ascherson has worked as a journalist for more than six decades, reporting from Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, its successor states and elsewhere. He has also written more than a hundred pieces for the London Review of Books, from its seventh issue (in February 1980) to its most recent. In this episode of the LRB podcast, Ascherson talks to Thomas Jones about his recent piece on the journalist Claud Cockburn and about his own life and career, from his time as propaganda secretary for the Uganda National Congress to the moment he witnessed preparations for the kidnapping of Mikhail Gorbachev in Crimea but ‘missed the scoop of a lifetime’.Find further reading on the episode page: https://lrb.me/aschersonpodListen to Neal Ascherson deliver the 2012 LRB Winter Lecture: https://lrb.me/aschersonwlSubscribe to Close Readings for 2025: https://lrb.me/audioOr give your loved ones a Close Readings subscription: https://lrb.me/audiogifts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on the LRB Podcast, a free episode from one of our Close Readings series. For their final conversation Among the Ancients, Emily Wilson and Thomas Jones turn to the Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius. Said by Machiavelli to be the last of the ‘five good emperors’ who ruled Rome for most of the second century CE, Marcus oversaw devastating wars on the frontiers, a deadly plague and economic turmoil. The writings known in English as The Meditations, and in Latin as ‘to himself’, were composed in Greek in the last decade of Marcus’ life. They reveal his preoccupation with illness, growing old, death and posthumous reputation, as he urges himself not to be troubled by such transient things.Readings by Hazel Holder.To listen to more Among the Ancients and all other Close Readings series in full, subscribe:Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq In other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/closereadingsOr purchase a gift subscription: https://lrb.me/audiogiftsFurther reading in the LRB:Mary Beard: Was he quite ordinary?https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v31/n14/mary-beard/was-he-quite-ordinaryEmily Wilson: I have gorgeous hairhttps://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v45/n11/emily-wilson/i-have-gorgeous-hairShadi Bartsch: Dying to Make a Pointhttps://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v29/n22/shadi-bartsch/dying-to-make-a-pointM.F. Burnyeat: Excuses for Madnesshttps://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v24/n20/m.f.-burnyeat/excuses-for-madness Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wynne Godley was by turns a professional oboist, a fellow of King’s College, Cambridge, an economist at the Treasury and a director of the Royal Opera House. Yet at thirty he found himself ‘living through an artificial self’ and turned to psychoanalysis for help.Masud Khan was a protégé of D.W. Winnicott and the darling of British psychoanalysis. He was also much else besides. In this unforgettable piece from 2001, Godley describes his baffling and disastrous sessions with Khan.Read by Duncan Wilkins.Find the original piece and further reading at the episode page: https://lrb.me/godleypodGive your loved one a Close Readings subscription or audiobook for Christmas: https://lrb.me/audiogifts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ghassan Abu-Sittah and Muhammad Shehada join Adam Shatz to describe what life was like in Gaza in the months and years leading up to the Hamas attack on Israel last October, and to discuss the experiences of Gazans during Israel’s subsequent – and ongoing – devastation of the territory.More in the LRB:Adam Shatz: Israel's Descenthttps://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n12/adam-shatz/israel-s-descentPankaj Mishra: The Shoah after Gazahttps://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n06/pankaj-mishra/the-shoah-after-gazaAlso available to watch: https://youtu.be/_w3Pe00I_RoAudio Gifts from the LRB: https://lrb.me/audiogifts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.