Snakes & Otters Podcast
Episodes
Friday Oct 11, 2019
Friday Oct 11, 2019
Martin captains an episode examining the life and reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II's father, Frederick III. He reigned only 99 days, but if he had lived, could he have transformed the nascent German empire from Prussian militarism to a model constitutional monarchy? Would that have transformed Europe and prevented (or mitigated) the cataclysm of World War I?
Although they don't mention it in the episode, the guys highly recommend Our Fritz: Emperor Frederick III and the Political Culture of Imperial Germany by Frank Lorenz Muller from 2011 as an excellent source not only about Frederick's life, but also about all of the many cultural considerations that they guys discuss here as well.
Friday Aug 23, 2019
Episode 014 "What If? . . . Robert Kennedy Was Not Assassinated?"
Friday Aug 23, 2019
Friday Aug 23, 2019
Robert suggests a new kind of discussion for us, an "alternative history". We wrestle with the question: what if Robert Kennedy isn't killed in June 1968? Does that alter America's trajectory through the 1970s and 1980s? Bonus feature, we have to edit out our first "f bomb". Francis, watch your mouth next time.
Once again, the guys did not mention it here, but still one of the better biographies of Robert Kennedy is one of the earliest, Robert Kennedy and His Times by Arthur M. Schlesinger and Michael Beschloss, originally written in 1979 but recently reissued in 2012.
Also if you really want to read some great "alternate history" novels, the guys suggest anything by Harry Turtledove, perhaps one of the acknowledged masters of the genre.