The award-winning podcast preserving the stories of the Cold War before they are lost…subscribe for free. Produced by Ian Sanders FRHistS
Jack Downey was the longest-held prisoner of war in American history. He was a CIA officer captured in China during the Korean War and imprisoned for twenty-one years. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyListen on Amazon MusicListen on Podcast AddictBecome a Patron! I speak with Barry Werth the author of Prisoner of Lies – Jack … Read more
Beginning with the death of Stalin in 1953, the “sixties” era in the Soviet Union was just as vibrant and transformative as in the West. The ideological romanticism of the revolutionary years was revived, with a renewed emphasis on egalitarianism, equality, and the building of a communist utopia. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyListen on … Read more
Thomas Maier an investigative journalist is our guide to the shadowy world of organized crime and espionage where shares insights from his extensive research and writing, including his latest book and drama documentary “Mafia Spies,” which explores the unlikely alliance between the CIA and the mafia in their attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro. Listen … Read more
Luca Trenta is an associate professor at Swansea University and has recently authored The President’s Kill List: Assassination and US Foreign Policy Since 1945. We dig in detail into the contents of the book delving into the history of Cold War CIA operations including instances of electoral interference and assassination. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen … Read more
Alex Grant’s new book Sex, Spies and Scandal The John Vassall Affair has everything: a honey trap, industrial-scale espionage, journalists jailed for not revealing their sources and the first modern tabloid witch-hunt, which resulted in a ministerial resignation and almost brought down Harold Macmillan’s government. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyListen on Google PodcastsBecome a … Read more
V-Bombers: Britain’s Nuclear Frontline in the Cold War is a new book by Dr Tony Redding that takes a deep dive into Britain’s V-bomber force’s operational nuclear war role. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyListen on Google PodcastsBecome a Patron! Tony reveals the intense preparations and the stark realities faced by the aircrews, who lived … Read more
In August 1989, a group of Hungarian activists did the unthinkable: they entered the forbidden militarised zone of the Iron Curtain – and held a picnic. Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyListen on Google PodcastsBecome a Patron! Word had spread of what was going to happen. On wisps of rumour, thousands of East German … Read more
Kate is sent to Moscow in 1985 to write articles for The Morning Star, a left-wing British daily newspaper founded in 1930 as the Daily Worker by the Communist Party of Great Britain. She lives in a block of flats alongside Soviet citizens and enrols her 3 children in Soviet schools. Three weeks … Read more
Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyListen on Google PodcastsBecome a Patron! Since 1985, Ana Montes has been an asset of the Cuban intelligence service. In that time, she’s risen through the ranks to become one of the Pentagon’s most respected voices on Cuban affairs with easy access to classified documents. By night, she was working … Read more
In 1966 most of Bridget’s friends, in their early twenties, were settling down with jobs and/or husbands… Listen on Apple PodcastsListen on SpotifyListen on Google PodcastsBecome a Patron! She, on the other hand, set off alone to travel across Poland relying on the kindness of strangers. Fascinated by what she experienced she continued to … Read more