Simon Sebag MontefioreEvery podcast appearance, updated as new ones drop

What does it mean to be Jewish in Britain? What happens when centuries of hard-won belonging is suddenly called into question by destabilizing events? In this conversation on history and identity, we sit down with bestselling historian Simon Sebag Montefiore to trace the extraordinary story of British Jewry: from the arrival of Jews with William the Conqueror in 1066, through medieval blood libels and expulsion, to emancipation, empire, Zionism, civil rights and integration, and on to the modern crisis facing British Jews after October 7. We explore how British Jews became one of the most integrated and successful Jewish communities in the world, and why many now feel that a golden age is ending. Montefiore brings the sweep of history to the conversation, while confronting one of the most urgent questions facing Jews in the West today: Can liberal societies still protect Jewish belonging in moments of deep social fracture? -- This episode is sponsored by "The Frozen Chosen," Haviv’s supportive Minnesota community. It is dedicated to the memory of Tchelet Fishbein, who was murdered on October 7 at Kibbutz Beeri. She was 18 years old. Tchelet lived in Kibbutz Urim and worked as a babysitter in nearby Kibbutz Be’eri along the border with Gaza. When Hamas invaded Be’eri, she and her boyfriend Dor Rieder, 23, both sought refuge in the home’s safe room. In a different home, 500 meters away, her mother, brother, 94-year-old grandmother, and the grandmother’s caregiver took shelter inside a bunker. What we know about Tchelet is not only how she died, but how she lived — with an instinct to protect others. In the midst of terror, she warned others to stay safe. Her first impulse was care, responsibility, connection. In the midst of the turmoil, Fishbein relayed an urgent message from the kibbutz’s group chat to her family, cautioning them: “Hamas terrorists disguised as IDF soldiers are knocking on doors. Please do not open the doors. Protect your lives. Share." From their bunker, her relatives witnessed neighboring homes being stormed and razed. Fortunately, they all emerged unscathed. But Tchelet and her boyfriend Dor were kidnapped by Hamas and murdered en route to Gaza. She was beloved by many. Tchelet and her mom were an important part of a layered support system for others, including lone soldiers near and dear to our Minnesota community. As the family noted, there are more stories than we will ever be able to tell. Even if we spend a lifetime speaking names and preserving memories, there will always be voices interrupted, dreams unfinished, and lives whose full beauty we will never fully know. May Tchelet Fishbein’s memory be a blessing. And may we honor her — and all those whose stories remain unfinished — through the continuous work of being together and truly hearing each other." -- If you like what we do here, please consider joining our Patreon community at https://www.patreon.com/c/AskHavivAnything or our Substack at https://havivgur.substack.com/. You can also Buy Me a Coffee at buymeacoffee.com/havivrettiggur. It helps us keep the lights on. Patreon and Substack are also the platforms where you can ask the questions that guide the topics we cover on the podcast, join our great discussions where listeners share news and valuable resources, and take part in our monthly livestreams where Haviv answers your questions live. If you would like to sponsor an episode, please email us at haviv@askhavivanything.com⁠. Musical intro by Adam Ben Amitai.

Putin seems determined 'to make Russia great again' His motivations are difficult to understand but listening to historian Simon Sebag Montefiore might go some way to explaining his think ng. Simon Sebag Montefiore explains the mythic status of this eighteenth century Russian statesman, and military leader Grigory Potemkin. In this conversation recorded in London in 2000 Simon Sebag Montefiore tells David Freeman about practical politics in 18th century Russia and how Potemkin made his way in society with the help of the love of Catherine the Great. Their relationship has been told in films but the way Simon tells the story is probably more gripping and unbelievable. Simon told the story in full in his the books, Prince of Princes, and Catherine the Great and Potemkin, The Imperial Love Affair. Interesting to hear Simon say that Putin read this book and what he learned has informed his political views. This lead to the invasion of Ukraine and a significant incident when Russian troops broke into the crypt of the cathedral in Kherson and removed the bones of Grigory Potemkin. This is history to remember. Putin uses this history to justify his actions.

Increased speculation on a hostage/ceasefire deal, a disturbing account of alleged IDF misconduct in Gaza and the fallout of two shocking attacks on synagogues in Montreal and Melbourne. Plus: a conversation that ranges from Damascus to Limerick and all points in between with historian Simon Sebag Montefiore. Finally Yonit and Jonathan salute a French heroine - and decry the Syrian prisoner who never was. Join our Patreon community - a special Christmas bonus episode coming up this Tuesday! Find us on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, Linkedin, YouTube, X) 💛 Become a friend of the pod: Patreon: https://bit.ly/UnholyPatreon 🌐 Our website: https://unholy-podcast.lovable.app/ 📺 FOLLOW UNHOLY YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGlvtS7As7WHh7YtmU5SMUQ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unholypodcast/ X: https://x.com/unholypod Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/unholypod.bsky.social 🎧 LISTEN TO UNHOLY Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/il/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2m2UnLfiAyOehtF1bsv98W 🎙️ THE HOSTS Yonit Levi Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yonitleviofficial/ X: https://x.com/LeviYonit LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonit-levi/ Jonathan Freedland Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanfreedland/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jonathanfreedland.bsky.social 📩 Contact: unholy@unholy-media.com 🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/unholypod Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Increased speculation on a hostage/ceasefire deal, a disturbing account of alleged IDF misconduct in Gaza and the fallout of two shocking attacks on synagogues in Montreal and Melbourne. Plus: a conversation that ranges from Damascus to Limerick and all points in between with historian Simon Sebag Montefiore. Finally Yonit and Jonathan salute a French heroine - and decry the Syrian prisoner who never was. Join our Patreon community - a special Christmas bonus episode coming up this Tuesday! Find us on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, Linkedin, YouTube, X) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we’re thrilled to bring our Conflicted Community an interview with a guest who we all at Conflicted are great fans of – British historian Simon Sebag Montefiore! Simon is an award winning historian of bestsellers including Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, Young Stalin, The Romanovs and his most recent work, The World: A Family History. But today we are here to talk with him about the newly updated version of his 2011 book, Jerusalem: The Biography. At the one year anniversary of October 7th, there has never been a better time to discuss the pivotal place of the city of Jerusalem in the story of Israel, Palestine and the current conflict. Thomas, Aimen and Simon discuss the contested nature of the city’s history from antiquity to the modern day – and where the city lives in the imaginarium of each of their religious faiths – Islam, Christianity and Judaism. To listen to more episodes like this one, you’ll need to subscribe to the Conflicted Community. And don’t forget, subscribers can also join our Conflicted Community chatroom, where you can interact with fellow dearest listeners, discuss episodes past and future, get exclusive messages from Thomas and Aimen, ask future Q&A questions and so much more. All the information you need to sign up is on this link: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ Go to https://surfshark.com/CONFLICTEDPOD and enter the code CONFLICTEDPOD for an extra four months free. Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What does the world look like today? What can explain the many wars currently taking place around the globe? Will conflicts like the one in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestinians ever end? How dangerous is the Russian war against Ukraine? To answer these questions, Pedro Pinto interviews Simon Sebag Montefiore in this episode of “It’s Not That Simple”, a podcast by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation. In this episode, Montefiore discusses his latest book The World: A Family History of Humanity , a world history written with the grit of a biography, which uses family, the one thing all humans have in common, to tell the story of humanity, and examines how the current “world disorder” is just the end of “what we thought was the way the world normally worked”, describing this “new disorder” as a “multiplayer computer game” in which an array of continental powers and aspiring superpowers are challenging the United States. Montefiore also addresses Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7th and the war in Gaza, stating that the only way out is a "two-state solution", each with new leaderships. The bestselling author of history and novels, awarded several prizes for his previous books, including Jerusalem: The Biography , Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar and The Romanovs , then expresses his concerns about the danger of nuclear proliferation, before considering the Russian invasion Ukraine and why the West must help the latter in fighting of the former. Finally, Montefiore delves into what might happen if Donald Trump is once again elected President of the United States in the 2024 election, in a conversation well worth listening to. More on this topic Montefiore’s essay in The Atlantic on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Montefiore’s interview on CNN Portugal Montefiore discussing his book The World: A Family History of Humanity at The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center in New York An interview with Montefiore on The World: A Family History of Humanity Montefiore on “ The Power of Family Dynasties ” An interview with Montefiore about his book Jerusalem: The Biography Catherine the Great and Potemkin, Simon Sebag Montefiore, 2001 Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, Simon Sebag Montefiore, 2003 Young Stalin, Simon Sebag Montefiore, 2007 Monsters: History's Most Evil Men and Women, Simon Sebag Montefiore, 2008 Jerusalem: The Biography, Simon Sebag Montefiore, 2011 Titans of History, Simon Sebag Montefiore, 2012 The Romanovs 1613–1918, Simon Sebag Montefiore, 2016 The World: A Family History of Humanity, Simon Sebag Montefiore, 2022

The war intensifies with Israel’s ground incursion into Gaza, a Palestinian death toll now estimated to be above 8,000 and still no word on the 240 Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Yonit and Jonathan discuss Benjamin Netanyahu’s tweeted – and then deleted - attempt to divert the blame for Israel’s vulnerability on 7 October to others, the increasing US pressure on Israel over its conduct of the war and the phenomenal volunteer movement that has reshaped Israeli civil society in a matter of weeks. Plus: they talk to Muli Segev, the man behind Eretz Nehederet, the acclaimed TV satire show which has become essential viewing for Israelis, even at a time of war – and to award-winning historian Simon Sebag Montefiore, on why “decolonisation” theory gets the Israel-Palestine conflict so badly wrong. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 💛 Become a friend of the pod: Patreon: https://bit.ly/UnholyPatreon 🌐 Our website: https://unholy-podcast.lovable.app/ 📺 FOLLOW UNHOLY YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGlvtS7As7WHh7YtmU5SMUQ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unholypodcast/ X: https://x.com/unholypod Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/unholypod.bsky.social 🎧 LISTEN TO UNHOLY Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/il/podcast/unholy-two-jews-on-the-news/id1548441108 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2m2UnLfiAyOehtF1bsv98W 🎙️ THE HOSTS Yonit Levi Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yonitleviofficial/ X: https://x.com/LeviYonit LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonit-levi/ Jonathan Freedland Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathanfreedland/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jonathanfreedland.bsky.social 📩 Contact: unholy@unholy-media.com 🔗 All links: https://linktr.ee/unholypod Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Send us Fan Mail This interview was recorded live at Blossom Book House, Bangalore. Many years ago I saw a TV commercial that stuck with me. It showed a montage—sepia tinted portraits of older couples, with rather interesting last names: Alois and Klara Hitler Beso Jughashvili and Ekaterine Geladze (Josef Stalin’s parents) Andruta and Marie Ceausescu (parents of Nikolai Ceausescu, the genocidal leader of Romania.) And a few similar others. And then the punchline “If only these people had heard of Trojan condoms.” This commercial spoke a truth—that families are involved and responsible for the good ones and the monsters alike. We have heard much of the campaigns and conquests and cruelties of world leaders and we have read stories of incidents that might have influenced their growing years. But history is rather quiet on the roles their mothers played. Yes, what about Mom? How did Mom mess with their heads? The most definitive record of this truth—that is the family’s role in history—is written by Simon Seabag Montefiore in his book, " The World—A Family History ". Simon’s book opens with the discovery of footprints. In 2013, a storm lashed the coast of eastern England in Norfolk at a village called Happisburg and uncovered these footprints. They found out that these footprints were left behind at least 850,000 years ago by a small group of humans and children— and that is the first evidence of a family. A blurb in Simon’s book says that from the beginning of history through the present, the one thing that humanity has in common is family. The World—A Family History reveals how the family unit has driven history—from the prehistoric homo antecessors of Happisburg to the modern days—the Trump family included. The book has such a huge span. In about 1300 pages it takes us through recorded history as we know it and in a never done before narrative, presents the history of the world through the families that have caused and created history in every corner of the world. This book is nothing short of a modern day epic. To those who have not had the pleasure of reading Simon Sebag Montefiore, let me say that his narrative is not only deep but gripping. And don't let the size of the book fool you. It is unputdownable and call me if it doesn’t go faster than binge-watching Game of Thrones with as much guts, gore and sex. I have been given the honour of bringing to you this prolific and hugely entertaining historian. ABOUT SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE Montefiore is the internationally bestselling author of prize-winning books that have been published in 48 languages. Catherine the Great & Potemkin, The Court of the Red Tsar, Young Stalin, Jerusalem: The Biography, and The Romanovs: 1613-1918. He is the author of the Moscow Trilogy of novels: Sashenka, Red Sky at Noon and One Night in Winter. He also wrote Written in History: Letters that Changed the World and Voices of History: Speeches that Changed the World. You can get a special 20% discount at Blossom Book House on Church St in Bangalore. Or you can it order it from them here: The World: A Family History : https://explo.in/3Yy2UxN or better, here: https://explo.in/3XcUP0r . WHAT'S THAT WORD?! Co-host Pranati "Pea" Madhav joins Ramjee Chandran in "What's That Word?!", where they discuss the interesting origins of the word, "CONDOM". WANT TO BE ON THE SHOW? Reach us by mail: theliterarycity@explocity.com or simply, tlc@explocity.com. Or here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theliterarycity Or here: <a href='https://www.instagram.com/expl

This week's guest is the worldwide bestselling historian Simon Sebag Montefiore, and he's joined me to discuss his new book, The World: A Family History . We look into the family and why that is a great lens to look at history, as well as focussing in on a few of the families featured, including Alexander the Great's, the Prophet Mohammed's family, the Romanov family and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran. We also talk about recent developments in Iran and Ukraine and his musical playlist which is the soundtrack to his book. Links are below. Simon Sebag Montefiore Links The World: A Family History Simon's Playlist on Spotify Simon on Twitter Aspects of History Links Ollie on Twitter Alexander the Great in the Dock - Aspects of History Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

My guest this week is Simon Sebag Montefiore, a dear friend of mine, a famous British historian, novelist, and award-winning author, whose books are published in 48 languages. We talk about books and discuss the unique way he tells history through people's lives and relationships.

Jerusalem is back in the news. Donald Trump announced that the USA is going to recognise it as the capital of Israel. Then again for the last 3000 years it has rarely been out of the news. In this episode we talk to the historian Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of 'Jerusalem: the biography' about this remarkable city. He explains why it is sacred to three religions and why it has so often found itself on the front line of the great conflicts that have shaped the history of the Middle East and the wider world. Audio: Pete Dennis

Historian and novelist Simon Sebag Montefiore joins Paul Smith in the Penguin studio to talk about the final instalment in his Moscow trilogy, Red Sky At Noon. He chooses objects including a machete and a Russian doll as he talks about researching the role of the Russian cavalry in the Second World War, reveals why he loves writing about love, and explains why Donald Trump has a schoolboy crush on Vladimir Putin. #PenguinPodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Author of the bestseller, “Jerusalem: The Biography,” Simon Sebag Montefiore speaks of the world's most contested place through the lives of those who created, destroyed, conquered, wrote about and believed in the Holy City of Jerusalem. Series: "Taubman Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 23503]