I could talk to the erudite and interesting Walter McDougall for hours. In fact, I have talked to him for hours. But last week we restricted ourselves to ten minutes, or thereabouts, and I’m happy to share a video of that brief conversation with you here.
Walter is, of course, the acclaimed historian who penned The Mighty Continent: A Candid History of Modern Europe, which you can order here. (Reminder: subscribe to our email list and get a 30% off discount code—for any and all your purchases on the Creed & Culture site.)
In our interview—video here—I ask Walter three questions:
- In your preface, you mention how the academic discipline of history today has been distorted by, for lack of a better word, wokeness. How has that ideological approach affected our view of Europe and European history?
- You weave two fundamental conceptual threads throughout your narrative: themis and techne. What do you mean by these terms and how do they help us understand European history?
- What is something that most people—not just academics—misunderstand or don’t appreciate about the story of modern Europe?
As you will see, Walter gives characteristically thoughtful answers.
