Bill Robinson

From the center of imperial Rome to the farthest reaches of ancient Britain, Gaul, and Spain, amphitheaters marked the landscape of the Western Roman Empire. Built to bring Roman institutions and the spectacle of Roman power to conquered people, many still remain as witnesses to the extent and control of the empire. In this audiobook, Alison Futrell explores the arena as a key social and political institution for binding Rome and its provinces.

The story of how a primate species created a world full of skyscrapers, airplanes, nuclear weapons, and vaccines. From the mass production of cotton weaving in the first industrial revolution of the 18th Century, to the digital revolution of today, this podcast will explore the ways our world has rapidly changed.

The heroic story of the founding of the US Navy during the Revolution has been told many times, yet largely missing from maritime histories of America's first war is the ragtag fleet of private vessels that truly revealed the new nation's character. In Rebels at Sea, Eric Jay Dolin corrects that significant omission, and contends that privateers, as they were called, were in fact critical to the American victory. Privateers were privately owned vessels that were granted permission by the new government to seize British merchantmen and men of war.