Curated lectures, interviews, and talks with philosophers, social scientists, and historians together in one place. Each week, we explore brand new research in history, economics, psychology, political science, philosophy, indigenous studies, and human rights while presenting the work of canonical scholars in a way that is accessible to newcomers while retaining interest for students and specialists. If you are an author in nonfiction or a scholar in the humanities/social sciences and are interested in being interviewed for the show please email me at williamengels@substack.com or @Bluesky.
Hemlock #49: Three Passions feat. Bertrand Russell WARNING CONTAINS SOUNDS OF HUMAN BODY DRINKING
A few reflections on Bertrand Arthur William Russell, Third Earl and author of some of my favorite books.
30 Mar 2026TRANSCRIPT
Hemlock #48 Peace in Iran: Jack Kennedy from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists talks Strait of Hormuz, Petroyuan, Albert Camus, Strategic Bombing, French and Israeli Nuke Programs, Kissinger
Nuclear Risk Editorial Fellow Jack Kennedy https://jackkennedy.ie/about/ (https://jackkennedy.ie/about/) comes back for the second time to talk Strait of Hormuz, Israel's nuclear option, NATO proliferation risks, Nixon, Kissinger, and Vietnam. "Belt of radioactive cobalt" mentioned. By the way, ships are already paying in Yuan to access the Strait, and the IRGC has confirmed control of a working route through the Strait - if you pay in Chinese money... (https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/iran-running-a-toll-booth-regime-in-strait-of-hormuz-getting-paid-in-yuan-experts-say/)
Follow Jack on Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/jackkennedy.ie)
Follow Will on Substack (https://williamengels.substack.com/) - by the way, if you haven't rated the show on Spotify or Apple, please do so. The algo is suppressing my ratings to some degree. The Patreon version of this show (https://www.patreon.com/c/HemlockPatreon) has better music.
Sources Mentioned:
Iran’s Parliament working on bill to impose fees on ships in Strait of Hormuz (March 26 2026, AP) (https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/iran-parliament-on-fees-on-ships-in-strait-of-hormuz-bill/article70789044.ece)
Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski (Carter Admin, Operation Cyclone) admits to using Mujahedeen fighters to create quagmire for Soviets (https://www.marxists.org/history/afghanistan/archive/brzezinski/1998/interview.htm#:~:text=B%3A%20Regret%20what,the%20Soviet%20empire.) - Jan 1998
Poland seeks as much autonomy as possible in terms of nuclear arms, Tusk says (https://www.reuters.com/world/poland-seeks-much-autonomy-possible-terms-nuclear-arms-tusk-says-2026-03-03/) (Reuters, March 3 2026)
Not One Inch - M. E. Sarotte (https://a.co/d/08rVLscA)
Governing From the Skies by Thomas Hippler (https://a.co/d/05VXWiTv)
The Samson Option by Seymour Hersh (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samson_Option#:~:text=The%20Samson%20Option%20(,retaliation.%5B4%5D)
WAS IT OBLITERATION? The US attack on Iran may not have wiped out its nuclear ambitions but it did set them back years by Seymour Hersh (https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/was-it-obliteration)
Camus editorial after Hiroshima (Aug 8th 1945) (https://williamengels.substack.com/p/the-world-is-what-it-is-which-isnt)
In The Loop (2009 British Diplomatic Comedy) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Loop)
The Thick of It (Also British Political Comedy) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thick_of_It)
Inside the Kremlin's Cold War by Zubok and Pleshakov
1890 treatise Alfred Thayer Mahan The Influence of Sea Power on History (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Influence_of_Sea_Power_upon_History)
Music and Image Credits:
Didn't Know What I Was In For by Better Oblivion Community Center (https://youtu.be/CJU6k9QfCiY)
Curb Your Enthusiasm Song Cover (YouTube) (https://youtu.be/UeNyf6QSbUw?si=VlqVlRUMb5BstuZq)
Cover Image: by Domiri Ganji (https://domiri.eu/galleries/ceilings/)(permission requested)
General
Operation Unthinkable (Churchill) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Unthinkable)
Arkangel Intervention / North Russia intervention (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Russia_intervention)
Human Remains in Space over Navajo Objections (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/human-remains-are-headed-to-the-moon-despite-objections/)
The Algiers Putsch 1961 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algiers_putsch_of_1961)
Operation Vulture (US Nuclear Negotiation with France over Dien Bien Phu, 1954, Dulles and Radford) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Vulture#:~:text=The%20plan%20included%20an,nuclear%20option%20his%20backing)
1979 Vela Incident (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vela_incident)
25 Mar 2026TRANSCRIPT
Hemlock #47: Teaching Nagasaki feat. Franco Castro Escobar - Disaster Storytelling, Youth Antinuclear Education in Japan, Militarism and Nuclear Abolition, Iris Chang, & The Bells of Nagasaki
Hiroshima rages while Nagasaki prays. FULL EPISODE DESCRIPTION ON PATREON (https://www.patreon.com/posts/hemlock-47-feat-153891693?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link)
I'm joined for a second time by friend of the show Franco Castro Escobar (https://www.fcastroescobar.com/), a PhD researcher at Keele University in the UK. This time we discuss life in Nagasaki before, during, and after the nuclear attack, trauma and education, the developmental origins of youth antinuclear activists, hibaku Maria and the destruction of the Urakami Cathedral, Iwo Jima and the Pacific Theater, disaster storytelling and kataribe, militarism in San Diego, efforts to rewrite and suppress history in Japan, Iris Chang and Nanking, and American imperial activities vis a vis the dreaded "counterproliferation" - empowering allies to acquire nuclear weapons or attack adversary states with nuclear breakout potential as an alternative to diplomacy.
We also talk about the beautiful camphor trees in Nagasaki, many of which are still alive today despite being charred and cracked by nuclear blast, the longstanding commitment to nonviolence and prayer as an alternative to hatred in Nagasaki, and some important poetry and theology connected to the hibakusha (atomic bomb survivor) movement that expresses the 'ultimate aspiration' of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to be the last cities attacked by atomic bombs as we transition to a more peaceful world, one that must be free of nuclear weapons and threats of their retention and use.
This episode aims to answer a few questions that ought to be important to all of us, namely:
How can children be taught the truth about the historical effects and current reality of nuclear weapons proliferation?
Why did the United States really attack Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
How do religious beliefs (and the lack thereof) influence how people interpret collective tragedies and respond?
SHOW NOTES
Franco's article Youth antinuclear socialisation in Japan: early encounters with the concept of nuclear weapons (https://igjr.org/ojs/index.php/igjr/article/view/8781)
Urakami Cathedral, largest Catholic cathedral in Asia
Book: The Bells of Nagasaki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bells_of_Nagasaki)by Takashi Nagai (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bells_of_Nagasaki)
Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition (https://www.recna.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/recna/en-top?doing_wp_cron=1774426752.7496581077575683593750)
Kataribe Storytelling
Disaster Storytelling
Minamata Mercury Poisoning Scandal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minamata_disease)
Barefoot Gen (Best Hiroshima teaching resource for kids, acc to Franco, genre: Anime and Manga) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barefoot_Gen)
Book: Nagasaki by Susan Southard
Book: Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadako_and_the_Thousand_Paper_Cranes)by Eleanor Coerr (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadako_and_the_Thousand_Paper_Cranes)
Book: Flags of Our Fathers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_of_Our_Fathers)by James Bradley (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_of_Our_Fathers)
Book: When We Say Hiroshima: Selected Poems (https://press.umich.edu/Books/W/When-We-Say-Hiroshima)by Kurihara Sadako (https://press.umich.edu/Books/W/When-We-Say-Hiroshima)
Book: Command and Control by Eric Schlosser
Book: Nuclear War: A Scenario by Anne Jacobsen
Book: The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang
The 1971 Blood Telegram (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archer_Blood#The_Blood_Telegram:~:text=Our%20government%20has,free%20world.) (Bangladesh Genocide/US State Dept)
Music Credit (Fair Use Asserted by Author): 福山雅治 - クスノキ-500年の風に吹かれて-（KUSUNOKI PROJECT ver.） https://youtu.be/JumRmUwmOgs (https://youtu.be/JumRmUwmOgs)
Inside a recent episode
Hemlock #49: Three Passions feat. Bertrand Russell WARNING CONTAINS SOUNDS OF HUMAN BODY DRINKING
Published 1 Apr 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] And, uh, so he gets raised by his, uh, his grandmother and his grandfather. and he got along pretty well with his grandfather, and then his grandfather died when he was seven, and so that just left his grandmother. Who is his grandmother? Picture the most prudish, disdainful, sneering, condescending, stiff, rigid, unfeeling, Victorian, you know, Jane Austen background, frowning, matron-esque character, and that's about the person that raised Bertrand Russell from the time, solely exclusively from the time when he was seven. And what was interesting is that every single thing that Russell liked, like every single one of them, he likes French impressionist painting, he likes the poetry of Percy Shelley, he likes Milton, he likes Blake, he likes anything that's fresh off the press. […]
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