On this episode of the Authors of History Podcast, I’m joined by historian and author Sam Wetherell.
Sam is a historian of Britain and the world based at the University of York, where he teaches and writes about modern British history. His work explores cultural and urban history, race and the environment – and how the places we build shape the lives we lead.
He is the author of two books. His first, Foundations: How the Built Environment Made Twentieth-Century Britain, was published by Princeton University Press in 2020.
His latest, Liverpool: A story of Britain, was published by Head of Zeus/Bloomsbury in 2025 and has been shortlisted for the prestigious 2026 Wolfson History Prize, with the winner to be announced on 1 December 2026.
Alongside his books, Sam writes The History Factory, a semi-regular Substack newsletter.
Sam recommends that we should read The Work of the Dead: A Cultural History of Mortal Remains by Thomas W. Laqueur
Sam recomends we should check out the independant book shop East Bristol Books (https://eastbristolbooks.co.uk/)
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