The Conflict and Culture Podcast

The dramatic arrest of Nicolás Maduro on January 3 2026, seized by U.S. forces in Caracas and brought to New York to face narcotics and narco-terrorism charges, has shocked the hemisphere and intensified debate over U.S.–Latin America relations. From the Monroe Doctrine’s 1823 assertion that European powers should stay out of the Americas, the U.S. has long justified interventions as protecting its interests and security. U.S. policies in Central America during the 20th century, through support for coups and anti-communist regimes, deepened regional resentment. Modern engagements, exemplified by Venezuela, and and policy rhetoric such as the so-called Trump Corollary, reflect a complex legacy of power, sovereignty, and geopolitics between the United States and its southern neighbours. Alejandro Velasco teaches Latin American history at New York University, where he is Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Faculty. He is the author of Barrio Rising: Urban Popular Politics and the Making of Modern Venezuela, and a frequent contributor in media with op-eds and commentary in The New York Times, NPR, The Guardian, the BBC, the CBC, Al Jazeera, and NACLA, among others. 

The Crusades are often imagined as a simple clash between Christians and Muslims, but this view oversimplifies a far more complex reality. Religious belief certainly mattered, yet crusaders were motivated by many factors beyond faith, including political ambition, economic opportunity, social advancement, and personal survival. Neither side was unified. Christian forces frequently fought among themselves, and Muslim rulers were deeply divided by regional rivalries and dynastic conflicts. These divisions meant that alliances sometimes crossed religious boundaries, with Christian and Muslim leaders cooperating against shared enemies. Over time, the nature of the Crusades also changed: campaigns originally framed as pilgrimages evolved into wars of conquest, political struggles, and even attacks on other Christian cities, such as the sack of Constantinople in 1204. Local populations further complicate the picture, as Eastern Christians, Muslims, and Jews often navigated the conflict pragmatically rather than ideologically. Taken together, the Crusades were not a simple binary struggle, but a tangled web of competing interests and shifting loyalties. To dive deep into this history we have brought on historian Niall Christie.Niall Christie received his PhD in Islamic history from the University of St Andrews in 2000, with a thesis focusing on representations of Europeans in Middle Eastern texts during the early crusading period. Currently, he teaches the history of medieval and early modern Europe, the history of the Muslim world, and world history at Langara College. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Program of Medieval Studies at the University of Victoria.  Niall's research continues to focus on interactions between the Middle East and Europe in the Middle Ages, about which he has published a number of articles and books, including The Book of the Jihad of 'Ali ibn Tahir al-Sulami (d. 1106): Text, Translation and Commentary (published in 2015); and Muslims and Crusaders: Christianity's Wars in the Middle East, 1095-1382, from the Islamic Sources, which is currently in its 2nd edition (published in 2020).    Don't forget to check out Curious Canadian History! The other Canyon Entertainment podcast hosted by David Borys For ad-free content sign up to Patreon today! The Conflict and Culture Podcast at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheConflictandCulturePodcast You can purchase a copy of Punching Above Our Weight: The Canadian Military at War Since 1867 right now at the below links: AmazonIndigoDundurnGoodreadsIndiebookstores.ca

Music has long been a powerful mirror of cultural trends. During America’s controversial involvement in the Vietnam War, popular music became a key arena for expressing both support and opposition. Pro-war songs often highlighted patriotism, duty, and solidarity with soldiers, reinforcing traditional ideals. Meanwhile, anti-war artists used their music to question government decisions, mourn the human cost, and rally a growing peace movement. Together, these contrasting voices revealed a nation divided, showing how American popular music not only reflected history but actively shaped public conversation during a turbulent era. To help us dive safely into this melodic menage of cultural history we have brought on Dr Justin A. Brummer . Justin is the founding editor of the Vietnam War Song Project (VWSP) since 2007, based in Austin, TX, a unique cultural-historical archive, cataloguing, analysing, and digitising 6000+ songs that reference the Vietnam War, as well as the acquisition of original vinyl records and other physical sources. He is co-author of the discography Vietnam on Record at the University of Maryland, and has featured in prominent news and history outlets, including the BBC, PBS, NPR, Shindig!, Military.com, the Journal of TX Music History, and History Today. The archive for the Vietnam War Song Project is hosted on RYM. Songs are posted on the YouTube channel of the same name. Project updates are on Bluesky and Instagram.  Don't forget to check out Curious Canadian History! The other Canyon Entertainment podcast hosted by David Borys For ad-free content sign up to Patreon today! The Conflict and Culture Podcast at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheConflictandCulturePodcast You can purchase a copy of Punching Above Our Weight: The Canadian Military at War Since 1867 right now at the below links: AmazonIndigoDundurnGoodreadsIndiebookstores.ca

The invasion of Iraq in 2003 was undeniably a controversial global war, despite the formation of a ‘Coalition of the Willing.’ Leading this coalition was certainly the United States, but ardently supporting them was Great Britain. The war itself caused immense destabilization in Iraq and had profound ramifications for middle east stability. Yet, when the 20th anniversary of the war arrived, British media wrote about it in such a way as to eschew all responsibility for their coverage of the war and pin the unpopularity on the government and political/military decision making at the time. To explore how the British media wrote about the Iraq war at the time of the conflicts 20th anniversary is to explore a media legacy that was largely uncritical of its own role in covering the conflict. Catriona Pennell is our guest today and she is going to unpack this complex issue and dive into the media’s role when it comes to modern conflict and help us understand how the media chooses to remember, or not remember, aspects of their own culpability when a nation goes to war. Don't forget to check out Curious Canadian History! The other Canyon Entertainment podcast hosted by David Borys For ad-free content sign up to Patreon today! The Conflict and Culture Podcast at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheConflictandCulturePodcast You can purchase a copy of Punching Above Our Weight: The Canadian Military at War Since 1867 right now at the below links: AmazonIndigoDundurnGoodreadsIndiebookstores.ca

The Apache are a collection of Southern-Athabaskan speaking Indigenous peoples who historically inhabited what is now the American southwest and Mexico. They are popularly known for their historical resistance to US expansion as well as their constant state of conflict with the state of Mexico. Some historians even claim that the Apache are the first insurgents ever encountered by the American army. Their tactics and approach to war speaks of a people that equate warfare with total societal war, meaning everyone in the community plays a role and their spirituality, their economy, politics and social interactions all contribute to the Apache way of war.   To help us dive into this subject our guest today is Robert Watt. Robert is a military historian with research interests in the North American Indian Wars 1750-1886 with a primary focus on the Apache Wars of 1860-1886 and, in particular, the study of the Victorio Campaign of 1877-1881. He has written a trilogy of books on the Victorio Campaign of 1877-1881 (2017-2019), several academic articles on the Apache and the US Army, and two Osprey books on Apache Tactics and ‘Apache Warrior’. His article on Victorio’s Tres Castillos campaign was awarded a Moncado Prize by the Society of Military History in 2017. Don't forget to check out Curious Canadian History! The other Canyon Entertainment podcast hosted by David Borys For ad-free content sign up to Patreon today! The Conflict and Culture Podcast at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheConflictandCulturePodcast You can purchase a copy of Punching Above Our Weight: The Canadian Military at War Since 1867 right now at the below links: AmazonIndigoDundurnGoodreadsIndiebookstores.ca

On October 26th news broke of the passing of Canadian historian Tim Cook. Tim was a leading voice in the field of Canadian military history and the chief historian and director of research at the Canadian War museum. He is someone I personally have known for most of my academic career and he has been a mentor at times for me during a variety of ups and downs throughout my career. In August I had the pleasure of interviewing Tim about his most recent book The Good Allies, and with the news of his passing I thought it fitting to release this episode right away.When the Second World War broke out in 1939, it set in motion a deadly struggle between the Axis powers and the Allies, but also fraught negotiations between and among the Allies. On questions of diplomacy, economic policy, industrial might, military capabilities, and even national sovereignty, thousands of lives and the fate of the free world depended on back-room deals and desperate trade-offs between soldiers, diplomats, and leaders.In North America, Canada and the US strained to forge a new military alliance to guard their coasts and fend off German U-boats and the menace of a Japanese invasion. Wartime economies were entwined to produce a staggering contribution of weapons to keep Britain and other allies in the war. The defence of North America against enemy threats was essential before the US and Canada could send armies, navies, and air forces overseas Don't forget to check out Curious Canadian History! The other Canyon Entertainment podcast hosted by David Borys For ad-free content sign up to Patreon today! The Conflict and Culture Podcast at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheConflictandCulturePodcast You can purchase a copy of Punching Above Our Weight: The Canadian Military at War Since 1867 right now at the below links: AmazonIndigoDundurnGoodreadsIndiebookstores.ca

The Sacred Band of Thebes was an elite military unit of 300 highly trained heavy infantry soldiers (hoplites), famously composed of 150 pairs of male lovers. Formed in the 4th century BCE the Thebans, who came from a uniquely gay-tolerant society, believed that soldiers would fight more ferociously to protect their partners and to avoid showing cowardice in front of them. They were not wrong. The Sacred Band quickly became the shock troops of the Theban army and one of the most dominant phalanx formations of the Ancient Greek world. While most people think of the Spartans when they think of Greek military excellence in the classical world most would also be surprised to know that the Sacred Band went on to not only defeat the Spartans but establish Thebes as a dominant, albeit short-term, power in Greece.James Romm is Professor of Classics at Bard College and author of numerous books on Greek history and culture, including, Plato and the Tyrant: The Fall of Greece's Greatest Dynasty and the Making of a Philosophic Masterpiece (Norton). Most recently he has published his biography of Demosthenes as part of Yale's Ancient Lives series. Don't forget to check out Curious Canadian History! The other Canyon Entertainment podcast hosted by David Borys You can purchase a copy of Punching Above Our Weight: The Canadian Military at War Since 1867 right now at the below links: AmazonIndigoDundurnGoodreadsIndiebookstores.ca   

Illustration has been an integral part of human history. Particularly before the advent of media such as photography, film, television, and now the Internet, illustrations in all their variety had been the primary visual way to convey history. The comic book, which emerged in its modern form in the 1930s, was another form of visual entertainment that gave readers, especially children, a form of escape. As World War II began, however, comic books became a part of propaganda as well, providing information and education for both children and adults. Comic books were widely disseminated amongst soldiers and became an integral form of media consumption for much of the conflict and for decades after.To dive into this subject we have brought on historian Cord A. Scott. Cord has a Doctorate in American History from Loyola University Chicago and currently serves as a professor of history for the University of Maryland Global Campus for Asia. He is the author of Comics and Conflict, Four Colour Combat, and The Mud and the Mirth: Marine Corps comics of WWI. He has written for several encyclopedias, academic journals such as the International Journal of Comic Art, the Journal of Popular Culture, the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, and in several books on aspects of cultural history. He resides in Okinawa, Japan. Don't forget to check out Curious Canadian History! The other Canyon Entertainment podcast hosted by David Borys You can purchase a copy of Punching Above Our Weight: The Canadian Military at War Since 1867 right now at the below links: AmazonIndigoDundurnGoodreadsIndiebookstores.ca