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Andrew Roberts

Andrew Roberts is presently the Roger and Martha Mertz Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, a Visiting Professor at the War Studies Department at King’s College, London, and the Lehrman Institute Lecturer at the New-York Historical Society. His latest book is George III: The Last King of America

Series

3 Whisky Happy Hour, 2 episodesNot Dead Yet, 1 episodeThe Ricochet Podcast, 4 episodes

Recent Episodes

The Ricochet Podcast
The Ricochet Podcast

Treats, s’il vous plaît!

Steve and James embrace the Halloween mindset with a chat about a cast of characters who transcend space, time, and barriers of language and even reality. They brace themselves for the midterms, swap a couple scary movie suggestions, and offer a proper send-off to Sir Patrick Stewart. The inestimable biographer Andrew Roberts joins to discuss his latest work, Napoleon and His Marshals: Victory, Rivalry, Betrayal. Along with detailing the extraordinary talent behind the Grande Armée, the trio draws attention to parallels that contemporary expansionists, visionaries, and magalomaniacs would do well to remember. (And speaking of treats, be sure to get your code for a whopping discount on a Ricochet subscription for your first year!) Opening sound this week: The late Sir Patrick Stewart at Just for Laughs in Montréal in 2015. Closing music: "Space Journey," by Daniel Inrem via MotionArray.

Hosted by James Lileks and Steve Hayward

Organization:
Ricochet

August 2026

Not Dead Yet
Not Dead Yet

Andrew Roberts

The guys get fancy when Andrew Roberts, Baron Roberts of Belgravia, joins the pod. (Again with the historians.) The guys talk about Churchill and the Special Relationship between the United States and Great Britain. What was Churchill’s political philosophy? What did the wilderness years teach him? What’s the deal with the “Black Dog” anyway? And who would win in a cage match: Teddy Roosevelt or Winston Churchill?

Hosted by BSBen Sasse and CSChris Stirewalt

Organization:
American Enterprise Institute

March 2022

The Ricochet Podcast
The Ricochet Podcast

Churchillian

What's the Ricochet Podcast to do when the world insists on calamity? We invite one of the leading historians in the English speaking world and a former National Security Advisor, that's what. Joining the fellas in our opening chat is Andrew Roberts. He reports from Eastern Europe to tell us about his recent trip to Ukraine, and, as the Churchill expert, to give his take on the comparisons between the hero of World War II and President Zelensky. Next, lieutenant general H.R. McMaster returns to assess the war in Ukraine. The hosts have him try on a couple strategic hats to help us size up the enemies of the free world. (Be sure to check out his new web series Battlegrounds, available on Youtube!) The hosts chat about San Francisco's boycotting most of the U.S. over laws they don't like, and Rob tells us about his wonderful get together in New Haven with Ricochet members ctlaw, Jack Mantle and KirkianWanderer. Want in on the good times? Wanna know the recipe for Bryan Stephen's award-winning Spicy Whiskey Sour? Join Ricochet, why don't ya?! Music from this week's podcast: War by Edwin Starr

Hosted by James Lileks, Peter Robinson, and Rob Long

Organization:
Ricochet

December 2021

The Ricochet Podcast
The Ricochet Podcast

You’ll Be Back

It's our last regular episode of 2021, but fear not! We'll be back... With us today is historian Andrew Roberts, author of The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of George III. Roberts takes us through the many inaccuracies that have captivated modern imagination and loomed over his legacy. We get into George, the man; why Great Britain lost; how the Georgian records are relevant to contemporary culture war debates; as well as some fascinating 'What ifs?' Also, the fellas go over Progressive leaders beginning to talk tough on crime; they wonder why after two years, nobody really knows much about Covid; and they look ahead to 2022 with some hope. And be sure to join our co-founders Peter Robinson and Rob Long on Tuesday, Dec. 21, 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT for a members-only Q&A! For those of you who haven't already, join the party by signing up here! Music from this week's podcast: You'll Be Back by Jonathan Groff and Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton and Happy Holidays by Bing Crosby from the 1942 film, Holiday Inn.

Hosted by James Lileks, Peter Robinson, and Rob Long

Organization:
Ricochet

July 2019

3 Whisky Happy Hour
3 Whisky Happy Hour

Andrew Roberts Unplugged, on Brexit, Churchill, Trump, and Historiography

One of my teachers in graduate school, the great constitutional historian Leonard Levy, insisted that “a history must serve its readers with explanations that suit the horizons of their curiosity and with writing that entertains and stirs them.” No one exemplifies that vivid style of biography and history better than Andrew Roberts. I caught up with Andrew in San Francisco this week, where we had a wide-ranging conversation about Churchill, biographical writing, Brexit, Trump, and the prospects for Boris Johnson. Our conversation was held in front of a live audience, so it has some "authenticity," as we might say.

Hosted by Steve Hayward

Organization:
Ricochet

December 2018

The Ricochet Podcast
The Ricochet Podcast

1,000 Points of Light

We're a day late (but not a dollar short) and we've got two host on the high seas, so we call on our good pal Steven Hayward (the host of the Powerline Podcast) to sit in with Peter Robinson. Later, the great biographer Andrew Roberts joins to chat about his fantastic new book Churchill: Walking with Destiny, Brexit, and the rioting in France. Also, Mueller time, and is it curtains for The Weekly Standard? We certainly hope not. Music from this week's episode: My Friend George by Lou Reed

Hosted by Peter Robinson and Steve Hayward

Organization:
Ricochet
3 Whisky Happy Hour
3 Whisky Happy Hour

‘Historians in Cars’: Andrew Roberts on Historical Writing and Churchill

The distinguished British historian and biographer Andrew Roberts has just released Churchill: Walking With Destiny, which the New York Times (along with several other prominent publications) has called "the best one-volume biography of Churchill ever written." Steve Hayward borrowed a page from Jerry Seinfeld's "Comedians in Cars" and interviewed Andrew during a car ride (maybe we should start a rival series, "Historians in Cars"?), about historical writing in general, the secret behind Andrew's truly extraordinary productivity as a writer (it was only four years ago that he came out with a massive biography of Napoleon), and his favorite Churchill jokes. The bumper music this week is highly appropriate: "Fools Overture" by the 1970s progressive rock group Supertramp, which features a few sentences from Churchill's "fight on the beaches" speech of June 4, 1940, and lyrics by Supertramp keyboardist and lead singer Roger Hodgson that evoke those epic times.

Hosted by Steve Hayward

Organization:
Ricochet