Entirely Unofficial Rest is History Catalogue and Interrogator

Contemporary Era (Post-1991)

158 Episodes 28 Series 123 Figures 41 Events 437 Books 312 Authors

The post-1991 contemporary era (1991–present) episodes examine politics, culture, sport and public health. Series include American Crusades (Christianity and US foreign policy and warfare), Australian Prime Ministers (federal leadership across the 20th–21st centuries), Disease (the history and impact of infectious disease), Great World Cup Saga (national histories framed by the FIFA World Cup) and Historical Love Island (which historical figures would fare in contemporary dating scenarios). Episodes treat topics such as historical fiction, dragons in culture, civil-war patterns and World Cup politics. Figures discussed include George Lucas, Kemi Batenock, Penny Mordaunt, Robert Reich, David Stockman, Nicholas Fraser, Satnam Sanghera and Anthony Scaramucci. Events covered include the 2014 World Cup, 2012 London opening ceremony, the 2001 UK election, the 2024 US presidential election, the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition, Redfern Park speech and Russia’s early-1990s privatization; books cited include Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Britannia Unchained, Benjamin Barber’s Jihad vs. McWorld and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.

Timeline Subway

Episodes Series Figures Events Books Authors

Episodes by year

Showing 12 of 158

2022

12 episodes

RIHC: Our greatest ever guest

This is a members-only bonus episode of The Rest Is History in which Tom Holland is joined by Jack Davenport (introduci…

RIHC: Falklands redux, 'Mrs' Thatcher, and the value of freedom

The Falklands War · Part 5

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook respond to listener feedback on their recent Falklands War episodes and broaden…

RIHC: Sussex's Joe Biden, George Orwell's school report, and Tom vs. Peter Hitchens

This bonus Rest Is History Club episode features hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook in informal member-focused con…

Oil: Conflict, Chaos and Climate Change

This episode is the second Rest Is History instalment focused on oil, featuring Helen Thompson, Professor of Political …

Oil: The Making of the Modern World

Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook interview Helen Thompson about the central role of oil in modern geopolitics. T…

RIHC: Castaway Tom in Greece, Belgium vs. Burgundy, and misleading travel guides

This is a Rest Is History bonus episode for club members in which Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook answer listener que…

RIHC: Top 10 UK PMs, Dominic Cummings in Russia and a tribute to Shane Warne

In this Rest Is History bonus episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook record an early morning members' conversation. …

Putin's Russia (Episode 4)

The End of the Soviet Union · Part 4

This is the fourth and final episode of a four-episode Rest Is History series on recent Russian history. Tom Holland an…

The Fall of the Soviet Empire (Episode 2)

The End of the Soviet Union

Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook discuss the collapse of the Soviet Union, tracing developments from the late 1980s th…

Young Putin, the KGB and the Soviet Union (Episode 1)

The End of the Soviet Union · Part 1

This episode is the first of a short multi-part series tracing the late Soviet Union, its collapse and the rise of Vlad…

Yeltsin, Economic Chaos and President Putin (Episode 3)

The End of the Soviet Union · Part 3

This episode — the third in a mini-series on recent Russian history — traces the chaotic 1990s that produced Vladimir P…

RIHC: Zelenskyy, le Carré and Tom's drive from Hamburg to Berlin

This bonus episode is a wide-ranging, informal conversation between Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook. They open discus…

Page 9 of 14 (page size 12)

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Series in this era

28 series

Great World Cup Saga

4 episodes Aired: 2022-11-17 – 2022-11-29

The End of the Soviet Union

4 episodes Aired: 2022-03-07

12 (or 13) Days of Christmas

3 episodes Aired: 2021-12-25

Historical Love Island

2 episodes Aired: 2022-07-11 – 2022-07-13

Oil

2 episodes Aired: 2022-03-24

Queen's Platinum Jubilee

2 episodes Aired: 2022-05-30

Silicon Valley

2 episodes Aired: 2021-11-27

Titanic

2 episodes Aired: 2024-03-11 – 2024-03-13

World Cup of Prime Ministers

2 episodes Aired: 2021-11-27

Afghanistan

1 episode Aired: 2021-11-27

Historical figures

123 tagged

Vladimir Putin

28 episodes

Donald Trump

17 episodes

Tony Blair

16 episodes

George W. Bush (George Walker Bush / George Walker Bush)

13 episodes

Boris Johnson

11 episodes

Diana, Princess of Wales

11 episodes

Queen Elizabeth II

11 episodes

Boris Yeltsin (Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin)

9 episodes

Charles III (King of the United Kingdom)

9 episodes

Gordon Brown

9 episodes

Historical events

41 tagged

Brexit (2016 referendum and aftermath)

15 episodes

September 11 attacks (11 September 2001)

13 episodes

Collapse of the Soviet Union (1991)

11 episodes

Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022– )

11 episodes

Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation (2014)

9 episodes

COVID-19 pandemic

9 episodes

Iraq War (2003 invasion of Iraq)

8 episodes

2022 FIFA World Cup (Qatar)

6 episodes

Scottish independence referendum (2014)

6 episodes

Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee (2022)

5 episodes

Books

437 tagged

Dominion

Author: Tom Holland

18 episodes

Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic

Author: Tom Holland

15 episodes

Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West

Author: Tom Holland

8 episodes

Pax: War and Peace in Rome's Golden Age

Author: Tom Holland

7 episodes

Tom Brown's School Days

Author: Thomas Hughes

5 episodes

Blood Meridian

Author: Cormac McCarthy

4 episodes

Flashman (series )

Author: George MacDonald Fraser

4 episodes

In the Shadow of the Sword

Author: Tom Holland

4 episodes

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Author: George Orwell

4 episodes

Bleak House

Author: Charles Dickens

3 episodes

Authors

312 tagged

Tom Holland

32 episodes

Dominic Sandbrook

11 episodes

Traditional Attribution or Various

8 episodes

Charles Dickens

7 episodes

George MacDonald Fraser

7 episodes

Robert Harris

7 episodes

Cormac McCarthy

5 episodes

Thomas Hughes

5 episodes

Francis Fukuyama

4 episodes

Robert Graves

4 episodes