No, Not That Napoleon | Interview: Edward Shawcross

Jonah Goldberg scratches an intellectual itch in this 90-minute interview with British historian Edward Shawcross to discuss the rise and fall of Napoleon III. Is this the start of modern politics? Can we compare Trump to this unlikely political victor? Are elites and foreign powers the favorite boogeymen of populists everywhere? Stay tuned for a brief history lesson and indulgent wonkery. Show Notes: Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief and co-founder of The Dispatch, based in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, enormous lizards roamed the Earth. More immediately prior to that, Jonah spent two decades at National Review, where he was a senior editor, among other things. He is also a bestselling author, longtime columnist for the Los Angeles Times, commentator for CNN, and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. When he is not writing the G-File or hosting The Remnant podcast, he finds real joy in family time, attending to his dogs and cat, and blaming Steve Hayes for various things. The podcast transcription below was generated using artificial intelligence and may include occasional errors or misspellings. Jonah Goldberg 0:14 Ladies and gentlemen. Edward Shawcross 0:16 Could I please have your attention? Can you dig it? Edward Shawcross 0:24 [crowd cheering] Ladies and gentlemen, listeners, this is Jonah Goldberg, host of the Remnant Podcast, brought to you by the Dispatch and Dispatch Media. Um, I normally don't do this, as you know. I'm recording this intro after I've had the, the forthcoming conversation, um, with Edward Shawcross. I really enjoyed it. He is a distinguished historian. He's written a bunch of books. He has his PhD from the University of College London. He focuses mostly on French imperialism in Latin America and the menta- and Mexican intellectual thought that underpinned the Mexican semper- 2nd Empire. But his most recent book is The People's Emperor: The Unlikely Rise and Spectacular Fall of Napoleon III. And those of you who have been listening very closely to recent ruminants and some other things, our Dispatch podcasts, I've been on a-- I've had a mild obsession with Napoleon III in the last, I don't know, 6 months or so. And, um, I just wanted to scratch the itch of actually getting someone on here to talk about Napoleon III. So, um, one of the things I did is I-- a couple pieces of advice. One, Edward Shawcross, Interactive transcripts are available to Premium members. Join to follow along with the audio. Join Now More We Think You’d Like