Historian Brooke Newman discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Dr. Brooke Newman is an Associate Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She specializes in the history of early modern Britain and the British Atlantic, with a focus on slavery and its legacies. She is the author of the award-winning book, A Dark Inheritance: Blood, Race, and Sex in Colonial Jamaica (Yale, 2018), and The Crown's Silence: The Hidden History of Slavery and the British Monarchy (Mudlark, 2026), which is available at https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/the-crowns-silence-the-hidden-history-of-slavery-and-the-british-monarchy-brooke-newman?variant=55509554397563. Her writing and research have been featured in the Guardian, the Washington Post, Der Spiegel, and Smithsonian Magazine, and she has served as a historical expert for HBO's Last Week Tonight, Vox, the BBC, and NPR, among others.

1. The difference between historians and journalists https://www.historians.org/perspectives-article/journalists-and-historians-april-2023/
2. What it’s like to work in an archive https://www.wessexarch.co.uk/news/day-life-ofan-archivist
3. The value and limitations of archives https://slimkm.com/blog/advantages-and-limitations-of-archival-research/
4. The Stuart monarchs launched England into the transatlantic slave trade https://www.historyanswers.co.uk/kings-queens/royal-african-company-how-the-stuarts-birthed-britains-slave-trade/
5. The South Sea Company was not just a Ponzi scheme https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/South-Sea-Bubble/
6. Formerly enslaved people appealed directly to the Royal Family to abolish the slave trade https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/06/british-monarchy-ties-slavery-historical-archives-slaves

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Dean Koontz discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Dean Koontz won an Atlantic Monthly fiction competition when he was a senior in college, and has been writing ever since. Fourteen of his novels have risen to number one on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list (One Door Away From Heaven, From the Corner of His Eye, Midnight, Cold Fire, The Bad Place, Hideaway, Dragon Tears, Intensity, Sole Survivor, The Husband, Odd Hours, Relentless, What the Night Knows, and 77 Shadow Street), making him one of only a dozen writers ever to have achieved that milestone. Sixteen of his books have risen to the number one position in paperback. His books have also been major bestsellers in countries as diverse as Japan and Sweden. Many of his books have been made into films.

Dean Koontz lives in Southern California with Gerda and their golden retriever, Elsa. Dean and Gerda share a deep love of dogs. His new book is The Friend of The Family, which is available at https://www.deankoontz.com/book/the-friend-of-the-family/.

1. What quantum mechanics tells us about the strangeness of the universe. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg26635393-200-what-does-quantum-theory-really-tell-us-about-the-nature-of-reality/

2. What’s wrong with the dictum “Write what you know.” https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/mar/02/dont-write-what-you-know-write-what-you-feel-bestselling-authors-offer-tips-on-world-book-day

3. The true nature of dogs. https://www.thedogwitchwholehealthandbehaviour.com/blogs/understanding-the-true-nature-of-dogs

4. Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon https://www.caymus.com/caymus-california-cab/

5. The music of Israel Kamakawiwo’ole https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Kamakawiwo%CA%BBole

6. Creme Brulee is just a pudding. Yes it is. https://thecookful.com/creme-brulee-caramel/

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Ryan Gingeras discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Ryan Gingeras is a professor in the Institute of Regional and International Studies at the Naval Postgraduate School and is an expert in modern Eastern European and Middle East history. He is the author of seven books, including The Last Days of the Ottoman Empire and Sorrowful Shores: Violence, Ethnicity, and the End of the Ottoman Empire 1912–1923, which was shortlisted for numerous book prizes. He has published on a wide variety of topics related to history and politics in publications such as Foreign Affairs, New York Times, Washington Post, Times Literary Supplement and Foreign Policy . He currently lives with his wife and children in the Santa Cruz Mountains. His new book is Mafia: A Global History, which is available at https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Mafia-A-Global-History/Ryan-Gingeras/9781398531673.

1. Mafias should be seen as significant historical figures in the making of modern history.
2. Mafias are not as old as you think.
3. The laws that "made" mafias a global phenomenon are also not as old as you think.
4. Al Capone set the mold for the modern gangsters worldwide.
5. Coppola's The Godfather marked the critical moment in the making of modern mafias.
6. Mafias are more integrated into the workings of the modern world than ever before.

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Stuart Jeffries discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Stuart Jeffries was born in Wolverhampton in 1962. He was educated in Dudley, Oxford and London.

Stuart started his journalistic career as a cub reporter at the Birmingham Post and Mail in 1985. He used to edit the Walsall Observer's children's page under the pseudonym Uncle Tom. Later he was the jazz critic of the Morning Star under the pseudonym Lew Lewis. In 1987, he moved to the Hampstead and Highgate Express, where he had many duties, chief among which was interviewing Hampstead lady novelists, which he liked a lot.

In 1990, he started work for the Guardian, working as subeditor, TV critic, Friday Review editor, Paris correspondent and feature writer. In 2010 he took voluntary redundancy and since then has been a freelance journalist and author. His work has appeared in the Guardian, the Observer, The Spectator, the Financial Times, the Daily Telegraph, Prospect, the New Statesman. and the London Review of Books, among others. He is the author of Mrs Slocombe’s Pussy (2000), Grand Hotel Abyss (2016), and Everything, All the Time, Everywhere (2021) and A Short History of Stupidity (2025), which is available at https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=a-short-history-of-stupidity--9781509563494.

1. Several Nazis tried at Nuremberg were judged geniuses according to IQ tests.
2. IQ tests are terrible for establishing a person's stupidity or intelligence.
3. Until 1975 hysterectomies were performed on black women in certain US states to stop them breeding morons.
4. Stupidity has its uses - especially in the office.
5. Donald Trump is more stupid than he thinks he is.
6. What the prostate is.

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Pete Brown discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Pete Brown (https://petebrown.net/) is a British author, journalist, broadcaster and consultant specialising in food and drink. Since February 2025, he has been the Sunday Times Magazine’s weekly beer columnist – the only regular broadsheet newspaper or magazine beer columnist in the UK.

He is currently Chair of Judges for the World Beer Awards. He was named British Beer Writer of the Year in 2009, 2012, 2016 and 2021, has won three Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards, been shortlisted twice for the André Simon Awards, and in 2020 was named an “Industry Legend” at the Imbibe Hospitality Awards. His books include Tasting Notes and Clubland.

1. Burton-on-Trent (the most important beer town in world history) https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/food-drink/article/burton-upon-trent-beer-town-zctn9787n

2. Perry (what some people refer to as pear cider) https://cideruk.com/what-is-cider-and-perry/

3. How working men’s clubs shaped modern Britain https://www.petebrown.net/book/clubland-how-the-working-mens-club-shaped-britain/

4. Norwich https://www.number82theunthank.co.uk/10-surprising-facts-about-norwich/

5. How music changes your perception of flavour https://www.petebrown.net/book/tasting-notes-the-art-of-science-of-pairing-beer-with-music/

6. It’s possible to disagree with someone politically and still have a civil, enriching conversation https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/15/smarter-living/learn-to-argue-productively.html

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Sandy Pentland discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Alex Pentland is a Stanford HAI Fellow and MIT Toshiba Professor. Named one of the “100 People to Watch This Century” by Newsweek and “one of the seven most powerful data scientists in the world” by Forbes, he is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, an advisor to Abu Dhabi Investment Authority Lab, and an advisor to the UN Secretary General’s office. His work has helped manage privacy and security for the world’s digital networks by establishing authentication standards, protect personal privacy by contributing to the pioneering EU privacy law, and provide healthcare support for hundreds of millions of people worldwide through both for-profit and not-for-profit companies. His new book is Shared Wisdom, which is available at https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262050999/shared-wisdom/.

1. Casual conversation is typically what leads to wisdom and culture
2. Polarization comes from influencers and other loud voices
3. AI-aided search can really help weaken echo chambers
4. Given a conversation platform that is safe space and given participants with shared interests people naturally generate good decisions
5. Hierarchical organizations are inflexible and poor performing by design
6. Uniform rules are bad for the majority of people

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Jaime Davila discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Jaime Dávila earned an engineering degree in the United States. Choosing a career in the creative industries, he worked primarily in broadcasting and eventually led operations at Mexico’s largest media company. He became intrigued by the creation of the first mechanised sawmill by Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593. This invention, whose significance has been overlooked, inspired his new book. Find out more at https://thebestpodcastguest.co.uk/jaime-davila/.

1. Mankind’s first industrial machine was Dutch.

2. The Dutch invented participatory capitalism.

3. The Dutch were early pioneers of liberal governance in a world of monarchies.

4. The Dutch laid the foundations of industrialization.

5. New Amsterdam’s influence on American identity is underappreciated.

6. The world we inhabit was not inevitable.

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To celebrate the 400th episode of Better Known, previous guest Richard Elwes discusses with Ivan Wise six aspects of the Better Known podcast which Ivan thinks should be better known.

Many thanks to Caroline Crampton and Laurence Bergreen for adding their choices of things which should be better known.

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