The most challenging part of being a biographer for Ruth Scurr is finding the best form to tell a life. “You can't go in there with a workmanlike attitude saying, ‘I'm going to do cradle to grave.’ You’ve got to somehow connect and resonate with the life, and then things will develop from that.” Known for her innovative literary portraits of Robespierre and John Aubrey, Scurr’s latest book follows Napoleon’s life through his engagement with the natural world. This approach broadens the usual cast of characters included in Napoleon’s life story, providing new perspectives with which to understand him.
Ruth joined Tyler to discuss why she considers Danton the hero of the French Revolution, why the Jacobins were so male-obsessed, the wit behind Condorcet's idea of a mechanical king, the influence of Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments during and after the Reign of Terror, why 18th-century French thinkers were obsessed with finding forms of government that would fit with emerging market forces, whether Hayek’s critique of French Enlightenment theorists is correct, the relationship between the French Revolution and today’s woke culture, the truth about Napoleon’s diplomatic skills, the poor prospects for pitching biographies to publishers, why Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws would be her desert island read, why Cambridge is a better city than Oxford, why the Times Literary Supplement remains important today, what she loves about Elena Ferrante’s writing, how she stays open as a biographer, and more.
Visit our website: https://conversationswithtyler.com
Email: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cowenconvos
Follow us on Instagram: https://instagram.com/cowenconvos/
Follow Tyler on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tylercowen
Follow Ruth on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ScurrRuth
Like us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/cowenconvos
Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://go.mercatus.org/l/278272/2017-09-19/g4ms
Thumbnail photo credit: Dan White
Alain Bertaud on Cities, Markets, and People
Samantha Power on Learning How to Make a Difference
Hollis Robbins on 19th Century Life and Literature
Masha Gessen on the Ins and Outs of Russia
Kwame Anthony Appiah on Pictures of the World
Neal Stephenson on Depictions of Reality
Eric Kaufmann on Immigration, Identity, and the Limits of Individualism
Hal Varian on Taking the Academic Approach to Business
Russ Roberts on Life as an Economics Educator
Ezekiel Emanuel on the Practice of Medicine, Policy, and Life
Karl Ove Knausgård on Literary Freedom
Margaret Atwood on Canada, Writing, and Invention (Live at Mason)
Ed Boyden on Minding your Brain
Emily Wilson on Translations and Language
Raghuram Rajan on Understanding Community
Sam Altman on Loving Community, Hating Coworking, and the Hunt for Talent
Jordan Peterson on Mythology, Fame, and Reading People
Noel Johnson and Mark Koyama on *Persecution and Toleration*
Larissa MacFarquhar on Getting Inside Someone's Head
Rebecca Kukla on Moving through and Responding to the World
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Navigating Life After 40
Teaching Learning Leading K-12
Regenerative Skills
The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast
The Mel Robbins Podcast