On ‘Dancing on Bones’ – Manufacturing History in the Pursuit of Absolutist Power

In this episode, John speaks with Katie Stallard. Katie is an author and Senior Editor of the New Statesman magazine. On this, our 47th episode since transiting from radio to podcast, John and Katie discuss Katie’s new book, Dancing on Bones: History and Power in China, Russia, and North Korea, published by Oxford University Press in May 2022. If history is a lie and the autocratic parts of the world have perfected this as a means of political control and legitimacy, how powerful is it? And in the case of China, Russia and North Korea, how have mythologising lies manufactured national ethos?