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HistoryExtra podcast - The Brothers Grimm: life of the week
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The Brothers Grimm: life of the week

HistoryExtra podcast

04/14/25

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35m

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From Snow White to Sleeping Beauty, the Brothers Grimm are best known for collecting and curating fairy tales. But, as Ann Schmiesing reveals, recording these stories for posterity was only one of their ambitious projects. Speaking to Ellie Cawthorne, she charts the lives of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, exploring their extremely close relationship, love of folklore, political leanings and attempts to create a German dictionary.

(Ad) Ann Schmiesing is the author of The Brothers Grimm: A Biography (Yale University Press, 2025). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brothers-Grimm-Biography-Ann-Schmiesing/dp/0300221754/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty.

The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Previous Episode

When US forces entered Vietnam, the nation's leaders believed they could contain communism and secure victory. Instead, they found themselves trapped in a war that drained resources, divided the country, and ultimately ended in failure. Geoffrey Wawro explains to Elinor Evans how flawed strategies doomed the US campaign from the start, and why Nixon’s secret plan to end the war failed to achieve lasting 'peace with honour'.

(Ad) Geoffrey Wawro is the author of The Vietnam War: A Military History (Basic Books, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vietnam-War-Military-History/dp/1541606086/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty.

The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Next Episode

Cut off from the outside world and with food and other essentials dwindling, it's estimated that upwards of one million people died. Yet throughout this ordeal, a group of indomitable scientists risked their lives to protect the world's first seed bank. Danny Bird speaks to writer Simon Parkin about the Plant Institute's pioneering work and the astonishing fortitude of the men and women who laboured to preserve a unique botanical collection amid unimaginable conditions.

(Ad) Simon Parkin is the author of The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad: A True Story of Science and Sacrifice in a City under Siege (Sceptre, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forbidden-Garden-Leningrad-Science-Sacrifice/dp/1399714554/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty.

The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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