Summary: Relevant Reading: France and the New Charismatic Jihad Reuel Marc Gerecht The Battle for the Big Easy Don Hickey The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict Don Hickey Good evening, podcast listeners! First up on this weeks episode is Reuel Marc Gerecht, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former Middle Eastern specialist at the CIAs Directorate of Operations, who discusses the aftermath of last weeks brutal attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. He notes that France has been concerned about this kind of attack for some time, and discusses what it means for the rest of the worlds ability to deal with Islamic extremism. Gerecht also warns against over-inflating the prowess of those involved in the attack, before moving on to talk about what it might mean for the Schengen free movement area, and for the debate over the rise of the surveillance state. Then, Wayne State College in Nebraska professor of history Don Hickey joins us to discuss the Battle of New Orleans, some few days after its 200th anniversary. He notes that while it was the last great battle of the War of 1812, the Battle of New Orleans had little impact on the war itself. Instead, Hickey argues, it had a lasting impact on how Americans remembered the war. He explains why Canadians tend to remember the war better than Americans do, and recaps some of the details of the battle itself—which wrapped up in less than half an hour—dispelling some common myths surrounding it. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, and follow our host Richard Aldous @RJAldous on Twitter.
