Five more years: Popular American history podcast is renewed
The Rothermere American Institute launched its podcast ‘The Last Best Hope?’ during the pandemic in 2020. It was initially an attempt to continue the Institute’s public engagement despite the challenges of lockdown. But the podcast’s popularity took off, and it now attracts 20,000 listeners for each episode.
Six years and 75 episodes later, the podcast has launched new series, featuring an interview with Hillary Rodham Clinton and a two-part documentary on the Declaration of Independence. Moreover, the podcast’s future has been secured for a further five years thanks to a donation from Tom Amraoui, a non-practising barrister and philanthropist who graduated in Modern History and Politics from Magdalen College.
Professor Adam Smith, Director of the Institute and the presenter of the podcast, said: “The purpose of the podcast is to explore, through interviews and scripted documentaries, what makes America different. The title is a quote from Abraham Lincoln, who called the United States “the last best hope of earth," and in each story-filled episode, we ask how America’s sense of itself has shaped the present.
“In a world in which there seems to be an ever-greater urgency to understand what America is doing and where it’s going, our podcast aims to provide thoughtful, evidence-based analysis, from the outside in. We are immensely grateful to Tom for his kind donation, which will cover the production costs of the podcast for five years.”
