Katja Hoyer is a German-British historian who has made a career out of explaining Germany to the world—and, just as importantly, to Germans themselves. Born in East Germany in 1985 and now based in Britain, she has written acclaimed histories of the German Empire, the GDR, and most recently the Weimar Republic.

Tyler and Katja discuss why communism made East Germans more loyal to the system while it bred dissidents in Poland and Hungary, how happy or unhappy life in the GDR actually was, Tyler's own bleak day-trip to East Berlin in 1984, the underrated literature of the GDR (Christa Wolf, Brigitte Reimann), whether Good Bye, Lenin! got the era right, why it's no coincidence that Richter and Polke came from the East, the strange coexistence of communist prudishness and Germany's nudist culture, what Merkel's East German background did and didn't give her as a chancellor, why East Germans remain dramatically underrepresented in leadership positions today, what makes Weimar the cultural and spiritual heart of Germany, why relatively few Jews ever settled there, how much the citizens of Weimar knew about Buchenwald, what actually killed the Weimar Constitution, how she'd rewrite the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler's citizenship problem, underrated German thinkers, the complacency behind Germany's current economic decline, which side of the Weißwurstäquator she'd choose to live on, and much more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video on the new dedicated Conversations with Tyler channel.

Recorded March 30th, 2026.

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Timestamps:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:05:34 - East German Artistic Creations

00:10:55 - Angela Merkel's East German Background

00:14:08 - East German Underrepresentation Today

00:17:02 - East Germans vs. West Germans

00:20:32 - Goethe and Weimar's Cultural Heritage

00:27:09 - What Weimar Knew About Buchenwald

00:31:10 - Why the Weimar Constitution Failed

00:35:21 - Prussia, Bavaria, and Where Nazism Took Root

00:38:23 - Rewriting the Treaty of Versailles

00:39:59 - Historical Antisemitism in Germany

00:42:27 - Hitler's Citizenship problem

00:45:14 - Weimar's Best Cultural Creations

00:47:02 - The Most Underrated German Thinker

00:49:07 - Improving Weimar

00:52:58 - Germany's Economic Malaise

00:55:38 - Living in Britain as a German Historian

01:00:49 - Outro

Toby Wilkinson is one of the world's leading Egyptologists, whose books have ranged across the full sweep of pharaonic history. His latest, The Last Dynasty: Ancient Egypt from Alexander the Great to Cleopatra, covers the 300-year Ptolemaic period — stranger and more modern-feeling than the Egypt of the pyramids, built around commerce and cosmopolitanism rather than divine kingship, and home to the greatest concentration of scientific talent the ancient world ever saw.

Tyler and Toby cover how Alexander took over the empire almost without a fight, why Alexandria became the Manhattan of the ancient world, whether the era was as philosophically fertile as it was scientifically, whether your ancient doctor's visit had positive expected value, what Egypt was actually exporting and selling, whether living standards rose above subsistence or stayed Malthusian, how the ethnic divide between Greek rulers and Egyptian subjects shaped society, what constrained the Ptolemaic Empire from becoming the next Rome, whether Cleopatra has been overhyped, what Julius Caesar was really thinking when he sided with her over her brother, the new frontiers in archeology, whether Herodotus can be trusted, what ancient Egypt knew about Israel and India, when Egyptian jewelry peaked and why, what triggered the sudden emergence of civilization across the ancient world, why a six-year-old Tyler knew King Tut better than Napoleon, and much more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video on the new dedicated Conversations with Tyler channel.

Recorded March 23rd, 2026.

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Timestamps:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:04:29 - Intellectual Activity of Alexandria

00:11:07 - The Alexandrian Economy

00:14:36 - The Ptolemaic Empire

00:21:19 - Unanswered Questions in Ptolemaic Egypt

00:23:32 - Modern Alexandria and the Future of Archaeology

00:26:37 - Other Topics in Ancient Egypt

00:42:10 - Toby's Career

00:45:26 - Outro

Photo Credit: Benjamin Frei

Bob Spitz has written major biographies of the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, and now the Rolling Stones — but also, somehow, Ronald Reagan and Julia Child. In rock, his credentials were hard won: he started out hustling gigs for an unknown Bruce Springsteen for six years, moved on to handling Elton John's American business, and spent long enough in the world to find himself jamming with Paul McCartney and chatting with Bob Dylan on a stoop in the Village. The Reagan and Julia Child books are harder to explain, and perhaps that's the point—Spitz seems to do his best work when he has no business writing the book at all.

Tyler and Bob discuss how the Stones became so great so quickly, what they added to the blues, how their melodies stack up against the Beatles', whether Exile on Main Street deserves its canonical status, which songs are most underrated, what Charlie Watts actually got out of playing in a rock band, the rise and fall of Brian Jones, how the Stones outlasted nearly everyone, the influence of Mick's London School of Economics training, why popular music has lost its cultural influence, what we should still be asking Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, whether the Beatles' breakup was good for the world, how senile Reagan really was in his second term and whether he was ever truly a communist, how good a cook Julia Child actually was, his next book on Lennon's second act, and much more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video on the new dedicated Conversations with Tyler channel.

Recorded April 28th, 2026.

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Timestamps:

00:00:00 - Intro

00:02:44 - The Sound of the Rolling Stones

00:05:25 - Underrated Rolling Stones Songs and Albums

00:09:06 - Charlie Watts and Brian Jones

00:11:18 - Art Colleges and Rock 'n' Roll

00:13:06 - The Stones' Stability

00:16:32 - Mick Jagger: Closet Economist?

00:17:53 - Pop Music's Lack of Relevance

00:20:10 - The Beatles

00:28:14 - Led Zeppelin

00:31:30 - Bruce Springsteen

00:36:20 - Bob Dylan

00:39:40 - Julia Child

00:42:29 - The Knicks

00:45:21 - Ronald Reagan

00:49:01 - Robert Caro

00:52:03 - Writing

00:55:00 - Outro