Our guest today is a scholar of the darker side of imperialism, Kim Wagner of Queen Mary University, London. Kim does intense work on atrocity and massacre, but he manages to keep a light attitude, as you will see in this episode. Born in Denmark to what can only be described as "hippie" parents, Kim grew up in Buddhist monasteries in South Korea and India and as a kid read those classics on 19th-century empire, such as Haggard's Alan Quartermain adventure stories and Henry Stanley's books on Africa, among many others. Once at university, however, Kim discovered the violent side of imperialism and decided to make it his mission to study imperial violence. His Cambridge dissertation became his first book, Thuggee - Banditry and the British in Early Nineteenth Century India (Cambridge), then a chance encounter with the skull of an Indian soldier executed in the 1957 Indian Mutiny led to a book titled The Skull of Alum Bheg: The Life and Death of a Rebel of 1857 (Oxford). Among his many other works are Amritsar 1919: An Empire of Fear and the Making of a Massacre (Yale) and Massacre in the Clouds: An American Atrocity and the Erasure of History (Public Affairs). He just returned from Vietnam on a site visit for his forthcoming book on the 1968 massacre at My Lai. So, he does intense but meaningful work.

Join us for heavy chat as we discuss doing research on violent acts, skulls, and coffee with My Lai survivors, and also not having a driver's license, growing up with Buddhist monks, Scottish prog-rock, failing to update one's faculty profile, and living in London but not caring a tot about football! Another good one - enjoy!

Shoutout to Kesar Punjabi Restaurant!

Rec.: 04/21/2026