The United States and United Kingdom have enjoyed and, at times, endured a symbiotic history, culture, politics, and global relationship. Often understanding the quirks of one nation helps us better understand our own. Sarah Stook, journalist of American politics and history, joins Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis to discuss what Americans and Brits can learn from one another, what unique challenges face young, British conservatives, the importance of the British monarch, and whether American politics looks as off-the-rails from an outsider’s perspective as it does from those actually living in the United States.

About Sarah Stook

Sarah Stook is a freelance writer and beat reporter for Elections Daily (focused on American politics) and The Mallard (focused on politics in the United Kingdom) with an emphasis on the Republican Party, presidential elections, and the interworking of campaigns. She is a fan of historical threads, first ladies, presidents, and vintage fashion. She is a student at Lancaster University in the U.K. and is a member of the Conservative Party. You can follow Sarah on Twitter @sarah_stook

“History offers not simply a chronicle of events but, more importantly, opportunities to gain insights about the human condition from the experience of other times and places,” writes Thomas Sowell in his provocatively titled book Black Rednecks and White Liberals. “That is, it offers not merely facts but explanations.” Yet history’s capacity to benefit us is naturally limited by our natural biases. “History cannot be a reality check for visions when history is itself shaped by visions.” To learn how to extract beneficial explanations from history, therefore, we must first learn how to recognize our biases, pre-conceptions, worldviews, and visions.

Saving Elephants host Josh Lewis is joined by the Conservative Historian Belisarius Aves to explore the various schools of historical thought and how conservatism might instruct us to approach history.

About Belisarius Aves

Belisarius Aves (or Bel for short) is the founder and publisher of the Conservative Historian YouTube channel and podcast. “History is too important to be left to the left,” writes Bel. “The Conservative Historian provides content and opinions on conservative thinking through the prism of history.” You can follow Bel on Twitter @BelAves