The episodes of The Worthy House, nearly all of which take the form of book reviews, cover a variety of subjects. This appreciation, however, will deal only with the programs that deal with military subjects.
Charles Haywood, the host of program, casts a wide net over Clio’s realm. Thus, he reviews books that range from Xenophon’s Anabasis to the Fourth Generation Warfare Handbook of William S. Lind and Gregory Thiele. Haywood’s heart, it seems, lies in books about the great civil wars of the past century or so, and, in particular, the struggle between Communists and the forces of defending society against them. He thus pays a good deal of attention to books about the civil wars of Russia, Finland, and Spain.
Many of the episodes of the Worthy House also deal with books that, while not works of military history per se, might be of interest to listeners interested in military matters. Thus, for example, Mr. Haywood has published reviews of several of the novels of Ernst Jünger (who will be familiar to many readers of this blog as the author of The Storm of Steel.)
The Worthy House possesses three virtues that are absent from many, if not, most other podcasts. The first of these is freedom from all advertisements. The second is the provision of a well-edited transcript for every episode. The third is a style of presentation that might well be described as “energizing.” (I listen to episodes of The Worthy House while driving to the gym!)
