Episode · Conversations with Tyler · 2026-06-24
Tyler Cowen & Joanne Paul: books mentioned on Conversations with Tyler
Joanne Paul on Thomas More and the Tudor World
Joanne Paul is a historian at the University of Sussex, author, and a go-to Tudor expert on YouTube. She tells Tyler she's drawn to the 16th century because it sits between the medieval and the modern, and because its paths not taken are a way of asking whether our own world had to turn out this way.
Tyler Cowen discussed Thomas More by Joanne Paul, ... In Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus, Utopia by Thomas More, and A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt. Joanne Paul recommended Tudor Art by Susie Hodge, and discussed Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Thomas More
Discussed“She’s an expert in the Renaissance and early modern periods, and I very much enjoyed her latest book called Thomas More: A Life, which is on sale now.”
Where to get it
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... In Praise of Folly
Discussed“Now, as you know, Erasmus wrote quite a bit about Thomas More, including a dedicatory letter in In Praise of Folly. If More was so dogmatic, what about him did Erasmus admire so much?”
Where to get it
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Utopia
Discussed“Do you read Thomas More’s Utopia as satire, or Book 2? Do you think he meant it? This is the actual utopia.”
Where to get it
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A Man for All Seasons
Discussed“A Man for All Seasons. It’s a famous movie. It’s a portrait of More.”
Where to get it
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Wolf Hall
Discussed“He’s a hero in Man for All Seasons. He’s basically a villain in Wolf Hall. We lose some of that complexity of a contradictory, complex human individual.”
Where to get it
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Tudor Art
Recommended“I’m not an expert in this. There’s a fantastic book that’s just come out on Tudor art. I’d recommend people go and have a look at that. Yes, Holbein’s naturalism, realism is unmatched at the time.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (2) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Plugged Thomas More
“Your last book, Thomas More: A Life, was what led to this podcast. Please tell us if you can, what will you do next?”
Plugged Tyrant
“It will be called Tyrant, and it will be a portrait of tyranny in the reign of Henry VIII.”