In conversation with Kathleen O'Toole on the Hillsdale College K-12 Classical Education Podcast (February 16, 2026) In this conversation with Kathleen O’Toole, associate vice-president for K-12 Education at Hillsdale College, James Hankins discusses the first volume of The Golden Thread  and the importance of classical education. They explore the nature of the Western tradition, the tension between civilization and barbarism, the importance of historical knowledge, and the f

Unherd, December 26, 2025 Prof. Hankins speaks with Freddie Sayers of Unherd about the precarious state of the Western tradition and the burgeoning resistance movement in classical education. Moving through a 2,500-year narrative arc from the ancient Greek invention of reason to the modern-day “cult of innovation,” he warns that elite institutions are suffering from a dangerous cultural amnesia. But, despite the degradation of the canon, he offers a defiant hope rooted in his

Conversation with Michael Fontaine of Cornell University, Classical Wisdom, December 4, 2025 Have We Broken the Golden Thread? Why the West's Future Depends on Remembering Its Past The West’s greatest peril is forgetfulness, its loss of cultural memory. Without knowing where we came from, how can we know what to defend, or even what to value?   In an age when history itself is contested ... when the past is either dismissed or distorted ... The Golden Thread reminds us why th