The advantages in efficiency of Rudolf Diesel’s internal combustion engine are impossible to ignore and have guided untold advances in society since the turn of the 20th century. How do buses transport passengers? How did that avocado from California arrive on your plate? How is overseas trade powered? The answer is the diesel engine. It is no coincidence that the period in history which birthed Diesel’s invention was also the overture to The Great War. Creative and destructive power go hand-in-hand. Join Douglas Brunt as he discusses these points, along with the mystery of Diesel’s suspicious demise and the author’s investigation into the case.

Presenter: Douglas Brunt

Introduction: Craig Fehrman