Bret Devereaux cancels Saruman. (Helms Deep as ancient military history)

Bret Devereaux is a teaching assistant professor of history at North Carolina State University and is the author of this magnificent blog that covers ancient history generally with military history as the main focus. One of the genius ideas in the blog is to illuminate the subject by analysing fantasy literature. In this episode we talked about the battle of Helm's Deep (with forays into World War II and the world of the Carolingians and much else beside). Saruman's reputation as a general is not enhanced. Bret also spoke about Tolkien's place in the canon of World War I literature. I hope you enjoy it.