An Unofficial 'The MeatEater Podcast' Reading List

606. Enoch Powell: Rivers of Blood

October 05, 2025

Description

Who was Enoch Powell, the deeply controversial British conservative politician? Why is he the father of Brexit, and possibly even Reform? And, how did he come to make his inflammatory ‘Rivers of...
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Books Referenced

Like the Roman

Author: Simon Heffer

Context:

Explicitly described as 'a great book on Enoch Powell' - a biography that the hosts recommend, saying Heffer 'really gets under Powell's skin'

The Aeneid

Author: Virgil

Context:

Referenced as Virgil's 'great epic poem' from which Powell quoted the Sibyl's prophecy about the Tiber foaming with blood in his famous speech

The Time of My Life

Author: Dennis Healy

Context:

Referenced as 'his memoirs' where Dennis Healy praised Powell's 1959 speech about the Hola massacre as 'the greatest parliamentary speech I ever heard'

City Close Up

Author: Jeremy Seabrook

Context:

Described as 'a brilliant book' about grassroots opinion, where the journalist interviewed people in Blackburn in the late 60s/early 70s about their views on Powell and immigration