On episode 42 of The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast, I answered a question about the game of Rugby, and then talked to Douglas Brunt about his fascinating new book: The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I. Rudolf Diesel was the inventor of the diesel engine and, at one point, one of the most famous and interesting people in the world. Today, though, almost nobody knows who he was. Among the questions I asked are: Why have we not heard more about him? What sort of world was he inventing in? Why were the world’s militaries so interested in his work? What did he believe in? What did he think of America? Did he get on with Thomas Edison? How did he come up with the idea for his engine? How did he disappear — and what are the main theories as to how it happened?
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