Andrew Seth Meyer: To Rule All Under Heaven
A Book with Legs
Smead Capital Management
4.3 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 4 May 2026
⏱️ 77 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What makes a civilization endure, and how did a Chinese empire that conquered everything fall apart in 15 years?
In the latest episode of A Book with Legs, Smead Capital Management CEO and Portfolio Manager Cole Smead is joined by professor and author Andrew Seth Meyer to discuss his book, titled "To Rule All under Heaven: A History of Classical China, from Confucius to the First Emperor."
Cole and Andrew explore one of the most consequential periods in Chinese history, a 200-year era of warring states that began with Confucius and ended with the rise and swift collapse of China's first empire. They also discuss the role of philosophy in shaping power, Confucius’ works in a modern context, and what this story reveals about the world we navigate today.
Those who would like to learn more about Professor Meyer can visit: https://www.andrewsethmeyer.com/.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to A Book with Legs, a podcast presented by Smead Capital Management. |
| 0:07.9 | At Smead Capital Management, we advise investors who play the long game. |
| 0:12.3 | You can learn more at Smeadcap.com or by calling your financial advisor. |
| 0:38.5 | Welcome to a book with legs podcast. I'm Cole Smead, CEO, and portfolio manager here at Smead Capital Management. At our firm, we are readers, and we believe in the power of books to help shape informed investors. In this podcast, we speak to great authors about their writings. The late great Charlie Munger prescribed using multiple mental models and analysis. |
| 0:41.1 | We analyze their work through the lens of business, markets, and people. |
| 0:45.9 | Today, we will look back to a less studied period of history. |
| 0:49.5 | We will think about what it means to be sovereign in the eternal sense. |
| 0:54.1 | Joining us is Andrew Seth Meyer to discuss his book, |
| 0:57.1 | To Rule All Under Heaven, a history of classic China from Confucius to the First Emperor. |
| 1:03.1 | A little background on Andrew. |
| 1:04.8 | He is a professor of history at Brooklyn College at City University of New York, |
| 1:08.8 | where he teaches course on ancient, medieval, and |
| 1:12.4 | modern history on China. He has published prior titles, including the Dow of the military |
| 1:17.7 | and the Hwianansa. He received his PhD from Harvard University and his bachelor's at Brown |
| 1:25.6 | University. Andy, thanks for joining me today. Oh, it's a pleasure. Thanks for |
| 1:29.7 | having me. So we did this a little bit before we started today, but you have to tell us a story of |
| 1:36.6 | why the warring states were, you know, why this book, why this story, how this all came to be. |
| 1:44.0 | Well, I really, I first became really fascinated with the Warring States as a college |
| 1:50.0 | student. |
| 1:52.0 | I took some classes. |
| 1:54.0 | You know, if you go to college and you take any courses about China, especially any courses |
| 2:00.0 | about early China, they almost always |
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