Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right?

It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music when it's

out of ice cream.

Listen to Evil Genius on BBC Sounds.

Hello, and looking at this well-dressed audience here in Hay, I moved to say,

naked we came into this world

and naked we leave it, or else you can't take it with you. Yet despite these sober truths,

we human beings are obsessed with the idea that we can hand something on or leave something

behind, whether it's a culture, a gene, a body of work, or just a sum of money. The idea of

inheritance is handed down from one generation to the next, and that thought is hardwired into

us. That theme of inheritance, the action or fact of inheriting, and the expectation of receiving

from the generation that's just gone, is going to run through our conversation today.

And to have it are three guests whom anybody would be proud to name in a special codicil to their

will. Mull and James won last year's manned book a prize for his daring polyphonic novel,

a brief history of seven killings, a meditation amongst other things on an inheritance of violence.

Lionel Schreiber has won prizes and applaud its galore,

and her latest novel, The Mandibles,

is a family saga set in a horrific and plausible future

where America's finances have collapsed.

The kids in this story are inheriting,

if you'll forgive my fluent lapse into the American Argo,

zippity-d duda denada.

...