History As It Happens

Subscribe now for ad-free listening. Note: All audio excerpts and music in this episode are courtesy PBS. See below for details. 'The American Revolution' on PBS is a riveting documentary about the events that created a country. Released in advance of next year's America250 celebrations, the latest Ken Burns documentary shows the unity and divisions within and without the revolutionary cause. Americans today seem to be divided on everything; can they unite around their national origin stories? David Schmidt and Geoffrey Ward are the guests in this episode. David Schmidt co-directed and co-produced 'The American Revolution' with Ken Burns and Sarah Botstein. Historian Geoffrey Ward was the writer. Excerpts of the score, in order (courtesy: PBS) Battle Percussion by Johnny Gandelsman Pompey Ran Away by Rhiannon Giddens O'Neill's Cavalry March Piccolo by Mathias Kunzli and Alex Sopp Ahead We Move by Johnny Gandelsman Further reading: The American Revolution (companion volume) by Geoffrey Ward and Ken Burns

Subscribe now to listen to the entire episode. The latest negotiations to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine produced no breakthroughs, after U.S. envoys held a 5-hour session in the Kremlin. Alas, almost another full year has come and gone, and the war grinds on, despite President Trump's boast that he would end the conflict in 24 hours. In this episode, The Wall Street Journal's chief foreign affairs correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov tells us why negotiations are failing to end Putin's war of aggression.

Keep the narrative flow going! Subscribe to skip ads, get bonus content, and enjoy access to the entire catalog of 500 episodes. His name was Metacom, a son of the Wampanoag chief Massasoit who had greeted the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Metacom would become known as King Philip, and the war that would carry his name was one of the bloodiest in American history. In 1675-76, Native peoples across southern New England battled English colonists and their Indian allies in genocidal violence. Massacres, torture, and enslavement were commonplace, yet King Philip's War is little known to most Americans today. Historian David Silverman is here to bring this American origin story to light. Further reading: The Chosen and the Damned: Native Americans and the Making of Race in the United States Support the podcast: https://historyasithappens.supercast.com/

Subscribe to skip ads, get bonus content, and enjoy access to the entire catalog of 500 episodes. Keep the narrative flow going! Is the rise of Donald Trump a result or a rejection of Reaganism? As the conservative movement is convulsed by the crazies inside and outside its ranks, some may feel nostalgic for a bygone age when a Republican president seemed committed to the principles of smaller government, free trade, and America's global leadership. But what was Reaganism, really? Our guest in this episode is historian Max Boot. Recommended reading: Reagan: His Life and Legend by Max Boot The Age of Reagan by Sean Wilentz

Subscribe now to listen to the entire episode. Iraqi leaders now face the difficult task of building a governing coalition, after parliamentary elections gave no single bloc an adequate victory to form a government independently. The Associated Press reports the Reconstruction and Change coalition, led by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, won the highest number of seats in 8 of 18 provinces. In this episode, Adam Weinstein of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft says Iraq still finds itself caught between Washington and Tehran, as pro-Iran militias exert influence in Baghdad.

Subscribe now to skip ads, get bonus content, and enjoy access to the entire catalog of 500 episodes. Keep the narrative flow going! Today's Republican Party is the party of Donald Trump, whose right-populism and disregard for the Constitution appear to be a break from the GOP's historical roots. In light of the "civil war" on the American right, provoked by Tucker Carlson's chummy interview with a white supremacist named Nick Fuentes, historian James Oakes reflects on the Republican Party's origins. How far removed is Trump's GOP from the party of Abraham Lincoln? Further reading: Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861-1865 by James Oakes

Subscribe now to skip ads, get bonus content, and enjoy access to the entire catalog of 500 episodes. Keep the narrative flow going! Thirty Novembers ago, Israel experienced one of the worst days in its short history. Yigal Amir, a Jewish religious fanatic opposed to the Oslo negotiations with the Palestinians, assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin as he left a peace rally in Tel Aviv. The consequences are still felt today, as the peace process is dormant and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is as severe as at any point since 1948. In this episode, Dan Ephron, the executive editor of Foreign Policy, delves into this dark chapter in Israeli history and why it matters now. In 1995, Ephron was a journalist covering the rally where Rabin was shot to death.  Recommended reading: Killing a King: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel by Dan Ephron

Subscribe now to listen to the entire episode. Enjoy all bonus content for $5 per month! It's understood that the U.S. must deal with unsavory characters in the realm of foreign policy. This includes one of the most repressive autocrats in the world, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, who ordered the grisly murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to U.S. intelligence. Bin Salman was given the red carpet treatment by the Trump administration this week, as he sought defense and economic agreements to burnish his brand as a pragmatic modernizer rather than a reckless monarch. In this episode, Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft says the U.S. must engage with the Saudis, but Washington should steer clear of agreeing to a defense pact with the kingdom.

Subscribe now to skip ads, get bonus content, and enjoy access to the entire catalog of 500 episodes. Keep the narrative flow going! Tucker Carlson's lovey-dovey interview with a Holocaust-denying white supremacist named Nick Fuentes caused long-simmering tensions on the far right to boil over into a factional civil war. Is the conservative movement that once elected Ronald Reagan now overrun with charlatans, cranks, racists, grifters, and conspiracy theorists in the Age of Trump? In this episode, the political theorist Damon Linker and National Review senior writer Dan McLaughlin trace the history of the conservative movement from William F. Buckley to Ronald Reagan, to Pat Buchanan and Donald Trump. Book suggestions: Damon Linker recommends Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right by Laura Field Dan McLaughlin recommends The Right: The Hundred-Year War for American Conservatism by Matthew Continetti Martin Di Caro recommends The Age of Reagan by Sean Wilentz and Reagan: His Life and Legend by Max Boot Further reading: Trumpism Will Be With Us For a Very Long Time by Damon Linker (New York Times) Buckley's Hopes for Populism by Dan McLaughlin (National Review)

Subscribe now to skip ads, get bonus content, and enjoy access to the entire catalog of 500 episodes. Keep the narrative flow going! President Donald Trump enjoys bashing the press by calling some outlets "fake news" or any negative story a "hoax." Some past presidential administrations went further by censoring information, shutting down newspapers, or even jailing critical voices. Just about every U.S. leader has complained at one time or another about the press while simultaneously trying to cultivate positive coverage. In this episode, historian Lindsay Chervinsky, the executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library, takes us on a tour of more than 200 years of president-press relationships. Recommended reading: The Presidents and the Press, Part 1 by Lindsay Chervinsky (Imperfect Union on Substack) The Presidents and the Press, Part 2 by Lindsay Chervinsky

Subscribe now to skip ads, get bonus content, and enjoy access to the entire catalog of 500 episodes. Keep the narrative flow going! The hit Netflix film "House of Dynamite" depicts a terrifying scenario. The United States is under nuclear attack as a lone ICBM heads for a major city, but no one knows who launched it. The president has the authority to retaliate, but against whom? In this episode, nuclear arms expert Joe Cirincione says the moral of the story is that an accidental nuclear war is indeed possible as the world witnesses a new arms race. (Note: Audio excerpts of "House of Dynamite" are courtesy Netflix.) Further reading/listening: To Love the Bomb (podcast) Donald Trump's Deep Nuclear Confusion by Joe Cirincione on Substack

Subscribe now to skip ads, get bonus content, and enjoy access to the entire catalog of 500 episodes. Keep the narrative flow going! Dick Cheney died on Nov. 3. From the 1970s onward, he held several powerful posts as White House chief of staff, a Wyoming congressman, Secretary of Defense, and a private-sector oil executive. But Cheney will be remembered most of all for his eight years as Vice President under George W. Bush, when he exerted his influence to invade Iraq in 2003 and impressed his ideas about executive authority and conduct, ignoring Congress, the Constitution, and international law. The Iraq war became an intractable calamity. Even today, the country is not considered a healthy democracy. Cheney's idea of the "unitary executive" is now being put into practice once more by Donald Trump, an unintended consequence of Dick Cheney's enduring influence. Historian Jeremi Suri is our guest. Further reading: The Costs of War: Iraq by Brown University  Further listening: Saddam and his American Friends w/ Steve Coll The Iraq War w/ Andrew Bacevich The Iraq War w/ Ghaith Abdul-Ahad

Subscribe now to skip ads, get bonus content, and enjoy access to the entire catalog of 500 episodes. Keep the narrative flow going! History As It Happens returns to the movies! In this episode, historian Kevin Levin discusses the 1989 film Glory, a moving portrayal of one of the first Black fighting regiments of the Civil War, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, and its commander, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. Further reading: Robert Gould Shaw, Glory, and the Problem of AI by Kevin Levin (Civil War Memory on Substack)  

Subscribe now to skip ads, get bonus content, and enjoy access to the entire catalog of 500 episodes. Keep the narrative flow going! The U.S.-led military coalition that expelled Saddam Hussein's armies from Kuwait in 1990-91 is usually remembered as the first major conflict of a post-Cold War world. But it was not the first time during those heady days that the U.S. invaded a country to get rid of a dictator in the name of human rights and the rule of law. That was Panama in 1989, a short war that would seem relevant now, as the Trump administration seeks regime change in a different Latin American country, Venezuela. In this episode, historian Alex Aviña reminds us why the rise and fall of Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega, a longtime CIA asset and drug trafficker, matters. Further listening: Trump and the Panama Canal w/ Jonathan Brown TR to Trump: America and Venezuela w/ Alex Aviña

Subscribe to listen to the entire episode. Enjoy all bonus content for $5 per month! Carl Schmitt was a German legal theorist who joined the Nazi Party after Hitler achieved power. Schmitt supplied legal justifications for the Third Reich as it crushed all opposition and persecuted Jews. Yet long after he collaborated with this monstrous regime, Schmitt's ideas remained influential, and he maintained a respectable following. What explains his popularity on the New Right today in the Age of Trump? Further reading: The American New Right Looks Like the European Old Right by Phil Magness and Jack Nicastro in Reason The Enemy of Liberalism by Mark Lilla in The New York Review

Subscribe now to skip ads, get bonus content, and enjoy access to the entire catalog of 500 episodes. The "No Kings" protests across America were aimed at President Donald Trump's mounting abuses of power, based on the idea that he's acting like an elected monarch 250 years after the framers of the Constitution established the separation of powers. In this episode, the eminent historian Joseph Ellis explains why America's founders forged a republic where there'd be no kings. Further reading/listening: Enemies Lists (podcast) Shall We Have A King? by William Leuchtenberg (American Heritage) The Great Contradiction by Joseph Ellis

Keep the narrative flow going! Subscribe now for ad-free listening, bonus content, and access to the entire catalog of 500 episodes. After Donald Trump was first elected in 2016, Hannah Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism became a surprise bestseller. Arendt, who died in 1975, became a sort of prophet for the liberal "Resistance" based on her insights into lying and politics and the origins of fascism. Today, as President Trump acts with increasing authoritarianism and corruption, Arendt is still frequently quoted, but she's not the star she once was on the American left. Why? Yale historian and law professor Samuel Moyn discusses the uses and abuses of Hannah Arendt, one of the twentieth century's towering philosophers. Further reading: You Have Misunderstood the Relevance of Hannah Arendt by Samuel Moyn, Prospect (2020) Men in Dark Times by Rebecca Panovka, Harper's (2021) Lying in Politics: Hannah Arendt on Deception, Self-Deception, and the Psychology of Defactualization by Maria Popova, The Marginalian Big Racket Man by Martin Jay for Verso Books (2023)

Keep the narrative flow going! Subscribe now for ad-free listening, bonus content, and access to the entire catalog of 500 episodes. The Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani is the favorite to be elected New York City's mayor next month. He is an inheritor of a largely forgotten municipal socialist tradition in America, one in which dozens of cities and towns were once governed by men dedicated to improving the lives of the working class, reforming government, and beating back public corruption. In this episode, the eminent labor historian Shelton Stromquist takes us back to a bygone era when cities faced dramatic problems and voters elected socialists to solve them. Further reading: Claiming the City: A Global History of Workers' Fight for Municipal Socialism by Shelton Stromquist

Subscribe now to listen to the entire episode. Americans' trust in the news media has plummeted to the lowest point since pollsters began tracking the data. Across the political spectrum, people have little confidence that the traditional powerhouses -- major newspapers along with TV and radio networks -- are giving it to them straight. In this episode, the accomplished newsman Greg Jarrett, who spent more than 50 years covering big stories in the U.S. and overseas, says news outlets' self-inflicted errors and a broken business model are largely to blame.

Keep the narrative flow going! Subscribe for ad-free listening, bonus content, and access to the entire catalog of 500 episodes. Out of the destruction of war and disgrace of Nazism, a new (West) Germany emerged after 1945. It was democratic, prosperous, and peaceful. Another caesura occurred in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany, East and West. This was 'the end of history.' But history came back with a vengeance. In 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. In this episode, historian Jeremi Suri explains why Germans today fear rearmament and militarism may imperil their way of life. Jeremi Suri is the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He hosts 'This is Democracy' podcast and writes the 'Democracy of Hope' Substack. Further reading: The Revenge of History in Europe by Jeremi Suri (Democracy of Hope)

Keep the narrative flow going! Subscribe for ad-free listening, bonus content, and access to the entire catalog of 500 episodes. Major changes are afoot in the Middle East, but there are continuities with the past. One is Russian influence in Syria. Moscow remains involved in this country on the Mediterranean, although the civil war is over and a former jihadist is president in Damascus, a man who led the revolt that toppled Vladimir Putin's client. In this episode, analyst Hanna Notte explains the enduring nature of Russia-Syria ties and why other regional powers are trying to exploit Moscow's reduced presence in the country. Hanna Notte is an expert in Russian foreign policy, the Middle East, and arms control and nonproliferation at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Recommended reading: Russia Isn't Done With Syria by Hanna Notte in Foreign Affairs, the official publication of the Council on Foreign Relations (no paywall) Subscribe at https://historyasithappens.supercast.com/

Keep the narrative flow going! Subscribe now for ad-free listening and to get bonus content. The story of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is violent, full of sorrow, and littered with missed opportunities for lasting peace. The origins of the peace process might be traced to the late 1960s, when an American spy made his first clandestine contacts with the PLO. In this episode, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and author Kai Bird says Robert Ames had a vision for Palestinian self-determination. Ronald Reagan saw an opportunity to realize it, even as invasion, war, and terrorism swallowed Lebanon in 1982-83. Lebanon was the country where Bob Ames would lose his life, the country he tried to save. Recommended reading: The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames by Kai Bird

Subscribe now to listen to the entire episode. The massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890, when U.S. troops butchered at least 150 Lakota men, women, and children, is rightfully remembered as a moral stain on American history. So why is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defending the soldiers who participated in it? Nineteen soldiers of the 7th Cavalry received the Medal of Honor after Wounded Knee. Hegseth says they will keep their medals after an expert panel, appointed under the Biden administration, reviewed their cases. Hegseth has not released the panel's report to the public. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Alan Taylor tells us what happened at Wounded Knee, and what's at stake as the Trump administration tries to rewrite history. Subcribe: https://historyasithappens.supercast.com/

Subscribe to skip ads, get bonus content, and access the entire podcast catalog of 500 episodes. Ideas cannot be killed, but movements come and go. Some 40 years after it emerged during the first Palestinian uprising, Hamas may be about to leave the scene, its crusade of violently resisting Israel having led to ruin in Gaza. In this episode, Nathan Brown, an expert on Hamas and Middle East politics, explores the movement's origins and its uncertain future, as well as what comes next for Palestinian nationalism. Subcribe: https://historyasithappens.supercast.com/ Recommended reading: The One-State Reality: What is Israel/Palestine? by Nathan Brown (co-editor)

Subscribe now to skip ads, get bonus content, and access the entire podcast catalog of 500 episodes. The Trump administration is seeking regime change in Venezuela as top officials accuse that country's president, Nicolás Maduro, of helming an international drug cartel. President Trump boasts about blowing up the boats of alleged Venezuelan drug runners in the Caribbean, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio is reportedly shaping an aggressive strategy to oust Maduro. This does not square with the administration's supposed isolationism, but the U.S. has never been isolationist when it comes to the Western Hemisphere. In this episode, historian Alexander Aviña traces the long, violent pattern of American interventionism in Latin America. Coincidentally, Theodore Roosevelt announced his corollary to the Monroe Doctrine after an international incident involving Venezuela in 1902. Support the podcast at https://historyasithappens.supercast.com/

Subscribe now to listen to this entire episode and get more bonus content - without ads! Moldova's parliamentary elections drew international attention because of Russian meddling aimed at subverting the outcome. The incumbent pro-EU party prevailed anyway, winning an absolute majority. This keeps Moldova on track to join the European Union, although Moscow remains miffed by countries in its historical "sphere of influence" moving toward the West. We check in with Veronica Anghel, an expert on EU integration at the European University Institute. She joins us from Brussels. Subscribe: https://historyasithappens.supercast.com/

Subscribe now to skip ads, get bonus content, and access the entire podcast catalog of 500 episodes. Sudan's civil war, genocide, and famine continue to go mostly unnoticed in the United States. This is even though millions of people are being brutalized, murdered, raped, or displaced in a conflict where there are no good sides, and where democracy is not on the line. In this episode, Tufts University scholar Alex de Waal, one of the world's foremost experts on Sudan and the Horn of Africa, explains why peace and justice are distant possibilities in Sudan's third civil war since its 1956 independence. Further reading: Lineages of Genocide in Sudan by Alex de Waal (Journal of Genocide Research)

Subscribe now to skip ads, get bonus content, and access the entire podcast catalog of 500 episodes. *** Where does the question of Israel's right to exist come from? At the moment of Israel's independence in 1948, its Arab neighbors rejected its statehood. Today, Israel's defenders say the Jewish state must be allowed to defend itself from Hamas to ensure its survival. In this episode, political scientist Ian Lustick says the question is a category error. Rather than focusing on the state, people may ask whether they have "a duty to respect and defer to the decisions Israeli governments make" under the Zionist regime that has existed since '48. Support the podcast at https://historyasithappens.supercast.com/ Further reading: The Question of Israel's Right to Exist is a Red Herring by Ian Lustick (Foreign Policy)

Subscribe to listen to this entire episode. Free expression as a First Amendment right and cultural value is under assault in America. Yes, there's a hurricane of partisan hypocrisy concerning who can say what and when. But the battles over this cherished right are as old as the republic. The uproar over Jimmy Kimmel is merely the latest chapter. The veteran First Amendment litigator Bob Corn-Revere, now the chief counsel of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), is here to clear up the confusion. Subscribe at historyasithappens.supercast.com Further reading: Everyone's a Free Speech Hypocrite by FIRE's Greg Lukianoff (New York Times) FIRE's College Free Speech Rankings

Want to skip ads? Subscribe now.  A U.N. commission reported that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, provoking denials and denunciations from Israel's government and its U.S. supporters. What explains the endless wrangling over a term coined by Raphael Lemkin to define the crime of national destruction, even as Israeli officials openly express their intent to make Gaza uninhabitable? In this episode, scholars Dirk Moses and Sonia Boulos argue that the search for answers must begin in 1948. Further reading: Education After Gaza After Education After Auschwitz by Dirk Moses (Berlin Review) The “G Word,” Liberal Israeli Elites, and the Prospect of Decolonization by Sonia Boulos (Journal of Genocide Research)

Subscribe now to skip ads, get subscriber-only bonus episodes, and access the entire podcast catalog. If the ties that bind the republic are disintegrating, imperiling the survival of American democracy, there may be something to learn from the collapse of a European polity 100 years ago. The Weimar Republic was eviscerated by hyper-polarization, national traumas, and economic shocks, leading to the rise of Adolf Hitler. Is this the right place to look? In this episode, David Abraham, an expert in European history and political economy, tells us where this trendy analogy is effective and where it falls short. Further reading: The Collapse of the Weimar Republic by David Abraham

Enjoy this free bonus episode! Subscribe now to skip ads, get access to the entire podcast catalog, and listen to future subscriber-only bonus episodes. A month after the world's eyes were fixed on the Alaska summit, the Russia-Ukraine War is no closer to concluding. U.S. diplomacy has come up empty. Moscow is escalating air attacks on Ukrainian civilians. Russian drones have violated NATO airspace. Is a collapse possible along the front lines? What are Putin's aims three and a half years after launching his war of aggression? Historian Mark Galeotti of Mayak Intelligence answers these questions and more.

Subscribe now to skip ads, receive access to the entire podcast catalog, and listen to subscriber-only bonus episodes! A group of Palestinians whose families were uprooted from their ancestral homelands in 1948 has filed a legal petition with the British government. The petition is seeking an apology and reparations for British support of Zionist immigration, starting with the Balfour Declaration of 1917. The Palestinian petitioners say Britain unlawfully acted as an occupying power, giving itself the authority to rule the territory without a legal basis; and Palestinians were subject to a widespread pattern of murder, torture, and persecution under British rule. In this episode, international legal expert Victor Kattan delves into whether today's catastrophic war in Gaza has its origins in imperial decisions made more than 100 years ago. Further reading: Britain Owes Palestine (website) Gaza is a direct result of Balfour (Middle East Eye) Subscribe to the podcast: historyasithappens.com    

Support History As It Happens! Enjoy ad-free listening and exclusive bonus episodes by subscribing today at https://historyasithappens.supercast.com/ Listen to this 4-minute episode for news about new episodes starting Tuesday, Sept. 16, and the value of becoming a History As It Happens supporter.

Note: Following this episode, History As It Happens will be on hiatus. Stay updated on the podcast's status by subscribing (free) to our newsletter on Substack. This is the final episode in a 5-part series marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in August 1945. When the Second World War began, few expected the United States would emerge six years later as an unrivaled military and economic power at the head of a new world order built upon the graves of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Eighty years on, U.S. hegemony and the key global institutions for peace and free commerce are under severe pressure. In this episode, historian David M. Kennedy explores the origins of America's global age. Recommended reading: Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War by David M. Kennedy

This is the fourth episode in a 5-part series marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in August 1945. Before 1947, the United States did not have peacetime intelligence-gathering agencies such as the CIA. Foreign policy was formulated on an informal basis. Even during the Second World War, interservice cooperation was voluntary in the U.S. military. The Army and Navy had to compete for resources in the absence of a unified command structure. All this changed in 1947 with the passage of the National Security Act by large bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate. Its enduring importance cannot be overstated. In this episode, historian Daniel Bessner of the American Prestige podcast, an expert on U.S. foreign policy, delves into the origins of this permanent, expensive, and often dangerous structure. Further listening: American Prestige co-hosted by Daniel Bessner and Derek Davison

This is the third episode in a 5-part series marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in August 1945. In 1942, the Japanese seemed unstoppable in the Pacific, and the Germans steamrolled toward Stalingrad. Their victories proved ephemeral. And, in defeat, the Axis powers took millions of innocent people with them. This human drama is captured in historian Peter Fritzsche's new book, 1942, which bridges the gap between memory and history. Common American memories of righteous victory obscure the complexities, for this war was many wars in one. There were wars of national liberation, waged by people who'd been subjugated by the British and French Empires. And the U.S. was at war with itself, fielding a segregated army while throwing Japanese-American citizens into concentration camps. Recommended reading: 1942: When World War II Engulfed the Globe by Peter Fritzsche

This is the second episode in a 5-part series marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in August 1945. Most wars do not end in total victory. They usually end at the negotiating table after years of indecisive combat. What made the Second World War different? Was the Allied formula of unconditional surrender counter-productive? In this episode, acclaimed war historian and podcaster James Holland breaks down the arguments for and against unconditional surrender, concluding that FDR made the right call at the Casablanca Conference in 1943. The Axis powers of Germany and Japan bore the responsibility for prolonging the war to the bitter end, taking millions of lives with them. Further reading/listening: Victory '45: The End of War in Eight Surrenders by James Holland and Al Murray WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk

This is the first episode in a 5-part series marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in August 1945. No individual bore more responsibility for plunging Europe into another world war than Adolf Hitler, who was obsessed with reversing Germany's defeat in 1918 and getting rid of all the Jews within his reach, remaking the racial map of Eurasia in the process. Eighty years after his death, Hitler's horrendous legacy continues to influence global politics, shaping our reactions to, or justifications for, war and cruelty. In this episode, the eminent military historian Antony Beevor discusses how Hitler was able to convince other statesmen he was a man of peace before he sent Europe to the depths of hell. Recommended reading: The Second World War by Antony Beevor

Since 1945, has there been an antiwar U.S. president? Is it even possible to be an antiwar president when one has at his disposal history's most powerful war machine and is expected to maintain American primacy? President Donald Trump began his second term promising peace in the world, but after six months, the structures of empire and his unforced errors as a negotiator have thwarted progress. In this episode, historian Stephen Wertheim breaks down why the ideology of primacy impedes a more restrained U.S. foreign policy. Recommended reading:  Trump is a Situational Man in a Structural Bind by Stephen Wertheim (New York Times) Wertheim is a senior fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is the author of Tomorrow, the World: The Birth of U.S. Global Supremacy.  

For half a century, the Cold War defined global politics. Contested by two superpowers with opposing ideologies and interests, it touched nearly every part of the globe. It threatened nuclear war, and brought incalculable devastation to its battlefields – from Korea to Vietnam to Afghanistan and beyond. Could all the tension and violence have been avoided? Did the U.S. triumph or did the Soviet Union surrender? Where can we find Cold War continuities as the world unravels today? In this episode, historians Vladislav Zubok and Sergey Radchenko address these questions, which remain as relevant as ever, 30 years after the end of the Cold War. This episode was inspired by Zubok's new book (see below). Recommended reading: The World of the Cold War, 1945-1991 by Vladislav Zubok (2025) To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power by Sergey Radchenko (2024) Zubok teaches history at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Radchenko teaches history at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. They were born in the Soviet Union.          

Has Haiti passed the point of no return? Nearly 5,000 people have been killed in gang violence since last October, according to the U.N. Gangs control an estimated 90 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, as a Kenya-led security mission remains undermanned and outgunned. Government services are collapsing, and people are desperate for food. The country hasn't had a president since 2021. There is little appetite among Western nations for a major intervention to restore order in a country where the U.S. once invaded with relative frequency. Those days are history. In this episode, retired diplomat Keith Mines explains why Haiti appears to be trapped in an eternal crisis. Keith Mines recently retired after a 38-year career in public service, spanning the U.S. Army Special Forces, the Foreign Service, and as Vice President for Latin America at the U.S. Institute of Peace, where he managed programs in Haiti and chaired the Haiti Working Group in Washington. He served in Haiti from 1995-1997. He is the author of Why Nation-Building Matters: Political Consolidation, Building Security Forces, and Economic Development in Failed and Fragile States. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has contended with five U.S. presidents, from Bill Clinton in 2000 to Donald Trump today. Each American leader had the stated aim of improving U.S.-Russian relations by the time he left office. None truly succeeded. Why? In this episode, Jeffrey Engel and David Kramer examine the past 25 years of structural causes and the internal processes within Russia that contributed to the conflict. Historian Jeffrey Engel is the founding director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University. David J. Kramer is the executive director of the George W. Bush Institute and is a leading expert on Russia and Ukraine. He worked in the U.S. State Department during the eight years of Bush's presidency.

One hundred years ago, in July 1925, a high school teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, was arrested for teaching evolution. John Scopes' guilt was never in doubt, but his sensational trial was the center of national attention, pitting modernists against traditionalists, the defenders of Darwin's science against Christian fundamentalists. In this episode, historian Michael Kazin recounts what happened inside the courtroom and why it still matters. The culture wars of the early twentieth century echo in our society today, as the Democratic Party has lost rural America.  Further reading: The Trial of the Century is 100. Its Lessons Could Save the Democrats by Michael Kazin (New York Times) A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan by Michael Kazin (2006)

Is President Donald Trump augmenting or undermining the sources of American power? Trade wars against U.S. allies, an immigration crackdown, and slashing the federal workforce are but three ways the administration's approach to exercising power could ultimately erode it. In this episode, renowned political theorist Robert Keohane argues that "the continuation of Trump's current foreign policy would weaken the United States and accelerate the erosion of the international order that since World War II has served so many countries well." Is this the end of the American Century? Or was it already dead and buried? Recommended reading: The End of the Long American Century by Robert O. Keohane and Joseph S. Nye in Foreign Affairs, the official publication of the Council on Foreign Relations Joseph Nye, a scholar, strategist, and public servant, died on May 6, 2025.

President Trump's executive order to restore "truth and sanity to American history" targets esteemed institutions such as the Smithsonian and the National Park Service. It accuses them of promoting "a divisive ideology that reconstrued America's promotion of liberty as fundamentally flawed." In this episode, historian Kevin Levin, who writes the Civil War Memory newsletter on Substack, explains what changes visitors might see at revered battlefields like Gettysburg National Military Park, the site of the largest battle of the American Civil War. Further reading: National Park Service Directed to Implement Trump's Executive Order by Kevin Levin (Substack) 

This is a story about the unintended consequences of U.S. military interventionism. In 2011, President Obama decided to get involved in Libya's civil war. The U.S. and its NATO allies bombed Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi's forces in the name of protecting civilians who had risen against his regime in the early months of the Arab Spring. What began as a humanitarian intervention in March turned into a regime change operation, as Gadhafi was captured and murdered by rebels in October. President Trump's move to bomb Iran without consulting Congress evoked memories of Obama's mistakes, although Trump has, for now, managed to avoid escalation. In this episode, historian Jeremi Suri tells us what led Obama to change his mind and seek Gadhafi's ouster, a lesson in the dangers of unchecked executive war powers. Jeremi Suri is a historian at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He writes Democracy of Hope newsletter on Substack. He also co-hosts This Is Democracy podcast.

The Democratic Party controls none of the three branches of government, has no apparent leader, and is deeply unpopular. An NBC News poll says only 27 percent of registered voters have a positive view of the party. This is not the first time the Democrats have faced irrelevancy. At the onset of the 1992 presidential campaign, Republicans were confident of a fourth consecutive victory, having defeated Democrats Carter, Mondale, and Dukakis in humiliating fashion. But a Southern governor emerged to lead the party out of the wilderness and back to the White House. What can Bill Clinton's success teach Democrats today? In this episode, the eminent political historian Sean Wilentz explains how Clinton once reinvented liberal politics for a new age. Recommended reading: The Age of Reagan by Sean Wilentz

Eighty years ago, during the final weeks of the worst war ever fought, the United Nations Charter was signed in late June 1945, outlawing aggression and upholding universal human rights. World leaders agreed a legal edifice was necessary for the peaceful arbitration of disputes and protection of civilians after the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis and Imperial Japan. Today, however, the world is aflame in war and genocide, and some experts say international law is close to dead. In this episode, Adil Ahmad Haque, an expert on the rules and ethics of war, tells us what the rules-based order is breaking apart. Further reading: Law and Morality at War by Adil Haque

On April Fool's Day, members of Elon Musk's government dismantling team known as DOGE showed up at the downtown Washington offices of the Wilson Center for International Scholars with grave news. It was not an April Fool's Day prank; they were there to shut it down and fire everyone. The Wilson Center was the home of the Kennan Institute along with a library of some 30,000 books. In this episode, the institute's former director, the historian Michael Kimmage, tells us what's at stake when the government destroys a center of knowledge making, and why our society "must save the books." This exclusive interview was recorded on June 20. Recommended reading: We Must Save the Books by Michael Kimmage in Liberties

Israel and the United States justified their war against Iran on claims that its nuclear program posed an existential threat. Iran had no nuclear weapons, but the nature of its enrichment program exceeds what is necessary for peaceful energy production. An unintended consequence of U.S. and Israeli belligerence, say non-proliferation experts, could be that Iran now secretly races for a bomb. If the lesson here is that the only way to guarantee national security is to obtain nuclear deterrence, other nation-states might also break from the global non-proliferation regime. In this episode, national security analyst and career arms control expert Joe Cirincione takes us inside Iran's program and its implications for the rest of the world. Cirincione is one of a few Americans to have visited Iran's Isfahan uranium enrichment facility. Further reading: Strategy & History newsletter by Joe Cirincione