Blood and Soil: What is Ethnic Nationalism?
History As It Happens
The world is aflame with endless wars and racial strife. Some societies are tearing themselves apart as mass migration fuels a nationalist backlash. Since the nineteenth century, ethnic nationalism has been a potent force, galvanizing peoples — imagined nations — around shared myths and historical truths. Our guest is Sune Haugbølle, an expert on global political sociology. He specializes in social memory, the history of radical movements, and transnational solidarity at Roskilde University in Denmark. He is the author of . Further listening: w/ historian Mark LeVine...
info_outline
Sudan's Unrelenting Agony
History As It Happens
to History As It Happens Premium for ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content! This is the 70th year of Sudanese independence, but there is little to celebrate and much to lament as the country continues to tear itself apart. Three major civil wars have consumed 43 years of Sudan's seven decades, not counting the many years of violence and genocide in Darfur from 2003. The current war has entered its fourth year with no prospect of peace. Recent fighting has drawn the world's attention to the central Sudanese city of El Obeid, where thousands of desperate civilians are sheltering...
info_outline
Saudi Nukes (Bonus)
History As It Happens
to listen to the entire 17-minute episode (or preview 7 minutes). The precarious international consensus on nuclear non-proliferation is cracking. The Trump administration announced a civilian nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia — long sought by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — which experts fear could lead to the Saudis pursuing nuclear weapons in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The deal allows for the kingdom to enrich uranium and reprocess plutonium on its own soil. In this episode, Joe Cirincione explains the potential danger to the U.S.-led nuclear order....
info_outline
Iran Update w/ Trita Parsi (Bonus)
History As It Happens
to listen to the entire 16-minute episode (or preview 5 minutes). President Trump seems helpless. All the bombs and missiles he flings at Iran cannot solve his problems — problems he created by attacking Iran on the magical belief that the Islamic regime would crumble and be replaced by people whom Trump could control. It was a fantasy, and now, as the war enters its sixth month, Iran maintains a stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz. The situation is in limbo, floating somewhere between war and peace — with little hope that a new nuclear accord with Iran is possible. Trita Parsi is...
info_outline
Joseph Ellis' "Tragic Side"
History As It Happens
Become a for ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content. Was it possible for the leaders of the new American republic to end slavery entirely? Was the violent dispossession of Native peoples inevitable? These questions are integral to the eminent historian Joseph Ellis' new book about what he calls the two major failures of the revolutionary generation, "" Other questions to consider while listening are whether the Constitution consisted of compromises over slavery or capitulations to Southern slave interests. Also, whether Native Americans' views of land and property could ever be...
info_outline
Congress' Slide Into Irrelevance
History As It Happens
for ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content. Is Congress irreparably broken or temporarily stuck as it fails to act as a co-equal branch of government willing to check a rogue executive? And how did it get this way? In the aftermath of Vietnam and Watergate, the winds of political change swept young, ambitious reformers into the halls of Congress, and they left an important legislative legacy. But in the decades since, Congress' potential to affect meaningful change — and prevent unnecessary wars — has been whittled away. Maya Kornberg is here to explain why. Maya Kornberg is a...
info_outline
Liberal Patriotism
History As It Happens
The podcast needs your support. for ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content. Have too many liberals and leftists given up on patriotism? Have they forgotten the tradition of social movements striving for equal political and economic rights as expressed in the country's founding ideals? Historian Michael Kazin says these ideals can be used "as both a benchmark against which to measure how far we have fallen short and a means of articulating the Constitution’s vision of a more perfect union.” Michael Kazin teaches history at Georgetown University and is the author of "What It...
info_outline
Origins of a Forever War
History As It Happens
for ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content. Now well into its fifth year, Russia's invasion of Ukraine appears to be a stalemate on the ground while the combatants seek a decisive edge in the air with drones and missiles. Diplomacy to end the war seems to be going nowhere. No one can say with any certainty how or when the war may end. Do the war's origins point toward an exit? Anatol Lieven is our guest. Anatol Lieven is Director of the Eurasia Program and the Andrew Bacevich chair in American Diplomatic History at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
info_outline
Moby-Dick and Democracy
History As It Happens
for ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content. Herman Melville's masterpiece Moby-Dick has something to teach us about democracy, citizenship, and the rule of law. A flop when published in the mid-nineteenth century, Moby-Dick has long been considered a quintessential American novel — an epic adventure story layered with allegory. In this episode, historian Michael Kimmage revisits the novel with a focus on the character Starbuck, the first mate who clashes with Captain Ahab over his mad pursuit of the white whale. Recommended reading: by Michael Kimmage (Liberties...
info_outline
The Death of Lindsey Graham
History As It Happens
This is a special episode of History As It Happens. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham is dead. His office says Graham died from "a brief and sudden illness" on Saturday night in Washington. He was 71. Graham was first elected to the U.S. House in 1994 and the Senate in 2002. He was seeking a fifth term in the midterm elections this November. After first condemning Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign, the conservative Republican turned into one of Trump's most fawning supporters. In this episode, University of Texas at Austin historian Jeremi Suri examines Graham's extensive legislative...
info_outlineSubscribe now for ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content.
Chuck Todd is our special guest in this episode. He explains how changes in mass media and the journalism business led to the Trump presidency, and how Trump himself exploited the new media landscape to achieve power.
Chuck Todd hosts The Chuck ToddCast on YouTube. He is the former NBC News political director and moderator of "Meet the Press."
Further reading:
The 24/7 Presidency (The Miller Center at the University of Virginia)