History As It Happens Podcast
This is a podcast for people who want to think historically about current events. History As It Happens, hosted by award-winning broadcaster Martin Di Caro, features interviews with today's top scholars and thinkers, interwoven with audio from history's archive. New episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.
Recent Stories
A distinguished historian of American social movements compares the twentieth century crusade to ban booze to efforts today by pro-life activists to outlaw abortion. No matter the issue, prohibitions are difficult, if not impossible, to enforce.
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As the Cold War wound down, U.S. leaders and intellectuals saw a new world emerging as the 1990s unfolded, where American power could lead to peace and cooperation. Does that new world still exist? Did it ever exist?
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The Supreme Court is redrawing the line separating church and state in America. Critics say the court is obliterating it.
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In this year marking the bicentennial of his birth, historians say U.S. Grant deserves overdue recognition in the pantheon of civil rights presidents, alongside Lincoln and LBJ.
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Nearly one year after the U.S. completed its withdrawal, Afghanistan is verging on state failure amid crushing poverty and hunger.
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Americans of various political persuasions agree the U.S. is in decline. But what does that actually mean? Historian Michael Kimmage looks to the Roman Empire for answers.
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Today's right-wing populists, with their appeals to racial, cultural, and class resentments, are the descendants of Alabama's segregationist governor.
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Two seismic events in 1979, the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, continue to shape a Middle East where President Biden is seeking help from Arab autocrats.
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Historian and Schlafly biographer Donald Critchlow discusses the crusader's legacy in light of the conservative movement's success in ending a constitutional right to an abortion. It is a timely reminder of the importance of persuasion in politics.
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Even with no end in sight to the fighting in eastern Ukraine, there appears to be no diplomatic pressure on Ukraine's leaders to cede territory to the Russian invaders.
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From communism to international terrorism to autocracy, the U.S. continues to believe it has a responsibility to fight era-defining conflicts for the benefit of the world.
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The Supreme Court's ruling striking down Roe versus Wade is raising fundamental questions about whether the Constitution protects an implied right to privacy.
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Douglass' speech on July 4, 1852 has enduring significance. It speaks to America's failings, but also to the nation's possibilities and the greatness of its ideals.
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The fiftieth anniversary of the Watergate break-in refocusing our minds on the dangers of conspiratorial thinking and unchecked executive power.
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A major historian of 20th century Europe says Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has earned the fascist label. Does it really matter what we call him?
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A decades-long relationship shaped by oil, war, terrorism, and political expediency explains why President Biden will meet Saudi leaders next month, despite his pledge to treat the kingdom as a pariah.
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Historian Joseph Ellis says the House Jan. 6 committee hearings show that the future of the republic is at risk, evoking parallels to the contentious early years of the United States.
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Andrew Bacevich says it's dangerous to view the war in Ukraine as an opportunity to save global democracy, American freedom, or U.S. hegemony, as some public intellectuals contend.
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As a frozen war descends on eastern Ukraine, the question of how long the U.S. can support the Ukrainian defenders is taking on new urgency.
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Seventy-eight years ago, Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy to begin the liberation of France. The invaders overcame chaos and confusion to defeat the Germans.
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Long before Donald Trump promised to save American manufacturing, the Democratic Party lost hold of its bedrock constituency, the White working class.
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The Supreme Court has been on the wrong side of history many times, botching the Constitution in the process.
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