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
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Bonus Ep! What Happened to Journalism?
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.
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Russia and Syria
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/
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Kai Bird on Bob Ames, Reagan, and the Two-State Solution
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
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Bonus Ep! Pete Hegseth and Wounded Knee
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/
Discover how the past shapes the present with the best historians in the world. Everything happening today comes from something, somewhere. History As It Happens features interviews with today's top scholars and thinkers, interwoven with audio from history's archive.
Subscribe for ad-free episodes and access to the entire podcast catalog: https://historyasithappens.supercast.com/
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