In the penultimate episode in our series on the great essays, David talks about Ta-Nehisi Coates’s ‘The Case for Reparations’, published in the Atlantic in 2014. Black American life has been marked by injustice from the beginning: this essay explores what can – and what can’t – be done to remedy it, from slavery to the housing market, from Mississippi to Chi ... Show More
Nov 19
Trump-like Leadership in German History w/Chris Clark: Part 2 – Chancellor, Tyrant, Emperor?
Part two of David’s conversation with historian Chris Clark asks whether the best historical insights into Trump-like leadership come from comparison with kings or commoners, democrats or dictators. Does Trump’s leadership style share much if anything with an epoch-making politic ... Show More
58m 54s
Jan 2023
What Happens After You Uncover Buried History?
The 1619 Project was a New York Times Magazine endeavor that explored the ways the legacy of slavery still shapes American society. The story exploded into cultural consciousness in 2019, and has since become a book, a podcast, and now, a documentary series. For the project’s cre ... Show More
29m 9s
Aug 2019
The Economy That Slavery Built
The institution of slavery turned a poor, fledgling nation into a financial powerhouse, and the cotton plantation was America’s first big business. Behind the system, and built into it, was the whip. On today’s episode: Matthew Desmond, a contributing writer for The New York Time ... Show More
31m 55s
Nov 2021
How thinking critically about history shapes our future (with David Ikard)
<p>Can you think of a time when you told a story and remembered it...wrong? Perhaps you forgot a small detail, like the color of someone’s shoes, or something much bigger, like where the event took place. In a personal context, that might not seem like a huge deal. But what happe ... Show More
28m 11s
Feb 2024
Introducing: Black History, For Real
A 109 year old Black woman fights for reparations for her neighborhood that was burned to the ground when she was a child. The first woman on to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist List was a Black Panther. The richest person of all time, an African king, gave away so much gold that ... Show More
19s
Sep 2023
Histoire et mémoire, quelle différence ? - Entretien avec Virginie Tisserant
<p>Mes chers camarades, bien le bonjour ! </p><p>L’histoire est-elle neutre ? Dit-on ce qui est véritablement arrivé dans le passé quand on fait de l’histoire ? Est-ce la vérité absolue, ou essaie t-on simplement de s’en approcher un maximum à partir des différents indices dont o ... Show More
3m 24s
Feb 2024
Origins of the Civil War
<p>The war between the Union and the Confederacy is a major turning point in the history of the United States. But why did it happen?</p><br><p>From slavery and states' rights, to economic, legislative, moral, and political issues, in this episode, Don and Professor Adam Smith ex ... Show More
34m 54s