History As It Happens

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As the president's approval ratings sink to a low ahead of the midterm elections, is the end of the Age of Trump in sight, or will his politics endure? What of Donald Trump's presidency might last? When it comes to ideology, Trump is as difficult to pin down today as he was when he announced his first presidential run in 2015. Are we witnessing a politics after ideology?
Our guest is Damon Linker, the political scientist and author of Notes From The Middleground newsletter.
Further reading:
Politics After Ideology by Damon Linker

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This is the seventh episode in a series marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, America's semiquincentennial.
He was the indispensable American. George Washington held together the Continental Army as its commander-in-chief during the Revolutionary War. Then he answered his countrymen's call to serve as the new nation's first president, setting important precedents over the next eight years. Without him, the new republic might have failed. His leadership and the esteem in which he was held are the stuff of legend. The story is real. George Washington was not a demigod. As a general, he lost more battles than he won. But he was still indispensable to the causes of revolution and nation-building.
In this episode, historian H.W. Brands discusses his new book, American Patriarch: The Life of George Washington.
Further listening (America250 series):
Episode 1 w/ Lindsay Chervinsky
Episode 2 w/ Kate Carté
Episode 3 w/ Alan Taylor
Episode 4 w/ Lindsay Chervinsky
Episode 5 w/ Jim Oakes
Episode 6 w/ Sean Wilentz

Subscribe now to listen to the entire 24-minute episode (or preview 8 minutes).
One of the most influential central bankers in U.S. history, Alan Greenspan, who chaired the Federal Reserve for 19 years, died on June 22. He was 100.
Greenspan was once treated as an oracle whose policies and arcane pronouncements moved markets. After the '08 crash, however, his legacy was badly tarnished because he had embraced a quasi-religious faith in markets to regulate themselves — a fantasy that led to ruin shortly after he departed the Fed.
Our guest is historian Nelson Lichtenstein, the author of A Fabulous Failure: The Clinton Presidency and the Transformation of American Capitalism.

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This is the sixth episode in a series marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, America's semiquincentennial.
The American Revolution was deeply rooted in Enlightenment philosophy and inspired by the principle of natural rights. Even before the fighting broke out at Lexington and Concord, some Americans were calling attention to the terrible contradiction of slavery. These few would grow in number and form the first organized antislavery movement in history. In this episode, Sean Wilentz discusses this long-neglected aspect of the American Revolution.
Recommended reading:
No Property in Man by Sean Wilentz
Further listening (America250 series):
Episode 1 w/ Lindsay Chervinsky
Episode 2 w/ Kate Carté
Episode 3 w/ Alan Taylor
Episode 4 w/ Lindsay Chervinsky
Episode 5 w/ Jim Oakes

Subscribe now for ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content.
The national mood was dour. Political scandals and a lost war cast long shadows. The economy was mired in stagflation. Americans were losing confidence in the future. It was the summer of '76 — 1976! Yet despite the tough times, millions celebrated the nation's bicentennial, which was both patriotic and a bit schlocky. Historians Jeremi Suri and Jeffrey Engel reflect on that strange summer as many Americans today shrug their shoulders at the coming semiquincentennial.
Jeremi Suri teaches history at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He writes the Democracy of Hope newsletter.
Jeffrey Engel is the founding director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University.
Further reading:
On the Country's 250th Anniversary, the American People Are in a Sour Mood by Pew Research