History As It Happens

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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 Took To Win: A History of the Democratic Party."
Further reading:
The Left Needs to Rediscover its Patriotism by Michael Kazin (The Atlantic)
Howard Zinn's History Lessons by Michael Kazin (Dissent)
 
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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.

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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:
Citizen Starbuck, or Democracy and the Whale by Michael Kimmage (Liberties Journal)
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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 and political legacy. Jeremi Suri writes the Democracy of Hope newsletter on Substack. 
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The discourse is drowning in -isms. President Trump is railing against an imaginary resurgence of communism. Many of its critics say the Trump administration is putting the country on the road to fascism. Others are trying to define something called Trumpism.
In this episode, historian Roger Griffin, one of the world's foremost experts on fascism and ideological movements, explains how these ideas developed over time through the prism of his own career.
Recommended reading:
The Nature of Fascism by Roger Griffin
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