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History As It Happens

Feb 8, 2024

Audio excerpts from "The Zone of Interest" are courtesy A24 Films.

Oscar-nominated "The Zone of Interest" dramatizes the domestic life of the fanatical Nazi Rudolph Hoess, his wife Hedwig, and five kids. They're living in their dream home -- directly adjacent to the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp where...


Feb 1, 2024

The uproar over free expression and antisemitism on college campuses evokes a controversy from the late 1970s that left a lasting mark on First Amendment case law and provided an enduring lesson on the importance of free speech in a democratic society. In 1977, American Nazis led by Frank Collin sought permission to...


Jan 30, 2024

We might need a new lexicon to describe the threats to liberal democracy. At a time when some notable scholars are referencing the 1930s -- the decade of Hitler and Mussolini -- to argue that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, to name two, are fascists, historian Roger Griffin contends fascism is too malleable...


Jan 25, 2024

The origins of the populist backlash against free trade and Wall Street hegemony may be traced to the excessively optimistic 1990s when breaking down trade barriers with Mexico and China was seen as essential to America's long-term prosperity. The decade also saw figures such as Bob Rubin and Alan Greenspan exert their...


Jan 2, 2024

President Joseph R. Biden will begin 2024 managing the same commitments and crises that defined his foreign policy in 2023. In both Ukraine and Israel, as well as in the Indo-Pacific, Mr. Biden tied U.S. power and influence to his global crusade against rising autocracy. But as he runs for re-election, the president...