Why Dec. 25? Why so much Christmas conflict & controversy in Christianity's history? Why is Christmas so important to Christianity? And to America?
In this episode, I ask my guest, Dr. Carey Roberts, the following questions:
►Why is Christmas such a grand celebration? What does this tell us about Christianity?
►Did it take a while for Christmas to take a central role in Christianity
►What's the difference between recognition and celebration of Christmas
►Did Christmas piggyback on existing Roman pagan traditions?
►How did Christmas enter America's culture? If not the Puritans, then which immigrant group introduced Christmas to America?
►Were there any regional differences in the celebration of Christmas?
►When did U.S. businesses begin to capitalize on Christmas?
►Would President Grant have witnessed a similar Christmas celebration in Boston and Savannah?
►Would George Washington recognize our Christmas? How about Andrew Jackson? Abraham Lincoln? Teddy Roosevelt?
►What happened to Christmas after WWII?
►Is it a bad thing that non-Christians and/or non-practicing Christians celebrate Christmas?
🚩About My Guest:
Dr. Roberts is a Professor of History and Online Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Liberty University. His research interests include early American intellectual and economic history. He has lectured and published widely in the fields of the American Founding, monetary and banking history, American intellectual life, and Southern literature. He has been a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church of America and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Here is his academic homepage. This is a replay of my 2023 interview with him.
Also, watch my interview with Dr. David Silverman about the real history of Thanksgiving.
I hope you enjoy these interviews about the history behind our news.
Adel Aali, host & producer
History Behind News podcast & on YouTube
Scholars Unravel Middle East:
An in-depth history and analysis of the Middle East available on Spotify, Apple, Castbox, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music or Radio Public.
SUPPORT:
Click here and join our other supporters in the news peeler community. Thank you.
Will Prime Minister Takaichi be a champion for women's rights?
🚩Analyzing American Revolution - a new podcast series by History Behind News Program.
🚩In this interview:
►Women's Nudity in 19th-century Japan
►Victorian Europe's Perception of Women
►What is significant about the year 1868?
►Japan's sudden rush to modernize itself
►Uneven Modernization for Women Across Japan
►Women’s Education in Modern Japan
►The American Occupation of Japan
►Coeducation and Confusion In Society
►Japanese Women Writers: Successful Careers, Personal Anguish
►Did Coeducation Change Women’s Traditional Roles?
►Japan Job Ads: "No Women Wanted"!
►The 1966 Sumitomo Case
►Second-wave Feminism in Japan
►Comparing Japanese and American Feminism
►PM Takaichi's Parents and Political Rise
►Will PM Takaichi Champion Japanese Women's rights?
🚩About My 198th Guest Scholar:
Dr. Julia Bullock is a professor of Japanese Language and Literature and the Director of the Institute for Global Research and Learning at Emory University.
Dr. Bullock has published extensively on Japanese women and feminism in the modern period. Her books include:
🚩Adel Aali
host & producer
☑️Where to find my program:
Adel on Facebook and X.com
🚩Support My Program:
Click here and join our other supporters of the History Behind News podcast. Thank you.
🎵 attribution, links and license for thetheme music in this podcast: The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
More than 230 scholar interviews and counting!
Prof. Silverman describes the first Thanksgiving: an accidental feast between frenemies that was never repeated.
How much is our Thanksgiving tradition based on real events that transpired sometime in the fall of 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts? And why does it matter anyway?
Don't all nations have feel-good traditions that are partly based on facts, but mostly predicated on myths?
Professor David Silverman answers these questions and more. For example, he shares with us that Europeans had been in contact with the Wampanoag Native Americans, who are the "Indians" of our Thanksgiving tradition, since at least 1524. And that the Pilgrims were guided to Plymouth by at least one crew member who touted its advantage - hint: all its native inhabitants had died of disease, leaving houses and fields empty and available for the would-be English settlers. And while the turkey was certainly on the menu, so was eel! In this episode, Professor Silvermans explains the aftermath of that first Thanksgiving. And by way of follow-up, I ask him to explain why it is that some Native Americans observe a Day of Mourning on Thanksgiving.
Professor Silverman is the author of This Land is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving, a 2019 book. Click this link for this book's Amazon page. Professor Silverman has written several other books about the history of Native Americans, which are listed on his academic homepage is along with his other publications, projects and honors. Here is the direct link to Professor Silverman's academic homepage: https://history.columbian.gwu.edu/david-silverman
In this interview, Dr. Carey Roberts tells us the real story behind America's celebration of Christmas.
I hope you enjoy this episode.
Adel, host & producer
History Behind News podcast & on YouTube
►SUPPORT:
Click here and join our other supporters in the news peeler community. Thank you.
How Gerrymandering has backfired on its proponents.
🚩Support My Program
🚩About My 197th Guest Scholar:
Dr. Shawn Donahue is a professor of Political Science at the University of Buffalo, where a primary part of his research focuses on redistricting, representation, partisan and racial gerrymandering as well as voting rights and campaign finance. In addition to his research, Dr. Donahue has had a decade of experience as a lawyer, including eight years as a prosecutor. Relevant to the subject of our interview, he submitted an amicus brief before the U.S. Supreme Court in an important 2019 case that dealt with issues of partisan gerrymandering in Wisconsin. He also contributed to a report that helped lead to a ruling that the Virginia U.S. House map was a racial gerrymander in 2016. And here is his personal website.
►The New York Times report mentioned in this interview.
►Image Description:
The bizarre cartoonish creature in this podcast's thumbnail image was printed in March 1812, representing state senate election district of South Essex created by the Massachusetts legislature to favor the Democratic-Republican Party. The word is a combination of Gov. Elbridge Gerry's last name and a monster-like salamander - hence, Gerrymander.
Attribution: By Elkanah Tisdale (1771-1835) (often falsely attributed to Gilbert Stuart)[1] - Originally published in the Boston Centinel, 1812., Public Domain.
🚩Adel Aali
host & producer
☑️Where to find my program:
Adel on Facebook and X.com
🚩Support My Program:
Click here and join our other supporters of the History Behind News podcast. Thank you.
🎵 attribution, links and license for thetheme music in this podcast: The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
More than 225 scholar interviews and counting!
Ed Koch. Donald Trump. Rudy Giulian. Al Sharpton. Spike Lee. And more. They were the tabloid gods of New York at a pivotal time in the City's modern history - a time when several issues erupted into crises that caused chaos in NYC and made national headlines. And we discuss them in this interview because many of those issues persist to this day, and continue to polarize NYC's population and politics.
🚩Support My Program
In this interview:
►"Gods" of New York
►1986-90: pivotal years in NYC's history
►How Wall Street and real estate development took over
►NYC's 1980s crisis of house affordability - a reckoning now
►How did homelessness blow up into a major crisis in NYC?
►Who was "Billie Boggs" and why did Pres. Reagan talk about her with the Soviets?
►What tactics did Donald Trump deploy to get rid of his tenants?
►Killing of Black New Yorkers by an all-white NYPD
►Murderous racial tensions between White and Black New Yorkers
►Black community's mistrust of the criminal justice system
►In 1985, NYC became a non-white city
►NYC's crisis of identity
►A city for billionaires?
🚩About My 196th Guest Scholar:
Mr. Johnathan Mahler is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine and his journalism has received numerous awards. He is the author of:
🚩My Recommendation:
►S3E47, Prof. Maria Foscarinis: America's history of homelessness
🚩Adel Aali
host & producer
☑️Where to find my program:
Adel on Facebook and X.com
🚩Support My Program:
Click here and join our other supporters of the History Behind News podcast. Thank you.
🎵 attribution, links and license for thetheme music in this podcast: The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
More than 200 scholar interviews and counting!
Venezuela was once a liberal democracy with close geopolitical relations with the United States. So what happened?
This is the story of Venezuela's devolution from democracy to dictatorship, and from cooperation with America to coups and open conflict.
🚩Support My Program
In this interview:
►How did the Cold War affect US-Venezuela relations?
►How Venezuela's liberal democracy ended
►Irony of US-Venezuela anti-Cuba cooperation
►How Venezuela's pluralistic society became polarized
►Selling oil to your enemy
►Venezuela's path to China
►U.S. Warned Chavez about coup
►Chavez's viciousness & belligerence toward America
►What is Competitive Authoritarianism?
►Chavez the Robinhood
►How Chavez's coalition changed
►Consequences of Chavez expelling the DEA
►Pres. Trump's bounties for Maduro's capture
►Four sectors that dictators need to survive
🚩About My 194th Guest Scholar:
Dr. Javier Corrales is Chair of Amherst College Political Science Department. His many books about Venezuela are listed on his academic homepage.
In addition to his books, Dr. Corrales has published extensively, including his recent paper "Intentional polarization: How policy extremism and ideological overuse promote democratic backsliding".
Watch this interview: 🎞️ https://youtu.be/aJKtFsijPt4
🚩My Recommendations:
►S5E8, Dr. Michael J. LaRosa: Colombia
►S5E25, Dr. Jose Miguel Cruz: El Slavador
►S4E12, Dr. Carmen Martínez Novo: Ecuador
🚩Adel Aali
host & producer
☑️Where to find my program:
Adel on Facebook and X.com
🚩Support My Program:
Click here and join our other supporters of the History Behind News podcast. Thank you.
🎵 attribution, links and license for thetheme music in this podcast: The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
More than 200 scholar interviews and counting!
Exceptions to & exapnsions of Freedom of Speech.
🚩Support My Program
In this interview:
►Was the First Amendment really the first?
►Why does the First Amendment only mention Congress?
►Did our Founders believe the President has no power to restrict freedom of speech?
►To our Founders and their British counterparts, was freedom of press more consequential than freedom of speech?
►In the First Amendment, is the word "THE" controversial?
►Does Pres. Trump's Executive Order to prosecute flag burning violate the First Amendment?
►Was the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel's show a 1st amendment violation?
►Do states extend freedom of speech protection to private employees?
►When and how did the Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment, get applied to states?
►What is Selective Incorporation of the Bill of Rights?
►Can a federal employee be fired for their political affiliation?
►Why is Pres. Trump relitigating the Supreme Court 1960's "Sullivan" case?
🚩About My 194th Guest Scholar:
Prof. Eugene Volokh is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is Emeritus professor of law at UCLA, where he taught First Amendment law among other subjects. And before UCLA, he clerked at the US Supreme Court for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Prof. Volokh is the author of "The First Amendment and Related Statutes" 8th Ed., and he hosts Free Speech Unmuted – a video podcast series sponsored by the Hoover Institution.
Watch this interview: 🎞️ https://youtu.be/MJLtinvs03o
🚩My Recommendations:
►S3E16, Dr. Aimee Edmondson: Sullivan Case, Defamation Suits & Journalism
►S5E35, Dr. Robert Thompson: Late-Night TV Show Hosts & History
► S5E30, Dr. Lindsay P. Cohn: National Guard & Civil-Military Relations - From Whiskey Rebellion To Los Angeles
Committee on First Amendment, relaunched by Jane Fonda on Oct. 1, 2025.
🚩Adel Aali
host & producer
☑️Where to find my program:
Adel on Facebook and X.com
🚩Support My Program:
Click here and join our other supporters of the History Behind News podcast. Thank you.
🎵 attribution, links and license for thetheme music in this podcast: The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
More than 200 scholar interviews and counting!
Congress, and not the presidency, used to be the predominant power of the U.S. government. In this interview, we discuss the history of how politics, populism and polarization changed the balance of power in our government.
🚩Support My Program
In this interview:
►Where does the Constitutional principle of the "separation of powers" and "coequal" branches of government come from?
►How did John Locke and baron Montesquieu impact the Federalist papers?
►What are the powers that the Constitution grant to Congress or preserve for the president?
►In the beginning, which had more power: Congress or the Presidency?
►How did the following change the power of the presidency?
►What is presidentialism and what are its perils?
►Why is presidential democracy an oxymoron?
🚩About My 191st Guest Scholar:
Dr. Sidney Milkis is a professor of politics at the Miller Center and in the Dept. of Politics at the University of Virginia (UVA), and the Interim Director of the Program on Constitutionalism and Democracy there. He is co-founder and co-director of an all-university initiative, Project on Democracy and Capitalism, which is exploring the complex relationship between self-government and markets. Dr. Milkis has published extensively on democracy and the presidency, including his 2025 book, which we discuss in this interview.
Watch this interview: 🎞️ https://bit.ly/HbN-S5E49-YT-Presidentialism
🚩My Recommendations:
►S3E1, Prof. Joel Paul: Pres. Jackon & Trump & GOP History
►S5E15, Prof. Adam Cox: Presidency's Awesome Immigration Power
►S5E22, Prof. Julian Davis Mortenson: Unitary Presidency
🚩Adel Aali
host & producer
☑️Where to find my program:
Adel on Facebook and X.com
🚩Support My Program:
Click here and join our other supporters of the History Behind News podcast. Thank you.
🎵 attribution, links and license for thetheme music in this podcast: The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
More than 200 scholar interviews and counting! So don't miss HbN guest scholars’ weekly takes on the history behind our news.
On-again off again. Hot and cold. That's how I would describe more than 75 years of America's relationship with India. It's a story that seesaws between extremely close cooperation and virtually full ruptures and severe sanctions. And the goal of this interview is to learn from history how Pres. Trump's 50% tariffs may impact our relations with India now!
🚩Support My Program
🚩In this interview:
►How Stalin viewed India after its independence from Britain
►How Khruschev changed USSR-India relations in the 1950s
►America's ambiguity about Kashmir
►Nonalignment is "immoral"!
►Who is India nonaligned against!
►Ultimate irony of India's nonalignment policy
►U.S. supports India in the 1960s
►Consequences of India's criticism of the Vietnam War
►U.S. forsakes India in the 1970s
►Indira Gandhi's masterstroke with the Soviets
►Clinton's India sanctions
►Obama & Biden's warmer relations with India
►Pres. Trump & PM Modi - from close friendship to strained relationship
►Will India buckle under Pres. Trump's tariffs?
►Do tariffs push India toward China and Russia?
►India's nonalignment compared to issue-based alignment and multi-alignment
🚩About My 190th Guest Scholars:
Dr. Šumit Ganguly is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution - Stanford University, where he is also the Director of the Huntington Program on Strengthening US-India Relations. He has published extensively, including the following books:
🚩My Recommendations:
►S5E35, Dr. Thompson: Late Night Show History
►S5E27, Dr. Kanjwal: Kashmir History
►S5E24, Dr. Irwin: U.S. Tariffs History
🚩Adel Aali
host & producer
☑️Where to find my program:
Adel on Facebook and X.com
🚩Support My Program:
Click here and join our other supporters of the History Behind News podcast. Thank you.
🎵 attribution, links and license for thetheme music in this podcast: The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
More than 200 scholar interviews and counting! So don't miss HbN guest scholars’ weekly takes on the history behind our news.
U.S. interventions in Brazilian politics since the 19th century & Bolsonaro's 27-year prison term.
🚩Support My Program
🚩In this interview:
►How do Brazilians perceive the U.S.?
►Do Brazilians watch American TV shows? Do they listen to our music?
►Brazilians to Americans: why don't you know more about us!
►A Tropical Version of the U.S.?
►Brazilians' "weird" relationship with the Amazon: fear, nationalism and exploitation.
►Amazon river as international water?
►1822 - US recognizes Brazil's independence
►1889 - US saves Brazil's republic?
►1891 - United States of Brazil
►1964 - US supports Brazil's military coup
►Interest without intervention
►How FDR & his New Deal changed US-Brazil relations: good neighbor policy
►Brazil's role in WWII: supporting America
►Brazil feels betrayed by America after WWII
►Operation Pan America: Pres. Eisenhower
►Pres. Trump & former Pres. Bolsonaro (Trump of the Tropics)
📽️Watch this interview on YouTube
🚩About My 188th Guest Scholars:
Dr. Rafael Ioris is a professor of Latin American History and Politics at the University of Denver. He specializes in Brazilian history, politics, foreign policy as well as Brazil-US relations. Dr. Ioris grew up in Brazil, attended college there and later received his doctorate in Latin American History in the United States.
He is the recipient of many prestigious research funds… including the Andrew Mellon Foundation, the French Foreign Ministry, the National Research Council of Brazil… and he has been a visiting Professor at premier universities… including the University of Sao Paulo, Sorbonne University, in Paris, and the University of International Business and Economics, in Beijing.
🚩My Recommendation:
►S3E5 🎧: https://bit.ly/HbN-S3E5-BrazilModernHistory
This is an interview with Dr. Marshall Eakin, a professor of history at Vanderbilt University.
🚩Adel Aali
host & producer
☑️Where to find my program:
Adel on Facebook and X.com
🚩Support My Program:
Click here and join our other supporters of the History Behind News podcast. Thank you.
🎵 attribution, links and license for thetheme music in this podcast: The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
More than 200 scholar interviews and counting! So don't miss HbN guest scholars’ weekly takes on the history behind our news.
New York Fashion Week is here. But what is fashion? And what is American fashion?
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🚩In this interview:
►What can be considered unfashionable?
►In the old days, did kings and queens set fashion trends?
►Do you have a fashion group?
►Did you say you don't think about clothes? If yes, then you do!
►Is fashion aspirational?
►Ralph Lauren
►Fashion during the Industrial Revolution
►How is American fashion different than French fashion?
►Is fashion art?
►Can we point to an early expression of American fashion?
►How has social media affected the fashion industry?
►Does New York Fashion Week reflect fashion trends or set fashion trends?
►What is the House of Worth?
►What are the 4 reasons that Adel, HbN host, is interested in fashion history?
🚩About My 188th Guest Scholars:
Prof. Nancy Deihl is Chair of the Department of Art and Art Professions at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University (NYU). She is a historian of fashion specializing in the period from the mid-19th century to the present and concentrating on the American fashion industry. She is particularly interested in connections between fashion and art practices. Before NYU, Prof. Deihl taught at the Fashion Institute of Technology.
She has published widely on fashion, including the following two books:
🚩Other Interviews:
►S5E45: Jane Austen 250
►S5E40: Putin and the War in Ukraine
►S5E30: National Guard in U.S. Cities
🚩Adel Aali
host & producer
☑️Where to find my program:
YouTube:▶️https://bit.ly/HbN-YT-Sub
Adel on Facebook and X.com
🚩Support My Program:
Click here and join our other supporters of the History Behind News podcast. Thank you.
🎵 attribution, links and license for thetheme music in this podcast: The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
More than 200 scholar interviews and counting! So don't miss HbN guest scholars’ weekly takes on the history behind our news.
How do presidents pay for White House renovations, furnishings and other expenses?
Pres. Trump will be building a big beautiful ballroom for the White House. And you will note from this interview, the need for additional space in the executive mansion is not at all new. Many presidents have asked for it.
🚩Support My Program
🚩In this interview:
►Who manages the White House?
►Who funds White House maintenance and projects?
►Why did some presidents sell White House furniture, furnishing & tableware?
►Why does the White House have eclectic styles?
►What was Mary Todd Lincoln's for future First Ladies?
►What was Jacqueline Kennedy's contributions to the White House?
►Which president embarked on the biggest 20th century renovation and why?
►How was White House security in the old days?
►Why was the Oval Office moved?
►How did TR and FDR change the White House?
►Does the White House have hidden passages?
►What are some major White House changes that Congress rejected?
►What are some unpopular White House changed that we have come to love?
🚩About My 187th Guest Scholars:
Dr. Matthew Costello was named the Chief Education Officer of the White House Historical Association, where he is Chair in White House History and Director of the David M. Rubenstein National Center for White House History.
🚩Other Interviews:
►S5E41: Presidential Love Affairs, Sexual Relations & Scandals.
►S3E49: America's First Ladies
►S4E8: America's Conspiracy Theories
🚩Adel Aali
host & producer
☑️Where to find my program:
YouTube:▶️https://bit.ly/HbN-YT-Sub
Adel on Facebook and X.com
🚩Support My Program:
Click here and join our other supporters of the History Behind News podcast. Thank you.
🎵 attribution, links and license for thetheme music in this podcast: The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
More than 200 scholar interviews and counting! So don't miss HbN guest scholars’ weekly takes on the history behind our news.
Bath, England, is celebrating Jane Austen - 250 years of her life and legacy.
🚩Support My Program
Do any of these titles sound familiar to you?
►"Pride and Prejudice"
►"Sense and Sensibility"
►"Persuasion"
►"Emma"
►"Mansfield Park"
►"Sanditon"
If so, you definitely want to hear this interview - the stories and history of Jane Austen's life and legacy.
🚩About My 186th Guest Scholars:
Prof. Kathryn Sutherland of St. Anne's College, University of Oxford, is the Patron of Jane Austen's House Museum in Chawton, a member of the Advisory Board for the British Library's 'Discovering Literature' project and Chair of the Advisory Board of the Oxford Edition of Charles Dickens.
She has published extensively, including the following books that we discuss in this interview:
🚩Celebrating Jane Austen:
Here is the website for Bath's Jane Austen Festival 2025.
🚩Relevant Interview:
S2E31: my 2022 interview with Dr. Mehrkens about monarchy and middle class
🚩History Behind This Week's News:
►S3E8: China's military history
►S5E33: Presidential sex and love scandals
►S5E30: U.S. National Guards
►S3E9: U.S. antitrust history
🚩Adel Aali
host & producer
☑️Where to find my program:
Home:https://historybehindnews.com
YouTube:▶️https://bit.ly/HbN-YT-Sub
Adel on Facebook and X.com
🚩Support My Program:
Click here and join our other supporters of the History Behind News podcast. Thank you.
🎵 attribution, links and license for thetheme music in this podcast: The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
More than 200 scholar interviews and counting! So don't miss HbN guest scholars’ weekly takes on the history behind our news.
Public broadcast federal funding has been completely cut. Our federal government will no longer fund public broadcasting. Pres. Trump has ordered the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to cease any funding to PBS or NPR. In addition, he signed Congressional bill that clawed back already approved CPB funding.
🚩Support My Program
🚩In this interview:
►What defines public broadcasting?
►Radio's evolution from a public to commercial medium
►Educational broadcasting or public broadcasting?
►Nonprofit vs. noncommercial
►How is public broadcasting funded?
►How is Sputnik relevant to public broadcast?
►Why the South liked public broadcast
►NAACP and public broadcast
►How did the Carnegie Corp. impact public broadcast?
►Why don't conservatives like public broadcast?
►Pres. Johnson, Nixon and Reagan and public broadcast
🚩About My 185th Guest Scholars:
Dr. Allison Perlman is a professor of film and media studies in the School of Humanities at University of California, Irvine. Her research interests include history of broadcasting, American social movements, media law and policy, media activism, popular memory. Her publications include the following books:
🚩Adel Aali
host & producer
☑️Where to find my program:
Home:https://historybehindnews.com
YouTube:▶️https://bit.ly/HbN-YT-Sub
Adel on Facebook and X.com
🚩Support My Program:
Click here and join our other supporters of the History Behind News podcast. Thank you.
🎵 attribution, links and license for thetheme music in this podcast: The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
More than 200 scholar interviews and counting! So don't miss HbN guest scholars’ weekly takes on the history behind our news.
Japan's history of public health, imperial rise and nationalism. And also, story of a Japanese company's commercial invasion of America.
🚩In this interview:
►What does it mean to be modern?
►Japan's 'modernization' - 1860s to 1910s.
►4 requirements for modernization of Japanese toilets
►disease prevention, e.g., cholera in Japan
►Japan - the rise of a 'clean' empire
►Is Japan's history of cleanliness true?
►Black Gold: Japan's centuries-old "night soil system"
►Gen. Douglas MacArthur's toilet
►squat vs. sit down toilets - Japan in the 1980s
►cleanliness and Japan's nationalism
🚩New York Times:
"The Rise of the Japanese Toilet"
🚩About My 184th Guest Scholars:
Dr. Kerry Shannon of California State University, Dominguez Hills, is a historian of modern East Asia, and his broader research and teaching interests include the intellectual and social history of public health. His forthcoming book, which we discuss in this interview, is tentatively titled "Going to the Bathroom for the Nation: a History of the Modern Japanese Toilet".
🚩My Recommendation:
S5E11: Japan's modern history - from pacificism to realism, story of how Japan works.
🚩Adel Aali
host & producer
☑️Where to find my program:
Home:https://historybehindnews.com
Apple:🎧https://bit.ly/HbN-Podcast-Apple
YouTube:▶️https://bit.ly/HbN-YT-Sub
Adel on Facebook and X.com
🚩Support My Program:
🚩Click here and join our other supporters of the History Behind News podcast. Thank you.
🎵 attribution, links and license for thetheme music in this podcast: The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
More than 200 scholar interviews and counting! So don't miss HbN guest scholars’ weekly takes on the history behind our news.
Why do some presidential sexual relations become major scandals while others don't even make the news?
🚩In this interview:
►Are presidential love affairs different than sexual relations?
►What defines a scandal? The nature of the act or the politics of the moment?
►JFK's sexual relations
►FDR's love affairs
►Cleveland's sex scandals and great love story
►Clinton's sexual relations
►Jackson's scandals - heartbreak & Cabinet's shutdown
►Washington's great love
►Epstein's sex scandal vs. others
►Character is King!
🚩About My 183rd Guest Scholars:
Dr. Robert Watson is a Distinguished Professor of American History & Avron Fogelman Research Professor at Lynn University, and also the Director of Project Civitas, an initiative to promote civility both on campus and in the community in politics and all other aspects. He has published 200 scholarly articles and over 45 books, including "Affairs of State: The Untold History of Presidential Love, Sex and Scandal", which we discuss in this interview.
Dr. Watson's forthcoming book is "Declaration: The Story of American Independence", in which he revisits America's Founding - just in time for our nation's 250th anniversary in 2026.
You have likely watched Dr. Watson talk about history on TV, for example on CNN, MSNBC on The Daily Show. In addition, Dr. Watson has worked with or lectured for some of our nation's most preeminent historic sites, such as the Truman Presidential Library, Ford Presidential Museum, US Military Academy at West Point, the National Archives, the Smithsonian Institution, the Pentagon, George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Society of the Cincinnati, Gettysburg National Battlefield, National Civil War Museum, Mount Rushmore, US Capitol Historical Society and the White House Historical Association.
🚩Adel Aali
host & producer
☑️Where to find my program:
Home:https://historybehindnews.com
Spotify:🎧https://bit.ly/HbN-Podcast-Spotify
Apple:🎧https://bit.ly/HbN-Podcast-Apple
YouTube:▶️https://bit.ly/HbN-YT-Sub
Adel on Facebook and X.com
🚩Support My Program:
🚩Click here and join our other supporters of the History Behind News podcast. Thank you.
🎵 attribution, links and license for thetheme music in this podcast: The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
More than 200 scholar interviews and counting! So don't miss HbN guest scholars’ weekly takes on the history behind our news.
As Pres. Trump and Pres. Putin meet in Alaska to negotiate a potential peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, I speak with scholars of Russia and ask them these questions:
►Who is Putin?
►What event had the biggest impact on his worldview?
►Is he an ideological man?
►Does he love Russia?
►Is he a risktaker?
►Does he fear that Russians will revolt against him?
►Does he want to be remembered in history as Putin the Great? Actually, that would be Vladimir the Great.
🚩About My Guest Scholars:
Dr. Kathryn Stoner. I interviewed her in March 2022, shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine and while the Covid-19 pandemic was a threat. She was then a scholar at Stanford University and had published an important book, Russia Resurrected: Its Power and Purpose in a New Global Order. Here is our full interview.
Dr. Mark Steinberg. I interviewed him in April 2022, when there was talk of overthrowing Putin. Dr. Steinberg is professor emeritus at the Department of History of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has published extensively about Russia, including Voices of Revolution, 1917; The Russian Revolution, 1905-1921; and also Russian Utopia. Here is our full interview.
🚩My Recommendations:
►S2E8: Wars in Ukraine, Dr. David R. Stone
►S2E5: Ukraine's National Identity, Dr. Catherine Wanner
►S5E39: Crimea and Crimean Tatars, Dr. Greta Uehling
Image Attribution:
Vladimir Putin, July 14, 2025. By Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0. Image cropped on its sides to Zoom in on Mr. Putin.
🚩Adel Aali
host & producer
☑️Where to find my program:
Home:https://historybehindnews.com
Spotify:🎧https://bit.ly/HbN-Podcast-Spotify
Apple:🎧https://bit.ly/HbN-Podcast-Apple
YouTube:▶️https://bit.ly/HbN-YT-Sub
Adel on Facebook and X.com
🚩Support My Program:
🚩Click here and join our other supporters of the History Behind News podcast. Thank you.
🎵 attribution, links and license for thetheme music in this podcast: The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
More than 200 scholar interviews and counting! So don't miss HbN guest scholars’ weekly takes on the history behind our news.
As Pres. Trump & Putin meet in Alaska, without Pres. Zelensky, to discuss a peace deal in the Russian-Ukrainian War, it is not at all certain that any land will in fact be swapped for peace, as suggested by Pres. Trump. But one thing is for certain - that Pres. Putin will not, ever, swap Crimea for any land in Ukraine.
In this episode, my guest and I discuss the history of Crimea and the Crimean Tatars.
🚩About My 182nd Guest Scholar:
Dr. Greta Lynn Uehling is a cultural anthropologist who works at the intersection of Indigenous and Eastern European Studies. She is a Teaching Professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where she teaches for the Program in International and Comparative Studies and is Associate Faculty of the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies.
Her books include the following:
🚩Other Related Interviews:
►S2E9: Who Is Putin? Dr. Kathryn Stoner
►S2E8: Wars in Ukraine, Dr. David R. Stone
►S2E5: Ukraine's National Identity, Dr. Catherine Wanner
🚩Adel Aali
host & producer
☑️Where to find my program:
Home:https://historybehindnews.com
Spotify:🎧https://bit.ly/HbN-Podcast-Spotify
Apple:🎧https://bit.ly/HbN-Podcast-Apple
YouTube:▶️https://bit.ly/HbN-YT-Sub
Adel on Facebook and X.com
🚩Support My Program:
🚩Click here and join our other supporters of the History Behind News podcast. Thank you.
🎵 attribution, links and license for thetheme music in this podcast: The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
More than 200 scholar interviews and counting! So don't miss HbN guest scholars’ weekly takes on the history behind our news.
Tower of London to Alligator Alcatraz: how constitutionalism came to America and became Americanized.
🚩In this interview:
►What is due process? Is it a legal right or privilege?
►How are procedural and substantive due process different?
►Is due process in the Constitution?
►Do immigrants have due process rights?
►Is due process essentially about fear?
►What is Magna Carta?
►Does due process come from Magna Carta?
►Magna Carta was not a compact between government and the people. So how does it set the stage for democracy?
►How did we Americanize constitutionalism?
►What is the 3rd part of the Declaration of Independence and why is it important?
►What is habeas corpus? Does it relate to due process?
►How are our systems of checks and balances related to due process?
🚩About My Guest Scholar:
Dr. David Schultz is a Distinguished University Professor in the Departments of Political Science, Environmental Studies, and Legal Studies at Hamline University. He is also an adjunct professor of Law at the University of Minnesota and at the University of St. Thomas. He is a four-time Fulbright scholar who has taught extensively in Europe and Asia, and the winner of the Leslie A. Whittington national award for excellence in public affairs teaching. Dr. Schultz is the author of more than 200 articles and 45 book on various aspects of American politics, election law, and the media and politics.
When I first interviewed Dr. Schultz, he was my guest # 69. Since then, I've interviewed 181 scholars in more than 200 interviews.
🚩My Other Interviews with Dr. Schultz:
►S4E17: Your Age, Sex & Vote - Stunning Survey Findings
►S4E1: Hypermasculine Trumpism & Politainment
►S2E39: Polarization of America's Politics
🚩Adel Aali
host & producer
☑️Where to find my program:
Home:https://historybehindnews.com
Spotify:🎧https://bit.ly/HbN-Podcast-Spotify
Apple:🎧https://bit.ly/HbN-Podcast-Apple
YouTube:▶️https://bit.ly/HbN-YT-Sub
Adel on Facebook and X.com
🚩Support My Program:
🚩Click here and join our other supporters of the History Behind News podcast. Thank you.
🎵 attribution, links and license for thetheme music in this podcast: The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
More than 200 scholar interviews and counting! So don't miss HbN guest scholars’ weekly takes on the history behind our news.
Is America undermining the rules-based international order? Are we jeopardizing the stability and predictability of the very system that we built for the world?
🚩In this interview:
►What is national security?
►What is America's "special relationship" with Britain?
►In 1916, why did Britain worry about Pres. Wilson's foreign policy?
►Did FDR bring about the end of British Empire?
►How has America benefited from this "special relationship"?
►When did America recognize it has the power and capacity to change the world in its own image?
►What does it mean that "no hegemonic power has had as much voluntary assistance as America"?
►Why does NATO delineate the geographic area to which its commitment applies?
►What event compelled the militarization of NATO?
►What is the rules-based international order?
►How has securing world order and functioning systems been so cost effective for America?
►Can a country remain powerful without political liberalization?
►Is America a rogue superpower now?
►Can America remain powerful and dynamic without our allies?
🚩About My 180th Guest Scholar:
Dr. Kori Schake is a senior fellow and the director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Prior to this, she was the deputy director-general of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. In addition, she has had a distinguished career in government, working at the US State Department, the US Department of Defense, and the National Security Council at the White House.
Dr. Schake has published extensively, including the following books
►“America vs the West: Can the Liberal World Order Be Preserved?”
►“Safe Passage: The Transition from British to American Hegemony”
►“State of Disrepair: Fixing the Culture and Practices of the State Department” and
►“Managing American Hegemony: Essays on Power in a Time of Dominance”
►“Warriors & Citizens: American Views of Our Military”, which she co-edited along with former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis.
🚩Related Interview:
S5E24: America's Tariffs - A History of Politics & Foreign Policy, Dr. Douglas A. Irwin ( Dartmouth College)
🚩Adel Aali
host & producer
☑️Where to find my program:
Home:https://historybehindnews.com
Spotify:🎧https://bit.ly/HbN-Podcast-Spotify
Apple:🎧https://bit.ly/HbN-Podcast-Apple
YouTube:▶️https://bit.ly/HbN-YT-Sub
Adel on Facebook and X.com
🚩Support My Program:
🚩Click here and join our other supporters of the History Behind News podcast. Thank you.
🎵 attribution, links and license for thetheme music in this podcast: The Success by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
More than 200 scholar interviews and counting! So don't miss HbN guest scholars’ weekly takes on the history behind our news.