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History Behind News Program
By Adel Aali, History Behind NewsHistory
History Behind News Program episodes
- Socialism in America: Popular Candidates, But No Party in Power | S6E12
Socialist candidates are winning elections as Democrats. And America’s safety net, labor movement, and civil rights movement bear the imprint of socialist activism. But unlike many other democracies, America never developed a socialist party capable of winning national power.
My guest, Dr. Michael Kazin, traces that history—and the movement’s influence beyond the ballot box. We discuss the difference between socialism and communism, the rise of Eugene Debs, and why socialism gained new appeal after the Great Recession. We also ask whether New Deal reforms borrowed from socialism to help save capitalism.
🚩About My 233rd Guest Scholar:
Dr. Michael Kazin is a professor in the department of history at Georgetown University. He is an expert in U.S. politics and social movements, 19th and 20th centuries. His books include:
- "What It Took to Win: A History of the Democratic Party"
- "American Dreamers: How the Left Changed a Nation"
You can learn more about Dr. Kazin's scholarship, publications and awards, by visiting his academic homepage.
🚩Chapters:
7:14 — What Is Socialism?
9:11 — Socialism vs. Communism
17:42 — Why the Label Is Contested
22:36 — Immigrants and American Socialism
28:36 — The Two Red Scares
34:50 — The New Deal and Socialism
41:45 — Why No Major Socialist Party?
49:31 — Socialism’s Return
52:52 — Bernie Sanders and the DSA
55:48 — Today’s Socialist Candidates
1:03:25 — Just One Point: Socialism’s Lasting Influence
🚩Celebrating America - Our New Series:
Analyzing American Revolution
🚩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/
Scholars in Your Inbox?
More than 230 scholar interviews and counting!
1 hr 9 min - Why Pakistan Feels Used—and Abandoned—by America | S6E11
Pakistan helped the United States contain Soviet power and wage war in Afghanistan. Yet Pakistanis believe America abandoned them once it was no longer useful.
Dr. Sidra Khan calls the relationship “instrumental.” She explains how rivalry with India shapes Pakistan’s foreign policy… why China offers an alternative to American power… and how decades of war left Pakistanis feeling betrayed and used.
In 2026, Pakistan emerged as a mediator between Iran and the United States.
Can a relationship built on strategic necessity ever become one built on trust?
🚩About My 230th Guest Scholar:
Dr. Sidra Khan is a professor of international relations at Bahria University, in Karachi, Pakistan. One focus of her research is U.S. foreign policy and strategic alliances, particularly America's geopolitical and military strategy in Southwest Asia.
🚩Related Interviews:
►Dr. Vali Nasr: 400 Years- Iran Strategically Alone!
Dr. Nasr is a professor and a former dean of International Affairs and Middle East Studies and a co-director of the SAIS Rethinking Iran Initiative at the Johns Hopkins University. He is not only an expert on Iran, but as a former US diplomat he developed expertise on Pakistan and has written about Pakistan, including a book that Dr. Khan mentions during our conversation.
►Dr. Šumit Ganguly: How U.S. Lost India to U.S.S.R.
Dr. Ganguly is the Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institute in Stanford University, and the Director of the Huntington Program on Strengthening US-India Relations.
🚩Celebrating America - Our New Series:
Analyzing American Revolution
🚩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/
Scholars in Your Inbox?
More than 230 scholar interviews and counting!
1 hr 18 min - America's Superpower Status Compared to History's Great Empires | S6E10
In this interview, Dr. Steven Pincus compares America's rise with some of history's greatest empires, including Rome, Britain, Qing China, Spain, France, and the Dutch Republic. He explains why America's emergence as a great power was rare rather than exceptional, how constitutions and institutions shape powerful states, and what history suggests about the rise, endurance, and decline of great powers.
🚩About My 204th Guest Scholar:
Dr. Steven Pincus is a professor of British history at the University of Chicago. He is a historian of Britain and its Empire, comparative revolutions and comparative empires, political economy, European ideas and Europe's cultural history of 17th & 18th centuries.
►Dr. Pincus's 1st interview with me: American Revolution Compared to Other Revolutions
🚩Related Interviews:
►Dr. Dael Norwood: the Boston Tea Party
► Dr. Peter Van Cleave: Dutch & American Revolution
►Dr. Edward Larson: 1776 & Declaration
►Dr. Harvey Kaye: Thomas Paine & "Common Sense"
►Dr. Sidney Milkis: Growing Presidential Power
🚩Celebrating America - Our New Series:
Analyzing American Revolution
🚩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/
Scholars in Your Inbox?
More than 230 scholar interviews and counting!
1 hr 13 min - When Popes Clash With Politicians - A History | S6E9
For centuries, popes were far more than spiritual leaders. They negotiated treaties, crowned rulers, excommunicated kings, and sometimes reshaped European politics. But when did the papacy reach the height of its political power? Why did that power decline? And why do modern popes still find themselves at odds with political leaders—from Henry VIII to today's presidents? Historian Roger Collins traces nearly two thousand years of papal history to explain how the relationship between the papacy and political power has continually evolved.
🚩About My Guest Scholars:
Dr. Roger Collins is a professor of medieval Eurasian history at the University of Edinburgh.
He is the author of "Keepers of the Keys of Heaven: A History of the Papacy" - a book that guides much of our discussion in this episode.
His other books include:
- "Chased By Bulldogs: A Historian's Tale"
- "Charlemagne"
- "Caliphs and Kings: Spain, 796-1031"
- "Early Medieval Europe, 300-1000"
- "The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710-797"
🚩Related Interviews:
—Dr. Roger Collins: History of the Papacy (S5E23)
🚩Celebrating America - Our New Series:
Analyzing American Revolution
🚩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/
Scholars in Your Inbox?
More than 230 scholar interviews and counting!
1 hr 9 min - Cheap Enough Oil - America’s Oil Culture and the Politics of Freedom | S6E8 HbN
Oil helped shape far more than the American economy.
In this episode, Dr. Matthew Huber explains how petroleum transformed American life itself… influencing the rise of suburbia, the structure of cities, consumer culture, geopolitics, and even the way many Americans came to think about freedom, individualism, and public life.
Why did the United States become so dependent on automobiles? How did oil companies influence urban development and public transportation? And how did America’s relationship with oil evolve from the age of Standard Oil and the 7 Sisters… to the oil shocks of the 1970s, the Reagan years, the Gulf War, and now the war with Iran?
This is a conversation about oil… and the modern American condition.
🚩About My 215th Guest Scholars:Dr. Matthew Huber is a professor in the Dept. of Geography and Environment at Syracuse University. His areas of expertise are political economy, energy and capitalism, climate politics and resource geography. He has published extensively on these topics, including the following books:
- "Climate Change as Class War: Building Socialism on a Warming Planet", and
- "Lifeblood: Oil, Freedom, and the Forces of Capital", which we discuss in this interview.
🚩Related Interviews:
—Dr. Jacqueline Weaver: History of Petroleum
🚩Celebrating America - Our New Series:
Analyzing American Revolution
🚩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/
Scholars in Your Inbox?
More than 230 scholar interviews and counting!
1 hr 9 min - Iran's Territorial Integrity: Imperial Memory vs. National Identity | S6E7 HbN
Iran—a nation shaped by imperial memory and modern vulnerability.
Not too long ago, Iran was far larger than it is today. European expansion and colonial intervention cut away at its territories—provinces and realms that had long been part of Iran… or were imagined to be.
This is the history of how Iran’s shifting borders shaped the modern state—and how, in turn, the idea of the Iranian homeland continues to be shaped by memory, myth, and identity.
🚩About My 210th Guest Scholars:
My guest is Dr. Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet, professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn). She is a historian of modern Middle East, with a focus on Iran and its borderlands, the Persian Gulf, and the Ottoman Empire.
She has published extensively on these topics, including the following books:
—"Frontier Fictions: Shaping the Iranian Nation, 1804-1946," which we discuss in this interview
— "Heroes to Hostages: American and Iran, 1800-1988"
—"Iran and Global Decolonization: Politics and Resistance After Empire"
—"Conceiving Citizens: Women and the Politics of Motherhood in Iran"
—Her forthcoming book is "Tales of Trespassing: Borderland Histories of Iran, Iraq, and the Persian Gulf"
🚩Video of this interview
🚩Related Interviews:
—Dr. Vali Nasr: 'How Iran Became Shia? Also, Iran's Ayatollahs and Governing Structure'
—Dr. Khodadad Rezakhani: 'Were Achaemenids & Sasanians Iranian or Persian empires?' —Dr. Vali Nasr: 'Iran Alone - Story of Pahlavi's regional defense strategy"
🚩Celebrating America - Our New Series:
Analyzing American Revolution
🚩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/
Scholars in Your Inbox?
More than 230 scholar interviews and counting!
1 hr 11 min - The White House - History Of Presidential Renovations
How do presidents pay for White House renovations, furnishings and other expenses?
Pres. Trump is 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.
🚩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 is 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.
🚩Celebrating America - Our New Series:
Analyzing American Revolution
🚩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/
Scholars in Your Inbox?
More than 230 scholar interviews and counting!
1 hr 5 min - The Kurdish Question & Why Is Kurdish Nationalism Unique? | S6E5
Consider This: Realization of A Kurdish Country May Require the Simultaneous Collapse of Three Other Countries!
In this interview, I discuss the following with Dr. Bajalan:
►Who are the Kurdish people?
►Is Kurdish related to any other Middle Eastern language?
►What religions do Kurdish people practice?
►Did Kurdish people ever have their own polity?
►What is Kurdish nationalism?
►What is Ottoman nationalism with Kurdish colors?
►Were Kurdish people exposed to European ideas of freedom, independence and nationalism?
🚩About my guest:
Dr. Djene Bajalan is a professor at Missouri State University. He is a historian of the Middle East specializing in the rise of nationalism and the evolution of the Kurdish question.
He is the author and/or editor of the following:
🕮 "The Young Kurds: The Kurdish movement before the First World War", and
🕮 "Studies in Kurdish History: Empire, Ethnic and Islam".
🚩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/
Scholars in Your Inbox?
More than 230 scholar interviews and counting!
1 hr 19 min - Iran's Ayatollahs and Byzantine Government | S6E4
Where are Iran's ayatollahs? The real ayatollahs have not been involved in Iran's government for decades. And Ayatollah Khamenei (son and father) are not real ayatollahs.
In this interview, we discuss the following:
►Was Iran's Supreme Leader supposed to be an all-powerful king or a philosopher king?
►What are the real powers of Iran's Supreme Leader? Does he rule by consensus or fiat?
►Have any Iranian presidents ever defied the Supreme Leader?
►Why does Iran have so many non-governmental institutions with so much power?
►How and when did Iran become Shia?
►Who are ayatollahs and why are there so many?
►How has Shiism formed the Iranian identity from the 19th century to now.
►What is about Iran that most Americans (actually, most people) don't understand?
*****
🚩About Our Guest:
Dr. Vali Nasr is a professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center. He has advised the U.S. president, Secretary of State, senior members of Congress and world leaders about foreign policy. He is now the co-director of the SAIS Rethinking Iran Initiative.
*****🚩My Recommendations:
►History of foreign interventions in Iran
►Iran alone - 400 years without allies! A discussion of Dr. Nasr's "Iran's Grand Strategy"
►2003 and Iran-US Failed Diplomacy: a discussion of Dr. Nasr's "The Dispensable Nation - American Foreign Policy in Retreat"
►How U.S. Sanctions On Iran Backfired On America: a discussion of Dr. Nasr's "How Sanctions Work: Iran and the Impact of Economic Warfare"
🚩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/
Scholars in Your Inbox?
More than 230 scholar interviews and counting!
1 hr 8 min - Who Controls America’s Patent System?| S6E3
Are patents the foundation of America's technological superiority? The answer is yes. But major changes at the U.S. Patent Office are reshaping how patents are challenged, defended, and protected. And these changes may impact innovation, products, prices and more - meaning that they may impact all of us.
🚩About My Guest Scholars:
Prof. Saurabh Vishnubhakat is a professor of Law and the Director of the IP and Information Law Program of Cardozo Law School. His forthcoming book is titled "A Tort Theory of Patent Litigation: History & Reform".
🚩Related Interviews:
—History of U.S. Patents: from the Venice to the British Empire to Articles of Confederation and then the early Republic.
🚩Celebrating America - Our New Series:
Analyzing American Revolution
🚩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/
Scholars in Your Inbox?
More than 230 scholar interviews and counting!
1 hr 27 min
About History Behind News Program
From the publisher's feed
Others cover the news. We uncover the history behind it.
We make in-depth history researched and written by eminent scholars enjoyable and accessible to everyone. Our motto: "bridging scholarly works to everyday news."
Adel Aali, podcast host, is a former attorney & healthcare entrepreneur with a long and deep passion for history. Adel started this program to provide a better understanding of news through history.
More here: https://HistoryBehindNews.com/
Watch this program on YouTube: https://bit.ly/HbN-YT-Sub
We appreciate your financial support of our program: https://historybehindnews.
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