History Behind News Program

Did you know there are 70 definitions of rural? This is the story of rural America. And although geography does matter for the purposes of this discussion, rural is a loaded term with a complex meaning that cannot readily be determined by looking at the map. In popular culture, rural may have a negative perception. Regardless of how the media, movies and urban folk perceive rural America, ruralnes...

Are young American men willing to elect a woman for the highest office in our country? Watch video of this interview: https://bit.ly/HbN-YT-S4E18 In this interview, I ask the following questions: What defines an American generation? Do we have a new generation every 20 to 25 years? Who are Millenials? Gen Zs? How are political movements now, by young Americans, different than prior movements by ol...

What is Decoration Day? Did the South celebrate the 4th of July? As it turns out, the history of the 4th of July is not that straightforward. For example, it took about a century for the recognition of our Independence Day as a federal holiday. And for some 80 years after the Civil war, some parts of the South, including Vicksburg, did not celebrate the 4th of July. It took WWII to create a new se...

►My guest claims that Mr. Musk's compensation is $0! How is this possible? ►What are the different components of a CEO's pay package?►Why have CEO salaries stayed constant for decades? ►Why did CEO stock options significantly increase in the 1990s?►Why did CEO pay for performance dramatically increase after 2006? ►Who determines CEO pay? And how? The answer and the story behind it are more complex...

►What does it mean to be conservative? ►Is Donald Trump a conservative? ►How are most experts misunderstanding the history of America's conservatism? ►How are most experts misunderstanding an important part of modern Jewish American history? My guest has correctly predicted the outcome of every U.S. presidential election since 1984. In this episode, I ask him to predict the 2024 election? We also...

►Georgia is a country between two civilizations - Europe & Asia, and Islam and Christianity ►Until the Russians came, Georgia had maintained its status as an independent state. ►Georgia has punched above its weight under Russian and Soviet rule - prime example: Stalin, the most powerful Soviet leader, was Georgian! In this conversation, Dr. Jones takes us from the ancient and Medieval history...

►How we gambled before ash economy? ►Are religion and gambling somehow connected? ►How did risk-taking change after humanity settled down? ►How did 2nd chances - the concept of starting again - develop in America's gambling? ►Why did Las Vegas and Atlantic City seesaw on legalizing gambling? 🚩About My Guest: Dr. David Schwartz is UNLV's ombuds and also a professor in the Dept. of History. Previou...

"The continent's most violent country" is a phrase used in BBC News this week. In this episode, my guest scholar, Dr. Carmen Martinez Novo , takes us through the history of Ecuador's indigenous peoples and their struggles for equal rights and environmental rights, including an almost three-decade lawsuit against Chevron (initially Texaco). Of course, in this conversation, Dr. Martinez Novo will pe...

Families with second pregnancies were punished. Quiet often, mothers who became pregnant again were forced to abort - even in the third trimester. But now... China's government is promoting multiple pregnancies. There are even beauty pageants... for pregnant mothers. In this episode, a replay of its original recording in 2021, my guest scholar peels the history behind this news - the history of Ch...

Denmark was once Europe's greatest Protestant power. But just in a span of two or so decades, it was reduced to a has-been. How did this happen? And what lessons are there for America? In addition, Denmark's monarchy is quite informal and highly approachable, particularly when compared with the British monarchy. 🚩About My Guest: Dr. Paul Douglas Lockhart is a professor of history at Wright State...

►How did the mighty Sasanian Persian Empire fall to the Muslim Arabs? ►What happened in the Persian Empire on February 9, in the year 628? ►Where is the tomb of the last Sasanian King of kings? Were the Achaemenid and Sasanian Empires Persian or Iranian? What's the significance of these terms in the context of the past? How about now? Or in the 20th century, when Persia officially changed its name...

World War I was a major turning point for America's conspiracy theories. Before WWI, conspiracy theories targeted minorities and marginalized groups. But after WWI, conspiracy theories became about our government, about the Deep State. My guest for this episode is Dr. Kathryn Olmsted , a professor at the History Dept of UC Davis. She is the author of many books on America's conspiracy theories, in...

Out of the 3 major trade routes in the Middle East before the Suez Canal, 2 traversed through Yemen. No wonder the Sasanian Persians, the Ottomans, the Portuguese and the British all occupied and attempted to colonize Yemen. In this episode our guest scholar, Dr. Charles Schmitz, will explain the rise of Houthis in the context of Yemen's religion and history, going back to the 9th century. Dr. Sch...

How Argentinians buy homes? Negotiate salaries? Going shopping? Argentina used to be Latin America's largest economy - but no longer! Mismanagement and politics have led to several national defaults and, by some measures, Argentina has the highest inflation in the world! To better understand Argentina's economic challenges, I spoke with Dr. Gabriel Palazzo (also visit his personal homepage and X.c...

While Ms. Nikki Haley was reluctant to say the "S" word (read slavery), we all know that slavery caused the Civil War. In this episode, we discuss whether slavery was the Civil War's immediate cause or its underlying cause. The in-depth analysis of this history is important for our current political moment because race is placed in front and center. For example, did you know that not all Southern...

In a brief order this week, the US Supreme Court restored federal government access to and control of the border. In response to the Supreme Court's order, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said this: “I will continue to defend Texas’ constitutional authority to secure the border”. So here is my question: does the Constitution give Governor Abbot, or any state governor for that matter, the authority to contr...

Did you know, that Napoleon was born only a year after his homeland Corsica, was conquered by France? And that at the time of his birth, his father was fighting with the Corsican army against the French? And get this: when Napoleon moved to France around the age of 10, this future Emperor of the French could not yet speak French. To better understand Napoleon, his world, his rise to power and his...

Not the damsel in distress. Not the desirable woman who will raise your kids and take care of the home. These are the stories of the nymphomaniacs, the nasty and creepy women, the Femme Fatales. A string of recent films are casting prominent actresses, in dark, creepy, nasty characters. One example is the movie May December, which received four nominations for this pastweekend's Golden Globe Award...

The chaos of 2023 Congressional politics in perspective of history - that's the subject of my conversation with Dr. David Schultz in this episode, during which I ask him the following questions: What stood out for him in the political chaos of 2023? What period of American history resembles our current moment? Whatever happened to decorum and statesmanship in Congress? What does he mean by the hyp...

Fireworks and wild parties on Christmas Eve? Does this sound strange to you? Well, it wasn't strange to many Americans of our past. Yet, it was highly offensive to many others. How America began to celebrate Christmas and celebrate as it does now, is a multicultural story written by many immigrant groups - from the Pilgrims of the 1620s to the Protestants of the 1960s. And then... there is the...

Rosalynn Smith Carter - was she America's 49th First Lady? Or 50th? Or 41st? The answer depends on who is counted among this elite group of powerful unelected women. Here is my sources for these numbers: 49th:   White House Historical Association 50th: National Park Service 41st: the White House In this episode, I discuss the history of America's First Ladies with Dr. Kathrine Jellison of...

What is it like to meet murderers on death row? What is it like to meet mass shooters (those who survived)? Their families and friends? What is it like to meet the families and friends of their victims? In this episode, Dr. Jillian Peterson takes us through the lives of mass shooters and tells us about some of the variables in their psychological journey from being a wee baby to becoming a mass mu...

"More Americans Are Ending Up Homeless - at a Record Rate." See WSJ . Sign up here to stay updated with the launch of HbN's upcoming podcast: a special series on the Middle East, in-depth history and analysis. From San Francisco and LA to Texas and Florida, to New York, and then back to Montana... this is the history behind America's homelessness crisis. In this episode, I ask my...

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...

She could absolutely be a megastar because we have historical precedent for it. In this episode, I ask my guests, Drs. James Davis & Steven Waksman, the following questions: What were music concerts like in the 19th century? Were concerts limited in size, since there was no amplification? Was music as loud as it is now? Was Jenny Lind in the 19th century a bigger star than Taylor Swift now? Ho...