The History Onion

What would a world without work look like? How would we achieve that? Legendary activist James Boggs, writing in 1963, thought that the United States already had the means to create a post-work society: “Many people in the United States are aware that, with automation, enough could be easily produced in this country so that there would be no need for the majority of Americans to work.” But that ha...

Will AI take all of our jobs? We don’t know. What we do know is that smart people have repeatedly claimed throughout history that technological progress will create long-run mass unemployment, and yet that has never become become reality. In this episode, we dig into the debate over technological unemployment and the history of this concept. We conclude by providing users with a toolkit for better...

In this episode, we discuss the neoliberal order, its rise and whether it has fallen. Our discussion is geared towards understanding the present moment and whether it represents a break with neoliberalism. However, to ground our analysis, we take a long detour through the history of neoliberalism, with a focus on a seminal neoliberal figure: Milton Friedman. Show Notes “ The Rise and Fall of Neoli...

Is Trump the new FDR? Rich Lowry, in his recent article for the National Review, certainly thinks so. In this episode, we discuss whether Lowry’s arguments hold any water (spoiler alert: they don’t) and consider whether the Democrats need to embrace the legacy of FDR more strongly (spoiler alert: they do). Show Notes Nathan Robinson’s article about FDR is titled “Do We Need a Second New Deal?” in...

Ta-Nehisi Coates, one of the leading public intellectuals in America, found himself in a media firestorm after the release of his book, The Message , in the fall of 2024. Once a darling of the liberal elite—though perhaps more because of who they wanted him to be than because of who he really was—Coates received scorn from many in the media for daring to question, in particular, America’s percepti...

In this episode, we cover the history and return of the economic ideology known as mercantilism, an ideology that is once again taking center stage in American and global politics. We begin with a discussion of the resurgence of mercantilism, embodied prominently in Donald Trump’s tariff policies. Then we look back to the origins of mercantilism in the 16th and 17th centuries, at the same time tha...

Nationalism is a dirty word, but maybe it doesn’t have to be—at least, that’s what acclaimed historian Jill Lepore argues in This America (2019). In this episode, we break down Lepore’s passionate “case for the nation” and her argument that we can, in fact, create a liberal nationalism. If you liked our discussion of Richard Rorty’s Achieving Our Country , we build on that conversation and conside...

In this episode, we discuss the philosopher G.A. Cohen’s book Why Not Socialism? , published in 2009. We talk about his case for socialism, the arguments for and against market socialism, and what we think socialism could look like. Credits Theme music by our youngest brother Tate. Cover art by Arthur Santoro. Editing by Martin Fischer. Audio production by Nate Nakshian Ward . Get full access to T...

In this episode, we take a look back at the Biden administration and what its economic legacy will be. The administration got off to a remarkable and surprisingly progressive start with a nearly $2 trillion stimulus package in early 2021 that sent the US economy rocketing towards full employment and a strong recovery from the Covid downturn. It then turned its attention towards expanding social sp...

In this episode, we discuss Susan Dunn’s book Roosevelt’s Purge: How FDR Fought to Change the Democratic Party . The book details the fascinating historical episode of the 1938 midterms, during which FDR decided to intervene directly in Democratic primaries against conservative Democrats. Roosevelt’s express goal was to tranform the Democratic Party into a solidly liberal party, leaving the Republ...

Well, the election results are out. Kamala Harris has lost. Donald Trump will return to the White House as the 47th president of the United States. In this episode, we break down the results and give our initial reaction, with a focus on the strategic takeaways for Democrats. Show Notes NYT : Election Results Data analysis by John Burn-Murdoch at the Financial Times : * What is the point of pollin...

In honor of the upcoming election on Tuesday, November 5th, we’ve decided to record an election special, breaking down the historical importance of this election, what’s at stake, and how the candidates are approaching the battle for votes. We end with a discussion of the left’s concern about Kamala Harris on the issue of Gaza. Note : Unfortunately, my (Conor’s) microphone got disconnected about t...

In this episode, we cover the history and development of the Republican Party, drawing on the story told in the book The Republican Evolution: From Governing Party to Antigovernment Party, 1860–2020 , by the political scientist Kenneth Janda. In essence, we shine light on the reverse Zuko arc of the party: from a party fighting valiantly for justice at its founding to a reactionary party trying to...

In this episode, we talk about a recent book by Daniel Ziblatt and Steven Levitsky, both professors of political science at Harvard, titled Tyranny of the Minority . Ziblatt and Levitsky make a strong argument that the US Constitution has excessively constrained American democracy, and that its counter-majoritarian measures now make the US an outlier in how anti-democratic it is compared to other...

In this episode, we cover a popular book from a few years back about the transformation of the modern Democratic Party from a party of the working class to one of the professional class. It’s called Listen, Liberal , and its author is Thomas Frank, a progressive journalist we’ve discussed previously on the podcast in our episodes on the paranoid style and the pessimistic style in American politics...

In this episode, we discuss the recent book American Whitelash by Pulitzer Prize-winning former Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery . He frames American history as a never ending tug of war between mutually opposed forces: supporters and opponents of racial progress. We dig into his approach to history and the ways in which it can illuminate our understanding of the American past. Show Notes Lo...

In this episode, we discuss the American philosopher Richard Rorty’s book Achieving Our Country , which provides a critique of the left from within. Rorty divides the 20th century into two distinct phases for the left, the first being dominated by the reformist left, and the second, starting in the mid-1960s, being dominated by the cultural left. Rorty’s sympathies lie clearly with the reformist l...

In this episode, we do a deep dive on populism, its true history, and why liberal intellectuals like Richard Hofstadter are wrong to issue blanket condemnations against it. We argue that there is a very scary form of populism, that embodied in politicians such as Donald Trump, but that this is not the only form of populism, and not at all what populism originally meant when the term was coined in...

In this episode, we discuss liberal historian Richard Hofstadter’s famous essay “The Paranoid Style in American Politics,” originally published in Harper’s Magazine in 1964. We break down what the paranoid style is, its long history in American politics, and its evolution since Hofstadter’s essay first surfaced. In particular, we emphasize the prominent place the paranoid style has occupied in the...

This episode continues our conversation about poverty that we started with our episode “Poverty, by America,” a discussion and critique of the book of the same title by Princeton sociologist Matthew Desmond. We now turn to the work of another sociologist, David Brady, who we believe has a much more compelling approach to poverty. Show Notes David Brady paper “ Poverty, not the poor ” Rich Democrac...

In this week’s episode, we tackle Poverty, by America , a recent bestseller written by Princeton sociologist Matthew Desmond. Though we found this book compelling in some ways, it fell short of the providing the sort of serious analysis of poverty, and solutions to poverty, that we think is needed. Show Notes Road to Wigan Pier , by George Orwell Desmond’s New York Times article Desmond’s 2018 pap...

This episode continues our discussion of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s final book Where Do We Go From Here?: Chaos or Community . We cover King’s views on history, on past American heroes, and his prescriptions for a better future. Credits The podcast’s theme music was made by our youngest brother Tate. Cover art by Arthur Santoro. Get full access to The History Onion at historyonion.substack.com/subs...

Today’s episode is about the most influential democratic socialist in American history: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We start the episode by looking at how King is portrayed in American media and in high school history textbooks. We then move on to how King is portrayed by historians, who view him very differently and more in his totality. Finally, we begin a discussion about King’s last book, Wher...

This episode continues our discussion of James Loewen’s bestselling book Lies My Teacher Told Me . We look at the reason he gives for why high school history textbooks are so bad, and we spend much of the episode talking about how high school history classes could be improved. Show Notes Link to the Popular Info piece cited at the top of the episode. Great quote from the book: “But only about hist...

In this episode, we discuss James Loewen’s bestselling book Lies My Teacher Told Me . We begin the episode by talking about our own experiences with high school history, both as students and, in Aidan’s case, as a teacher. We then get into the material of the book, outlining Loewen’s main thesis and the examples he provides of the failures of American high school history textbooks. Show Notes Good...