Jeb Sharp
Berlin Wall Anniversary
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This week’s history podcast compiles the best of our stories commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall. Alex Gallafent chases down pieces of the original wall; Gerry Hadden returns to a border town he lived in before the wall came down; Susan Stone finds out what young Germans are learning about their past; Laura Lynch gives us Hungary’s version of tearing down the Iron Curtain; and finally, Gerry Hadden takes us to former East Berlin for a night of nostalgia.
Night Witches, Hostage Crisis, Pakistan
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Who knew there were Soviet women combat pilots in WWII? The BBC’s Lucy Ash tells us how she came to know some of these women and produce a radio documentary about their lives and exploits. Also, we revisit the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979. Hard to believe it’s been 30 years since the 444-day ordeal began. And we try to understand the complicated motivations of Pakistan’s military leaders by looking back at how Pakistan was formed and what its early years were like. Lots to chew on this week, much of it riveting.
Nazi Traitors, Hamid Karzai, Guinea
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On the history podcast this week a compilation of recent stories. Gerry Hadden tells us the story of a Nazi traitor who finally had his conviction overturned. Alex Gallafent tells us about changing U.S. views of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. And Marco Werman interviews Loyola University historian Elizabeth Schmidt about the significance of the September 28th stadium in Guinea. Download MP3
Warren Harding’s Love Letters
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On this week’s history podcast you get the uncut version of Marco Werman’s quite riveting interview with James David Robenalt, author of the new book The Harding Affair: Love and Espionage during the Great War. It’s about President Warren Harding and his long affair with his friend and neighbor Carrie Phillips. One reason the story is so intriguing is that Phillips had strong pro-German sympathies in the runup to World War One and may well have been a spy for Germany during the war itself. The affair is documented in a series of love letters between the two. Harding’s letters are under seal in the Library of Congress but Robenalt, a Cleveland lawyer, got his hands on a microfiche copy. Download MP3
More from Iranian-American author Haleh Esfandiari
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Jeb Sharp interviewed Esfandiari earlier this week about her experience in Evin Prison in Iran in 2007. You can hear a much longer version of that interview on this week’s history podcast. Esfandiari’s new memoir is called My Prison, My Home. In it she deftly weaves the story of her interrogation and imprisonment into the larger narrative of the history of U.S.-Iranian relations. Download MP3
The Nuclear Disarmament Movement
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It was striking this week–with all the talk at the United Nations of getting rid of nuclear weapons–that the rhetoric was coming from the mouths of world leaders rather than the megaphones of demonstrators. It got us wondering what ever happened to the nuclear disarmament movement? Jonathan Schell and Lawrence Wittner have some answers.
Women and the U.N., comparing economic crises, Bertolt Brecht
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The U.N. General Assembly authorized a new U.N. agency for women last week. We’ll look at the years of advocacy that led to it. The World’s Jason Margolis helps answer a listener’s question about how this economic crisis compares to past ones, especially in terms of U.S. debt. And The World’s Alex Gallafent rereads Bertolt Brecht on the Crash of 1929.
Commemorating the beginning of WW2
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This week’s podcast explores clashing interpretations of what went wrong in 1939. We talk to Holocaust survivors too. And Marco Werman has a musical footnote to our coverage of the history and politics of the African country of Gabon.
Ted Kennedy, Tracy Kidder, Polish Jews
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On this week’s How We Got Here history podcast we look at Ted Kennedy’s contribution to the anti-apartheid movement, Tracy Kidder’s new book Strength in What Remains, and the construction of a new museum in Warsaw dedicated to the Jewish history of Poland. >>> Click here to join the “How We Got Here” Facebook Group Page.
Afghanistan’s precarious moment
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On our history podcast this week, The World’s Jeb Sharp looks at the history of warlordism in Afghanistan after the return of the notorious Uzbek leader General Abdul Rashid Dostum. We consider the legacy of Afghanistan’s civil strife and its regional and ethnic politics and the implications for this week’s elections. AP Photo/Darko Bandic. >>> Click here to subscribe to Jeb’s “How We Got Here” podcast.
Moscow 1993, Revisiting the Taliban, Curtis LeMay
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Our “How We Got Here” history podcast is back after a vacation hiatus. Journalist Otto Pohl journeys back to Moscow to find out who shot him during a demonstration in 1993. Veteran foreign correspondent Charles Sennott returns to Afghanistan and Pakistan on the trail of the Taliban. And Warren Kozak tells us about the legendary Curtis LeMay.
Robert S. McNamara
Former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara was an architect of the Vietnam War who came to regret it later in life. He was a towering, complicated, enigmatic figure. This week’s How We Got Here podcast tackles his legacy. Listen
The British Legacy in Iraq
As U.S. forces pull back from Iraqi cities we revisit the British experience in Iraq in the first half of the 20th century. This isn’t the first time outside forces have had to disentangle from Iraq or worry about its future stability. Listen
Iranian Protest Movements
Hard not to be riveted by events in Iran this week. How often in our lifetimes have we seen such a spontaneous and massive mobilization of human beings expressing their dismay? This week’s podcast looks at the a century’s worth of protest movements in Iran and similarities and differences with today. Listen
Gabon’s Omar Bongo
Africa’s longest-serving leader died this week. Omar Bongo ruled for more than four decades and the small country of Gabon must now figure out how to go on without him. He’s credited with Gabon’s relatively stability and yet tainted by all-too-familiar allegations of corruption and abuse. Listen
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