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How We Got Here

This tag is associated with 16 posts

Haiti Part 2

By Jeb Sharp ⋅ February 5, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

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We continue our exploration of Haiti’s history into the 19th and 20th centuries. Kate Ramsey of the University of Miami tells us about the diplomatic isolation Haiti faced after independence. She also describes the U.S. occupation of Haiti between 1915 and 1934. Chantalle Verna of Florida International University tells us about the period after the U.S. occupation, sometimes called “Haiti’s Second Independence.” And finally, sociologist Alex Dupuy of Wesleyan University tells us about Haiti under the Duvaliers.Download MP3

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The Haitian Revolution

By Jeb Sharp ⋅ January 29, 2010 ⋅ 2 comments ⋅ Transcript

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You can’t understand Haiti without understanding the slave revolt and war for independence that shaped its early days. We hear from Laurent Dubois, author of Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution. First though, a story from Alex Gallafent about Haiti and vodou and historical misunderstandings. (Image of Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L’Ouverture: GETTY IMAGES) Download MP3

Yemen

By Jeb Sharp ⋅ January 19, 2010 ⋅ 4 comments ⋅ Transcript

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On this week’s history podcast a look at the archaeology and history of Yemen. First we hear from University of Chicago archaeologist McGuire Gibson. He’s worked in Yemen since the 1970’s. Then Bernard Haykel, professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton, fills us in on Yemen’s recent history. Thomas Kuehn of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver tells us about Yemen under the Ottomans and how it might be relevant today. Among other things these folks emphasize Yemen’s strategic location and geography, its stunning beauty and its continuous and unbroken history going way back.

Night Witches, Hostage Crisis, Pakistan

By Jeb Sharp ⋅ November 6, 2009 ⋅ One comment ⋅ Transcript

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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

By Jeb Sharp ⋅ October 23, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

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nazi 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

By Jeb Sharp ⋅ October 12, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

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wh3 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

The Nuclear Disarmament Movement

By Jeb Sharp ⋅ September 25, 2009 ⋅ One comment ⋅ Transcript

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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

By Jeb Sharp ⋅ September 21, 2009 ⋅ One comment ⋅ Transcript

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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

By Jeb Sharp ⋅ September 9, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

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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.

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Afghanistan’s precarious moment

By Jeb Sharp ⋅ August 19, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

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dostumforjeb 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

By Jeb Sharp ⋅ August 6, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

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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

By Jeb Sharp ⋅ July 7, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

_46018215_000357952-1 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

By Jeb Sharp ⋅ June 30, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

_45989606_007573221-1 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

Gabon’s Omar Bongo

By Jeb Sharp ⋅ June 12, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

_45887750_007361465-11 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

British car history, forgetting Tiananmen and Bohemian National Hall

By Jeb Sharp ⋅ June 5, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅ Transcript

hall_photo3small20200x150 Journalist and car aficionado Giles Chapman tells the tale of what Britain did to try to stave off disaster in its own auto industry in the 60’s and 70’s; The World’s Mary Kay Magistad explores China’s silence on Tiananmen Square and The World’s Alex Gallafent takes us to a bastion of Czech immigrant culture in New York City. Listen