PODCAST · history
The History Onion
by History Onion
Peeling back the layers of history and learning lessons for creating positive change in the present historyonion.substack.com
Episodes
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How Progressives Can Win w/ Melat Kiros
Today we are re-releasing our interview with Melat Kiros, a progressive candidate for Congress in Colorado’s 1st District. Originally published in October of 2025, our interview broaches topics including how to get money out of politics and fix corruption, why Democratic resistance to Trump thus...
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The Murder of Víctor Jara (Modern Chile Ep. 8)
Víctor Jara, sometimes referred to as the “Bob Dylan of South America,” was a Chilean folk singer who rose to prominence in the 1960s as part of the nueva canción movement. His songs were often deeply political in nature, providing a voice for the Chilean working class and peasantry. In 1970, his...
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Pinochet and Me, with Marc Cooper (Modern Chile Interview 3)
For our 50th episode (!!), we are excited to present our January interview with Marc Cooper. Marc Cooper is the former associate professor and director of Annenberg Digital News at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. His writing has appeared in a variety of publications,...
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Understanding New York City History w/ Juliana DeVaan
We are excited to share our interview with Juliana DeVaan, a PhD candidate in US history at Columbia University, where she studies 20th-century cultural and intellectual history. Her work has been supported by the New York State Archives, New York Public Library, Getty Research Institute, and the...
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The Suicide Museum, with Ariel Dorfman (Modern Chile Interview 2)
We are excited today to share our interview with Ariel Dorfman, an Argentine-Chilean-American novelist, playwright, essayist, academic, and human rights activist. Professor Dorfman served as a cultural adviser to Chilean President Salvador Allende’s Chief of Staff during the last months of...
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Chile in Their Hearts, with John Dinges (Modern Chile Interview 1)
We are excited to be joined on today’s show by investigative reporter and writer John Dinges. John Dinges has decades of experience covering Latin America, including as a foreign correspondent in Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua in the 1970s and 1980s. He has worked for such...
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A Progressive Economic Program for the Future, with Alex Williams
We are excited to be joined today by Alex Williams, the principal US economist at Common Wealth, a progressive think tank operating across the US and UK, as well as a policy fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and the Editor-in-Chief of the Substack newsletter Continuous...
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Is AI Causing Heightened Unemployment?, with Jack Meyer
Today, we are joined once again by Jack Meyer (check out our previous episode with him here: “Abundance, with Jack Meyer”). Jack is an economics masters student at Oxford, as well as an aspiring political economist and economic historian. His current areas of study include innovation, development...
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Regime of Repression (Modern Chile Ep. 7)
The Pinochet dictatorship in Chile was defined in large part by its brutally repressive nature. Its centralization of repression in the DINA (Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional) and the centrality of repressive tactics even after the junta consolidated power made Pinochet’s Chile stick out in...
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The Pinochet Years (Modern Chile Ep. 6)
After a few months off, we are returning to our Modern Chile series with today’s episode. For our next episodes in this series, we will be covering the Pinochet years, defined primarily as the years between 1973 and 1990 in which General Augusto Pinochet ruled Chile as a brutal, bloody dictator.…
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Zionism and Colonialism (The War on Palestine Ep. 2)
This episode is the second installation in our series on the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Our first episode covered the very recent history of the conflict, looking at the round of violence that began in October of 2023 with a Hamas-led attack on Israel. The primary focus for that...
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Making Republicans Liberal w/ Kristoffer Smemo
Today we are excited to release our excellent conversation with Professor Kristoffer Smemo, author of Making Republicans Liberal: Social Struggle and the Politics of Compromise. Professor Smemo is a historian of labor, politics, and popular culture in the United States at the University of...
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Genocide in Gaza (The War on Palestine Ep. 1)
This episode marks the first installation of a new mini-series for the podcast. The series will cover the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and will take as a central text guiding us through this history a book titled The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine, which was written by the...
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Johnny Cash and the Politics of Empathy w/ Michael Foley
For today’s episode, we spoke with Michael Foley, author of Citizen Cash: The Political Life and Times of Johnny Cash, for a wide-ranging discussion about Cash’s politics. We dissect Foley’s framework of a “politics of empathy” to describe how Cash navigated a complex political environment marked...
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The AI Age
In this episode, we dig deep into the slop of AI discourse. We start by looking at the culture of hype that’s sprouted in Silicon Valley, then turn to the strange world that this hype has produced, and finally present a more sober view of AI, one that’s deeply historically grounded. Show Notes...
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Building Progressive Power w/ Melat Kiros
Today we are thrilled to release our interview with Melat Kiros, a progressive candidate for Congress in Colorado’s 1st District. Kiros is running to unseat the longest-serving representative of Colorado’s current congressional delegation, Democrat Diana DeGette, and she is doing so with an...
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Abundance, with Jack Meyer
Today we are joined by Jack Meyer, an economics masters student at Oxford, as well as an aspiring political economist and economic historian. His current areas of study include innovation, development and inequality. You can find him on Twitter/X @jackbmeyer and on Substack, where he publishes…
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Fascism or Genocide, with Ross Barkan
Today we are joined by Ross Barkan, an award-winning journalist, novelist, and essayist. Ross is the Editor-in-Chief of The Metropolitan Review, a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine, and a columnist for New York Magazine. He is also active on Substack, where he publishes his...
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American Populism, with Spencer Hacker
We are happy to announce our first interview episode, featuring friend of show Spencer Hacker! Spencer is a social worker, an activist, and a political content creator. He is based out of Denver, Colorado, and he is making waves with his show Spencer on the Street, which you can find on Instagram...
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The US in Chile: Part 2 (Modern Chile Ep. 5)
We ended our last episode with the United States contemplating its next move against the Chilean left. The socialist Salvador Allende had just won the Chilean presidency in the 1970 election in spite of the US’s covert actions throughout the decade prior and its “Spoiling Operation” in the 1970...
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The US in Chile: Part 1 (Modern Chile Ep. 4)
In the first of two episodes on the subject, we investigate the United States’s role in undermining the left wing in Chilean politics throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Drawing extensively from the Senate Church Committee’s 1975 report, “Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973,” we show just how much…
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The Economics of the Allende Years (Modern Chile Ep. 3)
This episode continues our coverage of modern Chile, focusing on the economics of the period of 1970-1973, during which Salvador Allende governed as president and his administration attempted to transition Chile towards a socialist economic system. We begin with a discussion of sources — who has...
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Salvador Allende (Modern Chile Ep. 2)
On our last episode, we gave an introduction to the history of Chile and a preview of the issues and themes we will be exploring throughout this series. Episode 2 will focus on the political life and evolution of Salvador Allende, perhaps the single most important person to this story. Allende’s...
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Revolutionary Road (Modern Chile Ep. 1)
Chile is a country whose history cannot be disentangled from our own; one of history’s great coincidences reminds us of this. On September 11th, 1973, 28 years before the terror attack on the United States, the democratically elected government of socialist leader Salvador Allende was overthrown…
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Keynes's Vision for a Future Utopia
In this episode, we delve into John Maynard Keynes’s seminal essay, “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren.” Published in 1930, the essay envisioned a future of prosperity and leisure for all. We explore his predictions, his optimism for the future, and the challenges that have prevented…
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James Boggs and Postindustrial Society
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...
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Does Technological Progress Mean Mass Unemployment?
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...
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Neoliberalism: Its Rise and Fall?
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…
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Is Trump the New FDR?
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:...
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The Message
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...
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Mercantilism: Origins and Resurgence
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…
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This America
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...
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Why Not Socialism?
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...
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The Historical Significance of Bidenomics
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...
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Roosevelt's Purge
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....
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2024 Election Reaction
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:...
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2024 Election Special
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...
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The Republican Evolution
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…
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Tyranny of the Minority
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...
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Listen, Liberal
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…
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American Whitelash
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...
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Achieving Our Country
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…
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The Pessimistic Style in American Politics
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…
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The Paranoid Style in American Politics
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...
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Poverty, not the Poor
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…
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Poverty, by America
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…
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MLK's Vision for Justice: Part Two
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…
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MLK's Vision for Justice: Part One
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...
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Lies My Teacher Told Me: Part Two
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…
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Lies My Teacher Told Me: Part One
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…
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The History Onion have?
The History Onion currently has 52 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The History Onion about?
Peeling back the layers of history and learning lessons for creating positive change in the present historyonion.substack.com
How often does The History Onion release new episodes?
The History Onion has 52 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The History Onion?
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Who hosts The History Onion?
The History Onion is created and hosted by History Onion.
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