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The History Onion

Peeling back the layers of history and learning lessons for creating positive change in the present historyonion.substack.com

history politics

All Episodes

55:20

Salvador Allende (Modern Chile Ep. 2)

The History Onion ·

2025/08/18

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 legacy in Chilean politics and society is difficult to overstate, and he didn’t come out of nowhere; in fact, Allende had spent decades in Chilean politics prior to his victory in the 1970 presidential

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56:52

Revolutionary Road (Modern Chile Ep. 1)

The History Onion ·

2025/08/04

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 in a violent coup that left Allende himself dead. The ensuing 17 years of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship led to at least 40,000 people being killed, tortured, or imprisoned. To say that the United States’s

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85:18

Keynes's Vision for a Future Utopia

The History Onion ·

2025/07/21

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 his utopian vision from becoming reality.Show NotesThe New Yorker: “No Time”Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren (1930)A favorite quote from the essay: “I see us free, therefore, to return to some of

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89:36

James Boggs and Postindustrial Society

The History Onion ·

2025/06/30

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 hasn’t exactly panned out the way that Boggs envisioned it would. Why not? What can we take away from

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70:54

Does Technological Progress Mean Mass Unemployment?

The History Onion ·

2025/06/17

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 assessing claims about whether technological progress will cause mass unemployment.Show NotesCNN clip:

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58:22

Neoliberalism: Its Rise and Fall?

The History Onion ·

2025/05/13

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 Neoliberalism,” by Louis Menand“The Levels and Trends in Deep and Extreme Poverty in the United States,

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67:15

Is Trump the New FDR?

The History Onion ·

2025/05/05

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 NotesNathan Robinson’s article about FDR is titled “Do We Need a Second New Deal?” in the online edition; the print edition title is “Do We Need a New FDR?” as referenced in the show.For our

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63:10

The Message

The History Onion ·

2025/04/07

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 perception of Palestine and the Palestinian struggle.Coates has gifted us an incredible piece of writing and

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62:08

Mercantilism: Origins and Resurgence

The History Onion ·

2025/03/31

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 that capitalism began its rise to dominance. We trace the development of mercantilist thought following the

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67:47

This America

The History Onion ·

2025/03/18

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 consider which perspective holds more value for progressive activists, historians, and thinkers.Show NotesRead

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62:36

Why Not Socialism?

The History Onion ·

2025/02/17

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.CreditsTheme 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 The History Onion at historyonion.substack.com/subscribe

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64:10

The Historical Significance of Bidenomics

The History Onion ·

2024/11/25

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 spending and tackling climate change, doing a sort of mini Green New Deal, with legislation that came to

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72:03

Roosevelt's Purge

The History Onion ·

2024/11/18

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 Republican Party as the conservative party. In other words, he aimed for the sort of realignment and

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84:43

2024 Election Reaction

The History Onion ·

2024/11/11

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 NotesNYT: Election ResultsData analysis by John Burn-Murdoch at the Financial Times:* What is the point of polling?* Democrats join 2024’s graveyard of incumbentsNYT: * See the Voting Groups That Swung to the Right in the

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106:02

2024 Election Special

The History Onion ·

2024/11/05

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 two-thirds of the way into the ep, so there’s a weird shift in the sound at that point. Doesn’t make it

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68:34

The Republican Evolution

The History Onion ·

2024/10/31

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 . How did this happen? Give the ep a listen.Show NotesPer the New York Times: “How Joe Biden Became the Democrats’

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59:44

Tyranny of the Minority

The History Onion ·

2024/10/29

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 rich democracies. As they discuss, the threat posed by the Constitution has become much more evident in

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77:14

Listen, Liberal

The History Onion ·

2024/10/24

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. Both of us (Aidan and Conor) read this book during college, and it had a significant impact on how we

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56:54

American Whitelash

The History Onion ·

2024/10/21

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 NotesLowery summer 2023 book talkCreditsThe podcast’s theme music was made by our youngest brother Tate.Cover art

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61:55

Achieving Our Country

The History Onion ·

2024/09/30

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 left, but he is nonetheless highly appreciative of the successes of the cultural left, specifically as

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