History Unplugged Podcast

The brain acts in strange ways during wartime.  Even in active combat situations, when soldiers are one mistake away from death, many can’t fire on their enemies because their brain is triggering compassion centers against other soldiers. Studies of World War II show that while soldiers were willing to risk death, only 15% to 20% fired their weapons in intense combat, indicating a reluctance to kill. That’s why successful military leaders were able to motivate their soldiers with ideas of unfairness and justice, that their enemies weren’t human to make them better at fighting and killing. All this goes to show that if you want to understand war, you have to understand how the brain makes sense of it. Does war make all of us retreat to our lizard brain and act on pure instinct – so the only way to win is pumping out manipulative propaganda to the masses and use modern technologies like AI and social media exploit the brain's cognitive vulnerabilities? Well, many nations like Russia and China are already using these to their advantage.  Or can we bring higher thinking to the matter? Is a researcher like Robert Sapolsky right when he argues that we can stop wars by persuading enough people that it is bad and pointless. Today’s guest is Nicholas Wright, author of “Warhead: How the Brain Shapes War and War Shapes the Brain.”  He’s a neuroscientist and advisor to the Pentagon. We explore how our brains respond under pressure and how these instincts can shape everything from battlefield outcomes to boardroom decisions. He argues that while conflict is inevitable, it’s not unmanageable - if we understand how the brain drives fear, trust, aggression, and judgment.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

William F. Buckley Jr., the charismatic intellectual who defined modern American conservatism, was famously skilled at forging friendships across the ideological divide, a talent that helped him both shape the political landscape and navigate public opinion. His capacity for personal charm allowed him to be a public extremist and a private moderate, keeping him in the good graces of the liberal elite, including figures like Senator George McGovern and activist Allard Lowenstein, even as he worked to advance his conservative agenda; however, this magnanimity had its limits, most famously with his true enemy, Gore Vidal. Today's guest is Josh Cohen, author of William F. Buckley Jr.'s Guide to Friendship in a Polarized Era, and we explore how this patrician gatekeeper of the right strategically used ideological "frenemies" and acquaintances, such as the surprising connection with Hugh Hefner, to legitimize his movement and advance his influence, culminating in the infamous, televised confrontation with Gore Vidal that exposed how even Buckley's renowned decorum shattered when his core beliefs were challenged.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Collapse of the Soviet Union was twice as devastating as the Great Depression for those who lived there. It immediately led to widespread economic chaos and a breakdown of public services, plunging millions into a difficult period where mere survival was the priority. As one Russian described, after hyperinflation wiped out their family's savings, "my parents still had the same 50,000 rubles... But by then, all they could afford to buy with it was a pair of winter boots for my mother." There was optimism that democracy could emerge, but thirty years after the collapse of the USSR, the victory over totalitarianism feels alarmingly short-lived, with the unresolved unraveling of the Soviet empire now directly fueling global crises like the war in Ukraine. The people currently in power in Russia, belonging to what some call the last Soviet generation--meaning they absorbed Soviet culture but not Soviet faith--carry a deep, cynical disbelief in democracy and human rights, demonstrating how the core structures of empire remain entrenched in the governing forces today. Today's guest is Mikhail Zygar, author of The Dark Side of the Earth: Russia's Short-Lived Victory Over Totalitarianism, and we explore his decade-long investigation, drawing on hundreds of never-before-public interviews with figures like Mikhail Gorbachev, the first leaders of post-Soviet republics, and democracy activists, to reveal how the USSR's demise was primarily driven by a collapse of faith in communist ideals, and we examine the parallel it creates for liberal democracy today.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From Shakespeare's 'band of brothers' speech to its appearances in numerous films, Agincourt rightfully has a place among a handful of conflicts whose names are immediately recognized around the world. The Battle of Agincourt, fought in 1415, is famous for the decisive role of the English and Welsh longbowmen, who—despite being significantly outnumbered and exhausted—decimated the heavily armored French nobility with volleys of arrows. This unlikely victory was profoundly important because it not only paved the way for King Henry V to be named heir to the French throne via the Treaty of Troyes, but it also demonstrated the waning dominance of the medieval knight in warfare.Today’s guest is Michael Livingston, author of “Agincourt: Battle of the Scarred King.” We go back to the original sources, including the French battle plan that still survives today, to give a new interpretation, one that challenges the traditional site of the battlefield itself. The English victory at Agincourt on October 25, 1415, was a result of strategic brilliance, terrain advantage, and the devastating effectiveness of the longbow, combined with French tactical errors. Henry V’s smaller army, roughly 6,000-9,000 men (mostly longbowmen), faced a French force of 12,000-36,000, including heavily armored knights.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Charles E. Mitchell are names that come to mind when thinking of the most prominent icons of wealth and influence during the Roaring Twenties. Yet the one figure who has escaped notice is an enigmatic banker by the name of Clarence Dillon. In the 1920s, as he rose in wealth and influence, Dillon became one of the original behind-the-scenes players in Hollywood, and his contact list included everyone from Thomas Edison to Charlie Chaplin and Joseph P. Kennedy to FDR. A revolutionary in finance, Clarence Dillon single-handedly created modern bankruptcy law, pioneered leveraged buyouts, invented junk bonds, and engineered some of the biggest mergers and acquisitions ever seen. His firm engineered the 1925 buyout of Dodge Brothers Company for $146 million in cash, then the largest such industrial transaction in history, which resulted in the company's merger with Chrysler Corporation in 1927 Today’s guest is William Loomis, author of “The Baron of Wall Street.” We look at Dillon and his life, which fills a void in how we view the wild excesses of the Roaring Twenties, and how we understand the increasingly complex nexus between Wall Street and political power in our own time.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The American Indian leader Wakara was among the most influential and feared men in the nineteenth-century American West. He and his pan-tribal cavalry of horse thieves and slave traders dominated the Old Spanish Trail, the region’s most important overland route. They widened the trail and expanded its watering holes, reshaping the environmental and geographical boundaries of the region. They also exacted tribute from travelers passing along the trail and assisted the trail’s explorers with their mapmaking projects—projects that shaped the political and cultural boundaries of the West. What’s more, as the West’s greatest horse thief and horse trader as well as the region’s most prolific trader in enslaved Indians, Wakara supplied Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo-American settlers from Santa Fe to San Bernardino with the labor and horsepower that fueled empire and settler colonial expansion as well as fueled great changes to the West’s environmental landscape.Today’s guest is Max Mueller, author of of Wakara’s America: The Life and Legacy of a Native Founder of the American West. We look at his complex and sometimes paradoxical story, revealing a man who both helped build the settler American West and defended Native sovereignty. Wakara was baptized a Mormon and allied with Mormon settlers against other Indians to seize large parts of modern-day Utah. Yet a pan-tribal uprising against the Mormons that now bears Wakara’s name stalled and even temporarily reversed colonial expansion. Through diplomacy and through violence, Wakara oversaw the establishment of settlements, built new trade routes, and helped create the boundaries that still define the region. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Edward J. Watts, a historian and author of "The Romans: A 2000-Year History," delves into Rome's remarkable 2,000-year continuity despite monumental changes. He discusses the unique Roman identity that united diverse peoples and the importance of citizenship and inclusion as strengths. Watts highlights how the empire adapted through military innovations, embraced Christianity without collapse, and effectively balanced tradition with innovation. He argues that enduring institutions, rather than individuals, were key to Rome’s resilience through the ages.

Gunslinging, gold-panning, stagecoach robbing, whiskey guzzling – the myth and infamy of the American West is synonymous with its most famous town: Deadwood, South Dakota. The storied mining town sprang up in early 1876 and came raining down in ashes only three years later, destined to become food for the imagination and a nostalgic landmark that now brings in more than two and a half million visitors each year. Once described as “the most diabolical town on earth,” Deadwood was not merely a place where outlaws lurked, like Tombstone or Dodge City, but was itself an outlaw enterprise, not part of any U.S. territory or subject to U.S. laws or governance. This gave rise to the Western outlaw behavior Deadwood is known for, but it also bred a self-reliance and a spirit of cooperation unique on the frontier, and made it an exceptionally welcoming place for Americans traditionally excluded from mainstream society. Today’s guest is Peter Cozzens, author of “Deadwood: Gold, Guns, and Greed in the American West. We look at the town’s complex story in full (including the stories of some of the most famous names of Deadwood — Calamity Jane, Hickok, Bullock, and Swearingen — who were made popular by David Milch’s HBO series). One frontier town came to embody the best and worst of the West—a relic of humanity’s eternal quest to create order from chaos, a greater good from individual greed, and security from violence.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Clara Barton, the founder of the Red Cross, was in Havana in 1898, investigating the terrible conditions endured by Cubans whom the Spanish government had forced into concentration camps, where an estimated 425,000 people died of disease and starvation. While she was there, the American warship USS Maine exploded in Havana's harbor, which served as the pretext for an American invasion, leading to the Spanish-American War. The United States swiftly invaded and won the Spanish-American War in Cuba in 1898 due to its superior naval power, the decisive charge led by Theodore Roosevelt's "Rough Riders" at San Juan Hill, and the crucial assistance from Cuban insurgents against the already exhausted Spanish forces. In the wake of the Spanish-American war, the United States freed Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines from Spanish control and, in turn, became an empire. This created beliefs that America was a stern yet benevolent country tasked by Destiny to enforce peace and bring prosperity to the world. That comforting thought was soon disproven, especially in the Philippines, whose people discovered they had merely swapped one colonial power for another. They then endured a vicious war that saw an estimated 600,000 Filipino deaths. Whereas the Cuban campaign brought glory to Theodore Roosevelt at San Juan Hill, “the Philippine War would be America’s most quickly forgotten war, the one least celebrated in song or legend, the one least memorialized.” And for good reason, Jackson recounts: American soldiers committed countless atrocities while being felled right and left by disease and starvation themselves; many soldiers committed suicide, and others deserted to join Filipino rebels. Today’s guest is Joe Jackson, author of “Splendid Liberators: Heroism, Betrayal, Resistance, and the Birth of the American Empire.” We look at this decisive war that turned American into a global power, and how poor planning turned into a disaster in the Philippines, creating our first quagmire of a war, long before Iraq or Vietnam.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nearly 16.4 million Americans served in the U.S. Armed Forces in World War II, and for millions of survivors, the fighting left many of them physically and mentally broken for life. There was a 25% death rate in Japanese POW camps like Bataan, where starvation and torture were rampant, and fierce battles against suicidal Imperial Japanese forces, like at Iwo Jima, where 6,800 Americans died. Additionally, the psychological toll of witnessing Holocaust atrocities and enduring up to three years away from home intensified the war’s brutality. This is why when they returned home, they had physical and psychological wounds that festered, sometimes for years, sometimes for decades, and sometimes for the rest of their lives. Veterans suffering from recurring nightmares, uncontrollable rages, and social isolation were treated by doctors who had little understanding of PTSD, a term that didn’t enter the DSM until 1984. Returning veterans and their families were forced to double up with their parents or squeeze into overcrowded, substandard shelters as the country wrestled with a housing crisis. Divorce rates doubled, with more than 1 million GIs leaving or being left by their wives by 1950. Alcoholism was rampant, and an entire generation became addicted to smoking. To explore this dark shadow that hung over the WW2 generation, we’re joined by David Nasaw, author of The Wounded Generation: Coming Home After World War II. Those affected include the period’s most influential political and cultural leaders, including John F. Kennedy, Robert Dole, and Henry Kissinger; J. D. Salinger and Kurt Vonnegut; Harry Belafonte and Jimmy Stewart. We look at the ways the horrors of World War 2 shaped their lives, but we also see incredible resilience and those who found ways to move past the horrors of their wartime experiences, and what we can learn from that today.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.