Explaining History

In the aftermath of the Second World War, America had half the world's wealth and a quarter of its GDP. By the 1970s its position as an economic powerhouse without competitor had slipped away and it faced stronger challenges from Europe and Japan. A decade of crisis in America saw the forces of neoliberal thinking take centre stage to eviscerate the New Deal in the 1980s.*****STOP PRESS*****I only ever talk about history on this podcast but I also have another life, yes, that of aspirant fantasy author and if that's your thing you can get a copy of my debut novel The Blood of Tharta, right here:Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership hereOrYou can support the podcast via Patreon hereOr you can just say some nice things about it here

The period of the last 25 years in Britain has been one of continual crisis and disaster, from the Iraq War to the financial crisis to Brexit and covid. Britain has been transformed by these disasters and now is a smaller, poorer and more isolated country, perhaps permanently so. In his book Britain Alone, Liam Stanley explores the causes of this diminution, you can get a copy here.*****STOP PRESS*****I only ever talk about history on this podcast but I also have another life, yes, that of aspirant fantasy author and if that's your thing you can get a copy of my debut novel The Blood of Tharta, right here:Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership hereOrYou can support the podcast via Patreon hereOr you can just say some nice things about it here

America's de-industrialisation, offshoring, its battle to maintain dollar supremacy whilst also restoring itself to being a net exporter have led to historic crises from which there appear to be no exit. President Trump's recent and clearly failing tariffs against China and the rest of the world are merely an indication of America's relative economic decline. This podcast explores the factors that have powered rising Chinese living standards, economic and diplomatic power and the factors that have eroded those same forces in America.*****STOP PRESS*****I only ever talk about history on this podcast but I also have another life, yes, that of aspirant fantasy author and if that's your thing you can get a copy of my debut novel The Blood of Tharta, right here:https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Tharta-Fire-Heart-Knowing-ebook/dp/B0F25DSFNPHelp the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership hereOrYou can support the podcast via Patreon hereOr you can just say some nice things about it here

In this episode of the Explaining History podcast we speak with the writer Dennis Broe whose new book The Dark Ages, explores the second Hollywood anti communist purge of 1951. We talk about Hollywood and Los Angeles as a site of ongoing class struggle, the role of the media and the LAPD in the development of modern Los Angeles and the role of dissenting writers and film makers in challenging the power of the studios.You can join Dennis for a zoom class on Darkest LA: Film Noir, Greed and Corporate Graft in LaLa Land Friday Nights 7-8:30 ETFive-week online course begins May 2, then 9, 16, 23, June 6$100 For the Course includes a special “bonus” sixth week June 13 Register for the course at https://radicalimagination.info/A Zoom link will be sent to all subscribersSponsored by Institute for the Radical Imagination, Marxist Education Program,LA Progressive and People’s WorldWeek 1 – Left of Eden, about the beginning of the Cold War and its intrusion into Hollywood at the moment of the beginning of the breakup of the studio system which had been so prosperous over the previous two decades. We’ll see the echoes of the Cold War ethos in today’s foreign policy.Week 2 – A Hello To Arms, about the renewal of the arms industry after the war in what was nominally a time of peace and how that affected the African-American community as wartime opportunities vanished. This will be an occasion to examine the current state of relations in the African-American community as well as the US “defense” industry, a behemoth that today is utterly out of control and that dictates global wars.Week 3 – The Precinct With The Golden Arm about the LAPD and its changing modes of surveillance, particularly of the Mexican-American community is this period starting to dominate Boyle Heights, an area that is now being gentrified. This novel also looks at Big Pharma and its relation to drugs in these communities and will prompt an examination of the origin of street drugs, of surveillance by what Mike Davis calls “the space police,” and of continued struggle and resistance in the city’s Latinx population.Week 4 – The House That Buff Built about the LA real estate industry and the design and spatial allocation of the city and its sprawling suburbs. This will be an examination of racial discrimination in housing and especially of the history and exploitation of the Chinese population as well as the role of the LA Times and its owners The Chandlers in divvying up the city.Week 5 – The Dark Ages about the second and more destructive devastation caused by McCarthyism in the form of HUAC in Hollywood. We will look at the history of unions in the entertainment industry and in the city as a whole and posit that it was union activity in the industry that brought HUAC to Hollywood. We’ll then look further at the history of unions in the city both in the past and today.Bonus 6th Week, Pornocopia, on corporate America’s penetration into the mob industries of porn in LA and gambling in Las Vegas.

Fifty years ago, the longest imperial war of the 20th Century ended with the fall of Saigon and the victory of the North Vietnamese in the reunification of Vietnam. Miki Nguyen's account of his family's desperate flight from Saigon is covered in his father's story, Last Flight Out, and his father's bravery escaping the retribution of the communist forces. You can read his book here, based on his father, Ba Van Nguyen's memoirs.

How did China embrace its own hybrid form of market capitalism with state control after the death of Mao in 1976? How did China avoid the economic shock therapy that devastated the USSR and become a technological super power in the 21st Century? Today's podcast explores the writings of David Harvey on Chinese capitalism and communism.Help the podcast to continue bringing you history each weekIf you enjoy the Explaining History podcast and its many years of content and would like to help the show continue, please consider supporting it in the following ways:If you want to go ad-free, you can take out a membership hereOrYou can support the podcast via Patreon hereOr you can just say some nice things about it here