How To Be A Historian

This is the second episode in my three part series on Fiorello LaGuardia and Zohran Mamdani. Last episode we covered their immigrant backgrounds and how that influenced their beliefs and later careers. In this episode we’ll cover their socialist beliefs (and for LaGuardia, socialist-adjacent) and how it influenced their decision making and goals as mayor. 

This is the first episode of a three part series on Zohran Mamdani, the popular and populist democratic socialist mayor of New York, and his ideological predecessor, Fiorello LaGuardia.  I’m super interested in making connections between the past and present and that’s the goal of this series. Mamdani and LaGuardia were of different political parties and one is a professed democratic socialist while the other was not however the similarities are stark. In these three episodes, I’ll trace their lives and decisions side by side showing their motivations, reasoning and how the historical context of the time affected their decision making and agendas. This first episode will cover their upbringing, immigrant backgrounds and how xenophobia was rampant 100 years ago when LaGuardia was growing up and still is today. 

I had the huge honor of getting the opportunity to interview the historian, Yale professor and pulitzer-prize winning author Beverly Gage. Our interview centered around two overarching topics. First off, we discussed her latest book "This Land Is Your Land," which recounts her experiences during a series of road trips to historical sites around America in the lead-up to the 2026 semiquincentennial. The book explores how we as Americans confront and discuss the past amidst our tumultuous present. I wanted to post this today on July 4th because in the book, Professor Gage explores how in past moments of chaos and change Americans comforted themselves with the belief that our country is always moving forward to a better more democratic nation. In times like these, it might be difficult to feel that way but hopefully this book helps us see how much progress we as Americans have and continue to make in the pursuit of a more perfect union. This was one of the first history books I read that focused on how we portray history in the present day and it inspired me to learn more about how history is discussed and used by those right now. Professor Gage and I discussed what motivated her to write the book and what she encountered on her journey, in addition to more specific conversations surrounding topics and sites she focused on. In the second half of our conversation we talked about her professional journey, love for history, and how she became a professor and author. I hope you enjoy the episode! 

This is the second episode in a two part series of interviews with Mitch Abidor, an author, historian, and translator. In this episode we discuss the causes, effects, and events surrounding the Paris Commune. The Paris Commune was a leftist workers revolution that arose in 1871 amid political instability in France. The Commune was ultimately put down and only lasted 72 days. It set an example for many left wing revolutions in the future and one of the first and only instances of workers taking complete control of a government and an entire city. The previous episode focused on what it is like being a historian, his professional journey, what Mr. Abidor's days look like.

On this episode I interview Mitch Abidor an author, historian and translator. This episode is the first in a two part series of interviews with Mr. Abidor. We talk about what it is like being a historian, his professional journey, what his days look like and his work as a translator. In the second part episode we discuss the events of the Paris Commune, which he has focused on in many of his translations. Mr. Abidor has published over a dozen books, largely focusing on French radical history, including A Socialist History of the French Revolution by Jean Jaurès and Victor Serge's Notebooks, 1936-1947. His writings have appeared in publications in the United States, France, Brazil, and Germany. 

This is the second episode in a two part series of interviews with historian Terry Golway, an author, historian, and adjunct professor in the Political Science department at the College of Staten Island. In this episode we discuss Professor Golway's recently published book I Never Did Like Politics: How Fiorello La Guardia Became America’s Mayor and Why He Still Matters. The previous episode focused on what it is like being a historian, his professional journey, what his days look like.