As America approaches the 250th anniversary of its founding, a quiet war is being waged over what the Declaration of Independence really means — with some on the new right dismissing it as globalist fantasy and some on the left reducing it to a document written by slaveholders. Writer and former national security official Michael Anton joins Eli Lake to examine the ideas of Harry Jaffa, a Brooklyn-born philosopher who spent his career insisting that the Declaration's truths are not relics of the...
May 27, 2026•1 hr 18 min
Hi Breaking History listeners! My colleague Joe Nocera has launched a six part series about the Lindbergh kidnapping. Enjoy episode one here and then head on over to The Lindbergh Conspiracies feed for the rest of the season. --- EP01 | The Broken Window One night in March 1932, the infant son of aviator Charles Lindbergh is taken from his nursery. A warped window, a ladder, and a ransom note mark the beginning of a case that will grip the world and launch a hundred conspiracy theories. Ninety-f...
May 19, 2026•43 min
Robert Parkinson is a historian at SUNY Binghamton who has spent 25 years studying the American Revolutionary period. His new book, Tyrants and Rogues , arrives just in time for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence — and it argues that we’ve been reading that document wrong for most of those 250 years. In this episode, Parkinson explains why the 27 grievances that follow the famous preamble are the real heart of the Declaration, what Congress actually debated and deleted from...
May 13, 2026•57 min
For tickets to our live recording with Jon Meacham in Philadelphia, click here and register. Use code TFP for a 20 percent discount. Roald Dahl gave the world Matilda , James and the Giant Peach , and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory . He was also a vicious antisemite. A Broadway play about Dahl’s legacy; the new Michael Jackson biopic; Kanye West’s attempted redemption arc; all of these have the culture asking again: How do we approach brilliant art produced by morally compromised artists? Thr...
May 07, 2026•49 min
David Rose is the director of policy and research at the Free Speech Union (FSU), a UK-based nonpartisan organization that campaigns for freedom of speech. The FSU will publish a new report examining allegations tied to Labour Together, the political network linked to Keir Starmer. David joins Eli Lake to explain how his investigation describes a murky ecosystem involving claims of journalists labeled as Russian assets, the circulation of private intelligence-style dossiers, and the growing over...
May 01, 2026•52 min
Eli Lake joins Robert Wright over at his podcast NonZero, which offers “conversations with a series of people who have nothing in common except that program host Robert Wright is curious about what they’re thinking” . Robert views the U.S-Israel military campaign against Iran as a serious mistake and a clear violation of international law. Eli sees it as a necessary—if legally awkward—response to decades of Iranian aggression and destabilization. Who wins? You’ll have to listen to decide for you...
Apr 16, 2026•1 hr 56 min
Arash Azizi lived through the democracy movement in Iran before he wrote about it. Now a historian at Yale, he joins Eli Lake to trace the arc from former president Mohammad Khatami’s unlikely rise to the crushed hopes of the Green Movement—and what it tells us about whether reform from within the Islamic Republic was ever really possible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 09, 2026•54 min
What does it actually take to break a regime built on martyrdom? Eli Lake sits down with Haviv Rettig Gur — host of Ask Haviv Anything and one of the deepest thinkers on the Middle East — to assess week five of the Iran war. They trace the ideological DNA of Iran’'s Islamic Republic from the Algerian National Liberation Front to Frantz Fanon to Ali Shariati, and explain why this is a regime designed to treat its own destruction as a form of victory. Plus: what a color revolution in Tehran could ...
Mar 31, 2026•1 hr 27 min
What drives someone from an ordinary background into extremism? In this Breaking History special, journalist Jay Solomon joins Eli Lake to discuss his investigation into American extremist Calla Walsh . But this isn’t an isolated story. It echoes a pattern we’ve seen before. Following the interview, we revisit our episode on “middle-class kids breaking bad,” exploring how individuals from stable, even privileged backgrounds have repeatedly been drawn into violent or extremist movements. We explo...
Mar 27, 2026•1 hr 30 min
This week I joined The Dishcast with Andrew Sullivan , who has generously agreed to let us share the conversation here. Andrew and I go way back, and few people are as willing as he is to really go toe-to-toe over our disagreements—especially on Israel and America’s role in the world. In our discussion, we cover a broad range of history and politics: from the Iran-Contra affair to the Oslo Accords, and the Second Intifada to Iraq, Iran, Hamas, and the current war in Gaza—along with my bar mitzva...
Mar 19, 2026•2 hr 10 min
Breaking History producer Poppy Damon sits down with Guardian security correspondent Jason Burke to unpack his new book, The Revolutionists , a sweeping history of the 1970s wave of extremism that transformed global politics. From plane hijackings to hostage crises, Burke traces the radical figures and world leaders who shaped the modern age of terror. What does the 1970s tell us about 2026? Go to https://surfshark.com/elideal or use code ELIDEAL at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshar...
Feb 25, 2026•51 min
As Iran’s regime faces mounting internal pressure, one name keeps resurfacing: Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the last shah. But is he a viable future leader, or simply the most recognizable symbol of a free Iran? In this conversation, host Eli Lake and producer Poppy Damon unpack the strange political moment Pahlavi finds himself in—popular with many Iranians, yet viewed skeptically by parts of the opposition and treated cautiously by Washington. Can he unite the stakeholders to bring about de...
Feb 10, 2026•48 min
In our last episode, we traced the rise of the Pahlavi dynasty and the forces building toward Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. In Part 2, we turn to the man who brought that monarchy to an end: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. From exile in a quiet French chateau, Khomeini launched a revolution that shattered 2,500 years of Persian monarchy. But he didn’t do it alone. Liberals and leftists, both inside Iran and across the West, played a crucial role in legitimizing his cause, a dynamic that feels fam...
Jan 14, 2026•1 hr 29 min
Breaking History dives into the paradox at the heart of modern Iran: How a nation born in revolt, from the tobacco protests of the 1890s to the 1979 Revolution, has time and again empowered autocrats in the name of democracy. This week we trace the cycles of reform and repression that still shape Iran today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 14, 2026•1 hr 11 min
After October 7, Jews around the world were reminded of an old, unsettling truth: Governments do not always protect minorities when mobs turn violent. From Bondi Beach to New York synagogues, the promise of public order has looked increasingly fragile. In this episode of Breaking History , Eli Lake revisits the last time Jews in America confronted that reality head-on. In the 1930s, as Nazi sympathizers rallied openly and police often stood aside, Jewish gangsters led by Meyer Lansky took matter...
Dec 22, 2025•50 min
Did you know the soundtrack of Americans’ Christmas was written largely by . . . Jews? Most of the composers behind the holiday canon were the children of immigrants who fled pogroms and conscription in Russia and Eastern Europe between 1880 and 1920. Sammy Cahn, Frank Sinatra’s go-to lyricist, gave us “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” Mel Tormé, son of a Belarusian refugee, wrote “The Christmas Song”) (a.k.a. “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”). Frank Loesser—whose family escaped the K...
Dec 10, 2025•40 min
We revisit the scandal-soaked 1990s—Packwood, Thomas, Clinton—and explore how failing to enforce norms around abuse of power helped create the world in which the Epstein scandal could flourish. This episode traces the unraveling of political accountability from the Clinton impeachment to the Trump Access Hollywood moment, and finally the global Epstein reckoning. We show how feminists in the ’90s and evangelicals in the 2010s made parallel bargains—each excusing their champion’s abuses for polit...
Nov 26, 2025•51 min
We are coming up on the 50th anniversary of punk, the genre that smashed the old rock gods and stripped down the music to its essence. In this episode of Breaking History , we examine the examined life of the original punk: the loudmouth philosopher who defied the authorities, refused to conform, and paid the ultimate price for speaking the truth. Yes—it can only be Socrates. Grab your leather jacket and your hemlock, we’re going hardcore philosophical. ----- CREDITS Executive Producer: Poppy Da...
Nov 12, 2025•42 min
For 124 years, the American socialist movement has been defined by defeat. From Eugene Debs’ doomed presidential runs to Michael Harrington’s quiet organizing, it’s been a story of almosts: almost mainstream, almost powerful, almost relevant. Until now. In this episode, we look at how Zohran Mamdani’s likely mayoral victory marks the first real crack in America’s century-long resistance to socialism—and why its impact will reach far beyond New York City. CREDITS Executive Producer: Poppy Damon A...
Oct 29, 2025•1 hr
On October 21, 2023, beloved Detroit community leader Samantha Woll was found brutally stabbed to death outside her home—two weeks to the day after the October 7 attacks on Israel. It looks like an open-and-shut case—a hate crime. But swiftly the police rule that out. Instead they eventually find themselves with two unrelated suspects. When they charge one with murder, the case takes a turn that raises questions about antisemitism, race, and justice in America. Hosted by The Free Press ’s Franni...
Oct 21, 2025•1 min
Once, Britain was the cradle of free speech- the land of Milton, Orwell, and John Stuart Mill. But in 2025, police are arresting citizens for tweets, comedians are detained for jokes, and ordinary people are jailed for words deemed “hateful.” In this episode, we trace how the birthplace of liberty became a censor’s paradise - and what it reveals about a Western world that’s forgotten Mill’s warning: that without dissent, truth itself cannot survive. CREDITS Executive Producer: Poppy Damon Associ...
Oct 15, 2025•53 min
James Comey isn’t a hero. But prosecuting him like this? It’s not justice—it’s political theater. In this episode, we tell the origin story of Comey, the now indicted former FBI chief, and unpack the tangled web of FBI overreach, President Donald Trump’s vendetta, and a system that no longer knows where accountability ends and revenge begins. This is more than a case: It’s a mirror held up to a nation on the brink. A special thanks to our sponsors: New episodes of The Isabel Brown Show can be vi...
Oct 01, 2025•56 min
In a week when political violence has returned to the national stage, we revisit a moment from the 1970s when Shirley Chisholm, the first black congresswoman, visited segregationist Alabama governor George Wallace after he was nearly assassinated. Her act of grace lit a spark that changed him. What can we learn from that moment today, after the murder of Charlie Kirk silenced a voice in mid-debate? This is a story about bullets, ballots, and the courage to choose humanity when others advocate vi...
Sep 17, 2025•45 min
This week Breaking History dives into a century-old mind game: Russia’s information war against America. More specifically, how it keeps driving us crazy. From Soviet spycraft to this summer’s Russiagate revelations, the story is often familiar: a kernel of truth is then buried in lies. We look back at the haunted mind of James Jesus Angleton, the CIA’s original paranoia prophet. He spent his life chasing Russian ghosts, and what he saw and what he feared still echo through Washington today. CRE...
Sep 03, 2025•1 hr 12 min
How did air conditioning go from a niche invention for factories to a force that reshaped cities, industries, and even human behavior? In this episode of Breaking History , we dive deep into the surprising, often overlooked story of AC with author Salvatore Basile—author of Cool: How Air Conditioning Changed Everything . Hear how Willis Carrier’s revolutionary breakthrough changed the world. ------ Producers: Poppy Damon & Adam Feldman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adc...
Aug 20, 2025•30 min
In our last episode, we traced the rise of the Pahlavi dynasty and the forces building toward Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. This week, we turn to the man who brought that monarchy to an end: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. From exile in a quiet French chateau, Khomeini launched a revolution that shattered 2,500 years of Persian monarchy. But he didn’t do it alone. Liberals and leftists, both inside Iran and across the West, played a crucial role in legitimizing his cause, a dynamic that feels fam...
Aug 06, 2025•1 hr 28 min
Do the new Russiagate releases justify Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s accusation of “treasonous conspiracy”? In this bonus episode, Eli Lake and commentator Josh Hammer get into the nitty gritty of the newest document releases in one of the most polarizing political controversies of the 21st century: Russiagate. Listen to Boundless Insights wherever you get your podcasts for smart, honest conversations about the biggest stories shaping Jewish life, Israeli politics, and thei...
Jul 30, 2025•1 hr 10 min
Breaking History dives into the paradox at the heart of modern Iran: How a nation born in revolt, from the tobacco protests of the 1890s to the 1979 Revolution, has time and again empowered autocrats in the name of democracy. This week we trace the cycles of reform and repression that still shape Iran today. Producer: Poppy Damon A special thanks to our sponsors: Go to groundnews.com/BreakingHistory to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and stay fully informed on today’s biggest new...
Jul 16, 2025•1 hr 12 min
As our nation turns 249 this week, we explore the radical and enduring power of the Declaration of Independence. More than just a break from the British Empire, the Declaration was a bold statement of universal human rights, an idea so dangerous it has sparked revolutions and inspired liberation movements around the world ever since, from Vietnam to Israel, from China to the Black Panther Party. We trace its intellectual origins, unpack its contradictions, and examine how a document written in 1...
Jul 03, 2025•57 min
Eli Lake and nuclear weapons expert David Albright discuss the Islamic Republic’s arsenal and whether or not Israel can destroy it on its own. This episode was originally a subscriber-only livestream. Livestreams are one of the many benefits of becoming a paid subscriber to The Free Press . (Thank you to everyone who joined us live!) Go to groundnews.com/BreakingHistory to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and stay fully informed on today’s biggest news stories. Learn more about your...
Jun 19, 2025•48 min
