Applied History Project

It remains one of the most tantalizing questions of John F. Kennedy's legacy: if he had survived his trip to Dallas in November 1963, would he have withdrawn U.S. military advisers from Vietnam? The possibility that Kennedy would have avoided the epic mistake of plunging the U.S. into a land war in Southeast Asia continues to stir debate among historians.  Professor Fredrik Logevall is interviewed.

The Cold War started earlier than we think — and maybe never ended at all. Historian Calder Walton says understanding the US-Soviet conflict prepares us for this era of tensions with Russia and China.

A Better Peace welcomes Nate Moir to discuss his book, Number One Realist: Bernard Fall and Vietnamese Revolutionary Warfare, which analyses Fall's life to understand what drove his thinking and understanding of the situation. He joins host John Nagl to explain how Fall was consistently ahead of the conventional wisdom.

Calder Walton writes that Washington's fears of Russian false-flag operations are rooted in history. Ukraine wouldn't be the first place where Moscow faked an attack to start a war.

Guest Maximilian Kreter joins Right Rising to discuss how the white power music scene funds and sustains the extreme right.

Guest Shannon Reid joins Right Rising to discuss youth gang activism within the white power movement in the U.S. — and the historical and contemporary conceptions of gang activity. Along with host Augusta Dell'Omo, Shannon walks us through the geography of white power gangs and gives insight into what drives youths to join these gangs. Bringing her own experiences working with youth gangs, Shannon offers some suggestions about what kinds of interventions may — or may not — be useful when working with white power youth.

 Along with host Augusta Dell'Omo, Matthew Feldman walks us through the Center for the Analysis of the Radical Right's growing projects and collaborations and how he thinks about the particularly unique contribution of the organization to understanding the radical right. Bringing in his own experiences as an expert witness and public-facing academic, Matthew reveals why this particular brand of radical right extremism is so potent — and what we need to keep an eye on in the year ahead.

Guest Dr. Sara Kamali joins Right Rising to discuss her new book Homegrown Hate: Why White Nationalists and Militant Islamists Are Waging War against the United States. Dr. Kamali talks listeners through some of the critical aspects of understanding white nationalism explored in Homegrown Hate. Along with host Augusta Dell'Omo, she breaks down commonly misunderstood concepts — from Christian identitarians to white ethnostate — to help us grapple with the big question — what ultimately can we do to stop these groups?

Guest Sabine Volk joins Right Rising to discuss PEGIDA — a German far-right organization with a distinctly pan-European agenda. Sabine breaks down how PEGIDA manages to continue organizing mass rallies amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically through the organization's use of historical memory and mobilization rituals.

Guest Haley McEwen joins Right Rising to walk listeners through the anti-gender movement, a transnational coalition of conservative activists and civil society organizations working to counter political and social gains made by local and international feminists and LGBTQI+ movements.