Then & Now

In this week’s episode of then & now, guest host Dr. Ben Zdencanovic is joined by Dr. Jennifer Klein, the Bradford Durfee Professor of History at Yale University, to explore Cancer Alley, the stretch of the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana. Spanning roughly one hundred miles, Cancer Alley is densely packed with chemical plants, hazardous waste sites, and prisons, resulting in some of the highest rates of pollution in the country. Drawing together questions of environment, community health, and economic development, Jennifer considers how industrialization and environmental racism have shaped the lived experiences of residents along the Mississippi River corridor, while also illuminating broader debates about capitalism, geography, and inequality in American life. Jennifer Klein is the Durfee Professor of History in the field of 20th-century U.S. history at Yale University. Jennifer’s research spans the fields of U.S. labor history, urban history, social movements, and political economy. Her publications include Caring for America: Home Health Workers in the Shadow of the Welfare State (Oxford University Press, 2012), co-authored with Eileen Boris, which was awarded the Sara A. Whaley book prize from the National Women’s Studies Association; and For All These Rights: Business, Labor, and the Shaping of America’s Public-Private Welfare State (Princeton University Press, 2003)

In this week’s episode of then & now, LCHP Director Professor David N. Myers is joined by Dr. Ben Zdencanovic to discuss their collaborative work on a new LCHP report, The Challenge to University Autonomy in an Illiberal Age: Historical and Comparative Perspectives. Compiled over the past year as higher education in the U.S. faces heightened scrutiny and mounting political pressures from the U.S. government, this report situates present debates within a longue durée of institutional vulnerability to political pressures. The report analyzes historical case studies from the U.S. in which universities were subjected to external intervention alongside contemporary international examples of academic institutions confronting encroachments by illiberal regimes. Through historical precedent, cross-national analysis, and policy recommendations, David and Ben illuminate both the recurring struggles between universities and political powers and consider the strategies by which universities and academics might preserve autonomy, defend academic freedom, and fulfill their civic responsibilities in the present. You can read the full report on our LCHP website here. David N. Myers is a Distinguished Professor of History at UCLA and the Director of the Luskin Center for History and Policy and the UCLA Initiative to Study Hate. A leading scholar of Jewish history, he has authored six books and edited thirteen others, including The Stakes of History: On the Use and Abuse of Jewish History for Life (Yale University Press, 2018). His research addresses Jewish intellectual and cultural history, with a focus on how historical narratives shape identity, politics, and social movements. Ben Zdencanovic is a Postdoctoral Associate at the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy. Ben is a historian of the United States in the world, domestic and international politics, and economic and social policy. He has a particular interest in the relationship between U.S. global power and the politics of redistribution and the welfare state. Ben is currently working on two book projects: Island of Enterprise: The United States in a World of Welfare, 1940–1955 (forthcoming, Princeton University Press), and The Cold War on Poverty: Race, Labor, and Manpower in the U.S. Warfare/Welfare State.

In this week’s episode of then & now, LCHP Assistant Director Dr. Rose Campbell is joined by historian Dr. Neil J. Young to examine the evolution and ongoing influence of conservative Christian family values in contemporary U.S. political discourse. Neil offers a nuanced account of how ideals such as monogamy, cisgender heterosexual marriage, and rigid gender roles within a patriarchal framework became central both to conservative grassroots activism and to the ideological messaging of the Trump presidency and its supporters. Drawing on the intersecting histories of religious and political movements in modern America, Neil traces the crystallization of the so-called “Christian nation” narrative to the Cold War era and the emergence of the ecumenical movement, a collective effort by various denominations toward unity and social engagement. Despite the ecumenical movement’s intended progressivism, it inadvertently prompted conservative backlash, resulting in a “religious right” coalition. Looking ahead, Neil notes increased uncertainty regarding the durability of the Trump-evangelical coalition. As the Trump campaign intensifies its deployment of culture war rhetoric—framing contemporary politics as an existential struggle to preserve embattled Christian values—the question remains whether these strategies will sustain coalition cohesion, or whether shifting social and political dynamics will prompt fragmentation. Neil J. Young is an award-winning historian, writer, podcaster, and author of Coming Out Republican: A History of the Gay Right (The University of Chicago Press, 2024). Neil holds an A.B. from Duke University and a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University. Neil formerly served as a contributing columnist for The Week and, before that, an opinion columnist for HuffPost. He writes frequently for leading publications, including the Washington Post, the Atlantic, CNN, the Los Angeles Times, Vox, Politico, Slate, and the New York Times.

In this episode of then & now, guest host Dr. Ben Zdencanovic welcomes Professor Josh Shepperd, Associate Professor of Media Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder and Director of the Library of Congress Radio Preservation Task Force (RPTF). Josh, acclaimed author of Shadow of the New Deal: The Victory of Public Broadcasting (University of Illinois Press, 2023), discusses the complex historical development of NPR and PBS—two cornerstones of American public broadcasting. The conversation contextualizes how these public broadcasters, designed initially to provide non-commercial, equitable programming for all Americans, became politically contentious entities. The recent decision by the Trump administration to withdraw funding already allocated for public broadcasting stations like NPR and PBS is situated within a longer pattern of political challenges. By connecting past and present, Josh illuminates the enduring historical significance of public broadcasting and its precarious position within contemporary American society, offering a nuanced foundation for understanding current debates over the future of public media. Josh Shepperd is an Associate Professor of Media Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder and the Director of the Library of Congress Radio Preservation Task Force (RPTF). Pulling from political economic, Birmingham, and Foucauldian traditions, Josh researches institutional genealogies of 20th-century U.S. media culture. He is author of Shadow of the New Deal: The Victory of Public Broadcasting (University of Illinois Press, 2023), which received the 2024 BEA Book Award. Josh is currently co-writing the "History of Public Media for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)" and "Current."

In this week’s episode of then & now, we’re joined by Benjamin Nathans, Alan Charles Kors Endowed Term Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, to talk about his recent book, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement (Princeton University Press, 2024)—which was awarded the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction and the 2025 Pushkin House Book Prize. Ben offers an in-depth analysis of the Soviet dissident movement, foregrounding both canonical figures and a diverse array of lesser-known activists who contested the legitimacy of the Soviet state through a strategy of "civil obedience"—that is, by appealing to Soviet law itself. Drawing extensively on primary sources—including personal diaries, private correspondence, and KGB interrogation transcripts—Ben elucidates the intellectual and legal tacks that dissidents employed to expose the contradictions within the Soviet system. Ben situates the Soviet dissident experience within broader historiographical debates on human rights, legal studies, and the politics of memory, offering critical insights into the transnational significance of dissent under authoritarian regimes. Benjamin Nathans is the Alan Charles Kors Endowed Term Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches and writes about Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union, modern European Jewish history, and the history of human rights. His most recent book, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement (Princeton University Press, 2024), was awarded the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction and the 2025 Pushkin House Book Prize. He has published articles on Habermas and the public sphere in eighteenth-century France, Russian-Jewish historiography, Soviet dissident memoirs, and many other topics. He is a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and the Times Literary Supplement.

In this episode of then & now, we are joined by Dr. Jamaal Muwwakkil, Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UCLA and incoming Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Washington, to discuss the recent rollback of affirmative action and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in American universities. Jamaal examines how these changes—set in motion by the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to end race-conscious admissions, alongside a rising political backlash against DEI, particularly from the Trump administration—signal a return to exclusionary practices after decades of hard-fought progress. Bringing a sociolinguistic perspective to the jagged history of Black student experiences in the era of affirmative action, Jamaal traces the arc from the first efforts at inclusion in the 1950s to the present moment. Focusing on the implications of these shifts, particularly for Black and Latinx students navigating the current higher education environment, Jamaal provides insight into how language, policy, and power shape experiences of belonging and exclusion on campus, offering essential context for understanding this pivotal moment in higher education. Dr. Jamaal Muwwakkil is a University of California Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UCLA in the Department of Education and Information Studies and an incoming Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Washington. Jamaal holds a Linguistics PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was also the 2019-20 University of California (UC) Student Regent-designate and the 2020-21 UC Student Regent. Jamaal’s research specializations include African American language and culture, sociocultural linguistics, and political discourse.

In this week’s episode of then & now, LCHP Assistant Director Dr. Rose Campbell is joined by Dr. Neil J. Young—historian, podcaster, and author of Coming Out Republican (The University of Chicago Press, 2024), which traces the history of conservative and libertarian gay figures in United States history and their influence on the modern Republican Party. In this episode, Neil examines the evolving relationship between these members of the LGBTQ community—predominantly white gay men–and the Republican Party in light of recent executive orders from the second Trump administration, which have sought to reinforce binary gender norms and curtail protections for LGBTQ individuals. Neil contextualizes this dynamic by tracing the history of conservative gay men as a persistent, though often marginalized, constituency within the party over the last century, and their struggle to make equality and gay rights a non-partisan issue. Despite the party’s increasingly exclusionary rhetoric and policies, gay Republicans have maintained loyalty and exerted significant influence, particularly through behind-the-scenes activism and policy shaping since the Reagan era. By interrogating the paradox of LGBTQ support for a party actively enacting anti-LGBTQ measures, Neil offers nuanced insights into the complexities of identity, political allegiance, and the construction of contemporary conservatism. Neil J. Young is an award-winning historian, writer, podcaster, and author of Coming Out Republican: A History of the Gay Right (The University of Chicago Press, 2024). Neil holds an A.B. from Duke University and a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University. Neil formerly served as a contributing columnist for The Week and, before that, an opinion columnist for HuffPost. He writes frequently for leading publications, including the Washington Post, the Atlantic, CNN, the Los Angeles Times, Vox, Politico, Slate, and the New York Times.

In this week’s episode of then & now, guest host Professor Fernando Pérez-Montesinos is joined by Carlos Pérez Ricart, Assistant Professor in International Relations at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE) in Mexico City, to discuss Mexico’s Dirty War—an internal conflict from the 1960s to the 1980s between the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)-ruled government and left-wing student and guerrilla groups. As one of the four members of Mexico’s truth commission from 2021 to 2024, Carlos draws on the findings of this initiative to examine the country’s systematic use of violence and repression, as well as the most significant revelations from the commission’s comprehensive reports. Carlos situates Mexico’s experience within the broader context of Latin America’s wave of repressive military regimes during the Cold War, which implemented widespread crackdowns on real and perceived political dissidents. While countries across the region began confronting these legacies in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Mexican government remained largely unresponsive to calls for a truth commission, despite persistent demands from activists and human rights organizations. In 2021, the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) finally initiated a formal process to address past abuses, creating a truth commission tasked with conducting interviews and scouring archives for evidence of past violence. This conversation considers the complexities of uncovering evidence implicating powers behind the formation of the truth commission itself and provides critical insights into the mechanisms of state violence, the politics of memory, and the challenges of transitional justice in contemporary Mexico. Carlos Pérez Ricart is an assistant professor in International Relations at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE) in Mexico City. Prior to joining CIDE, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oxford, where he worked at both the History Faculty and the Latin American Centre, St. Antony’s College. His research and teaching interests include the relationship between Mexico and the United States, security and organized crime, arms trafficking, drug policies. He is co-editor of the book "Gun Trafficking and Violence: From The Global Network to The Local Security Challenge" (Palgrave, St. Antony’s College 2021). Fernando Pérez-Montesinos is an associate professor in the Department of History at UCLA. His research focuses on the history of modern Mexico with a focus on the nineteenth century and the Mexican Revolution. His book, "Landscaping Indigenous Mexico: The Liberal State and Capitalism in the Purépecha Highlands" (UT Press, 2025), focuses on the Purépecha people of Michoacán, Mexico, and examines why and how long-standing patterns of communal landholding changed in response to liberal policies, railroad expansion, and the rise of the timber industry in Mexico. Further Reading: Fifty Years of Silence: Mexico Faces the Legacy of its Dirty War,Inquiry into Mexico’s ‘dirty war’ obstructed by military and other agencies, board says

In this week’s episode of then & now, we present a recording of a recent panel discussion focusing on L.A. wildfires past, present, and future. This program is part of the “Why History Matters” series presented by the UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin Department of History—a series dedicated to the belief that historical knowledge is an indispensable, and often missing, ingredient in public debate. ”Why History Matters: L.A. Wildfires Past, Present, and Future,” brought experts together to explore how historical and indigenous perspectives can reshape our understanding of wildfires, especially in light of the devastating Los Angeles County fires in January 2025. The discussion, anchored in the Fowler Museum at UCLA’s “Fire Kinship: Southern California Native Ecology and Art” exhibition, interrogates prevailing narratives that frame fire solely as a destructive force, instead foregrounding indigenous epistemologies that recognize fire as a vital ecological process and a generational resource. Professors Hitoshi Abe, Gerald Clarke, Jr., and Char Miller distinguish three primary drivers of contemporary wildfire crises: climate change, fire suppression policies, and patterns of urban expansion into fire-prone landscapes. To more effectively mitigate and adapt to the escalating risks posed by wildfires, these panelists discuss ways to integrate traditional ecological knowledge with contemporary land management and urban policy. Moderator: Stephen Aron is the Calvin and Marilyn Gross Director and President of the Autry Museum of the American West. A specialist in the history of frontiers, borderlands, and the American West, Dr. Aron holds degrees from Amherst College (B.A.) and the University of California, Berkeley (M.A., Ph.D.). Panelists: Hitoshi Abe is a Professor in the Department of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of California, Los Angeles. Professor Abe is currently the director of Paul I. and Hisako Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies and holds the Terasaki Chair for contemporary Japanese study. In 2017, he established xLAB, an international think tank initiative that examines architecture’s elastic boundaries and considers new possibilities through interdisciplinary collaboration in the study of the future built environment. Gerald Clarke Jr. is a Professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies and Special Advisor to the Chancellor on Native American Relations at the University of California, Riverside. He is an enrolled member of the Cahuilla Band of Indians and lives on the Cahuilla Indian Reservation. Gerald oversees the Clarke family cattle ranch and remains heavily involved in Cahuilla culture. Char Miller is the W.M. Keck Professor of Environmental Analysis and History at Pomona College. His teaching and research reflect his fascination with all things environmental. Classes on U.S. environmental history, water in the U.S. West, and public lands management, like those on urbanization and the interplay between the natural and built landscapes, have deeply informed his writing.

In this week’s episode of then & now, we are joined by John Mikhail, Carroll Professor of Jurisprudence at Georgetown University Law Center, for a deep dive into the controversial theory of the unitary executive. Rooted in the Constitution’s Vesting Clause, this theory asserts that the president holds centralized control over the executive branch. While the theory has longstanding roots in constitutional debates, the Trump administration has embraced and expanded this interpretation in unprecedented ways. John Mikhail traces the theory’s historical origins, its legal evolution, and its increasingly assertive use under Trump 2.0. He examines how this broad view of executive power threatens the traditional balance among the three branches of government and raises pressing concerns about the future of checks and balances in the American constitutional system. John Mikhail is the Carroll Professor of Jurisprudence at Georgetown University Law Center, where he has taught since 2004. He teaches and writes on a variety of topics, including constitutional law, moral psychology, moral and legal theory, cognitive science, legal history, criminal law, torts, international law, and human rights. Professor Mikhail is the author of Elements of Moral Cognition: Rawls’ Linguistic Analogy and the Cognitive Science of Moral and Legal Judgment (Cambridge University Press, 2011) and over fifty articles, chapters, essays, and reviews in peer-edited journals, law reviews, and anthologies. Further Reading The Vesting ClauseThe Unitary Executive Theory (UET)

This week’s episode of then & now is part of an occasional series exploring the past, present, and future of U.S. foreign policy and the U.S.-led international order. Guest host Dr. Ben Zdencanovic is joined by Bruce Schulman, Professor of History at Boston University, to discuss the Trump administration’s selective use of history, especially its nods to the McKinley era’s embrace of tariffs and imperialism. President Trump’s invocation of slogans like "Make America Great Again" reflects a broader effort to revive a tried-and-true Gilded Age cultural vision, framing America as a nation betrayed by outsiders and internal dissenters. Bruce argues that Trump’s idiosyncratic historical references signal a return to an older, culturally resonant political strategy. To conclude, Bruce examines the roots and ramifications of this vision, challenging the nostalgia surrounding late 19th-century U.S. policy and its relevance today. Bruce Schulman is the William E. Huntington Professor of History at Boston University. Bruce also directs the Institute for American Political History at Boston University. The Institute seeks to establish Boston University as a leading center for the study of America’s political past. He is also a contributor to the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Christian Science Monitor, as well as websites such as Politico and Reuters. Bruce’s teaching and research concentrate on the history of the modern United States, particularly on the relationships between politics and broader cultural change. He is currently at work on a volume for the Oxford History of the United States covering the years 1896-1929. Ben Zdencanovic is a Postdoctoral Associate at the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy. Ben is a historian of the United States in the world, domestic and international politics, and economic and social policy. He has a particular interest in the relationship between U.S. global power and the politics of redistribution and welfare state. Ben earned his doctorate with distinction from the Department of History at Yale in 2019, where his dissertation was the winner of the Edwin W. Small Prize for outstanding work in United States history. Prior to coming to UCLA, Ben was a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale Jackson School for Global Affairs and an Assistant Instructional Professor at the University of Chicago. Further Reading Time MagazineTariffs Don’t Have to Make Economic Sense to Appeal to Trump Voters

This week’s episode of then & now is part of a series co-sponsored by the L.A. History Collaborative, in which we explore the impact of the catastrophic wildfires that affected Los Angeles in early 2025. We are joined by Amy Green, Principal of Silverlake Conservation and one of Los Angeles’ most seasoned historical conservators. She discusses her efforts to preserve intricately crafted tiles from the early 20th century that have been salvaged from homes in Altadena impacted by the fires as well as the importance of these tiles to the historical context of Altadena and Southern California more broadly. In the aftermath of the extensive destruction caused by the Eaton Fire, historic Batchelder tiles—recognized as one of Los Angeles' most significant contributions to the American Arts and Crafts movement—have been discovered, sometimes as the only markers of where homes once stood. To preserve these pieces of history, Amy, along with the volunteer organization Save the Tiles, endeavors to protect this essential aspect of cultural heritage. Salvaging these architectural fragments not only preserves elements of the affected homes but also serves as a connection between what has been lost and the future that lies ahead. Amy calls attention to the fact that, in the midst of profound devastation, there emerges a remarkable display of kindness. Amy Green is a Principal of Silverlake Conservation and has a broad range of experience in the conservation of a variety of materials, including ceramics, glass, metal, stone, concrete, and modern materials. Amy came to the field of conservation as a ceramic artist with a strong working knowledge of clay and glaze chemistry, and she has gravitated towards the treatment of historic tile and architectural terra cotta. Amy has a certificate in Historic Preservation from the University of Southern California, a Master’s of Art in Tile Conservation from Antioch University, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan. Further Reading Los Angeles TimesThe only thing still left.’ Volunteers race to save Altadena’s vintage tiles from the bulldozersThe New York Times,After the L.A. Wildfires, a Race to Save the Tiles, and the Soul, of AltadenaSilverlake ConservationThe Batchelder Tile Registry

In this week’s episode of then & now, we present a recording of a recent event co-sponsored by the Wende Museum and the Luskin Center for History and Policy. This event launched the Meyer and Renee Luskin Public History Program at the Wende Museum, a series made possible through the extraordinary generosity of Meyer and Renee Luskin, with a thought-provoking conversation on the role of history in shaping how we address today’s most urgent problems. Wende Museum Founder and Executive Director Justin Jampol was joined by David N. Myers, Distinguished Professor of History at UCLA and the Director of the Luskin Center for History and Policy, for an illuminating discussion on public history—how we collectively engage with the past to help make sense of the present. In an era defined by what some call a “polycrisis” of entangled geopolitical, economic, and ecological disruptions, historical perspective is more essential than ever. Together, Jampol and Myers explore the ways history can help us navigate complexity, challenge dominant narratives, and foster informed activism. Justin Jampol is the Founder and Executive Director of the Wende Museum. A scholar of Cold War visual culture, Jampol has dedicated his career to uncovering and preserving artifacts that tell alternative histories of 20th-century geopolitics. His innovative approach to public history—merging art, archives, and community engagement—has made the Wende Museum a global model for rethinking how museums interact with the past. David N. Myers is a Distinguished Professor of History at UCLA and the Director of the Luskin Center for History and Policy and the UCLA Initiative to Study Hate. A leading scholar of Jewish history, he has authored six books and edited thirteen others, including The Stakes of History: On the Use and Abuse of Jewish History for Life (Yale University Press, 2018). His research addresses Jewish intellectual and cultural history, with a focus on how historical narratives shape identity, politics, and social movements. Further Reading The Wende Museum programs

This week’s episode of then & now is part of a series co-sponsored by the L.A. History Collaborative, in which we examine the effects of the devastating Los Angeles Wildfires in early 2025. Dr. Daisy Ocampo Diaz joins LCHP Assistant Director Dr. Rose Campbell to discuss the Fowler Museum’s exhibition Fire Kinship: Southern California Native Ecology and Art, one of the exhibitions associated with the Pacific Standard Time (PST) Art Initiative. The L.A. Wildfires highlighted the urgent need for effective fire management and risk mitigation strategies in the era of climate change. Rarely featured in such discussions, however, are the traditional landscape management methods, such as controlled burns, practiced by many Indigenous communities in North America before European colonization. As head curator of the Fire Kinship exhibition, Daisy underscores the vital role of fire as a regenerative force and explains how a legacy of colonial fire suppression tactics has exacerbated the effects of wildfires in the absence of sustainable landscape management practices. With more frequent and devastating natural disasters intensified by climate change, Daisy asserts that the best way forward is the integration of Indigenous knowledge into large-scale landscape management practices. The Fire Kinship exhibition is on display at the Fowler Museum at UCLA through July 13, 2025. Read more about the exhibition here. Admission to the Fowler Museum is always free! Dr. Daisy Ocampo (Caxcan, or Caz’ Ahmo, Indigenous Nation of Zacatecas, Mexico) earned her PhD in History from the University of California, Riverside in 2019. Her research in Native and Public History informs her work with museum exhibits, historical preservation projects, and community-based archives. She is the author of Where We Belong: Chemehuevi and Caxcan Preservation of Sacred Mountains (The University of Arizona Press, 2023) and is currently working on two major projects: “Pá’čapa: A Mt. Rubidoux Story,” a short documentary film which she co-produced, and “Fire Kinship,” an exhibit she curated at the UCLA Fowler Museum sponsored by Getty. Further Reading Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)PST ART

This week’s episode of then & now is part of a series examining the effects of one of the most powerful and destructive natural disasters in U.S. history: the Los Angeles Wildfires. Co-sponsored by the L.A. History Collaborative— a new consortium of cultural institutions and historians committed to using the tools of history to assist in the reconstruction of the lives and stories of those deeply affected by the L.A. Wildfires—we sit down with E. Randol Schoenberg, an LA-based lawyer and genealogist, to discuss the lives and cultural property lost during this devastating event. As the grandson of Austrian-American composers Arnold Schoenberg and Erich Zeisl, both of whom emigrated to the U.S. to escape the terror of Nazism in Europe and subsequently settled in West L.A, Randy serves as a custodian of his family’s historical legacy. Tragically, Randy's family not only lost several homes in the fires but also the entire inventory of sales and rental materials from Belmont Music Publishers, which included manuscripts, original scores, and printed works. The German-Jewish immigrant community has experienced significant cultural loss due to the wildfires, as the Pacific Palisades has historically served as a social hub for German-speaking cultural figures in the mid-twentieth century. In order to memorialize what has been lost, Randy underscores the necessity of recounting and documenting this critical history. E. Randol Schoenberg is an American lawyer and genealogist, based in Los Angeles, California, specializing in legal cases related to the recovery of looted or stolen artworks, particularly those by the Nazi regime during the Holocaust. Schoenberg is widely known as one of the central figures of the 2015 film Woman in Gold, which depicted the case of Maria Altmann against the government of Austria. He is also the subject of the 2023 genealogical documentary Fioretta. Further Reading Belmont Music PublishersA treasure house of composer Arnold Schoenberg’s music destroyed in Palisades fireAfter Nazi Plunder, A Quest To Bring Home The 'Woman In Gold'Villa Aurora

This week’s episode of then & now is part of an occasional series exploring the past, present, and future of U.S. foreign policy and the U.S.-led international order with guest host Dr. Ben Zdencanovic. Joined by Dr. Stephen Wertheim, Senior Fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, we critically examine the far-reaching implications for U.S. foreign policy during the second Trump administration. Stephen characterizes Trump's foreign policy as unpredictable and a departure from traditional diplomatic norms. Specifically, he notes Trump’s avowedly “America First” action and rhetoric, using tariffs seemingly for negotiation purposes rather than as an economic measure and bringing the right-wing culture war to the federal workforce, which has resulted in a partial bureaucratic dismantling. Stephen warns that this approach and Trump’s routine bluffs raise concerns about the long-term impact on the U.S.'s global standing and our relationships with allies. Ben Zdencanovic is a Postdoctoral Associate at the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy. Ben is a historian of the United States in the world, domestic and international politics, and economic and social policy. He has a particular interest in the relationship between U.S. global power and the politics of redistribution and welfare state. Ben earned his doctorate with distinction from the Department of History at Yale in 2019, where his dissertation was the winner of the Edwin W. Small Prize for outstanding work in United States history. Prior to coming to UCLA, Ben was a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale Jackson School for Global Affairs and an Assistant Instructional Professor at the University of Chicago. Stephen Wertheim is a senior fellow in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. A historian of U.S. foreign policy, he analyzes contemporary problems in American strategy and diplomacy. Wertheim has published scholarly research on a range of subjects and concepts in U.S. foreign policy from the late nineteenth century to the present. He is the author of Tomorrow, the World: The Birth of U.S. Global Supremacy (Harvard University Press, 2020), a Foreign Affairs book of the year, which reveals how the United States decided to pursue global military dominance as an effectively perpetual project. Named one of “the world’s 50 top thinkers for the Covid-19 age” by Prospect magazine, Wertheim regularly comments on current events. Further Reading What will Trump 2.0 mean for the global world order?

In this week’s episode of then & now, we are joined by Dr. Isaac Stanley-Becker, a reporter on intelligence and national security issues for The Washington Post, to examine the rise and partial fall of the Schengen Zone amid ongoing and polarizing debates regarding immigration policy. Through the lens of his dual expertise as a journalist and a historian, Isaac explores the origins and historical progression of the Schengen Zone in his recent publication, Europe Without Borders. Established in 1985, the Schengen Zone was created as an area facilitating free movement across Europe in the aftermath of World War II, symbolizing European unity and liberal internationalism. However, contemporary discourse frequently associates it with Europe’s migration crisis, fueling a backlash against globalization. While the Schengen Zone has significantly transformed European society, it has also consistently excluded non-Europeans, particularly migrants of color from former colonies of the Schengen member states. Isaac concludes with the assertion that the Schengen Zone is currently facing a precarious situation. Highlighting the rising prevalence of illiberal populism and anti-immigrant fury in both Europe and the United States, he posits that if Europe can develop and implement a more effective burden-sharing system for asylum seekers, the viability of the Schengen Zone could be maintained in a more coherent manner. Isaac Stanley-Becker is a staff writer for The Washington Post, focusing on intelligence and national security. With a PhD in history from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes scholar, he has been an investigative reporter on the national staff and reported from across Europe. He recently published Europe without Borders: A History (Princeton University Press 2025), an investigation into the origins and development of the Schengen area of Europe. He was also part of the team that won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2024 for “American Icon,” a series exploring the role of the AR-15 in American life. Further Reading The Schengen Area 2015: The year of Europe's refugee crisis

This week’s episode of then & now is the first in a series examining one of the most powerful and destructive natural disasters in U.S. history, the Los Angeles wildfires. Joined by Professor Emeritus at Arizona State University Stephen Pyne, one of the country’s leading thinkers about fire, we discuss the history of urban fire to understand what is unfolding in Los Angeles—where lives, communities, histories, and large swaths of nature are being destroyed before our eyes. Informed by his wide-ranging perspective on fire management, Stephen situates the L.A. wildfires within a broader historical perspective. He describes the current era as the Pyrocene, the age of the Fire. He suggests that while nuisance fires have decreased, we now face dire conditions worsened by factors such as climate change, land use, and the burning of fossil fuels—all of which highlight the need for a fundamental reorganization of our lives. To conclude, he stresses the importance of avoiding the conditions that cause massive destruction, especially the burning of fossil fuels, and advocates for a thoughtful reassessment of our relationship with fire that minimizes the risk of future destructive events. Stephen Pyne is an Emeritus Professor of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. He spent 15 seasons with the North Rim Longshots, a Grand Canyon National Park fire crew. Out of those seasons emerged a scholarly interest in the history and management of fire, with major surveys for America, Australia, Canada, Europe (including Russia), and the Earth. He has written 40 books, mostly on the history and management of wildland and rural fire, including a multi-volume fire history of the U.S. and its regions since 1960 (University of Arizona Press). Further Reading Human use of fire has produced an era of uncontrolled burning: Welcome to the Pyrocene 2025 Los Angeles Fires

**Content Warning: This episode includes discussion of sexual and domestic violence. In this week’s episode of then & now, guest host Professor Jared McBride is joined by Dr. Joy Neumeyer to discuss her recent book, A Survivor’s Education. In the book, as well as this episode, Joy interweaves her own experiences of domestic abuse and the bureaucracy surrounding Title IX with Soviet and Russian history and examines gender and violence norms within the profession of history and academia writ large. Within the context of the #MeToo movement, Joy reflects on the enduring struggle that victims of abuse face due to the common propensity to amplify and repeat the narratives that are spread by perpetrators of violence. Informed by her extensive research on the history and application of Title IX—including the procedural tribulations of her own case—Joy intertwines the past and present and challenges the postmodernist approach to historical methodology with regard to truth narrativity and meaning. Joy concludes with the sentiment that historians can never be truly objective. Instead, they must expose their positionality and the personal, political, and social factors shaping their narrative about the past. If you are experiencing abuse or are concerned about someone you know, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233) or visit http://www.thehotline.org. Joy Neumeyer is a journalist and historian of Russia and Eastern Europe. She received a PhD in History from the University of California, Berkeley, and was a Fulbright Fellow in Russia and a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. She has also worked as a reporter in Moscow and Warsaw. Her first book, A Survivor’s Education: Women, Violence, and the Stories We Don’t Tell (PublicAffairs, 2024), is an investigative memoir about abuse and the tension between narrative and evidence in understanding the past. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Nation, Foreign Policy, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, New Left Review, and The Los Angeles Review of Books. Jared McBride is an assistant professor in the UCLA Department of History and is an expert on the history of Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe in the 20th century. His research examines mass violence, the Holocaust, interethnic conflict, nationalist movements, and war crimes prosecution. McBride’s research has been supported by fellowships, including the Guggenheim, SSRC, and Fulbright-Hays. Further Reading Darkness at Noon: On History, Narrative, and Domestic Violence Title IX Bernice Sandler #MeToo Movement

**Content Warning: This episode includes discussion of sexual and domestic violence. In this week’s episode of then & now, LCHP Assistant Director Dr. Rose Campbell is joined by Dr. Shannon Speed to discuss systemic violence against Indigenous women. According to a 2016 study, Indigenous women are 10 times more likely to be kidnapped or murdered than almost any other population group in the United States. Although murder is the third leading cause of death among Indigenous women, these cases often go unsolved and unreported and attract little attention outside of local communities. Shannon discusses the policies that render Indigenous women particularly vulnerable to violence and underscores the impact of settler capitalism—specifically white supremacy and patriarchal ideologies—not only in the U.S. but also in the colonial history of Mexico. Compounding these factors is the jurisdictional vacuum found in Indian country, where U.S. federal laws have severely limited the ability of tribal law enforcement and tribal courts to prosecute violent crimes. In order to address the deep-seated structural and ideological factors that generate and perpetuate this cycle of violence against Indigenous women, Shannon advocates for a tribal sovereignty framework informed by a concern for human rights that aims to interrupt the cycle of violence and focus on a restorative rather than a more punitive approach. Dr. Shannon Speed is a tribal citizen of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma. She is Director of the American Indian Studies Center (AISC) and Professor of Gender Studies and Anthropology at UCLA. Dr. Speed has worked for the last two decades in Mexico and in the United States on issues of indigenous autonomy, sovereignty, gender, neoliberalism, violence, migration, social justice, and activist research. Her recent work, Incarcerated Stories: Indigenous Women Migrants and Violence in the Settler Capitalist State (University of North Carolina Press 2019), won the Best Subsequent Book Award of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association in 2019 and a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title award in 2020. She has a new co-edited volume entitled Heightened States of Injustice: Activist Research on Indigenous Women and Violence (University of Arizona Press 2021). Dr. Speed was the President of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) from 2019-2020. Further Reading Native Hope; National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center; Violence Against Women Act (VAWA); Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe.