China is ruled by a Communist Party of 100 million members, a giant pyramid with President Xi Jinping and the Politburo at the top. Yet its economy, the second largest in the world, largely thrives on private enterprise and integration with global capitalism. So what does it mean to be a Chinese Communist today? And what does China under Xi aim to achieve on the international stage? In this episode, historians Sergey Radchenko and Enrico Fardella peel away opaque layers of ideology to get to the heart of China's 21st-century outlook.

Historian Antony Beevor says the world today resembles the Second World War in one important respect: "For decades, it seemed as though the characters of leaders would never again determine the course of events the way they did in World War II. Putin’s invasion has changed that, and Trump, taking Putin as a role model, has, too." In this episode, the esteemed war chronicler talks about the unsettling reasons why the post-1945 order is unraveling.

Recommended reading:

We Are Still Fighting World War II by Antony Beevor for Foreign Affairs, the official publication of the Council on Foreign Relations.

The Second World War by Antony Beevor

For four days in early May, India and Pakistan were on the brink of another war over the contested Kashmir, the mountainous territory that has witnessed waves of ferocious violence since partition in 1947. A ceasefire averted major hostilities, but did not establish lasting peace. There has never been a durable peace in Kashmir since India and Pakistan first went to war over its control in October 1947. In this episode, Anatol Lieven of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft traces the origins of one of the world's most intractable conflicts.

Recommended reading:

Pakistan: A Hard Country by Anatol Lieven

During the Palestinian people's darkest hour since 1948, as Israel seeks to displace Gazans and potentially annex the West Bank, the Palestinian leadership is absent. The Palestinian Authority is still around, and its president, Mahmoud Abbas, 89, has been in charge without an election for 20 years. However, the authority, which was established in 1994 and was supposed to be temporary, appears irrelevant and powerless. In this episode, Omar Rahman of the Middle East Council on Global Affairs breaks down the Palestinian Authority's many failings when its leadership is needed more than ever.

President Donald Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act during peacetime is unprecedented, a part of his larger effort to portray undocumented immigrants as wicked and threatening as he seeks to deport them en masse. What is not unprecedented is the federal government weaponizing the law to shred constitutional protections and civil liberties. During the Second World War, the administration of Franklin Roosevelt arrested and incarcerated Italians, Germans, and Japanese aliens under the 1798 statute, but also interned roughly 100,000 U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry -- one of the most egregious violations of civil rights in U.S. history. In this episode, the eminent historian David M. Kennedy takes us back to those perilous years and their important parallels to the current crisis.

Recommended reading:

Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 by David M. Kennedy

Does history provide us with lessons, or does the past offer warnings about what might happen now based on human tendencies that transcend time and culture? In his new book The Nazi Mind, the historian and filmmaker Laurence Rees studies the Nazi mentalities that produced the most horrendous crimes in history. Beyond high-ranking Nazi officials and SS fanatics, Rees also delves into the attitudes of medical professionals and ordinary Germans who assisted their leaders in barbarous acts. What about the Nazis can help us navigate today's crisis of liberal democracy?

Recommended reading:

The Nazi Mind: Twelve Warnings From History by Laurence Rees

The 250th anniversary of the American Revolution's opening battles came and went with little fanfare. Colonial militia engaged British regulars at Lexington and Concord in April 1775. The Revolutionary War was underway. King George III would soon declare the American colonies in open rebellion. Is everyone saving their energy for next year's celebration of the Declaration of Independence? In this episode, historian Lindsay Chervinsky, the executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon, talks about the collapse of royal authority that was evident as early as 1774-75, well before formal independence was declared. The colonies were in a state of virtual independence, marking a transformation in the minds as well as the everyday lives of the American revolutionaries.

This is the final episode in a three-part series marking the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975.

America's humiliating defeat in Vietnam, punctuated by images of military helicopters evacuating desperate personnel from the embassy rooftop in Saigon, left deep scars on the country's psyche. It took decades to come to terms with everything that went wrong, although some insisted the U.S. should not have abandoned the South Vietnamese in their hour of need in April 1975. In this episode, historians Jeremi Suri and Jeffrey Engel delve into the enduring consequences of the U.S. debacle in Southeast Asia.

Jeremi Suri teaches history at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. He hosts "This is Democracy" podcast and writes, with his son, the "Democracy of Hope" newsletter on Substack.

Jeffrey A. Engel is the founding director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University.