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Our Sister Channnel - Scholars Unravel Middle East:
From Ancient Empires To Modern Nations
A message for Middle Eastern Americans: Don't let U.S. news media or Hollywood tell your story. And don't follow people who read a few books and are suddenly experts. In this program, I bring you the sources of Middle East analysis and history - 150 scholars (and counting) who distill their decades of research into an hour conversation with me to unravel the misperceptions that divide East and West and to clarify our common misconceptions about the Middle East - from its ancient empires to modern nations.
Visit our Middle East page for details, including publishing schedule.
About the Host & Producer:
My Story
Hey there Newspeelers,
This is Adel Aali, founder of the History Behind News program.
First and foremost, thank you for visiting our site. I hope you enjoy our program, and we look forward to hearing from you and learning from you. Please don't hesitate to message me below at Contact HbN.
I started HbN to provide a better understanding of news through history. And I am committed to making history that is researched and written by scholars accessible and enjoyable for everyone. Before podcasting, I practiced patent law and later dove deep into entrepreneurship and founded a startup based on my patented medical inventions.
I now have the privilege to produce and host HbN. Preparing for conversations with scholars and producing this program are lots of fun and also challenging - learning a new subject every week! It's tough but exhilarating.
For each and every one of them, my two objectives are constant:
1st objective: to help us Americans better understand our news.
Nah, I don't mean digging into the news. We already have many news outlets who do that for us. I am rather referring to the winding and, at times, unnavigable road behind that brought us to the current moment, to the developing news at hand.
So, what was it like to travel on that road? What were the exigencies that forced our predecessors' decisions back then?
While hindsight is 20/20, many of our past decisions were made in the context of those times and without much knowledge of the curves and cliffs ahead. Needless to say, many of our ancestors veered us to the off-beaten paths. And that's how we got here!
About above image: I took this sunset shot of Jackson Lake in June 2022. The Grand Tetons is my and my family's favorite national park. It's simply breathtaking. And if you are there on a Monday night, be sure to spend it at the hootenanny in the town of Moose. We loved it! Hint: go there hungry and thirsty.
2nd objective: to stay as far away from history programs as possible.
What do I mean by this?
HbN is not a history program. Meaning, we don’t discuss history for its own sake. Rather, we discuss history only as it informs current news.
But sometimes even this history behind news can be overwhelming.
Believe me, I know! So what I think about when I ask questions from my distinguished guests, who can surely talk authoritatively about their subjects for hours on end, is whether or not the history being discussed is still helping us better understand the news, i.e., the stuff behind the news.
The challenge here is similar to the adage of not seeing the forest for the trees. But we don't need to be history buffs to appreciate history's impact on our lives. In fact, many history buffs are so focused on every detailed pixel of history that they lose sight of the big picture.
So, HbN is not a narrative history program. Instead, we strive to suck out the marrow of our past to nourish the present bones of our intellects.
About above image: I took this picture of the Palace of Westminster in June 2023 (photos are restricted in certain areas). My family and I got the rare treat of watching the UK's Members of Parliament debate legislation (it was on animal rights - reconciling UK and EU laws after Brexit). London is a must-visit. We just loved it. Although I wouldn't really call it a vacation. It was more like sightseeing on steroids and information overload. We were out and about from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. - every day!
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