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Understanding News Through History in our weekly podcast conversations with scholars.

125 Scholars & Counting

The Middle East

Featured Series

About History Behind News Program:

Understanding News Through History

Others cover the news. 

We uncover the history behind it. 

 

We do this in weekly podcast conversations with eminent scholars and historians who explain and analyze the history behind current events. And we call this peeling the history behind our news.


Why is this important? Because news in America lacks sufficient perspective.


With more than 125 conversations hosted by Adel Aali, HbN is now in its 3rd season with new episodes every Wednesday at 5 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time. 


Scholars In Your Inbox?

Upcoming History Behind News

- America's First Ladies-


Dr. Katherine Jellison

Ohio University


Wed., Dec. 13, 2023, 5am ET 

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This episode aired this morning. You can listen to it at S3E49 on your favorite podcast. 

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  • History behind news program is available on Radio Public.
  • History Behind News program is available on Amazon music podcast.
  • History behind news program is available on Apple Podcast.
  • History behind news program is available on Sticher (Pandora).
  • History behind news program is available on iHeart Radio.
  • History behind news program is available on Spotify.
  • History behind news program is available on Google.
  • History behind news program is available on Radio Public.
  • History Behind News program is available on Amazon music podcast.
  • History behind news program is available on Apple Podcast.
  • History behind news program is available on Sticher (Pandora).

Latest History Behind News:

S3E48: Psychology & Lives of Mass Shooters - The Warning Signs You Need to Know

 News: 18 dead, 13 wounded in Lewiston, Maine, mass shooting. 

History Behind News: factors & variables in the lives of harmless people that transform them into homicidal and suicidal mass shooters 


  • What is it like to meet murderers on death row? 
  • What is it like to meet with mass shooters or family or friends of those who did not survive? 
  • How are mass shooters and other murderers different? 
  • What are the similarities of the lives of mass shooters? 
  • What motivates mass shooters to go on their killing rampage?
  • Are there any warning signs? 
  • What does leakage mean in the context of mass shootings? 
  • Are mass shooters suicidal as well as homicidal? 
  • Is there data that shows the percentage of mass shooters who are addicted to opioids? How about data on mass shooters that who violent video games? 
  • Is access to guns the problem? 
  • Why is 1966 an important year in the history of mass shooting?
  • How do we prevent mass shootings? 


HbN Guest: Dr. Jillian Peterson


About Our Guest: Dr. Peterson is a professor of criminology and criminal justice at Hamline University, where she is the Executive Director of the Violence Prevention Project Research Center. She is the co-author of  Violence Project – How to Stop the Mass Shooting Epidemic. 

Listen to Dr. Peterson

Special Announcement:

"Unravelling the Middle East" is an in-depth history and analysis series by History Behind News.

A New Podcast?

I am excited to share with you that in January 2024, we will launch Unravelling the Middle East. It is a special series on the Middle East, its in-depth history and analysis. 


Unlike the History Behind News, Unravelling the Middle East will not follow the news. Rather, we'll ask the big questions here - the fundamental questions. Here are some examples: 

  • Who are the people of the Middle East? What are their genetic compositions? 
  • How did Aryans end up in the Middle East? 
  • To what extent did the Mongols destroy the Middle East? 
  • Who the heck was Tamerlane? 
  • How did Turkey become full of Turks? 
  • How did Egypt lose its status as a Shi'a nation and how did Iran lose its status as a Sunni nation? 
  • Why did the Middle East fall behind Europe? 
  • And is the Middle East truly a troubled region? 


Click here and we'll email you at the launch of our new Middle East podcast. 

Get Middle East Podcast

125 Scholars & Counting:

Our more than 125 podcast guests who have helped us interpret news and current events through the perspective of history are scholars from these and many other prestigious institutions: 


Oxford, Yale, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Hoover Institution, Princeton University, the Atlantic Council, Duke, Northwestern Law, Vanderbilt University, US Naval War College, Air Command and Staff College, Marine Corp University, UVA, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, NYU, Rice, Vanderbilt University, University of Chicago, Colgate University, UC Berkeley, UCSF, USC, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Israel Democracy Institute, University of Aberdeen, University of Navarra, University of Seville, Helsinki University, Diego Portales University (Chile), Lund University (Sweden), Near East University (Turkey), the Free University of Berlin, The Wall Street Journal, and many others. 


Our guests are current and former senior reporters at The Wall Street Journal, former White House advisors and other high-ranking government officials. Many have testified in Congressional hearings and others frequently contribute to major media outlets and widely read publications, ranging from the BBC, NPR, PBS and CNN to The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

Scholars In Your Inbox:

Don't miss HbN's guest scholars’ weekly takes on the history behind our news.

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Do you have a favorite topic?

I bet we have a post & podcast for that:

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Reviews:

    About the Host & Producer:

    Adel Aali is the host and executive producer of History Behind News program.

    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:  

    Sunset over Jackson Lake, the Grand Tetons National Park, June 2023. History Behind News podcast.

    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. 

    Photo taken from inside the United Kingdom's parliament by History Behind News host.

    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!

    Join the HbN Community - Support Our Program:

    We rely on your support.

    History Behind News is an independent program. This means that Adel Aali and his team are not employed by anyone for all the work they put into producing HbN's podcast, posts, and upcoming features and products. 


    Basically, we rely on your support to continue our work in bringing you the history behind our news. 


    So thank you. Thank you for being a valuable part of our program.  

    Support the History Behind News program for as little as $1 per month.

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    Support the History Behind News program for as little as $1 per month.

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    Contact HbN:

    Drop us a line!

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