Host Gordon Black interviews renown military historian Richard Overy on his new book, Blood and Ruins, which examines the cause of World War II through the lens of imperialism.

Major newspapers were often part of an uncritical vanguard of government support during times of war. In the case of the incarceration of Japanese-Americans in 1942, the Seattle Times waved the US flag in favor of removing residents of Japanese descent from their homes and placing them in isolated camps. But eighty years later, that newspaper has attempted to make amends for its earlier racist editorial and reporting coverage. In this episode host Gordon Black interviews a representative from Densho, a Japanese-American cultural organization, about its work to correct the Times' 1940s coverage.

Author Howard French makes a convincing case that the standard narrative about how the modern era came into existence is essentially wrong. That narrative virtually ignores the place of Africa and Africans, an omission that he believes needs to be corrected. Indeed, French argues that so much has been missed about Africa that it is time to start over and get it right - that African deserves a central role in the story of the emergence of the modern era over the past six hundred years.