The Free Press: Breaking History

Is This War Justified? Eli Lake Debates Iran with Robert Wright

Eli Lake — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 09:01:34 GMT

I recently joined my friend Robert Wright on his podcast NonZero, where he has conversations with people whose thinking he’s curious about. That spirit definitely came through in our discussion. We approached the topic of the Iran war from sharply different perspectives: Wright argues that the American-Israeli campaign is both a serious strategic mistak…

Why Iran’s Reform Movement Failed

Eli Lake — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 09:02:25 GMT

Historian Arash Azizi was born in Tehran and came of age during Iran’s reform era, when millions of Iranians believed the system could change from within. In this episode of Breaking History, Azizi and I discuss the presidency of Mohammad Khatami, how it cracked open a window of change for the Islamic Republic, and how the Supreme Leader and the Guardia…

Eli Lake and Haviv Rettig Gur on Why Iran’s Regime Is Hard to Kill

Eli Lake — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 09:02:34 GMT

Haviv Rettig Gur, The Free Press’s Middle East analyst and host of Ask Haviv Anything, is one of the clearest thinkers on political Islam today. I sat down with him for a special Breaking History episode that offers a close examination of the ideological foundations of the Islamic Republic.

Haviv’s core argument is straightforward: The Islamic Republic w…

When ‘Good Kids’ Go Radical: A Breaking History Special

Eli Lake — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 09:01:25 GMT

I was captivated this week by my old friend Jay Solomon’s piece investigating the story of Calla Walsh, a privileged young woman from Massachusetts who went down the rabbit hole of radical activism and is now a mouthpiece for the Islamic regime of Iran.

I couldn’t help but be reminded of our Breaking History episode from last year about Ulrike Meinhof—th…

Eli Lake and Andrew Sullivan Debate the Iran War

Eli Lake — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 09:01:04 GMT

This week I joined The Dishcast with Andrew Sullivan, who has generously agreed to let us share the conversation here. Andrew and I go way back, and few people are as willing as he is to really go toe-to-toe over our disagreements—especially on Israel and America’s role in the world.

In our discussion, we cover a broad range of history and politics: from…

Modern Terrorism Was Born in the 1970s

Eli Lake — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 10:01:59 GMT

In this episode of Breaking History, producer Poppy Damon speaks with Guardian international security correspondent Jason Burke about his new book, The Revolutionists, a gripping account of the extremists who turned commercial aviation into a battlefield and global cities into stages for political theater.

This was a moment when plane travel was glamorou…

The Reluctant Prince: Can Reza Pahlavi Lead Iran’s Future? Q&A with Eli Lake

Eli Lake — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 10:02:04 GMT

Iran’s regime is facing mounting internal pressure, and as that pressure grows, one name keeps resurfacing: Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the last shah. For decades, Pahlavi has lived in a strange political space—at once a historical figure, a symbol of a different Iran, and now, increasingly, a potential player in whatever comes next.

In this conversa…

A History of Tough Jews

Eli Lake — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 10:02:13 GMT

After October 7, 2023, Jews around the world were reminded of an old, unsettling truth: Governments do not always protect minorities when mobs turn violent. From Bondi Beach to New York synagogues, the promise of public order has looked increasingly fragile.

In this episode of Breaking History, Eli Lake revisits the last time Jews in America confronted t…

How Clinton, Trump, and Epstein Rewired America’s Moral Compass

Eli Lake — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 10:02:07 GMT

In this episode, we take listeners back to the scandal-soaked 1990s—an era defined by a series of bruising public battles over sexual misconduct and abuse of power. From the resignation of Senator Bob Packwood to the explosive Clarence Thomas hearings, and ultimately to Bill Clinton’s impeachment, these defining moments marked a turning point in America…

BONUS: Why the Ramones, Tom Paine, and Steve Jobs Are All Punk

Eli Lake — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 10:01:04 GMT

This week, we’re dropping a bonus episode of Breaking History—a follow-up to last week’s installment about how I see Socrates as the first punk rocker. What follows is an excerpt from my conversation with Reason’s editor-at-large and resident punk obsessive Nick Gillespie, who dives even deeper into the idea. Punk isn’t just a genre or a fashion or the sound of three chords played very, very fast. It’s an instinct—one that’s been shaping America long before CBGB reeked of cigarette smoke and cheap beer.

Together, we trace that instinct across centuries: from the political pamphlets of Thomas Paine to the free-speech battles at Berkeley, from Bob Dylan going electric to Steve Jobs designing a computer that flipped the world upside down. Punk, in other words, didn’t die when the Lower East Side cleaned up. It mutated. It went corporate. It went digital. And it never stopped being a thorn in the side of power.

If you want to listen to more exclusive Breaking History, be sure to subscribe to The Free Press at TheFP.com.

Breaking History Punk Essentials Playlist

Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s Socrates

Eli Lake — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 10:01:29 GMT

Punk is a strange phenomenon. We associate it with the music born out of the economic stagnation of the mid-1970s; with the defiance of the ornate rock gods who had survived the 1960s. But if you think about it, punks have been with us since the beginning of time. Thomas Paine, Galileo, and Steve Jobs were punk too.

So with that in mind, the first punk w…

The Buckley Test: Can the Right Still Police Its Own?

Eli Lake — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 16:40:00 GMT

In the last nine days, the Make America Great Again coalition that propelled Donald Trump to the White House only a year ago began to turn on itself. Call it the War of the Influencers.

Tucker Carlson is at the center of the storm. The former Fox News channel host has been on quite a journey. He started out in the 1990s as an original staffer at the now-…

Beautiful Losers: Mamdani and the End of Socialism’s Losing Streak

Eli Lake — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 09:02:04 GMT

For 124 years, the American socialist movement has been defined by defeat. From Eugene Debs’ doomed presidential runs to Michael Harrington’s quiet organizing, it’s been a story of almosts: almost mainstream, almost powerful, almost relevant. Until now. In this episode, we look at how Zohran Mamdani’s likely mayoral victory marks the first real crack in…

London Falling: How the Birthplace of Free Speech Became a Censor’s Paradise

Eli Lake — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 09:02:18 GMT

In a kingdom not so far away, the police visit private homes to inquire about a resident who has posted something on social media that “spreads hate,” “may incite violence,” or “provokes general offense.” A man was recently fined for burning a Quran while his knife-wielding assailant was spared incarceration. And a well-known humorist was met at the air…

James Comey: The Case That Could Break America

Eli Lake — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 04:37:07 GMT

James Comey isn’t a hero, but is prosecuting him justice, or something dangerous?

The cycle began when Comey’s FBI used Hillary Clinton’s opposition research to build a fictitious case against Donald Trump and his campaign. He deserves shame for that. Instead, he was cheered in the blue states and jeered in the red states. Either way, it set the stage fo…

Defying the Assassin’s Veto: Grace in a Time of Violence

Eli Lake — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 09:03:45 GMT

It’s been a week since Charlie Kirk was silenced with a sniper rifle. I use that word—silenced—because he was murdered while engaging in public argument, literally debating all comers at Utah Valley University under a banner that read: Prove Me Wrong.

That phrase is haunting now—not just because of the violence that followed, but because so many of us have stopped talking to the other tribe. Charlie was right: The mutual enmity of our republic threatens to unravel it. We are meant to settle our differences through debate, not violence—ballots, not bullets.

But lately, the assassin has had his say.

It would be a mistake to imagine this is something new. Political violence has deep roots in America. As H. Rap Brown—currently serving a life sentence for murder—once said: “Violence is as American as cherry pie.”

How a Russian Spy Destroyed a Beautiful Mind

Eli Lake — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 01:57:10 GMT

Russia’s information war against the West is a century-old mind game that still warps American politics. It’s not just about bots and trolls or hacked emails. It’s about how disinformation expertly crafted by Moscow seeps into our institutions, distorts our public debates, and ultimately turns us against ourselves.

When Director of National Intelligence …

The Invention That Changed Everything

Eli Lake — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 09:18:50 GMT

For Breaking History this week, I went down a rabbit hole. It’s August. I live in the swamp of D.C., known not just for its mucky politics but also for its disgustingly humid summers.

As I sit indoors all day, I’ve seen some interesting internet discourse about my beloved air-conditioning. I read a thread on X about the way German elites reject air-condi…

The Ties That Bind Islamists and Progressives

Eli Lake — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 23:29:28 GMT

In the West, the politics of the Gaza war features a strange marriage between political Islam and the 21st-century Western left. For instance, the Democratic Socialists of America simultaneously support making New York a national hub for transgender youth medicine but also want to globalize the intifada. It supports the bleeding edge of social progressive values while throwing its full support behind the fanatic fascists who filmed their mass murder of Jews and proudly posted the videos to Telegram.

The first example of this cognitively dissonant red-green alliance arose during Iran’s Islamic revolution in 1978 and 1979. Inside the country, many of the socialist and liberal factions ultimately accepted the leadership of the radical Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, but they did so for cynical reasons. Khomeini’s politics were extreme and reactionary, many of Iran’s socialists and liberals knew, but they believed he lacked the political skills to really take over the country.

It was a very different story in the West. For Americans and Europeans, Khomeini was a relatively unknown figure in 1978 when the revolution began. He was a blank slate. But the decision of Iraq’s tyrant, Saddam Hussein, to exile Khomeini to a suburb of Paris in October of 1978, gave international media access to the austere cleric they hadn’t had before. Khomeini and his handlers took full advantage of their time in front of the camera.

While staying at a modest home in Neauphle-le-Château, Khomeini conducted 132 interviews with major newspapers over three months. He was portrayed as a pious democrat, perhaps even a progressive figure.

The Making of Modern Iran

Eli Lake — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 20:12:49 GMT

Only a few weeks ago, in the afterglow of America’s bombing of three critical Iranian nuclear sites known as Operation Midnight Hammer, President Donald Trump let this slip on Truth Social.

It’s not politically correct to use the term, “Regime Change,” but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime ch…