Welcome to current affairs. My name is Nathan Robinson. I am the editor-in-chief of Current Affairs Magazine.

I am joined today, once again, in fact, by Tom Hartman. He is the country's leading progressive radio host. He is also the best-selling author of over two

dozen books, including most recently the book we are here to talk about today, the hidden

history of American democracy, rediscovering humanity's ancient way of living. Tom Hartman,

thank you so much for returning to current affairs. Hey, Nathan, thanks so much for inviting.

It's great to be here with you again. So I think this is, am I, did I count correctly? Is this number

nine in the Hidden History series? It is. Okay.

So, congratulations on number nine.

I want to start before we talk about this particular one by talking about the series, because,

you know, I was thinking about it.

And, you know, I want to talk in particular about why you write history, specifically, because you could, as a progressive commentator, just write a book about American health care.

You could write a book about neoliberalism.

You could write a book just about democracy today.

And you do in these books, but they are hidden histories.

So why is it that you've approached all of the subjects you've approached from monopoly to

healthcare to guns to voting through hidden history?

Through the lens of history.

I think that you can't understand the present if you don't understand the past.

And there's an old saying

that's sometimes attributed to Hitler, I believe, you know, he who controls the past, controls the

present, he who controls the future. And there have been a lot of attempts to rewrite the past

of American history and to reinvent the founders as Christian fundamentalists or as, you know, obscenely wealthy people

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