Gun sales in America took off in the Cold War, and they’ve grown exponentially. Two experts on the culture of firearms in the United States say this phenomenon has a lot less to do with the Second Amendment than it does with the marriage of economics and politics.

Chinese leaders are keen to project their country’s military and economic power on the global stage. As part of that playbook, our guest says, they have been recalling — rather selectively — the story of China’s involvement in the Second World War.

Is the United States a “nation of immigrants”? Depends whom you ask. But one thing is certain: who counts as worthy of being American has always been contingent and politicized. Amanda Frost takes Will, Siva and their class on a journey through immigration history.

With this live taping from West Lafayette, Ind., we close out season four. Three experts on Black Power, women’s movements, and Democracy’s discontents join Siva and Will onstage to discuss what the past has to teach us about defending - and improving - government by the people.

School board meetings have been getting unruly lately, with parents decrying lessons on race and gender that sometimes aren’t even taught. The outrage may be manufactured, but the frustration it echoes is real, historian Natalia Petrzela says: Genuine shifts in public education have met pandemic fatigue.

The technologies developed in Silicon Valley launched Americans into space and laid the groundwork for the internet. But defusing the threats that Big Tech poses for self-government will take social and political innovation — not more gadgets or cleverer code.

The Haitian Revolution once held out the promise of radical democracy. But internal strife and global oppression has thwarted its fulfillment for two centuries and counting. Three UVA scholars walk Will and Siva through that complex history, and the current unrest in Haiti.

In the wake of Vietnam, the United States pared its global aspirations — and often fell short on humanitarian values. Then came two disastrous national-building efforts. In Part II of our post-Afghanistan reality-check, our guests consider how America might get off this seesaw.

Joe Biden used the word “democracy” in his inaugural address more times than any other President, signaling a shift in rhetoric from his predecessor. But the opposition party that stands in the way of his agenda is openly pursuing less democracy, not more. We wrap up season two with a former republican congresswoman who rejects the cult of Trump, and we hear from political analysts Larry Sabato and Nicole Hemmer.