There’s history, and then there’s oral history. And when it comes to the impacts of war on those who fight them — oral history opens doors to the past that would otherwise stay firmly shut. Michael Petrou, an historian with the Canadian War Museum, says oral history allows historians to broaden, even democratize, research and it gives voice to those who might not otherwise leave their mark on archived documents.

Remembrance Day. Every year we are called on to remember, to reflect on the sacrifices of those who fought in Canada’s wars. Veterans of those wars have a conflicted relationship with Remembrance Day: sometimes their own acts of remembrance include official ceremonies, while others avoid them altogether.

*This the second and last of a two-part series exploring the post-war experience, gathered by the Canadian War Museum’s In Their Own Voices oral history project.

Even when wars end, they go on — transforming the people who fought them, their families, and even society. A former war correspondent interviewed more than 200 veterans of all of Canada’s wars for an online oral history project by The Canadian War Museum. The focus is not so much on preserving memories of their combat experiences, but to reflect on what came after. *This is part one of a two-part series.

Look back about 3,000 years and you will find the playbook on authoritarianism remains pretty much the same as it is today. Back in the 5th century BCE, when Herodotus travelled the ancient world gathering stories, he became an expert in would-be tyrants. His tome, The History, shared vivid descriptions of autocratic and tyrannical rulers.

Herodotus was a rule breaker himself. He ignored Greek literary tradition and captured history as accurately as possible from a wide range of sources. One of his many prescient observations was how, given the right circumstances, a political strongman can emerge and seize control — a forewarning for us today. *This episode originally aired on Sept. 9, 2024.

For someone who died more than 2,400 years ago, Herodotus's voice is still very much alive. "He knows the way [a good story] can elevate but also corrupt and destroy our thinking," says professor Lindsay Mahon Rathnam in this IDEAS episode. The ancient Greek writer observed different cultures first-hand, while capturing the stories they share in an attempt to better understand how they came into being, and why they came into conflict with each other. *This episode originally aired on Oct. 16, 2023.

Political analyst Rachel Maddow and author/activist Rebecca Solnit are sharp observers of Trump 2.0. They both share a common ground: opposition to anti-democratic actions taken by the second administration of U.S. President Trump, and where those actions are taking America, if not the world.

The two American writers spoke with Nahlah Ayed about the existential issues of this American moment, a public conversation hosted by the International Festival of Authors and PEN Canada. The onstage event, in front of a Toronto audience, was part of the 5th annual Graeme Gibson Talk in Toronto.

Physics has been full of astonishing discoveries over the past century. But they open up even bigger mysteries that scientists are working feverishly to explain. What is dark energy? And why is the expansion of the universe accelerating?

In public talks at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, two prominent physicists – Sarah Shandera of Penn State University and Stanford University’s Savas Dimopoulos – discuss the breakthroughs of recent decades and what it will take to solve the most nettlesome mysteries that have deepened in their wake.

The true story of America is that it was built on a caste system comparable to India’s, says Pulitzer-prize-winning American journalist Isabel Wilkerson. The author argues that it's key to recognize the roots of the U.S. caste "structure" as she calls it, to understand why conflicts relating to race and class persist. Wilkerson delivered the 2025 Beatty Lecture at McGill University in Montreal.