The Preamble

Here on The Preamble, we look for the historical context and the factual clarity behind the headlines because we know that understanding the "why" helps us navigate the "what." But as we look at the b...

Sharon tells us why sugarcoating history doesn’t help any of us. Truly loving your country means acknowledging the not-so-great and even horrible moments of its past.  Plus, Condoleezza Rice was bann...

Did you know that only 4% of new marriages in America happen between Democrats and Republicans? Or that three quarters of white Americans don't have a single friend who isn't white? David McCullough I...

Before ICE raids, there were pamphlets warning Americans about immigrant "peasants" stealing their jobs and "hell ships" dumping people into the Mexican desert with no food, water, or way to reach the...

You might know her as the woman who got dragged to a taco bell where her date ordered one hundred tacos and she got stuck paying for them. Elyse Myers’ hilarious re-telling of that story launched her ...

Simply teaching the facts in and out of the classroom has become an act of courage, and sometimes, real risk. Former history teacher Ernest Crim joins Sharon McMahon to talk about why Black history, c...

Americans are being offered a false choice: safety or rights, as though “law and order” means obedience from citizens and exceptions for the government. Sharon’s take on ICE violating 96 court orders ...

Gen Z Historian Kahlil Greene explains how today’s ICE enforcement has chilling parallels to the slave patrols of the 19th Century, designed to hunt human beings for profit and power. Then, Sharon spe...

This episode was recorded before Border Patrol agents shot and killed Twin Cities nurse Alex Pretti. What happens when the people enforcing the law no longer seem bound by it? Our contributor Elise...

The War on Drugs is being used to justify U.S. military actions, including a covert operation in Venezuela, but is that going to have an effect on the opioid crisis? Sharon is joined by Beth Macy, aut...