Memories of the past have been central to the process of nation-state building in Ukraine. Rather than starting anew after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukrainians dusted off a hundred year old ethnic-nationalist history and applied it wholesale to the present. In Memory Crash: The Politics of History in and around Ukraine 1980s-2010, historian Georgiy Kasianov argues that the consequences of the uses of the past have been disastrous. Rather than forging strong ties to the nation across a culturally diverse population, minority populations have been ignored and even alienated. For more on the politics of memory in Ukraine past listen to the October 1st episode of Realms of Memory.

Make America Great Again, Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign slogan has become synonymous with his entire political movement. MAGA, the acronym, is now a catch phrase used for Trump’s most ardent supporters. Emblazoned on millions of red hats, which Trump himself helped promote, the Make America Great Again slogan lived on, even after Trump’s defeat in the 2020 presidential elections. With its clear reference to better times in the past, what does Make America Great Again actually refer to? How do Trump’s supporters and opponents understand the slogan? What does it reveal about how Americans understand their national past? Find out from historian Matthew Rowley, author of Trump and the Protestant Reaction to Make America Great Again.

Across the political divide Americans view each other with ever deepening sentiments of distrust and suspicion. Historian Matthew Rowley argues that the absence of shared memories of a national past fuels this polarization and the rise of violence in American politics. In Trump and the Protestant Reaction to Make America Great Again, Rowley looks at what the published work of American Protestants from across the political spectrum reveals about the challenges and possibilities of forging a common narrative that could bridge the current divide.