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Harvard Prof. of Ukrainian History Serhii Plokhy comments on Ukraine’s role in impeachment, and talks about his new book; Rich Cahan describes the powerful photo collection made by military photographers worldwide in 1945.We open with comments from Prof. Plokhy on the impeachment process focused on Ukraine, and discussion of the 2014 regime change in Ukraine. He rejects the notion of a US-backed coup, and generally embraces official narratives.
The we turn to his new book, Forgotten Bastards of the Eastern Front: American Airmen Behind the Soviet Lines and the Collapse of the Grand Alliance. It’s a fascinating account of the only episode of US and Soviet collaboration during World War II, when the Soviets briefly allowed American fliers and planes to use 3 airfields in Ukraine to launch attacks on the eastern front of Nazi Germany. He describes the negotiations that led to the arrangement, and how fallout from the episode created the seeds of the Cold War.
In our second segment, Rich Cahan returns to talk about his collection of photos from almost all of the war zones in 1945, Aftershock: The Human Toll of War. The incredible photos were taken by Army photographers, and found in the National Archive. Here’s the cover photo, which we talk about in the interview.
Cahan is the former photo editor of The Chicago Sun-Times, and appeared on this podcast 2 years ago to talk about his book of photos from internment camps for Japanese during World War II, Un-American. His next photo collection, featuring former American slaves, will be published in February, 2020.