Alexander von Sternberg

Los Angeles

Podcaster and Writer at History Impossible

Home of History Impossible. Written for @Quillette, @QueerMajority, @merionwest, @areomagazine, @UGMediaLtd, and more. De gustibus non est disputandum.

Featured in: Favicon

medium.com Favicon

substack.com Favicon

areomagazine.com Favicon

quillette.com Favicon

merionwest.com Favicon

queermajority.com Favicon

bi.org

Articles

Questioning Anti-Zionism, Colonizing Gaza, and Revealing Lenin (w/ David Josef Volodsko) on Apple Podcasts

Jun 11, 2024 | podcasts.apple.com | Alexander von Sternberg

For this next special installment of History Impossible, we’re joined by the journalist, writer, and fellow podcaster David Josef Volodsko, one of the most well-traveled individuals I’ve ever had the pleasure of speaking to (both in and out of the United States).
Questioning Anti-Zionism, Colonizing Gaza, and Revealing Lenin (w/ David Josef Volodsko) | Alexander von Sternberg

Jun 8, 2024 | patreon.com | Alexander von Sternberg

We’re joined by David Josef Volodsko of The Radicalist to discuss the memory of Lenin, the Israel-Hamas War, and how it ends.
Famous Bis: Abraham Lincoln

May 10, 2024 | bi.org | Alexander von Sternberg

As one of the most well-known and celebrated American presidents in history, Abraham Lincoln needs very little introduction to most Americans. However, it's never a bad time to point out the highlights of his life and career. His was a true rags-to-riches story, starting with his birth in a log cabin, to working at a general store in New Salem, Illinois, to declaring his candidacy for the State House of Representatives at the age of 23, though this would not come to pass.
Not All Self-Immolations Are Made Equal

Mar 24, 2024 | merionwest.com | Alexander von Sternberg

“Aaron Bushnell was not a hero or a martyr akin to the self-immolators of anti-imperial conflicts past; he was a likely mentally ill, terminally online man in his mid-20s who was in a lot of pain that he transposed onto a conflict halfway around the world that in no way personally affected him.” n February 25, 2024, 25-year-old United States Air Force serviceman Aaron Bushnell shocked people around the United States and the world when he doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire...
The Election of 1876 (w/ Richard Lim of This American President) on Apple Podcasts

Feb 5, 2024 | podcasts.apple.com | Alexander von Sternberg

“I scarcely ever passed a week under such depression of spirits. […] It is terrible to see the extent to which all classes go in their determination to win. Conscience offers no restraint; nothing is so common as the resort to perjury unless it is violence. In short, I do not know who to believe: if we win, our methods are subject to impeachment for possible fraud; if the enemy wins, it is the same thing exactly.
The Bosnian Dream on Apple Podcasts

Dec 30, 2023 | podcasts.apple.com | Alexander von Sternberg

Sometimes, the best way to understand everything a people have gone through is to understand a dream. This is how many nations frame themselves and their own origins. No matter the context, there is always truth in the idea that before there was a nation, there was a dream. And that dream, however morally sullied by the ugliness of reality, consequences, and choices, can never and should never be discounted, even with the nations who have had their dreams frustrated for so long.
The True Origin of Palestinian Suffering Was Not 1948

Dec 18, 2023 | merionwest.com | Alexander von Sternberg |Erich Prince

“However, there was one man who positioned himself very early on as an opponent to this growing Jewish presence in his homeland.
The Postcolonial Left's Blindness to Islamic Homophobia

Nov 15, 2023 | quillette.com | Alexander von Sternberg |Benny Morris |Zoe Booth

A version of this piece first appeared in Queer Majority here. When left-wing pro-Palestine protestors recently went viral with signs reading “Queers for Palestine”, their attempt at creating an “intersectional” political coalition was broadly mocked for ignoring (or demonstrating a lack of awareness of) how dismal it is to be LGBT in Palestine.
Israel, Gaza, and Three Root Causes on Apple Podcasts

Oct 31, 2023 | podcasts.apple.com | Alexander von Sternberg

When you talk about history for a living, the contemporary world often has opportunities to make your knowledge more relevant. What knowledge actually possessed here about Israel and Palestine is likely more limited than some, I'd like to think that there is still some I can share to help clarify the conversation a little, at least when it comes to the notion of truly root causes to this ongoing conflict whose 2023 flare-up is the worst it's been in a long time, if not ever.
Is The Holocaust Unique? on Apple Podcasts

Sep 19, 2023 | podcasts.apple.com | Alexander von Sternberg

Hey all. This is an adaptation/audio version of an essay I recently wrote for my friend and editor Jamie Paul’s American Dreaming Substack, in which I examine the uniqueness of the Holocaust as both a genocide and historical event. If you like what you hear and want to hear me delve more into this subject, I’ll try to delve further into it in a future special episode like this one. But in the meantime, please enjoy.