How My View Grew Amiel Handelsman

In this final episode of season one, a short one, I describe how my view of history shifted after reading the memoir of Stefan Zweig, a popular early 20th century European novelist. What if the lesson of history, especially around war and other catastrophes, is precisely the opposite of what I long assumed? How might history make us humbler about our ability to predict the future? Might it help us see possibilities and perils we otherwise would ignore or dismiss? Finally, a brief riff on why, in light of this uncertainty, curiosity, resolve, and acceptance are more useful moods than despair and anxiety.
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In a Soviet-era bunker in an undisclosed location in Ukraine, a Ukrainian soldier reads books by the late historian Tony Judt and wonders: Is it possible to make the world better amidst evil? Not long after, Yale historian Marci Shore, a former peacenik, finds herself pleading to the German government to send lethal weapons to Ukraine.
What's happening here? How does one historian's words support a courageous defense of democracy that, in turn, inspires another historian to step outside of her comfort zone and into a debate about war?
In this week's episode of How My View Grew, the second-to-last of season one, Marci Shore joins me to explore these questions. The story she shares is about choosing to take moral responsibility rather than ignoring evil or rationalizing it away, even if this means risking friendship, status, or your own sense of identity. Her story is also about tapping the lessons of history to see future scenarios you otherwise might miss or consider impossible. And it's about postmodernism—both the new capacities it offers and, when stretched to an extreme, the disasters it produces.
The episode draws from Shore's book, The Ukrainian Night: An Intimate History of Revolution, as well as Judt's books, Thinking the Twentieth Century, written with Timothy Snyder, and Past Imperfect.
**Key takeaways**
6:00 Judt's harsh critique of French intellectuals' silence about the show trials and other Soviet terror17:00 The alternative to silence and rationalization: taking moral responsibility20:00 There is a difference between good and evil, and between truth and lies25:00 A Ukrainian soldier reading Judt's books in a bunker30:00 Mr. Putin, Mr. Trump, and the evasion of responsibility33:30 Why liberals struggle to grasp nihilism and mass murder40:00 World War I was, before it occurred, unimaginable46:00 Historians can't predict the future, but they describe what can happen50:00 Amiel's reflections
**Resources**
"Reading Tony Judt in Wartime Ukraine," Marci Shore's essay in The New Yorker.Thinking the Twentieth Century by Tony Judt with Timothy SnyderPast Imperfect: French Intellectuals 1944-1956 by Tony JudtThe Ukrainian Night: An Intimate History of Revolution
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This short episode is about asking clarifying questions, which involve far more than building rapport and trust. Clarifying questions provide powerful ways to understand what matters to others—clearly, accurately, and without illusions. Listen in as I walk through the three steps in the clarifying question (only two of which happen while you're speaking!) and when you can use this powerful conversation habit.

Do most Palestinians want their own state in the West Bank and Gaza, one that co-exists with the state of Israel? Is the conflict between Israel and Palestinians primarily about territory and the solution therefore simply to trade territory for peace?
For many years, as an advisor to Israel's top leaders and member of its parliament, Einat Wilf thought so.
Then she started to listen deeply to what Palestinians were saying, and what she heard stunned her. What Palestinians wanted was a land to themselves so they could return to the homes their families once occupied in Israel proper. What they didn't want was a Jewish state.
This discovery, coupled with extensive research into the century-long history, left Einat with a dramatically different view of the conflict. Palestinians' dream of "return" and the world's support for this dream constituted as big an obstacle to peace as Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Engaging with this possibility may be painful, but it opens new possibilities for long-term peace in the region. If Israel and the United states take Einat's story seriously, they will approach the conflict dramatically differently than they have been doing for decades.
**Key takeaways**
4:00 Why Einat believed that the conflict was simply about territory9:39 The purpose and flaws of constructive ambiguity16:00 The shock and meaning of the Second Intifada 19:00 Listening deeply to Palestinians and taking seriously what they say they want22:30 The settlements are Israel's most wasteful project28:30 The Jews want a state. The Arabs want the Jews to not have a state31:00 What the Arabs of Gaza did and didn't do when they finally controlled the territory37:30 Why Israel's Labor Party declined40:30 When Arabs say two states, do they mean two Palestinian states?44:00 A clarifying question to a Palestinian student reveals a great deal45:00 The one question Israeli negotiators should ask before entering the room50:00 No refugees anywhere else in the world have had a "right of return"54:00 Amiel's reflections
**Resources**
Einat's web siteThe War of Return, Einat's book with Adi SchwartzEinat's detailed recommendations about where to draw boundaries and which settlements to allow to witherAmiel's essay, "Seven lessons seven months after October 7"
**Subscribe to the podcast**
To hear the origin stories of more big ideas, subscribe to How My View Grew on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.
**Share the love**
Leave me a rating or review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

In this week's episode, I describe how to have difficult conversations about charged topics. It's a game called My Assessment, Your Assessment. I walk you through the eight rules of the game, how to know when the game is over, and what makes this valuable in discussing big global challenges or everyday topics.

In this episode of How My View Grew, Palestinian Noor Awad describes an encounter with a Zionist Israeli settler that caused him to broaden his view of the conflict. This is a story of growing up within a particular narrative and learning to take seriously a very different narrative without given up one's own. What would be possible if more Palestinians—and Israelis—developed this capacity?
**Key takeaways**
3:30 Noor becomes aware of the conflict during the Second Intifada9:30 The Palestinian identity Noor was born with13:30 Noor's early-life view of Israelis and Zionism18:00 Noor discovers Israel's New Historians, who questioned the conventional Israeli narrative of 194820:45 Noor meets Hanan Schlesinger, a passionate Zionist settler, and has a life-changing experience31:00 "I'm right, they're wrong" is not the only way to see things34:30 Noor's capacity to hold two narratives is rare38:00 The devastating impact of October 7 and the war on Roots' efforts to build mutual understanding42:30 Amiel's reflections
**Resources**
Roots, the organization Noor works withAmiel's essay, "Seven lessons seven months after October 7"Amiel's page of essays on Medium
**Subscribe to the podcast**
To hear the origin stories of more big ideas, subscribe to How My View Grew on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.
**Share the love**
Leave me a rating or review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.