On History · Tariq Ali and Oliver Stone in Conversation

In working together on two challenging new documentaries--"South of the Border "and the forthcoming thirteen-part, thirteen-hour "Forgotten History of the United States" series for Showtime--filmmaker Oliver Stone engaged with author and filmmaker Tariq Ali in a probing, hard-hitting conversation on the politics of history.

Their dialogue brings to light a number of forgotten--or deliberately buried--episodes of American history, from the US intervention against the Russian Revolution to the dynamic radicalism of the Wobblies; how Henry Wallace's nomination for the vice presidency was deliberately thwarted by Democratic Party machine insiders, to the ongoing close connections between various US presidents and the Saudi royal family.

For Stone and Ali--two of our most insightful observers on history and popular culture--no topic is sacred, no orthodoxy goes unchallenged.

Tariq Ali is an internationally acclaimed Pakistani writer and filmmaker. He has written more than two dozen books on world history and politics and seven novels (translated into over a dozen languages) as well as scripts for the stage and screen. He is an editor of "New Left Review "and lives in London.

Oliver Stone has directed, among other films, "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," "W.," "World Trade Center," "Any Given Sunday," "Nixon," "Natural Born Killers," "Heaven and Earth," "JFK," "The Doors," "Born on The Fourth of July," "Talk Radio," "Wall Street," "Platoon," "Salvador," and the documentaries "Looking for Fidel," "Comandante," "Persona Non Grata," "South of the Border," and the upcoming "Forgotten History of the United States" series for Showtime.