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What does it mean to study the past in the midst of momentous change in the present? In this special episode, we discuss history and history-in-the-making with Omar Mohammed, a scholar and activist from Mosul. For several years, Omar was an undercover chronicler of ISIS through the blog and Facebook group Mosul Eye. Currently, he is working on a Ph.D. project about the history and historiography of Mosul in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We examine the connections between the two endeavors, all the while exploring modern Iraqi history and, with it, colonialism, nationalism, regional connections, and everyday life.