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History on Fire

126 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 months ago - ★★★★★ - 5.4K ratings

Where history and epic collide--"History on Fire" is a podcast by author and university professor Daniele Bolelli.

Society & Culture History
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Episodes

EPISODE 104: The Saint and the Death Squads

February 13, 2024 06:46 - 2 hours

This is a story about what happened in El Salvador in the 1970s and 1980s, and the role that democratic as well as republican administrations played in this tale. As much as humanly possible, I’ll try to let the facts speak for themselves and not inject too much of my own commentary.

[RERUN] EPISODE 65: The Taiping Rebellion (Part 3): A River of Death

January 15, 2024 15:09 - 2 hours - 131 MB

“Everywhere in southern Anhui they are eating people.” — Zeng Guofan “Infants but recently born were torn from their mother’s breasts, and disemboweled before their faces. Young strong men were disemboweled, mutilated, and the parts cut off thrust into their own mouths…” — A British testimony on the Qing treatment of POWs If I were to ask you which is the deadliest conflict in history, you’d probably answer WW II. But if I were to ask you, which is the second deadliest conflict ever—at le...

[RERUN] EPISODE 64: The Taiping Rebellion (Part 2): Jesus’ Chinese Younger Brother

December 04, 2023 19:59 - 2 hours - 124 MB

“Is not this insurgent movement truly wonderful? These rebels keep Sabbath as we do, they pray to God daily, they read the Scriptures, they break the idols, and they long for the time when, instead of those heathen temples, they shall have Christian chapels, and worship together with us… is it not a remarkable era in China?”  — A Christian missionary wife about the Taiping Rebellion  “Jesus our Elder Brother showed us the treacherous heart of this demon follower.” — Sign hanging around the...

[RERUN] EPISODE 63: The Taiping Rebellion (Part 1): Drug Dealers and Visionaries

November 20, 2023 18:20 - 1 hour - 79.4 MB

“The entire story of the Taiping Rebellion might be told, from one perspective, as the rage of a failed exam candidate writ large.” — Stephen Platt “They may not intend to harm others on purpose, but the fact remains that they are so obsessed with material gain that they have no concern whatever for the harm they can cause to others.” — Lin Zexu about British opium traders  “Heaven is furious with anger, and all the gods are moaning with pain!... A murderer of one person is subject to the...

EPISODE 103: The Lone Samurai, Miyamoto Musashi (Part 2)

November 06, 2023 21:38 - 2 hours - 121 MB

“If you know the way broadly you will see it in everything.” — Miyamoto Musashi Ever since I started History on Fire, one topic has been the most consistently requested by listeners. Over the years, I received hundreds of messages asking me to cover the life of Miyamoto Musashi. That time has come. Here we go.  Musashi has been the subject of one of the greatest bestsellers ever written, a novel by Eiji Yoshikawa that sold over 120 million copies. And yet, the story of his life is mixed w...

EPISODE 102: The Lone Samurai, Miyamoto Musashi (Part 1)

October 09, 2023 12:41 - 1 hour - 96.9 MB

“All warfare is based on deception.” — Sun Tzu  Ever since I started History on Fire, one topic has been the most consistently requested by listeners. Over the years, I received hundreds of messages asking me to cover the life of Miyamoto Musashi. That time has come. Here we go.  Musashi has been the subject of one of the greatest bestsellers ever written, a novel by Eiji Yoshikawa that sold over 120 million copies. And yet, the story of his life is mixed with so many myths and legends th...

EPISODE 101: The History Behind Killers of the Flower Moon

September 11, 2023 13:18 - 1 hour - 78.9 MB

“But the years of peace and plenty was not to last. Slowly the days turned sour and the watchful nights closed in. Thrór's love of gold grown too fierce and sickness had begun to grow within him. It was a sickness of the mind. And where sickness thrives, bad things will follow...” — JRR Tolkien  “The more White investigated the flow of oil money from Osage headrights, the more he found layer upon layer of corruption. Although some white guardians and administrators tried to act in the best...

[RERUN] EPISODE 62: Plagues, Mystery and Dancing

August 14, 2023 14:00 - 1 hour - 101 MB

“The universities do not teach all things, so a doctor must seek out old wives, gypsies, sorcerers, wandering tribes, old robbers, and such outlaws and take lessons from them.  A doctor must be a traveler… Knowledge is experience.” — Paracelsus “They indulged in disgraceful immodesty, for many women, during this shameless dance and mock-bridal singing, bared their bosoms, while others of their own accord offered their virtue.” — C. Browerus describing the 1374 Dancing Plague  Weird seems ...

[RERUN] EPISODE 61: Raiders in the Night

July 03, 2023 18:00 - 2 hours - 125 MB

“We are all ghosts now. But once we were men.” — Anonymous POW from Cabanatuan camp “Never in history had the United States Army been called on to rescue such a large number of POWs from so deep in enemy territory.” — William Breuer “We were in the best shape of our lives, and with this mission we understood why he had driven us so hard.” — Alvie Robbins speaking about Henry Mucci’s physical training  “As far as we were concerned, they were gods.” — Bob Body about the Rangers who rescued...

EPISODE 100: Benvenuto Cellini (Part 2)

June 19, 2023 18:09 - 1 hour - 108 MB

“Brother, this is the greatest sorrow and the greatest trial that could happen to me in the whole course of my life. But don’t despair; before you lose sight of him who did the mischief, you shall see yourself revenged by my hand.” — Benvenuto Cellini  “Folk too gathered round us, for it had become clear that our words meant swords and daggers.” — Benvenuto Cellini Italian artists from the Renaissance often lived lives that would make artists-gangsters a la Biggie or Tupac blush. Born at ...

EPISODE 99: Thug Life: Benvenuto Cellini (Part 1)

June 05, 2023 14:00 - 1 hour - 105 MB

“If one of you comes out of the shop, let the other run for a priest, because there’ll be no need for a doctor.” — Benvenuto Cellini  “The whole world was now in warfare.” — Benvenuto Cellini “And then falling on my knees, I begged him to absolve me of that homicide, and of the others I had committed while serving the Church in the castle. At this the Pope raised his hand, carefully made a great sign of the cross above my head, and said that he gave me his blessing and that he forgave me ...

[RERUN] EPISODE 60: Fear and Loathing in Mongolia (Part 2)

May 22, 2023 18:00 - 1 hour - 99.9 MB

“On these hills, where everywhere were rolling skulls, skeletons, and decaying body parts, Baron Ungern used to like to go to rest.” — Quote from one of Roman von Ungern-Sternberg’s officers “Look at [Europe's] past full of fire and blood and the vicious, savage struggle of man against God. The West has given man science, wisdom, and power, yet it has also brought godlessness, immorality, treason, the abnegation of truth and goodness. There, in the West, the destruction of entire empires h...

[RERUN] EPISODE 59: Fear and Loathing in Mongolia (Part 1)

May 08, 2023 14:00 - 1 hour - 105 MB

“My name is surrounded with such hate and fear that no one can judge what is the truth and what is false, what is history, and what is myth.” — Roman von Ungern-Sternberg “Ungern had fused with the war, and equally, the war, in turn, had fused with him.” — Willard Sunderland A recurring thread in History on Fire episodes is my soft spot for individuals who are mildly mentally deranged, but have something lovable about them. Today, thaqt thread doesn’t quite apply. The subject of our story...

EPISODE 98: Machine Gun Blues

April 24, 2023 18:00 - 1 hour - 94.3 MB

“Most people go through life thinking they’re totally safe. People like us, we know the truth. Life is hard and dangerous, and sometimes you just got to chop off somebody’s head to survive.” — Ash vs. Evil Dead “No friend ever served me, and no enemy ever wronged me, whom I have not repaid in full.” — Lucius Cornelius Sulla  “Around four o’clock on that Monday afternoon of the thirteenth, with a light rain falling, the bandits attacked. To the sound of a trumpet—for Lampiao did things in ...

[RERUN] EPISODE 58 Sitting Bull: Wounded Knee (Part 5)

March 31, 2023 09:50 - 2 hours - 142 MB

“There a papoose cries by its mother’s breast which, cold and insensible, can nourish it no more; there lies a young girl with her long hair sticky of blood, hiding her mutilated face… And here—here rests the beautiful young squaw whom yesterday I offered a cigarette—dying, with both her legs shot off. She lies there without wailing and greets me with a faint smile on her pale lips.” — First Sergeant Ragnar Ling-Vannerus “The Pioneer has before declared that our only safety depends upon th...

[RERUN] EPISODE 57 Sitting Bull: Compulsory Civilization with a Side of Murder (Part 4)

March 14, 2023 20:03 - 1 hour - 87 MB

“Sent to report on a story that wasn’t there, reporters invented one.” — Heather Cox Richardson   “Lakota will kill you.” — A meadowlark speaking to Sitting Bull in a vision  “If the white men want me to die, they ought not to put up the Indians to kill me… Let the soldiers come and take me away and kill me, wherever they like. I am not afraid. I was born a warrior.” — Sitting Bull  In historical terms, it was just a blink of an eye ago. In the mid-1800s, the Great Plains in the United S...

[RERUN] EPISODE 56 Sitting Bull: Compulsory Civilization with a Side of Murder (Part 3)

February 28, 2023 20:48 - 2 hours - 159 MB

“Kill the Indian and save the man.” — Richard Pratt  “The life my people want is a life of freedom. I have seen nothing that a white man has, houses or railways or clothing or food, that is good as the right to move in the open country, and live in our own fashion.” — Sitting Bull  “The white man knows how to make everything, but he does not know how to distribute it.” — Sitting Bull  “Possession—a war that doesn’t end.” — John Trudell  “We were faint with hunger and maddened by des...

[RERUN] EPISODE 55 Sitting Bull (Part 2)

February 16, 2023 18:11 - 1 hour - 99.8 MB

“I don’t want to have anything to do with people who make one carry water on the shoulders and haul manure. You are fools to make yourselves slaves to a piece of fat bacon, some hardtack, and a little sugar and coffee. The whites may get me at last, but I will have good times till then.” — Sitting Bull  “Let me live deep while I live.” — Robert E. Howard “Were I to run away from the enemy, no one will consider me a man.” — Kit Fox warrior society song  “A warrior I have been. Now it is a...

[RERUN] EPISODE 54 Sitting Bull (Part 1)

January 30, 2023 14:18 - 2 hours - 98.9 MB

“Sitting Bull, leader of the largest Indian nation on the continent, the strongest, boldest, most stubborn opponent of European influence, was the very heart and soul of the Frontier. When the true history of the New World is written, he will receive his chapter. For Sitting Bull was one of the Makers of America.” — Stanley Vestal  “If you intend to do this for my sake, take good care of them and let them live. My father is a man and death is his.” — Sitting Bull addressing his fellow trib...

EPISODE 97: The Psychology of Power in History: A Conversation with Aziz Al-Doory

January 16, 2023 12:00 - 1 hour - 96 MB

“…we venerate the crooks, rapists, and pillagers credulous historians have repackaged as ‘founders,’ ‘conquerors,’ and ‘civilize.’ We erect statues and consecrate tombs to commemorate their difference-making. But in fact, most of these monuments memorialize the dark deeds of unhinged lunatics driven by rampant ego and raving greed… most of the supposed ‘great men of history’ were criminals on a rampage. We celebrate them because they ‘changed the world.’ But where’s the evidence that they c...

[RERUN] EPISODE 51 A Life for a Whistle: Emmett Till and the Birth of the Civil Rights Movement

December 20, 2022 15:02 - 1 hour - 88.3 MB

“Until the philosophy  Which hold one race superior and another Inferior Is finally And permanently Discredited And abandoned Everywhere is war” — Bob Marley, War, inspired by a speech by Haile Selassie  “Emmett Till is dead and gone… Why can’t people leave the dead alone and quit trying to stir things up?” — Roy Bryant  “I think black peoples' reaction was so visceral. Everybody knew we were under attack and that attack was symbolized by the attack on a 14-year-old boy.” — Rose Jourdain  ...

EPISODE 96: The Wildest Man You Have Never Heard Of: Thomas Morton

December 06, 2022 18:05 - 2 hours - 120 MB

“The Puritans feared that which was undomesticated.” — Jeff Hendricks “Our earliest American heroes were Morton’s oppressors, Endicott, Bradford, Miles Standish. Merry Mount’s been expunged from the official version because it’s the story not of a virtuous utopia but of a utopia of candor. Yet it’s Morton whose face should be carved in Mount Rushmore.” — Philip Roth  “He held out the promise of America as an earthly paradise, a pagan, not a protestant prospect, a zone of pleasure, not sal...

[RERUN] EPISODE 50 Philosophers and Thugs: Jigoro Kano (Part 2)

November 23, 2022 10:30 - 2 hours - 133 MB

“I teach Kodokan judo as a way of life.” — Jigoro Kano  “Even though he was drunker than usual, Saigo came to the driver’s aid. The burly sailors laughed out loud: “Scram, midget!” Much to their great surprise and considerable pain, in a flash, the pocket Hercules subsequently hurled each of them into the river.” — John Stevens  “I have not been able to transmit my ideals to many students, and there are unfortunately few instructors who can impart proper Kodokan values.” — Jigoro Kano  “...

Feed Drop For "This Job Is History"

November 18, 2022 19:53 - 5 minutes - 4.74 MB

Where the oddest jobs from the past meet a comedian from the present… and it’s awkward! On this weekly show, Chris Parnell (SNL, Rick and Morty) welcomes guests who have held some of human history’s most unexpected and downright bizarre jobs: funeral clowns, garden hermits, VHS clerks, and everything in between. With the help of his tireless producer, Chris hears from the essential workers from decades and centuries past. Because before there were actual medical doctors, there were barber su...

[RERUN] EPISODE 49 The Father of Martial Arts: Jigoro Kano (Part 1)

November 07, 2022 11:59 - 1 hour - 103 MB

“It was a period of stupendous change and immense challenge; the entire social, political, and economic landscape of Japan would be transformed within a few decades. Just as this new era was dawning in Japan, Jigoro Kano was born, on October 28, 1860.” — John Stevens  “In my childhood, I had heard that there was a thing called jujutsu thanks to which even a weak person could defeat a strong person. I definitely thought about learning it.” — Jigoro Kano  “Some people believe that Judo mean...

EPISODE 95: Tom Le Forge: The Real Dances with Wolves

October 24, 2022 11:00 - 1 hour - 94.5 MB

“The adopted father gave away many presents to the people, and these in turn gave presents to me. Thus I became a Crow Indian, a brother of Three Irons and a son of Yellow Leggings, who was a leading counselor of Blackbird, chief of the Mountain Crow tribe.” — Tom Le Forge  “Cherry was utterly cool… under fire. She was as brave as the bravest. She liked to sing and pray, she was jolly and amiable, but on proper occasion she would stand her ground and fight bravely if that were necessary.” ...

[RERUN] EPISODE 48: Give Me Back My Legions! (Part 2)

October 10, 2022 14:00 - 1 hour - 107 MB

“In order to depict a battle, there is required one of those powerful painters who have chaos in their brushes” — Victor Hugo  “Inconceivable!” — From The Princess Bride  A little over 2,000 years ago, Rome was a well-oiled war machine crushing everything in its path. At that time, the Roman legions were the most deadly military force in the Western world, and possibly in the whole world. Every year, they conquered new peoples and pushed the boundaries of their empire. Rape and pillage wa...

EPISODE 94: The Last War Chief

September 24, 2022 12:00 - 2 hours - 144 MB

“Reflecting upon the chiefs I had known, I realized that here had never been one who was very well off. Poverty was part of a chief’s obligations…” — Frank Bird Linderman   “While we painted ourselves the drums kept beating, and our women sang war-songs. No man can feel himself a coward at such a time. Every man that lives will welcome battle while brave men and women sing war-songs. I would have willingly gone alone against our enemies that day.”  — Plenty Coups “To be alone with our wa...

EPISODE 93: The Beast of Gevaudan

August 17, 2022 18:00 - 82.3 MB

“This animal is a monster whose father is a lion; it remains open what the mother is.” — Jean-Baptiste Boulanger Duhamel “I would be tempted to imagine that we are dealing with a witch, or the devil in person, if only I could believe it.” — Jean-Baptiste Boulanger Duhamel It’s the 1760s, in the Gevaudan area of South Central France. Imagine being a kid. Maybe 12 years old. Maybe as young as 8. You have heard the rumors. Maybe, you saw the mangled bodies. There’s a monster out there. A mon...

EPISODE 92: Jujitsuffragettes With Attitude

July 15, 2022 16:01 - 2 hours - 132 MB

“…a mad, wicked folly…” — Queen Victoria about the notion of women having the right to vote “When I watched a policeman fell a girl to the ground and kick her across the platform, my only regret was that I had no weapon with which to strike him an effective blow.” — Eunice G. Murray “£100 to any man who can defeat him. Notwithstanding the physical disadvantages against heavier men (for Tani weighs 9 stone only), Apollo will pay any living man twenty guineas who Tani fails to defeat in fif...

EPISODE 85: The Siege That Changed All of History

January 17, 2022 21:43 - 2 hours - 136 MB

“I cut off their heads. I burned them with fire. With their blood I dyed the mountain red like red wool. Men I impaled on stakes. The city I destroyed, devastated… the young men and maidens I burned in the fire.” — Ashurnairpal II “I filled the wide plain with the corpses of his warriors…. These [rebels] I impaled on stakes. …A pyramid of heads I erected in front of the city.” — Salmaneser III “Don’t let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will rescue us!’ Have the gods of any othe...

EPISODE 84: History and Video Games

January 17, 2022 21:41

“We don’t need anyone to tell us what to do; not Savonarola, not the Medici. We are free to follow our own path. There are those who will take that freedom from us, and too many of you gladly give it. But it is our ability to choose—whatever you think it is true—that makes us human… There is no book or teacher to give you the answers, to show you the path. Choose your own way! Do not follow me, or anyone else.” — Ezio Auditore in Assassin’s Creed II “History is our playground” — tagline to...

EPISODE 83: From Slavery to Boxing: The Story of Bill Richmond

January 17, 2022 21:39

“Every talent must unfold itself in fighting.” — Friedrich Nietzsche “Boxing inhabits a sacred space predating civilization; or, to use D.H. Lawrence’s phrase, before God was love.” — Joyce Carol Oates Stories that begin with slavery rarely end in happiness. I’m a huge fan of celebrating individual achievements in the face of terrible circumstances, but the reality is that the cards you are handed early in life usually shape the possible outcomes. The story we chat about today, though, i...

EPISODE 82: The Other 300 (Part 2)

January 17, 2022 21:37

“Take me back to the quarries.” — Philoxenus “Pelopidas died as he’d lived, a freedom fighter who rushed fearlessly into the fray.” — James Romm “As one approaches Chaeronea, there is a tomb of the Thebans who died in the battle with Philip. No inscription adorns it, but a monument stands over it in the form of a lion, the best emblem of the spirit of those men. It seems to me the inscription is lacking because their fortunes were not equal to their courage.” — Pausanias In this second a...

EPISODE 81: The Other 300 (Part 1)

January 17, 2022 21:35

“There was no uproar, and no silence either, but that certain type of noise that results from anger and battle. Clashing shield on shield, they were shoving, fighting, killing, dying.” — Xenophon “Pelopidas, after receiving seven wounds in front, sank down upon a great heap of friends and enemies who lay dead together; but Epaminondas, although he thought him lifeless, stood forth to defend his body and his arms, and fought desperately, single-handed against many, determined to die rather ...

EPISODE 80: The Patriotic Mobsters

January 17, 2022 21:33

“Lucky will not be pleased to hear that you have not been helpful.” — Joe Adonis “The outcome of the war appeared extremely grave. In addition, there was the most serious concern over possible sabotage in the ports. It was necessary to use every possible means to prevent and forestall sabotage and to prevent the possible supplying of and contact with enemy submarines.” — Captain Roscoe C. MacFall “There was peace on the waterfront. It was kept with rough methods. But that's what the Navy...

EPISODE 79: Slavery (with Darryl Cooper)

January 17, 2022 21:30

It was only a few generations ago when large numbers of people in United States saw nothing wrong with the notion of buying, selling and owning human beings. Weirder yet, some slave owners were masters in the mental gymnastics required to feel morally justified in enslaving members of their own families, including their own children. In this episode, I am joined by Darryl Cooper from The Martyrmade Podcast for a conversation about the institution of slavery. 

EPISODE 78: Bruce Lee (Part 2)

January 17, 2022 21:29 - 2 hours - 134 MB

“Jeet Kune Do favors formlessness so that it can assume all forms and since Jeet Kune Do has no style, it can fit with all styles. As a result, Jeet Kune Do utilizes all ways and is bound by none and, likewise, uses any techniques or means which serve its ends.” — Bruce Lee “1. Research your own experience.
2. Absorb what is useful.
3. Reject what is useless.
4. Add what is specifically your own.” — Bruce Lee’s methodology “I maintain that truth is a pathless land and you cannot approa...

EPISODE 77: Bruce Lee (Part 1)

January 17, 2022 21:25 - 2 hours - 122 MB

“Energy is eternal delight.” — William Blake “Hong Kong in the 1950s was a depressed place. Post–World War II Hong Kong had suffered from unemployment, a poor economy, over-crowding, homelessness, and people taking advantage of each other. Gangs roamed the street, and juvenile delinquents ran rampant.” — Hawkins Cheung “Teachers should never impose their favorite patterns on their students—he said—They should be finding out what works for them, and what does not work for them. The indivi...

EPISODE 76: Poets and Pirates, Sex and Drugs, Love and Music: D’Annunzio and L’Impresa di Fiume (Part 2)

January 17, 2022 21:23

“I am beyond Right and Left, just as I am beyond good and evil… I am a man devoted to life, not to formulas.” — Gabriele D’Annunzio “We are the only Italians worthy of being called Italians.” — Gabriele D’Annunzio This is the tale of one of the cultural-political experiments in modern history. The brutal end of WWI left many Italian soldiers dissatisfied, since the Allies refuse to grant them lands they had conquered at the price of rivers of blood. Feeling cheated by their own governme...

EPISODE 75: Poets and Pirates, Sex and Drugs, Love and Music: D’Annunzio and L’Impresa di Fiume (Part 1

January 17, 2022 21:20

“We heard that D’Annunzio was coming, and Italy and freedom were coming with him.” — Anonymous Italian citizen of Fiume “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.” — William Blake “Legionaries adore him. The men from the palace fear him. Little kids think he’s the devil.” — Leon Kochnitzky about Guido Keller This is the tale of one of the weirdest cultural-political experiments in modern history. The brutal end of WWI left many Italian soldiers dissatisfied, since the Allies r...

EPISODE 78 Bruce Lee (Part 2)

June 12, 2021 07:05 - 2 hours

“Jeet Kune Do favors formlessness so that it can assume all forms and since Jeet Kune Do has no style, it can fit with all styles. As a result, Jeet Kune Do utilizes all ways and is bound by none and, likewise, uses any techniques or means which serve its ends.” — Bruce Lee  Bruce Lee’s methodology : “1. Research your own experience. 2. Absorb what is useful. 3. Reject what is useless. 4. Add what is specifically your own.” “I maintain that truth is a pathless land and you cannot approach i...

EPISODE 77 Bruce Lee (Part 1)

June 05, 2021 07:05 - 2 hours

“Energy is eternal delight.” William Blake  “Hong Kong in the 1950s was a depressed place. Post–World War II Hong Kong had suffered from unemployment, a poor economy, over-crowding, homelessness, and people taking advantage of each other. Gangs roamed the street, and juvenile delinquents ran rampant.” Hawkins Cheung “Teachers should never impose their favorite patterns on their students—he said—They should be finding out what works for them, and what does not work for them. The individual i...

EPISODE 74: The Life of Marcus Aurelius (Part 2): Stoicism, Pandemic and War

March 26, 2021 15:54

“No matter how big a guy might be, Nicky would take him on. You beat Nicky with fists, he comes back with a bat. You beat him with a knife, he comes back with a gun. And you beat him with a gun, you better kill him, because he'll keep comin' back and back until one of you is dead.” — From the film Casino “The condition of the people was pitiable to behold. They sickened by the thousands daily and died unattended and without help. Many died in the open street, others dying in their houses, ...

EPISODE 73: The Life of Marcus Aurelius (Part 1): Stoicism, Pandemic and War

March 26, 2021 15:50

“Rise up and do battle.” — Homer “Discipline is freedom, and the companion to imagination. Discipline makes it possible for you to become whatever you want to be.” — Deng Ming Dao Marcus Aurelius would have loved nothing better than studying philosophy for the rest of his days. Instead, destiny chose him to be the head of the Roman Empire. As a philosopher-emperor, Marcus turned to Stoicism to help him deal with more drama than any human being should have to deal with. Most of his childre...

EPISODE 72: John Brown (Part 3): Violent Delights, Violent Ends

March 26, 2021 15:48

“I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.” — John Brown  “If you seek my blood, you can have it at any moment without the mockery of a trial.” — John Brown  “John Brown, and a thousand John Browns, can invade us, and the Government will not protect us. To secure our rights and protect our honor we will dissever the ties that bind us together, even if it rushes us into a sea of blood." — Mississippi congressman Reuben...

EPISODE 71: John Brown (Part 2): A Reckoning in Blood

March 26, 2021 15:43

“I think he [God] has used me as an instrument to kill men; and if I live, I think he will use me as an instrument to kill a good many more.” — John Brown “I had reached the point at which I was not afraid to die. This spirit made me a freeman in fact, while I remained a slave in form.” — Frederick Douglass “I have only a short time to live, only death to die and I will die fighting for this cause.  There will be no peace in this land until slavery is done for.” — John Brown “We will ...

EPISODE 70: John Brown (Part 1): Heartbreak & Slavery

March 26, 2021 15:40

“You know what John Brown did? He went to war. He was a white man who went to war against white people to help free slaves. White people call John Brown a nut. Go read the history, go read what all of them say about John Brown. They’re trying to make it look like he was a nut, a fanatic… But they depict him in this image because he was willing to shed blood to free the slaves. And any white man who is ready and willing to shed blood for your freedom… So when you want to know good white folk...

EPISODE 69: Capturing Mussolini

March 26, 2021 15:36

“He must be handed over to a tribunal of the people so it can judge him quickly. We want this, even though we think an execution platoon is too much of an honor for this man. He would deserve to be killed like a mangy dog.” — Future Italian President Sandro Pertini about Benito Mussolini “The world unfortunately continues to be a battlefield where different egos clash, repeating the mistakes of the past.” — Federigo Giordano “Death to the Nazi-Fascists.” — The closing quote of most let...

EPISODE 68: My Grandma and Her Bombs: A Story of WWII

October 04, 2020 21:39

“Women must obey… My opinion of women’s role within the state is against any kind of feminism. In our state, women must not count.” — Benito Mussolini  “Yes, I participated in the actions. I usually had the task of carrying the weapons and would hand them to our shooters. As soon as they had used them, I’d get them back from them—still hot.” — Liana Germani  “I was mostly afraid of torture had they captured me, of the terrible suffering on the way to the concentration camps. Death seemed ...

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