S1 E71 · Mon, September 23, 2024

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

S1 E70 · Mon, September 09, 2024

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

In this first episode of a three-part series, we’ll introduce the early part of John Brown’s life and his crusade against slavery. Among today’s topics, we’ll have the ethics of punching a Nazi, how the beating of an enslaved child set Brown on his path, how both pro and anti- slavery forces used Christianity to justify their stances, racism masquerading as philanthropy, the Nat Turner rebellion, grief & PTSD, the Underground Railroad, the murder of Elijah Lovejoy, and much more.

S1 E107 · Mon, August 26, 2024

EPISODE 107: The Forge of the Samurai: The Genpei War Part 2

It's the finale of this series on the Genpei War (1180-1185); the showdown between the two most powerful clans of the age. This episode is one of the most drama & action packed that I have ever covered in History on Fire. We'll discuss Minamoto Yoritomo's Godzilla-sized ego, the Minamoto killing each other when they are not busy warring against the Taira, the legendary female samurai Tomoe Gozen, a ritual suicide to urge your commander to stop having sex and concentrate on military maneuvers instead, the charge at Ichi No Tani, the mythical fight between Kumagai Naozane and Taira Atsumori, a victory party in Kyoto parading enemy heads, Yoshitsune's utter fearlessness, a feat of archery so amazing that it convinced the enemies to stop battle and cheer for the archer, the child emperor's grandmother drowning herself and her grandson, samurai crabs, Benkei being a pal and holding back an army so that Yoshitsune can kill himself, and much more.

S1 E106 · Tue, July 30, 2024

EPISODE 106: The Forge of the Samurai: The Genpei War Part 1

The Genpei War (1180-1185), pitting against one another the two most powerful clans of the era, the Minamoto and the Taira, is one of the most crucial turning points in Japanese history. Movies and video games have usually overlooked this conflict in favor of the civil wars of the warring states period of the 1500s. Big mistake since the story of the Genpei War is packed with drama and larger than life characters—from the tragic hero Minamoto Yoshitsune, his brother in arms the gigantic warrior monk Benkei, the female samurai Tomoe Gozen and many others. And on top of it, this civil conflict ushered major changes in Japanese society, shifting power from a nobility made of imperial bureaucrats into the hands of landowning samurai families. In this first of two episodes dedicated to the Genpei War, we’ll tackle one of the most important works in Japanese literature, Buddhist impermanence, the 1156 Hogen Rebellion, the 1160 Heiji Rebellion, revenge, exorcisms, the rise of the Taira family, emperors struggling with loss of power, warrior monks, the battle at the Uji River, announcing your family lineage before cutting heads off, inviting the gods to witness battle, Minamoto Yorimasa’s suicide, Yoshitsune learning swordsmanship from the demons of the forest, the duel between Yoshitsune and Benkei, the Taira burning down the monasteries of Nara, Kiyomori’s death, and much more.

Mon, June 17, 2024

[RERUN] EPISODE 69: Capturing Mussolini

“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 letters written by Federigo Giordano during WWII I am not done with stories of resistance from Italy during WW II. Today, I’ll tell the story of a friend, one of the very last partisan commanders to still be alive—Federigo Giordano (battle name “Gek.”) His name is still recognized in some towns in Northern Italy since he was the one to lead his men to liberate them from Fascists and Nazis. In this episode we’ll tackle the growth of racism within Fascist ideology, becoming a partisan in the mountains of Northern Italy, rejecting the Alexander Proclamation, saving American aviators, participating in the capture of Benito Mussolini, Mussolini ‘hanging’ in Piazzale Loreto, drunk Nazis in one room while partisans hide in the attic, having to explain to a 90+ year old lady why you killed her sister over 70 years earlier, and much more. The sponsor for today’s episode is Incogni, a company designed to protect the privacy of your data. Use code HISTORYONFIRE at the link below to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incongni plan  https://incogni.com/historyonfire    

Mon, May 20, 2024

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

This is a tale of Italian Resistance during WW II. Unlike nearly all History on Fire episodes, this is not a story I researched in books. It’s a much more personal one—these are my grandparents’ experiences. The starring role goes to my grandmother, Liana Germani, who as a teenager was a combat partisan active against the Fascist regime and the Nazi occupation. What I remember of her... there was a constant hint of sadness and pessimism hanging around her. It may have to do with the fact that during WW II, she found her boyfriend murdered--cut into pieces by fascists. She spent the rest of her teenage years smuggling guns & bombs, and doing what she could to kill them all.  Honorable mention also to my paternal grandparents—in particular my grandfather Stelio Bolelli, who found his way into fighting alongside Allied troops all the way through the Gothic Line.  In the course of this episode we’ll talk about a brief history of Fascism, DMX & the Matteotti murder, the collusion between fascist leaders and Sinclair Oil, the Badoglio government, the Nazi occupation, the massacre of St. Anna di Stazzema, guerrilla in the streets of Milan, gender roles in fascist Italy, my grandma’s friends being executed, PTSD, carrying bombs & smuggling weapons, my grandfather avoiding execution, the Gorla massacre, and much, much more. The sponsor for today’s episode is Incogni, a company designed to protect the privacy of your data. Use code HISTORYONFIRE at the link below to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incongni plan  https://incogni.com/historyonfire    

S1 Enull · Mon, April 22, 2024

[RERUN] EPISODE 66: Sex in Ancient Rome

This is a cultural history episode about sexuality in Ancient Rome. I thought the topic would be fun and juicy, but that’s because my memory of Roman sexuality was hazy. After refreshing it with lots of research, I can safely say that ‘fun’ is not a word I would apply to it. ‘Insanely disturbing’ is probably more fitting. Most of the ancient sources, in fact, seem to indicate that little to no attention was paid to the idea of sex being for mutual pleasure. Rather, sex was primarily seen as something to reinforce dominance and hierarchy. In this episode, we’ll cover prison sex, rapey garden gnomes, the similarities and differences between ancient Roman and Christian sexualities, the origin of the word ‘family’ (it’s not pleasant), threatening sexual violence to prove one’s manliness, the violent myths about Rome’s founding, the Rape of the Sabine women, sex and slavery, prostitution, why speaking of homosexuality or heterosexuality made no sense in Ancient Rome, legal trials as rap battles, Cicero & the art of character assassination, Mark Anthony & the art of assassinating Cicero, Augustus’ puritanism, gladiators fighting against their own wildcat-shaped phalli, Roman sexual art, and much, much more.

S1 Enull · Mon, April 22, 2024

[RERUN] EPISODE 66: Sex in Ancient Rome

This is a cultural history episode about sexuality in Ancient Rome. I thought the topic would be fun and juicy, but that’s because my memory of Roman sexuality was hazy. After refreshing it with lots of research, I can safely say that ‘fun’ is not a word I would apply to it. ‘Insanely disturbing’ is probably more fitting. Most of the ancient sources, in fact, seem to indicate that little to no attention was paid to the idea of sex being for mutual pleasure. Rather, sex was primarily seen as something to reinforce dominance and hierarchy. In this episode, we’ll cover prison sex, rapey garden gnomes, the similarities and differences between ancient Roman and Christian sexualities, the origin of the word ‘family’ (it’s not pleasant), threatening sexual violence to prove one’s manliness, the violent myths about Rome’s founding, the Rape of the Sabine women, sex and slavery, prostitution, why speaking of homosexuality or heterosexuality made no sense in Ancient Rome, legal trials as rap battles, Cicero & the art of character assassination, Mark Anthony & the art of assassinating Cicero, Augustus’ puritanism, gladiators fighting against their own wildcat-shaped phalli, Roman sexual art, and much, much more. The sponsor for today’s episode is Incogni, a company designed to protect the privacy of your data. Use code HISTORYONFIRE at the link below to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incongni plan  https://incogni.com/historyonfire    

S1 E105 · Mon, March 25, 2024

EPISODE 105: Rationalizing Evil in El Salvador

I am sorry to be taking you on this dark journey, but I strongly feel this is an important story that everyone should know. Over the years, I've tackled some heavy topics. This is definitely one of the heaviest. This episode covers some of the things that happened in El Salvador in the 1980s, in particular the story of the massacre at El Mozote, and how policies formulated by the White House supported death squads unleashing hell on civilians. As much as humanly possible, I'll try to let the facts speak for themselves and not inject too much of my own commentary. I'll pose here again the question that I asked in my previous episode… I'd like you to picture some of the most awful human beings you could possibly imagine… genocidal maniacs, torturers, child rapists. Got the picture? Ok. Now I'd like you to imagine if you can conceive of any circumstances in which not only you wouldn't do everything in your power to stop them, but you would actually support them. Can you think of any scenario that would warrant you supporting people like that? Can you picture yourself fighting hard to make sure they have millions of dollars and supplies to carry out their activities? Keep your answer in mind as you listen to this episode.

Tue, February 13, 2024

EPISODE 104: The Saint and the Death Squads

I’d like you to picture some of the most awful human beings you could possibly imagine… genocidal maniacs, torturers, child rapists. Got the picture? Ok. Now I’d like you to imagine if you can conceive of any circumstances in which not only you wouldn’t do everything in your power to stop them, but you would actually support them. Can you think of any scenario that would warrant you supporting people like that? Can you picture yourself fighting hard to make sure they have millions of dollars and supplies to carry out their activities? Keep your answer in mind for the remainder of this series. 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. It’s not always going to be easy since it’s an intensely emotional subject. In a larger sense, this tale is a microcosm of the Cold War itself. It’s a disturbing, unsettling story about starving peasants and impossible choices. It’s about President Carter’s words weighed against his actions. It’s about the US government’s efforts to cover up the murders of four American churchwomen. And it’s about the heroism of one man, Oscar Romero, willingly sacrificing himself to shine a light into the darkness.

Mon, January 15, 2024

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

Mon, December 04, 2023

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

Mon, November 20, 2023

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

Mon, November 06, 2023

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

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 that it’s rather difficult to separate fact from fiction. He lived across the late 1500s and early 1600s, during the waning phases of the Warring States period. By that point, after over 100 years of on and off civil war, Japan was a country suffering with PTSD. Soldiers and civilians alike had all been exposed to insane amounts of bloodshed and brutality during the Sengoku Jidai. Musashi was born in the midst of that, so it’s little surprised that his is a tale filled with intensity and violence.  In this second and final chapter of this series, I’ll explore some of the key events in the latter parts of Musashi’s life: from the siege of Osaka to the Shimabara Rebellion, from his adopting sons to his grief over the death of his daughter, from his exploration of Zen Buddhism to his writing of the Book of Five Rings, and much more! 

Mon, October 09, 2023

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

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 that it’s rather difficult to separate fact from fiction. He lived across the late 1500s and early 1600s, during the waning phases of the Warring States period. By that point, after over 100 years of on and off civil war, Japan was a country suffering with PTSD. Soldiers and civilians alike had all been exposed to insane amounts of bloodshed and brutality during the Sengoku Jidai. Musashi was born in the midst of that, so it’s little surprised that his is a tale filled with intensity and violence.  In this first of two episodes, I’ll dive in to make sense of the contradictory evidence available: from his childhood marred by a terrible relationship with his father to his possible participation in the uber-famous battle of Sekigahara, from his first duel to the death at the age of 13 to his conflicts with the Yoshioka family and with Sasaki Kojiro, and much more! 

Mon, September 11, 2023

EPISODE 101: The History Behind Killers of the Flower Moon

Mon, August 14, 2023

[RERUN] EPISODE 62: Plagues, Mystery and Dancing

Mon, July 03, 2023

[RERUN] EPISODE 61: Raiders in the Night

Mon, June 19, 2023

EPISODE 100: Benvenuto Cellini (Part 2)

Mon, June 05, 2023

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

Mon, May 22, 2023

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

Mon, May 08, 2023

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

Mon, April 24, 2023

EPISODE 98: Machine Gun Blues

Fri, March 31, 2023

[RERUN] EPISODE 58 Sitting Bull: Wounded Knee

Tue, March 14, 2023

EPISODE 57 Sitting Bull: Compulsory Civilization with a Side of Murder (Part 2)

Tue, February 28, 2023

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

Thu, February 16, 2023

[RERUN] EPISODE 55 Sitting Bull (Part 2)

Mon, January 30, 2023

[RERUN] EPISODE 54 Sitting Bull (Part 1)

Mon, January 16, 2023

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

Tue, December 20, 2022

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

Tue, December 06, 2022

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

Wed, November 23, 2022

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

Fri, November 18, 2022

Feed Drop For ‘This Job Is History’

Mon, November 07, 2022

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

Mon, October 24, 2022

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

Mon, October 10, 2022

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

S1 E94 · Sat, September 24, 2022

EPISODE 94: The Last War Chief

S1 E93 · Wed, August 17, 2022

EPISODE 93: The Beast of Gevaudan

S1 E92 · Fri, July 15, 2022

EPISODE 92: Jujitsuffragettes With Attitude

S1 E85 · Mon, January 17, 2022

EPISODE 85: The Siege That Changed All of History

S1 E78 · Mon, January 17, 2022

EPISODE 78: Bruce Lee (Part 2)

S1 E77 · Mon, January 17, 2022

EPISODE 77: Bruce Lee (Part 1)

S1 E85 · Sat, December 18, 2021

EPISODE 85: The Siege That Changed All of History

“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 other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria?  What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim? Did any god rescue Samaria from my power? What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? So what makes you think that the Lord can rescue Jerusalem from me?” Isaiah 36:18-20History is a fickle beast. Some events may not seem like much at the time when they happen, but they end up radically shaping all events afterwards. For example, had just one event turned out different—an event largely forgotten today, such as the siege of Jerusalem in 701 BCE—and all of history would have changed. If the siege had ended in the way everyone expected it to end, Judaism would have disappeared from the pages of history, and Christianity and Islam would have never been born. Can you imagine how different the world would be if you were to remove the entire history of the three main monotheistic religions?In this episode we’ll tackle this greatest of ‘what ifs.’ In the process of doing so, we’ll discuss the origins of Western monotheism, Assyrian culture, Hebrew legends, the Assyrian protection racket, the clash between monotheistic Hebrews and polytheistic Hebrews, how the Assyrians turned 10 of the tribes of Israel into the “lost tribes”, committing ‘suicide by Assyrian’, the destruction of Lachish, what may have happened in Jerusalem in 701 BCE, and much more.

S1 E78 · Sat, June 12, 2021

EPISODE 78 Bruce Lee (Part 2)

“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 it by any religion. A belief is purely an individual matter, and you cannot and must not organize it. If you do, it becomes dead, crystallized; it becomes a creed, a sect, a religion, to be imposed on others.” — Jiddhu Krishnamurti    “This doesn’t look like success to me.” — Sovannahry Em  “A martial artist is a human being first. Just as nationalities have nothing to do with one’s humanity, so they have nothing to do with the martial arts.” — Bruce Lee Ask anyone for one name they associate with martial arts, and odds are they will mention Bruce Lee. Because of his career, millions of people were introduced to martial arts. Thanks to his movies, Lee achieved enduring, worldwide fame, broke plenty of box office records, and forever changed the aesthetics of action films. Not bad for a skinny kid from Hong Kong who arrived in United States with the proverbial shirt on his back. The image of his hyper-muscular body in combat pose has become iconic. But there was a lot more to Bruce Lee than meets the eye. He could have been a rock star or a spiritual leader or anything else he had wished… Martial arts was just a channel for his energy. Had he put that same energy anywhere else, he’d have probably had similar success. Despite Hollywood turning him down time and time again due to racial prejudices, Lee refused to take no for an answer and more or less single-handedly changed the way in which Asian people were perceived in the West. His philosophical insights also changed the face of martial arts training, and introduced masses of people to Taoism and Zen Buddhism. His creative & anti-authoritarian approach to life captured the best of the essence of the 1960s. Get ready for a ride because this is an incredible story I have wanted to tell since I first started podcasting. This episode covers Bruce Lee’s philosophy and life from 1965 through his death in 1973.

S1 E77 · Sat, June 05, 2021

EPISODE 77 Bruce Lee (Part 1)

“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 is more important than the style.” Bruce Lee  “I feel I have this great creative and spiritual force within me that is greater than faith, greater than ambition, greater than confidence, greater than determination, greater than vision. It is all of these combined…” Bruce Lee  Ask anyone for one name they associate with martial arts, and odds are they will mention Bruce Lee. Because of his career, millions of people were introduced to martial arts. Thanks to his movies, Lee achieved enduring, worldwide fame, broke plenty of box office records, and forever changed the aesthetics of action films. Not bad for a skinny kid from Hong Kong who arrived in United States with the proverbial shirt on his back. The image of his hyper-muscular body in combat pose has become iconic. But there was a lot more to Bruce Lee than meets the eye. He could have been a rock star or a spiritual leader or anything else he had wished… Martial arts was just a channel for his energy. Had he put that same energy anywhere else, he’d have probably had similar success. Despite Hollywood turning him down time and time again due to racial prejudices, Lee refused to take no for an answer and more or less single-handedly changed the way in which Asian people were perceived in the West. His philosophical insights also changed the face of martial arts training, and introduced masses of people to Taoism and Zen Buddhism. His creative & anti-authoritarian approach to life captured the best of the essence of the 1960s. Get ready for a ride because this is an incredible story I have wanted to tell since I first started podcasting. This episode covers Bruce Lee’s life from birth to his famous fight with Wong Jack Man in 1964.

S1 E71 · Fri, March 26, 2021

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

S1 E70 · Fri, March 26, 2021

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

S1 E69 · Fri, March 26, 2021

EPISODE 69: Capturing Mussolini

S1 E68 · Sun, October 04, 2020

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

This is a tale of Italian Resistance during WW II. Unlike nearly all History on Fire episodes, this is not a story I researched in books. It’s a much more personal one—these are my grandparents’ experiences. The starring role goes to my grandmother, Liana Germani, who as a teenager was a combat partisan active against the Fascist regime and the Nazi occupation. What I remember of her... there was a constant hint of sadness and pessimism hanging around her. It may have to do with the fact that during WW II, she found her boyfriend murdered--cut into pieces by fascists. She spent the rest of her teenage years smuggling guns & bombs, and doing what she could to kill them all. Honorable mention also to my paternal grandparents—in particular my grandfather Stelio Bolelli, who found his way into fighting alongside Allied troops all the way through the Gothic Line. In the course of this episode we’ll talk about a brief history of Fascism, DMX & the Matteotti murder, the collusion between fascist leaders and Sinclair Oil, the Badoglio government, the Nazi occupation, the massacre of St. Anna di Stazzema, guerrilla in the streets of Milan, gender roles in fascist Italy, my grandma’s friends being executed, PTSD, carrying bombs & smuggling weapons, my grandfather avoiding execution, the Gorla massacre, and much, much more.

S1 E67 · Sun, September 13, 2020

EPISODE 67: Ripples of History

Sat, September 12, 2020

EPISODE 67 Ripples of History

“If I knew the way, I would take you home.”  From the song Ripple by the Grateful Dead  “The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation.” Bertrand Russell  “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” Michael Jordan  “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Tao Te Ching  In most fields, we are taught that people in your same profession are your competitors, and you need to do whatever you can to prevent them from rising above you. In podcasting I found the opposite attitude—people helping each other out and doing whatever possible to facilitate things for other podcasters in the same field. In this spirit, today we’ll do something unique: six history podcasters cooperating, with each one tackling a segment, to create a super-episode together. As the host, yours truly will get the ball rolling setting the theme and offering some examples of ‘historical ripples’—events that end up having unforeseen consequences years, or decades, or centuries after they take place. Alexander Rader Von Sternberg (History Impossible) will chat about how a man who died feeling like he had failed to make his mark in history ended up—possibly more than any other—shaping the culture of several Asian civilizations. CJ Killmer (Dangerous History) will tackle the Bacon’s Rebellion and its ramifications. Sebastian Major (Our Fake History) will play with the myth and lasting impact of Homer’s telling of the Trojan War. Sam Davis (Inward Empire) will be discussing the impact of Henry David Thoreau’s essay Civil Disobedience on the Civil Rights Movement about a century later. And Darryl Cooper (Martyrmade) will make a case for the Japanese origin for suicide bombings in the Middle East.

Sat, September 05, 2020

EPISODE 66: Sex In Ancient Rome

This is a cultural history episode about sexuality in Ancient Rome. I thought the topic would be fun and juicy, but that’s because my memory of Roman sexuality was hazy. After refreshing it with lots of research, I can safely say that ‘fun’ is not a word I would apply to it. ‘Insanely disturbing’ is probably more fitting. Most of the ancient sources, in fact, seem to indicate that little to no attention was paid to the idea of sex being for mutual pleasure. Rather, sex was primarily seen as something to reinforce dominance and hierarchy. In this episode, we’ll cover prison sex, rapey garden gnomes, the similarities and differences between ancient Roman and Christian sexualities, the origin of the word ‘family’ (it’s not pleasant), threatening sexual violence to prove one’s manliness, the violent myths about Rome’s founding, the Rape of the Sabine women, sex and slavery, prostitution, why speaking of homosexuality or heterosexuality made no sense in Ancient Rome, legal trials as rap battles, Cicero & the art of character assassination, Mark Anthony & the art of assassinating Cicero, Augustus’ puritanism, gladiators fighting against their own wildcat-shaped phalli, Roman sexual art, and much, much more.

Sat, September 05, 2020

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

Sat, September 05, 2020

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

Sat, September 05, 2020

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

Sat, September 05, 2020

EPISODE 62: Plagues, Mystery and Dancing

Sat, April 18, 2020

EPISODE 53 The Punk Rocker of Ancient Greece

“A Socrates gone mad.” Plato referring to Diogenes  “Had I not been Alexander, I would have liked to have been Diogenes.” Alexander the Great  "If I wasn't Diogenes, I would be wishing to be Diogenes too." Diogenes “There are nowadays professors of philosophy, but not philosophers… To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust. It is to solve some of the problems of life, not only theoretically, but practically.” Henry David Thoreau  “I am a citizen of the world.” Diogenes “Free from what? As if that mattered. . . . But your eyes should tell me brightly: free for what?” Friedrich Nietzsche  “He maintained, moreover, that nothing in life has any chance of succeeding without strenuous practice, which is capable of overcoming any obstacles.” Diogenes Laertius  2,400 years ago, long before punk rock was created, there was a man in ancient Greece who embodied the spirit of punk as much as anyone ever did. He was known as Diogenes The Dog. And Sid Vicious had nothing on him.  Between the end of the Peloponnesian War, the bloody reign of the Thirty Tyrants, Socrates’ death… the times he lived in were wild ones, but Diogenes was considerably wilder than his historical context. As a master of frugality, he lived on the streets as a homeless philosopher inviting people to stop being slaves of their possessions. In this episode, we’ll see him clashing with the father of Western philosophy, getting busted for manipulating the currency, being the recipient of the good graces of celebrity sex workers, planting the seeds at the roots of Stoicism, defying Alexander the Great, getting kidnapped by pirates, rejecting nationalism, and pushing forward ideas that were as outlandish in Ancient Greece as they are today. The Amazons, the Oracle at Delphi, Game of Thrones, The Clash, The Temptations, The Princess Bride, and Nicki Minaj also make an appearance in this episode. And before we wrap things up, we’ll consider the limitations of punk as a worldview.

Fri, April 17, 2020

EPISODE 61: Raiders in the Night

Sun, April 05, 2020

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

Sun, April 05, 2020

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

Sun, April 05, 2020

EPISODE 58 Sitting Bull: Wounded Knee (Part 5)

Sun, April 05, 2020

EPISODE 57 Sitting Bull: Compulsory Civilization with a Side of Murder (Part 2)

S1 E57 · Sun, April 05, 2020

BONUS EPISODE Dan Carlin’s “The End Is Always Near”

Wed, December 18, 2019

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

Wed, November 20, 2019

BONUS: Dan Carlin’s “The End Is Always Near”

“That is the nicest guilt trip anybody has ever given me in my entire life.” Dan Carlin  Dan Carlin is one of my all time favorite human beings, and on top of that an incredible podcaster. He’s now a published author as well. In this episode we chat about his new book, The End is Always Near. The conversation covers more than should theoretically be possible to cover in little over an hour—from Dan’s understanding for Thanos’ plight to the collapse of civilizations, the concept of Gross National Happiness, the delusion of infinite growth in a finite system, Jared Diamond, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, meteors, nuclear weapons, James Burke, the need for nuance, the future of Common Sense, what to do when people can’t agree on basic evidence, social media, incredibly fast historical changes, and the nicest guilt trip in Dan’s life.

Sat, November 09, 2019

EPISODE 55 Sitting Bull (Part 2)

Sat, October 12, 2019

EPISODE 52 The Lady and Her Gun

“It's just incredible that this little hand has killed Nazis, has scythed them down by the hundreds, without missing…” Charlie Chaplin  “Miss Pavlichenko's well known to fame,  Russia's your country, fighting is your game,  Your smile shines as bright as any new morning sun,  But more than three hundred Nazi dogs fell by your gun.” Woody Guthrie  “Charging together, we would dash into battle and forget about everything else in the world.” Lyudmila Pavlichenko “Gentlemen, I am 25 years old and I have already managed to kill 309 of the fascist invaders. Do you not think, gentlemen, that you have now been hiding behind my back for rather too long?” Lyudmila Pavlichenko During WW II, women in the Soviet Union had many reasons to fear German soldiers. But in some cases it was the German soldiers’ turn to be the targets of Soviet ladies. Among the many women who would fight tooth and nail and send quite a few Axis soldiers to a premature death, one stood out among the rest. Germans would know her by name, and would grow to fear her. And they had good reasons to fear her since it was by killing 309 of them that she would become the most deadly female sniper in history. Legends about her would grow both among her own comrades and among the terrified Nazi soldiers who heard rumors about this vengeful female demon who seemed to have made it her personal mission to make them pay for any outrage committed by anyone wearing their same uniform had ever. Some told stories about how a witch in some village near Odessa had cast a spell deflecting enemy bullets away from her. Others swore that she was followed by the lord of the forest himself—a wood sprite with a huge tree-like body who protected her, made her invisible and gave her the supernatural ability to move through the forest without making a sound, to know what was happening a mile away, and to see in complete darkness as well as normal people see in daylight. She was Lyudmila Pavlichenko aka Lady Death.   Among other things, in this episode: Operation Barbarossa, caught between vicious dictators, Stalin (even better than Nazis at killing his own people), Nazi guns in front of you and Soviet guns pointed at your back, a song by Woody Guthrie, Charlie Chaplin kissing her hand, Lyudmila disappoints Yoda, bringing Belgian chocolates as a gift for your girlfriend (after looting them from a corpse), love found & love lost, bloody revenge, hanging out with the American First Lady.

Wed, October 02, 2019

[RERUN] EPISODE 54 Sitting Bull (Part 1)

S1 E53 · Sat, August 31, 2019

EPISODE 53 Diogenes: The Punk Rocker of Ancient Greece

S1 E52 · Sun, July 28, 2019

EPISODE 52 The Lady and Her Gun

Fri, June 21, 2019

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

Thu, June 06, 2019

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

Thu, June 06, 2019

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

S1 E47 · Sun, May 12, 2019

EPISODE 47 Give Me Back My Legions! (Part 1)

Mon, May 06, 2019

A Special Announcement from History on Fire

Sat, April 27, 2019

EPISODE 47 Give Me Back My Legions! (Part 1)

“Bits of weapons and horses' limbs lay about, and human heads fixed to tree-trunks. In groves nearby were barbaric altars, where the Germans had laid the tribunes and senior centurions and sacrificed them.” Tacitus  “It stands on record that armies already wavering and on the point of collapse have been rallied by the women, pleading heroically with their men, thrusting forward their bared breasts…” Tacitus “They are not so easily convinced to plough the land and wait patiently for harvest as to challenge an enemy and run the risk to be wounded. They think it is weak and spiritless to earn by sweat what they might purchase with blood.” Tacitus  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 was the name of the game, and they were masters at it. But in the year 9 CE, something happened in the forests of Germany that was going to have a profound impact on the destiny of the world. Some historians go so far as to suggest that both the German and English languages may not exist as we know them, had things gone differently. News arriving from Germany, along with a severed head delivered by courier, threw Emperor Augustus in a deep depression.  In this first of two parts about the clash between Rome’s power with Germanic tribesmen, we’ll look at what we know about Germanic tribal cultures from those days, walk among the grisly remnants of a battlefield with Roman general Germanicus, and consider how Tacitus’ work was fuel to the fire of Nazi ideology 2,000 years later. Also, in this episode: Europe’s pre-Christian religions, naked tribesmen snowboarding on their shields, the dramatic encounter between Gaius Marius with Cimbri & Teutones, Gaius Julius Caesar making a larger-than-life entrance into Germany, Drusus’ campaign beyond the Rhine, racing on horseback for 200 miles to see one’s brother, slavery with golden chains, and much more as we set the stage for part 2, when the big showdown will take place.

S1 E46 · Mon, March 25, 2019

EPISODE 46 Enjoying Hell: The Life of Ikkyu Sojun (Part 2)

S1 E45 · Mon, March 18, 2019

EPISODE 45 Sex, Sake and Zen: The Life of Ikkyu Sojun (Part 1)

S1 E44 · Mon, February 18, 2019

EPISODE 44 Dan Carlin

S1 E43 · Mon, January 21, 2019

EPISODE 43 The Melian Dialogue (The Peloponnesian War and Morality in History)

S1 E42 · Thu, December 13, 2018

EPISODE 42 Joan of Arc (Part 4)

S1 E41 · Thu, November 15, 2018

EPISODE 41 Joan of Arc (Part 3)

S1 E40 · Tue, October 16, 2018

EPISODE 40 Joan of Arc (Part 2)

S1 E39 · Tue, September 18, 2018

EPISODE 39 Joan of Arc (Part 1)

S1 E38 · Thu, August 23, 2018

EPISODE 38 Monster in the Darkness

Thu, July 26, 2018

EPISODE 37 The 47 Ronin (Part 2)

Thu, June 28, 2018

EPISODE 36 The 47 Ronin (Part 1)

Wed, May 30, 2018

EPISODE 35 The Magliana Gang (Part 2)

S1 E35 · Thu, May 03, 2018

EPISODE 34 The Magliana Gang (Part 1)

S1 E34 · Wed, April 04, 2018

EPISODE 33 On Good and Evil: From My Lai to Sand Creek

S1 E33 · Thu, March 08, 2018

EPISODE 32B Anything That Moves (Part 2): The Parallel Stories of Sand Creek and My Lai

S1 E32 · Wed, March 07, 2018

EPISODE 32A Anything That Moves (Part 1): The Parallel Stories of Sand Creek and My Lai

S1 E31 · Wed, February 14, 2018

EPISODE 31 Gladiators in Ancient Rome (Part 2): The Spirit of the Gladiator

S1 E30 · Thu, February 01, 2018

EPISODE 30 Gladiators in Ancient Rome (Part 1): Are You Not Entertained?

S1 E29 · Thu, January 18, 2018

EPISODE 29 I Drink and I Know Things (Where History and Game of Thrones Intersect)

S1 E28 · Thu, January 04, 2018

EPISODE 28 Jack Johnson (Part 3): Nobody’s Slave

S1 E27 · Thu, December 07, 2017

EPISODE 27 Jack Johnson (Part 2): The Fight

S1 E26 · Thu, November 09, 2017

EPISODE 26 Jack Johnson (Part 1): Bad To The Bone

S1 E25 · Thu, October 12, 2017

EPISODE 25 Roman History with Mike Duncan

S1 E24 · Thu, September 14, 2017

EPISODE 24 The Pirate Queen

S1 E23 · Thu, August 17, 2017

EPISODE 23 The Conquest of Mexico (Part 4): Tenochtitlan Or Bust

S1 E22 · Fri, July 21, 2017

EPISODE 22 The Conquest of Mexico (Part 3): Tenochtitlan Syndrome

S1 E21 · Thu, June 22, 2017

EPISODE 21 The Conquest of Mexico (Part 2): The Dogs of War

S1 E20 · Thu, May 25, 2017

EPISODE 20 The Conquest of Mexico (Part 1): People Of The Sun

S1 E19 · Fri, April 28, 2017

EPISODE 19 Featuring Dan Carlin

S1 E18 · Fri, March 31, 2017

EPISODE 18 The War for the Black Hills (Part 3): Last Stand

S1 E17 · Thu, March 02, 2017

EPISODE 17 The War for the Black Hills (part 2): The Long Defeat

S1 E16 · Thu, January 19, 2017

EPISODE 16 The War for the Black Hills (Part 1): The Heart of Everything That Is

S1 E15 · Sun, December 18, 2016

EPISODE 15 Ted Roosevelt (Part 3): The Man In The Arena

S1 E14 · Tue, November 29, 2016

EPISODE 14 Ted Roosevelt (Part 2): The Strenuous Life

S1 E13 · Wed, October 19, 2016

EPISODE 13 Ted Roosevelt (Part 1): The Rough Rider and His DemonsEPISODE 13 Ted Roosevelt (Part 1): The Rough Rider and His DemonsEPISODE 13 Ted Roosevelt (Part 1): The Rough Rider and His DemonsEPISODE 13 Ted Roosevelt (Part 1): The Rough Rider and His Demons A

S1 E12 · Tue, September 20, 2016

EPISODE 12 Caravaggio (Part 2): Folsom Prison Blues

S1 E11 · Thu, August 18, 2016

EPISODE 11 Caravaggio (Part 1): Light and Darkness

S1 E10 · Sun, July 10, 2016

EPISODE 10 Crazy Horse (Part 4)

S1 E9 · Wed, June 15, 2016

EPISODE 9 Crazy Horse (Part 3)

S1 E8 · Mon, May 23, 2016

EPISODE 8 Crazy Horse (Part 2)

S1 E7 · Tue, May 03, 2016

EPISODE 7 Crazy Horse (Part 1)

S1 E6 · Mon, March 14, 2016

EPISODE 6 The Duel

S1 E5 · Mon, January 25, 2016

EPISODE 5 The 10,000 (Part 2)

S1 E4 · Sat, January 09, 2016

EPISODE 4 The 10,000 (Part 1)

S1 E3 · Mon, November 30, 2015

EPISODE 3 The Iceman

This episode focuses on one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the late 20th century: the oldest, fully preserved human body ever found. The man emerged from the ice in the Alps over 5,000 years after his death. The more archaeologists discovered about him, the more haunting the mystery of his fate became. This is a tale of murder, Neolithic battles, the possibly European origins of acupuncture, the best mountain climber who ever lived,

S1 E2 · Fri, October 16, 2015

EPISODE 2 The Slave Wars (Part 2: Spartacus)

S1 E1 · Thu, September 10, 2015

Episode 1 The Slave Wars (part 1)

In the space of a few decades, three major slave wars threatened the Roman Republic. In this episode, we see how the greed of land speculators, tax collectors and slave owners unleashed an orgy of bloodshed as tens of thousands of escaped slaves went to battle against Rome’s armies. Part I of this story covers the first two of the servile wars, and features political intrigues, fire-breathing Syrian prophets, cannibalism, love struck aristocrats arming their slaves, and heroic mass suicides. Please support our sponsors by shopping for supplements, special foods, clothing, and exercise equipment at www.onnit.com/history and receive a 10% discount. Also, if you are in the market for coffee, please consider doing business at http://www.kimerakoffee.com/ and use the code “history” at checkout for a 10% discount. Discounts exclusive to our listeners are also available on hemp gear using the code “daniele” at www.dsgear.com ”, and on clothing using the code “warrior” at www.suredesigntshirts.com

Thu, September 10, 2015

Episode 0 Introduction to History on Fire Podcast

In this quick intro, we explore the guiding philosophy of the podcast, Dan Carlin’s influence, and future plans.