By Dr. Luke Wolf
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The podcast currently has 109 episodes available.
“Torture was legal, morally accepted, and commonplace in most ancient, medieval, and early modern societies.” This was the way historian Christopher Einolf succinctly described the history of torture: ubiquitous, common; in short: everywhere. Torture is a sort “reverse” gospel – as it is written in Il Libro Dell’avversario, chapter 6:
And when the wealthy governors heard that their Master had taught the rulers how to better exploit the weakest members of their own nations, they gathered themselves together. Then one of them, which was a legal scholar, asked him a question, flattering him, and saying:
Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Satan said unto him: What law? The greatest command is simply this: Thou shalt love Yourself, thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like unto it: Thy neighbor shall love thee as a God.
On these two commandments hang all the power and the necromancers.
I can think of no better introduction to the definitive history of torture than this infamous Italian quote. What is torture but an absolute, physical negation of the Other? What is torture by a total elevation – a trampling! – of one man upon the backs of his fellow creatures? Calvin said all men are evil by nature. Our historians timidly and demurely – like unpracticed virgins! – tell us torture has been morally accepted and present in almost all human societies. In other words, our historians are telling us Calvin was right.
This is the definitive history of one of the oldest and most enduring institutions of humanity: Torture.
It’s all here and it’s all free on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast on violence and its sociopolitical impact.
Download episode 95 here: download link
Extensive maps and images are posted to the Historical Atlas of Torture located here
Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio /// website: karlcasey.bandcamp.com
Amnesty International. (November, 1976). Amnesty International Briefing: Iran.
Amnesty International. (1972). Report on Allegations of Torture in Brazil. Amnesty International Publications.
Amnesty International. (2015). No end in sight: Torture and Forced Confessions in China.
The (in)effectiveness of torture for combating insurgency by Christopher Michael Sullivan. Journal of Peace Research, May 2014, Vol. 51, No. 3.
U.S.-supported state terror: A history of police training in Latin America by Martha K. Huggins. Crime and Social Justice, 1987, No. 27/28, pp. 149-171.
A history of torture by Brian Innes. Amber books. 2017.
Torture as an instrument of national policy: France 1954–1962 by Philip Agee. The Black Scholar. 21:2, 66-70.
A history of the American people by Paul Johnson.
American torture: From the Cold War to Abu Ghraib and beyond by M. Otterman. 2007.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “drawing and quartering”. Encyclopedia Britannica, March 27, 2024, https://www.britannica.com/topic/drawing-and-quartering.
Americans at war: Eyewitness accounts from the American Revolution to the 21st century. Volume 2. ABC-CLIO books. 2018. Edited by James Arnold.
Note – this is one of the best compendiums of eyewitness accounts of American war-fighting put into print and is well worth locating for anyone interested in American military history – L.W.
Torture behind bars: Role of the police force in India by John Aston. 2020.
Judging war crimes and torture: French justice and international criminal tribunals and commissions (1940-2005) by Yves Beigbeder.
Legacies of authoritarianism: Brazilian torturers’ and murderers’ reformulation of memory by Martha K. Huggins. Latin American Perspectives, Mar., 2000, Vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 57-78.
The Spanish invasion of Mexico: 1519-1521 by Charles M. Robinson III. 2004. Osprey publishing.
“My medicine is punishment”: A case of torture in early California, 1775–1776 by Claudio Saunt. Ethnohistory. 57:4 (Fall 2010).
A concise history of Brazil, second edition by Boris Fausto. 2014. Cambridge University Press.
The corruption of angels: The great inquisition of 1245-1246 by Mark Pegg. 2001. Princeton University Press.
Cruel Britannia: A secret history of torture by Ian Cobain. 2012.
The Albigensian Crusade by Jonathan Sumption. 2000.
Crusade, heresy and inquisition in the lands of the Crown of Aragon by Damian Smith. 2010. Brill.
Crypto-Judaism and The Spanish Inquisition by Michael Alpert.
The death of Aztec Tenochtitlan: The life of Mexico City by Barbara Mundy.
The Gulag Archipelago. Three Volumes. By Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
History taking after torture by Abi Rimmer. British Medical Journal, Vol. 349 (20 Oct 2014 – 26 Oct 2014).
Double‐blind: The torture case by Diana Taylor. Critical Inquiry, Vol. 33, No. 4, (Summer 2007).
Practical homicide investigation: Tactics, procedures, and forensic techniques by Vernon Geberth.
Practical homicide investigation checklist and field guide by Vernon Geberth.
Sex-related homicide and death investigation: Practical and clinical perspectives by Venon Geberth.
America in the Philippines, 1899-1902: The first torture scandal by Christopher Einolf.
The European witch craze of the 14th to 17th Centuries: A sociologist’s perspective by Nachman Ben-Yehuda. American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 86, No. 1 (Jul., 1980), pp. 1-31.
Eyewitnesses to the Indian Wars, 1865-1890, five volumes by Peter Cozzens. 2001. Stackpole books.
Facing the torturer by Francois Bizot.
The failure of constitutional torture prohibitions by Adam S. Chilton and Mila Versteeg. The Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 44, No. 2 (June 2015), pp. 417-452.
God’s jury: The inquisition and the making of the modern world by Cullen Murphy.
Heaven or heresy: A history of the inquisition by Thomas Madden. 2007.
Heresy, crusade and inquisition in Southern France, 1100 – 1250 by Walter Wakefield.
History of flagellation by Joseph McCabe. 1946.
A history of Medieval heresy and inquisition by Jennifer Deane. 2011.
The history of the inquisition by Philippus van Limborch. 1816.
Tortures et supplices en France by Fernand Mitton. 1909.
Holy horrors: An illustrated history of religious murder by James Haught. 2000.
The Apache Wars: The hunt for Geronimo, the Apache Kid, and the captive boy who started the longest war in American history by Paul Hutton. 2017.
Illustrated catalogue of the historical and world-renowned collection of torture instruments from the royal castle of Nuremberg. Earl of Shrewbury and Talbor. 1893.
Imperial inquisitions by Steven Rutledge.
Pol Pot: Anatomy of a nightmare by Philip Short. 2006.
The Pol Pot regime: Race, power, and genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79 by Ben Kiernan. 2008.
Inquisition and society in the Kingdom of Valencia, 1478 – 1834 by Stephen Haliczer. 1990.
The inquisition: A history by Michael Thomsett.
The inquisition: A global History 1478-1834 by Francisco Bethencourt.
The Spanish inquisition: A historical revision by Henry Kamen. 2014.
Modern inquisitions, Peru and the colonial origins of the civilized world by Irene Silverblatt.
The washing of the spears by Donald Morris.
Reporting war; How foreign correspondents risked capture, torture and death to cover World War II by Ray Mosley. 2017.
On torture, or cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment by Talal Asad. Social Research, Vol. 63, No. 4 (WINTER 1996), pp. 1081-1109.
On the ethics of torture by U. Steinhoff. 2013.
Torture by Peter Edwards. 1996.
Religious zealotry and political violence in Christianity and Islam by M.D. Litonjua. International Review of Modern Sociology, Vol. 35, No. 2, (Autumn 2009), pp. 307-331.
Regarding the pain of others by Susan Sontag.
On pain by Ernst Junger.
On killing by Dave Grossman.
The history of torture through the ages by George Scott. 2013. Routledge.
The Spanish inquisition by Helen Rawlings.
State torture: Interviewing perpetrators, discovering facilitators, theorizing cross-nationally proposing ‘Torutre 101.’ by Martha Huggins. State Crime Journal, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring 2012), pp. 45-69.
The Roman inquisition, the index and the Jews by Stephan Wendehorst.
Between Christian and Jew: Conversion and inquisition in the Crown of Aragon, 1250-1391 by Paola Tartakoff.
Terrorism, ticking time-bombs, and torture: A philosophical analysis by F. Allhoff. 2012.
The big book of pain: Torture and punishment through history by Mark Donnelly and Daniel Diehl.
The Cambridge History of Latin America edited by Leslie Bethell. 2008.
The case of Pietro Acciarito: Accomplices, psychological torture, and “Raison d’État” by Nunzio Pernicone. Journal for the Study of Radicalism, Vol. 5, No. 1 (SPRING 2011), pp. 67-104.
The death penalty as torture by John Bessler.
The fall and rise of Torture: A comparative and historical analysis by Christopher J. Einolf. Sociological Theory, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Jun., 2007), pp. 101-121.
Note: Einolf’s article is one of the best, short introductions to the history of torture – L.W.
A history of torture by Daniel Mannix.
The long howl: Serial torture by Ross Chambers. Yale French Studies, 2010, No. 118/119, pp. 39-51.
Wolves in the city: The death of French Algeria by Paul Henissart. 1970.
A savage war of peace: Algeria 1954-1962 by Alistair Horne.
The meaning of torture by Paul D. Kenny. Polity, Vol. 42, No. 2 (April 2010), pp. 131-155.
The New Cambridge Medieval History edited by Rosamond McKitterick. 2008.
Anonymous. Il Libro Dell’avversario. Not dated.
The Spanish inquisition 1478-1614: An anthology of sources edited by Lu Ann Homza. 2006.
The absolute violation: Why torture must be prohibited by Richard S. Matthews.
The ethics of interrogation by P. Lauritzen. 2013.
The ethics of torture by J. Wisnewski and R.D. Emerick. 2009.
The torture question: The role of religion and psychology in public opinion of torture by Elizabeth Quiros. 2015. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Vanderbilt University.
Torture 101: Lessons from the Brazilian case by Martha Huggins. Journal of Third World Studies, Vol. 22, No. 2, (Fall, 2005), pp. 161-173.
Torture by David Hope. The International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Vol. 53, No. 4 (Oct., 2004), pp. 807-832.
Torture and democracy by Darius Rejali.
Lucian M. Ashworth (2010). Torture as public policy: restoring US credibility on the world stage, Journal of Power, 3:3, 445-451.
History and methods of torture by Brian Innes. 2002.
“Torture,” by H. Vogel. Encyclopedia of Forensic Sciences, second edition. 2013.
Torture without torturers: Violence and racialization in black Chicago by Laurence Ralph. Current Anthropology. Volume 61. February 2020.
Torture: A collection. Edited by S. Levinson. 2006.
The trial of Francis Ravaillac for the murder of King Henry the Great edited by Edmund Goldsmid. 1885.
Police torture in France by Niels Uildriks. Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights. Vol. 17/4. 1999. Pp. 411-423.
Understanding torture by J.J. Wisnewski. 2010.
War before civilization: The myth of the peaceful savage by Lawrence H. Keeley. 1997.
Medieval punishments: An illustrated history of torture by William Andrews. 2013.
Witch hunts in the Western world by Brian Pavlac. 2009.
Canada’s impossible acknowledgment by Stephen Marche. The New Yorker. September 7, 2017
Austin, L.J. & Bocco, R. (2016). Becoming a torturer: Towards a global ergonomics of care. International Review of the Red Cross, 98(903).
Ex Captivitate Salus by Carl Schmitt. 2017. Polity books.
Crimes of war: Iraq. Edited by Richard Falk, Irene Gendzier, and Robert Jay Lifton. 2006.
Crimes of war: What the public should know. Edited by Roy Gutman and David Rieff. 1999. W.W. Norton.
A question of torture: CIA interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror by Alfred McCoy. 2006. Henry Holt and Company.
The Battle of Takur Ghar, also known as the Battle of Robert’s Ridge, was one of the bloodiest engagements in the history of the United States’ war in Afghanistan. Dozens of men died in the hills and mountains of the Shahi-Kot Valley. Scores more were wounded. The battle also featured one of the first documented drone strikes in recorded history. This is the story of that battle. It’s all here and it’s all free on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast on war and its sociopolitical impact.
Download episode 94 here: download link
Extensive maps and images are posted to the historical atlas of Takur Ghar located here
Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio /// website: karlcasey.bandcamp.com
Frontline. (2023). America and the Taliban: Part two. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQKERL9h7Yo&rco=1
Naylor, S. (2005). Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda. Dutton Caliber.
Graham, B. (May 25, 2002). “A Wintry Ordeal at 10,000 Feet.” Washington Post.
Folse, M. (2022). Operation Enduring Freedom. Center of Military History United States Army.
Bahmanyar, M. (2005). Shadow Warriors: A History of the US Army Rangers. Osprey Publishing.
MacPherson, M. (2005). Robert’s Ridge. Delacorte Press.
Grau, L. & BIllingsly, D. (2011). Operation Anaconda: America’s First Major Battle in Afghanistan. University Press of Kansas.
Thousands of drone strikes have killed tens of thousands of targets since the introduction of unmanned aerial vehicle warfare in the early 2000s. This is the story of that warfare.
It’s all free and it’s all here on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast on war and its sociopolitical impact.
Download episode 93 here: download link
This is part two of an ongoing series. You can find part one here.
Extensive maps and images are posted to the historical atlas of drone warfare located here
Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio /// website: karlcasey.bandcamp.com
Mohsan, S.A.H. et al. (2023). “Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs): practical aspects, applications, open challenges, security issues, and future trends.” Intelligent Service Robotics 16:109–137.
Rehman, A. (2013). “Impact of drone attacks in Pakistan and the war on terror: A consideration of the effects of drone attacks in Pakistan and whether they are helping or not to win the war on terror!” International Relations 3. Malmö University: Department of Global Political Studies.
Fields, N.R. (2012). “Advantages and challenges of unmanned aerial vehicle autonomy in the Postheroic age.” [Unpublished Master’s Thesis]. James Madison University.
Blom, J. D. (2010). Unmanned aerial systems: A historical perspective. Combat Studies Institute Press.
Amnesty International (2013). “Will I be next?: Us drone strikes in Pakistan.”
Anderson, K. (2011). “Targeted killing and drone warfare: How we came to debate whether there is a ‘Legal Geography of War’.” Hoover Institution.
Witt, S. (2022). “The Turkish drone that changed the nature of warfare.” The New Yorker. (May 9, 2022). https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/05/16/the-turkish-drone-that-changed-the-nature-of-warfare
Turse, N. & Engelhardt, T. (2012). Terminator planet: The first history of drone warfare 2001 – 2050. Dispatch books.
Franke, U. (2018). The unmanned revolution: How drones are revolutionizing warfare. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Oxford.
Sommerville, Quentin. (2024). “Ukraine thrown into war’s bleak future as drones open new battlefront.” BBC.com. Accessed July 24, 2024. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cne4vl9gy2wo
Walsh, J.I. & Schulzke, M. (2018). Drones and support for the use of force. University of Michigan Press.
Fisk, K & Ramos, J.M. (2016). Preventive force: Drones, targeted killing, and the transformation of contemporary warfare. New York University Press.
Gordon, N. (2016). Drones are changing our conception of warfare in Cunningham, A.C. (ed.). “Drones, surveillance, and targeted killings.”
Newman, K. (2018). How effective was the drone campaign in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia throughout Barack Obama’s presidency, 2009 – 2017? Unpublished Master’s Thesis. Canterbury Christ Church University.
Zenko, M. (2017). Obama’s Final Drone Strike Data. Council on Foreign Relations. Web. https://www.cfr.org/blog/obamas-final-drone-strike-data
Johnsen, G.D. (2014). “Nothing Says Sorry Our Drones Hit Your Wedding Party’ Like $800,000 And Some Guns. Buzz Feed.” Web. https://www.buzzfeed.com/gregorydjohnsen/wedding-party-drone-strike
Kagg, J. and Kreps, S. (2014). Drone warfare. Polity press.
Williams, B. (2013). Predators. Potomac books.
Scahill, J. (2016). The assassination complex. Simon and Schuster.
Cooper, H. (2016). U.S. airstrikes at Somali site kill about 150. The New York Times. Section A, Page 1.
Cooper, H. (2017). Over 100 Shabab militants killed in U.S. airstrike in Somalia. The New York Times. Section A, page 11.
Olson, J. and Rashid, M. (2013). Modern drone warfare: An ethical analysis. 2013 ASEE Southeast Section Conference.
Newcome, Laurence R. (2005). Unmanned Aviation: A Brief History of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.
Jordán, J. and Baqués, J. (2014). Guerra de drones. Política, tecnología y cambio social en los nuevos conflictos.
McCurley, T and Maurer, K. (2015). Hunter killer: The true story of the drone mission that killed Anwar al-Awlaki.
Frontline. (2023). America and the Taliban: Part two. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQKERL9h7Yo&rco=1
New America Foundation. (n.d.) “The war in Somalia.” https://www.newamerica.org/future-security/reports/americas-counterterrorism-wars/the-war-in-somalia/
Human Rights Watch. (2014). A wedding that became a funeral. http://www.hrw.org.
The Economist Data Team. (2015). Drone strikes: cause or effect. The Economist. https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2015/09/23/drone-strikes-cause-or-effect
Soliman, A.S.F. and Mahmoud, K.A. (2023). Applications des véhicules aériens sans pilote: Développement vers un poids de quelques grammes.
A man is sitting on his porch before he suddenly geysers upward, somersaulting through the air like a discarded plaything. A work truck is cruising across the Gaza Strip at fifty-miles-an-hour and then is suddenly crushed like a coke can and engulfed in flames. Scores of mass-produced Turkish drones flood the Armenian sky, raining death on soldiers before they even knew what hit them, the only warning a low, mechanical hissing sound. This is drone warfare. This is the future of war – a frightening, science-fiction future that is bursting from the pages of our literature into the real world. Tens of thousands of drones watch everything we do; many models can fly for more than twenty-four hours, a ceaseless, lidless eye. Men half-a-world away kill other men with devastating firepower. In Ukraine, soldiers adapt commercially-built drones to serve as mobile killing machines, while their operators sit in a basement scores of miles away, almost completely safe from immediate retaliation. In this episode is the future of combat, the future of intelligence-gathering, and the future of the invasion of human privacy. George Orwell’s 1984 was a tea party compared to the world we are creating for our children. There is an eye in the sky controlled by anonymous, bored pilots. There is an eye in the sky watching you. There is an eye in the sky that can kill you with the press of a button.
This is the story of drone warfare.
It’s all free and it’s all here on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast on war and its socio-political impact.
Download episode 92 here: download link
Maps and Images:
Extensive maps and images are posted to the historical atlas of drone warfare located here
Music Source:
Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio /// website: karlcasey.bandcamp.com
Mohsan, S.A.H. et al. (2023). “Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs): practical aspects, applications, open challenges, security issues, and future trends.” Intelligent Service Robotics 16:109–137.
Rehman, A. (2013). “Impact of drone attacks in Pakistan and the war on terror: A consideration of the effects of drone attacks in Pakistan and whether they are helping or not to win the war on terror!” International Relations 3. Malmö University: Department of Global Political Studies.
Fields, N.R. (2012). “Advantages and challenges of unmanned aerial vehicle autonomy in the Postheroic age.” [Unpublished Master’s Thesis]. James Madison University.
Blom, J. D. (2010). Unmanned aerial systems: A historical perspective. Combat Studies Institute Press.
Amnesty International (2013). “Will I be next?: Us drone strikes in Pakistan.”
Anderson, K. (2011). “Targeted killing and drone warfare: How we came to debate whether there is a ‘Legal Geography of War’.” Hoover Institution.
Witt, S. (2022). “The Turkish drone that changed the nature of warfare.” The New Yorker. (May 9, 2022). https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/05/16/the-turkish-drone-that-changed-the-nature-of-warfare
Turse, N. & Engelhardt, T. (2012). Terminator planet: The first history of drone warfare 2001 – 2050. Dispatch books.
Franke, U. (2018). The unmanned revolution: How drones are revolutionizing warfare. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Oxford.
Sommerville, Quentin. (2024). “Ukraine thrown into war’s bleak future as drones open new battlefront.” BBC.com. Accessed July 24, 2024. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cne4vl9gy2wo
Walsh, J.I. & Schulzke, M. (2018). Drones and support for the use of force. University of Michigan Press.
Fisk, K & Ramos, J.M. (2016). Preventive force: Drones, targeted killing, and the transformation of contemporary warfare. New York University Press.
Gordon, N. (2016). Drones are changing our conception of warfare in Cunningham, A.C. (ed.). “Drones, surveillance, and targeted killings.”
Newman, K. (2018). How effective was the drone campaign in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia throughout Barack Obama’s presidency, 2009 – 2017? Unpublished Master’s Thesis. Canterbury Christ Church University.
Zenko, M. (2017). Obama’s Final Drone Strike Data. Council on Foreign Relations. Web. https://www.cfr.org/blog/obamas-final-drone-strike-data
Johnsen, G.D. (2014). “Nothing Says Sorry Our Drones Hit Your Wedding Party’ Like $800,000 And Some Guns. Buzz Feed.” Web. https://www.buzzfeed.com/gregorydjohnsen/wedding-party-drone-strike
Kagg, J. and Kreps, S. (2014). Drone warfare. Polity press.
Williams, B. (2013). Predators. Potomac books.
Scahill, J. (2016). The assassination complex. Simon and Schuster.
Cooper, H. (2016). U.S. airstrikes at Somali site kill about 150. The New York Times. Section A, Page 1.
Cooper, H. (2017). Over 100 Shabab militants killed in U.S. airstrike in Somalia. The New York Times. Section A, page 11.
Olson, J. and Rashid, M. (2013). Modern drone warfare: An ethical analysis. 2013 ASEE Southeast Section Conference.
Newcome, Laurence R. (2005). Unmanned Aviation: A Brief History of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.
Jordán, J. and Baqués, J. (2014). Guerra de drones. Política, tecnología y cambio social en los nuevos conflictos.
McCurley, T and Maurer, K. (2015). Hunter killer: The true story of the drone mission that killed Anwar al-Awlaki.
Frontline. (2023). America and the Taliban: Part two. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQKERL9h7Yo&rco=1
New America Foundation. (n.d.) “The war in Somalia.” https://www.newamerica.org/future-security/reports/americas-counterterrorism-wars/the-war-in-somalia/
Human Rights Watch. (2014). A wedding that became a funeral. http://www.hrw.org.
The Economist Data Team. (2015). Drone strikes: cause or effect. The Economist. https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2015/09/23/drone-strikes-cause-or-effect
Soliman, A.S.F. and Mahmoud, K.A. (2023). Applications des véhicules aériens sans pilote: Développement vers un poids de quelques grammes.
The Battle of Hamburger Hill was one of the most famous battles of the Vietnam War. Almost immediately after the conclusion of the battle, dumbfounded American journalists described the horrific assault of Hill 937 – and the inexplicable American withdrawal from the hill just a few days later. To journalists, and their well-fed, luxuriating readers back in the United States, the battle for Hamburger Hill encapsulated everything that was wrong with American military tactics in Vietnam. And the battle had been terrible. So terrible, many soldiers actually refused the orders of their commanding officers in the last days of the conflict. The struggle for the pyramid-like pinnacle of Hamburger Hill was an anarchic bloodbath: men fighting hand to hand while scores of jets and strike-helicopters hovered like malevolent hornets above the grim-faced troops murdering one another amidst a moonscape setting worthy of Paul Nash’s Menlin Road. This is the story of that battle.
It’s all here and it’s all free on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast on war and its sociopolitical impact.
This is part two of an ongoing series. You can find part one here.
You can find part two here.
Download episode 91 here: download link
Maps and Images:
Extensive maps and images are posted to the historical atlas of The Battle for Hamburger Hill located here
Music Source:
Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio /// website: karlcasey.bandcamp.com
References:
Hamburger Hill, May 11-20, 1969 by Samuel Zaffiri. (1988).
Vietnam: the bloodbath at Hamburger Hill by John DiConsiglio (2010).
“I Led A Brigade At Hamburger Hill.” The Washington Post. May 27, 1989: a23.
“Hamburger Hill’ remembered.” by Grey, Philip . The Leaf Chronicle. May 15, 2013.
Vietnam: A History by Stanley Karnow.
Major General Melvin Zais and Hamburger Hill by Major Kelly Owen Carl Boian.
“The Capture of Hamburger Hill.” by James Wright. Vietnam. June, 2010.
Steinman, R. (2015). The soldiers’ story: Vietnam in their own words.
The Ten Thousand Day War: Vietnam 1945-1975 by Michael MacLear.
The history of the 101st Airborne Division Screaming Eagles: the first 50 years by Robert E. Jones. (2005).
Hamburger Hill is one of the most famous battles from the Vietnam War. This is the complete story of that bloody conflict.
It’s all here and it’s all free on Battlecast, the world’s foremost podcast on war and its sociopolitical impact.
This is part two of an ongoing series. You can find part one here.
Download episode 90 here: download link.
Maps and Images:
Extensive maps and images are posted to the historical atlas of The Battle for Hamburger Hill located here
Music Source:
Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio /// website: karlcasey.bandcamp.com
References:
Hamburger Hill, May 11-20, 1969 by Samuel Zaffiri. (1988).
Vietnam: the bloodbath at Hamburger Hill by John DiConsiglio (2010).
“I Led A Brigade At Hamburger Hill.” The Washington Post. May 27, 1989: a23.
“Hamburger Hill’ remembered.” by Grey, Philip . The Leaf Chronicle. May 15, 2013.
Vietnam: A History by Stanley Karnow.
Major General Melvin Zais and Hamburger Hill by Major Kelly Owen Carl Boian.
“The Capture of Hamburger Hill.” by James Wright. Vietnam. June, 2010.
Steinman, R. (2015). The soldiers’ story: Vietnam in their own words.
The Ten Thousand Day War: Vietnam 1945-1975 by Michael MacLear.
The history of the 101st Airborne Division Screaming Eagles: the first 50 years by Robert E. Jones. (2005).
Hamburger Hill. It’s a battle made famous by the 1987 film with the same name. But the real battle of Hamburger Hill, also known as the Battle for Hill 937, took place almost two decades before the film was released – comprising more than a week of fierce, modern combat in horrendous mountainous terrain which left thousands of men killed and dismembered, wounded and captured. This is the story of that battle. It’s all here and it’s all free on Battlecast, the world’s foremost podcast on war and its sociopolitical impact.
Download episode 89 here: download link
Maps and Images:
Extensive maps and images are posted to the historical atlas of The Battle for Hamburger Hill located here
Music Source:
Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio /// website: karlcasey.bandcamp.com
References:
Hamburger Hill, May 11-20, 1969 by Samuel Zaffiri. (1988).
Vietnam: the bloodbath at Hamburger Hill by John DiConsiglio (2010).
“I Led A Brigade At Hamburger Hill.” The Washington Post. May 27, 1989: a23.
“Hamburger Hill’ remembered.” by Grey, Philip . The Leaf Chronicle.May 15, 2013.
Vietnam: A History by Stanley Karnow.
Major General Melvin Zais and Hamburger Hill by Major Kelly Owen Carl Boian.
“The Capture of Hamburger Hill.” by James Wright. Vietnam. June, 2010.
Steinman, R. (2015). The soldiers’ story: Vietnam in their own words.
The Ten Thousand Day War: Vietnam 1945-1975 by Michael MacLear.
The history of the 101st Airborne Division Screaming Eagles: the first 50 years by Robert E. Jones. (2005).
Mass suicide. It’s a rare event, something unique, like an uncommonly beautiful woman – it commands our attention. Using the methods developed by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, this podcast is an in-depth analysis of the phenomenon of mass suicide through he lens of three case studies – one ancient, and two modern.
The Siege of Masada 73 A.D.
The Siege of Masada was the culminating event of the First Roman-Jewish War. Surrounded and facing down legions of pitiless Roman troops, more than 900 Jewish zealots chose to commit suicide, with their wives and children, rather than face death and slavery. They burned all their belongings. They gave everything in their suicides. Their sacrifice is still commemorated in Israeli society today. This is the story of that black day.
The Cowra Breakout 1944 A.D.
It was an Australian prisoner of war camp containing approximately a thousand Japanese – but not any Japanese, these were Japanese steeped like tea bags in the Bushido Samurai ethic. The prisoners were literally told from the time they were infants that death was preferable to dishonor. For them, every breath they took was shameful – and the solution was in the Australian guard towers – in the bristling, gleaming machine guns and the baseball-like grenades. At the fence line, death could be found easily. This is the story of that black day.
The Jonestown Massacre 1978
They called him “Father;” they called him “God.” He led them to death. Jonestown is the sad source of the phrase “drink the Kool-Aid.” Almost a thousand of Jones’s followers, including women, children and infants did just that – they drank the poison-laden Kool-Aid, sending their bodies into flopping convulsions – “slain by the spirit” of a demon named Jim Jones. This is the story of that black day.
It’s all here and it’s all free on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast on war and its sociopolitical impact.
Download episode 88 here: download link
Maps and Images:
Extensive maps and images are posted to the historical atlas of the Cowra Breakout and The Siege of Masada are located here and here.
Music Source:
Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio /// website: karlcasey.bandcamp.com
References
Raven: The untold story of the Rev. Jim Jones and his people by Tim Reiterman and John Jacobs.
Japanese prisoners of war in revolt : the outbreaks at Featherston and Cowra during World War II by Charlotte Carr-Gregg (1978).
The wars of the Jews by Josephus, Flavius (1974).
Break-Out! – The Japanese POW Break-Out at Cowra, 1944 by Hugh V. Clarke
The Cowra Breakout by Mat McLachlan
The night of a thousand suicides: The Japanese outbreak at Cowra by Teruhiko Asada (1972)
Dead Men Rising by Seaforth Mackenzie [aka. Kenneth Mackenzie]
The road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple by Jeff Guinn
Die like carp! By Harry Gordon (1981)
Jerusalem’s traitor by Desmond Seward (2009)
The Jewish Revolt AD 66-74 by Si Sheppard (2013)
Masada: Herod’s fortress and the Zealots’ last stand by Yadin, Yigael (1966)
Masada: From Jewish revolt to modern myth by Jodi Magness
Jones, Jim (1978). Death Tape.
Jonestown: Terror in the Jungle. Storyville. BBC. (not dated).
Anarchy. Cannibalism. Disorder. These are adjectives, empty words, that we use to try, however futilely, to describe the total pain, the uprooted lives, the destroyed families, the ethnic cleansing that have taken place throughout human history. In this episode of Battlecast, we will tear our thesaurus in half looking up synonyms for torture and bloodshed, ruin our books in the search for words as the sordid history of The Liberian Civil Wars are told in minute detail.
Down the street from you, every October, is a haunted house. People, decent people, pay money to enter and be scared, to be frightened by chainsaws without blades, to be screamed at by men in masks who spend their days shoving boxes for UPS. But tonight, I’ll bring the haunted house to your eardrums for free. Tonight, the horror show is in your speakers.
It’s all here and it’s all free on Battlecast – the world’s foremost podcast on war and its sociopolitical impact.
This is part three of a three part series. You can find part one here and part two here.
Download episode 87 here: download link
Maps and Images:
Extensive maps and images are posted to the historical atlas of Liberia located here
Music Source:
Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio /// website: karlcasey.bandcamp.com
References:
Another America: The Story of Liberia and the Former Slaves Who Ruled It by James Ciment. (2014).
Degges, D.J. (2020). Black Skin, White Money. The Transatlantic Propaganda Campaign to Recolonize West Africa 1786-1863. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation/master’s thesis]. University of Texas at Arlington.
Beyon, A.J. (1985). The American Colonization Society and the Formation of Political, Economic and Religious Institutions in Liberia, 1822-1900. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of West Virginia.
Burin, E.A. (1999). The Peculiar Solution: The American Colonization Society and Antislavery Sentiment in the South, 1820-1860. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Allen, W.E. (2002). Sugar and Coffee: A History of Settler Agriculture in Nineteenth-Century Liberia. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Florida International University.
The Liberian Civil War by Mark Huband. (1998).
The Mask of Anarchy by Stephen Ellis. (1999).
An African Republic by Marie Tyler-Mcgraw. (2007). University of North Carolina Press.
Shick, T.W. (1977). The Social and Economic History of Afro-American Settlers in Liberia. 1820-1900. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. The University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Child Soldiers in Africa by Alcinda Honwana.
Akpan, M.B. (1973). Black Imperialism: Americo-Liberian Rule Over the African Peoples of Liberia, 1841-1964. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines, 7(2), 217-236.
Käihkö, I. (2016). Bush Generals and Small Boy Battalions: Military Cohesion in Liberia and Beyond. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Uppsala University.
Charles Taylor and Liberia: Ambition and Atrocity in Africa’s Lone Star State by Colin Waugh. (2011).
Sellers, H.A. (2018). Rebel Governance in Civil War: Variations in Rebel Governance – A Case Study Analysis. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Louisiana State University.
Scruggs, A. (2010). “The Love of Liberty Has Brought Us Here”: The American Colonization Society and the Imaging of African-American Settlers in Liberia. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Harvard University.
Dennis, D.A. (2011). The Mississippi Colonial Experience in Liberia, 1829-1860. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Claremont Graduate University.
Gallen, M.P. (2018). The Spirit of Enterprise: Christianity and Capitalism in the Colony and Republic of Liberia, 1816-1928. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation].Carnegie Mellon University.
Varnie, J.N. (2004). Wealth Extraction, Not Economic Development: A Case Study on Liberia. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Wilson, H.B. (2007). Firestone and Liberia: A Case Study in One-Sidedness. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Somah, S.L. (1995). Historical Settlement of Liberia and its Environmental Impact.
Ngovo, S.B. (2011). The Bandi of Northwestern Liberia: A Study of Change and Continuity in Bandi Society to 1964. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Western Michigan University.
Clausewitz and African War by Isabelle Duyvesteyn. (2005).
Reese, D.G. (2018). Liberia: America’s African Stepchild.
Collins, T.Z. (2019). A Case Study of the Impact of Civil War on the Economic Development of Liberia. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Southern University.
Lidow, N.H. (2011). Violent Order: Revel Organization and Liberia’s Civil War. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Stanford University.
Murray, R.P. (2013). Whiteness in Africa: Americo-Liberians and the Transformative Geographics of Race. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Kentucky.
Garcia, B. (2020). “We feel sadly the effects:” America’s Civil War, Colonization, and Liberia’s Struggle to Build up a Nation. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. George Mason University.
Benda, E.M.V. (2004). The Internationalization of Civil War: Liberia as a Case Study.. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. American University.
Greenwood, R. (1993). The Presidency of William V.S. Tubman, President of Liberia 1944-1971. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Northern Arizona University.
Lyon, H.G. (1997). Liberia: The Quest for Democracy and the Politics of Ethnicity. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Southern Connecticut State University.
Jones, S.S. (2016). The Sweet, Sweet Sound of Liberty: Black Settlers and Their Early Education Initiative in Liberia, 1820-1860. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Price, R.W. (1980). The Black Republic of Liberia, 1822-1912: A Ninety Year Struggle for International Acceptance. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Norris, E.P. (1961). United States and Liberia: The Slavery Crisis, 1929-1935. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Indiana University.
Akingbade, H.O. (1977). The Role of the Military in the History of Liberia: 1822-1947.[Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Howard University.
Walton-Hanley, J.A. (2009). Reversing the Middle Passage: The American Colonization Society and Race Relations, 1816 – 1964. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Kentucky.
Dillon, E.C. (2007). The Role of Education in the Rise and Fall of Americo-Liberians in Liberia, West Africa (1980). [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Georgia State University.
Sullivan, J.M. (1978). Settlers in Sinoe County, Liberia, and Their Relations with the Kru, c (sic), 1835-1920. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Boston University.
Staudenraus, P.J. (1961). The History of the American Colonization Society. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation] University of Wisconsin.
Arnold, G. (1995). Wars in the Third World.
This podcast is a complete history of violence in the small African nation of Liberia. This is part two of an ongoing series. You can find part one here: A Military History of Liberia part one.
Download episode 86 here: download link
Maps and Images:
Extensive maps and images are posted to the historical atlas of Liberia located here
Music Source:
Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio /// website: karlcasey.bandcamp.com
References:
Another America: The Story of Liberia and the Former Slaves Who Ruled It by James Ciment. (2014).
Degges, D.J. (2020). Black Skin, White Money. The Transatlantic Propaganda Campaign to Recolonize West Africa 1786-1863. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation/master’s thesis]. University of Texas at Arlington.
Beyon, A.J. (1985). The American Colonization Society and the Formation of Political, Economic and Religious Institutions in Liberia, 1822-1900. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of West Virginia.
Burin, E.A. (1999). The Peculiar Solution: The American Colonization Society and Antislavery Sentiment in the South, 1820-1860. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Allen, W.E. (2002). Sugar and Coffee: A History of Settler Agriculture in Nineteenth-Century Liberia. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Florida International University.
The Liberian Civil War by Mark Huband. (1998).
The Mask of Anarchy by Stephen Ellis. (1999).
An African Republic by Marie Tyler-Mcgraw. (2007). University of North Carolina Press.
Shick, T.W. (1977). The Social and Economic History of Afro-American Settlers in Liberia. 1820-1900. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. The University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Child Soldiers in Africa by Alcinda Honwana.
Akpan, M.B. (1973). Black Imperialism: Americo-Liberian Rule Over the African Peoples of Liberia, 1841-1964. Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines, 7(2), 217-236.
Käihkö, I. (2016). Bush Generals and Small Boy Battalions: Military Cohesion in Liberia and Beyond. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Uppsala University.
Charles Taylor and Liberia: Ambition and Atrocity in Africa’s Lone Star State by Colin Waugh. (2011).
Sellers, H.A. (2018). Rebel Governance in Civil War: Variations in Rebel Governance – A Case Study Analysis. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Louisiana State University.
Scruggs, A. (2010). “The Love of Liberty Has Brought Us Here”: The American Colonization Society and the Imaging of African-American Settlers in Liberia. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Harvard University.
Dennis, D.A. (2011). The Mississippi Colonial Experience in Liberia, 1829-1860. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Claremont Graduate University.
Gallen, M.P. (2018). The Spirit of Enterprise: Christianity and Capitalism in the Colony and Republic of Liberia, 1816-1928. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation].Carnegie Mellon University.
Varnie, J.N. (2004). Wealth Extraction, Not Economic Development: A Case Study on Liberia. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Wilson, H.B. (2007). Firestone and Liberia: A Case Study in One-Sidedness. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Somah, S.L. (1995). Historical Settlement of Liberia and its Environmental Impact.
Ngovo, S.B. (2011). The Bandi of Northwestern Liberia: A Study of Change and Continuity in Bandi Society to 1964. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Western Michigan University.
Clausewitz and African War by Isabelle Duyvesteyn. (2005).
Reese, D.G. (2018). Liberia: America’s African Stepchild.
Collins, T.Z. (2019). A Case Study of the Impact of Civil War on the Economic Development of Liberia. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Southern University.
Lidow, N.H. (2011). Violent Order: Revel Organization and Liberia’s Civil War. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Stanford University.
Murray, R.P. (2013). Whiteness in Africa: Americo-Liberians and the Transformative Geographics of Race. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Kentucky.
Garcia, B. (2020). “We feel sadly the effects:” America’s Civil War, Colonization, and Liberia’s Struggle to Build up a Nation. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. George Mason University.
Benda, E.M.V. (2004). The Internationalization of Civil War: Liberia as a Case Study.. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. American University.
Greenwood, R. (1993). The Presidency of William V.S. Tubman, President of Liberia 1944-1971. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Northern Arizona University.
Lyon, H.G. (1997). Liberia: The Quest for Democracy and the Politics of Ethnicity. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Southern Connecticut State University.
Jones, S.S. (2016). The Sweet, Sweet Sound of Liberty: Black Settlers and Their Early Education Initiative in Liberia, 1820-1860. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Price, R.W. (1980). The Black Republic of Liberia, 1822-1912: A Ninety Year Struggle for International Acceptance. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Norris, E.P. (1961). United States and Liberia: The Slavery Crisis, 1929-1935. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Indiana University.
Akingbade, H.O. (1977). The Role of the Military in the History of Liberia: 1822-1947.[Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Howard University.
Walton-Hanley, J.A. (2009). Reversing the Middle Passage: The American Colonization Society and Race Relations, 1816 – 1964. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Kentucky.
Dillon, E.C. (2007). The Role of Education in the Rise and Fall of Americo-Liberians in Liberia, West Africa (1980). [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Georgia State University.
Sullivan, J.M. (1978). Settlers in Sinoe County, Liberia, and Their Relations with the Kru, c (sic), 1835-1920. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Boston University.
Staudenraus, P.J. (1961). The History of the American Colonization Society. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation] University of Wisconsin.
Arnold, G. (1995). Wars in the Third World.
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